My Y-valve wasn't working when I bought my boat. After a *thorough*
cleaning, I disassembled and found an O ring displaced. Cleaned some more,
reinstalled the o ring in its' groove and it's been working fine since.
I bet his tank *IS* full, too.


--
Scott Vernon
Plowville PA __/)__/)__


"Peggie Hall" wrote in message
...
You have a whole bunch of problems, Steve...

Stephen Trapani wrote:

Your first problem:

When we use the head (a Groco Type K) and pump it out, the waste
comes out the holding tank vent line.

This seems impossible to me. First of all, the tank itself is
empty...

It can't be. You may THINK it is because you've pumped out or dumped the
tank till nothing more comes out, but your tank has to be full to
overflowing for waste to be forced out the vent and fittings on the top
of the tank.

My guess is, your tank vent is all but completely blocked, causing your
tank to become so pressurized that pumping the head manages to force
some liquid out the vent, but doesn't allow enough air back into the
tank during pumpout to keep the pumpout or macerator from pulling a
vacuum that prevents it from removing more than a gallon or two.

Your second problem:

and regardless of which way I flip the Y valve the waste still comes
out the vent line, which is attached to a three inch screw in top, in
the top of the holding tank.

Your y-valve has failed...it isn't completely switch sides when you turn
the handle. In fact, it may not be moving anything inside at all.


Your third problem:

The water supply for the toilet is the fresh water tank.

The previous owners put a ball valve before the head, when you turn
it on, water comes in the toilet bowl, then you turn it off/down
while you pump out the bowl,etc, and leave it off until you use the
toilet again. Completely non-standard setup, I guess.

Not only non-standard, but a MAJOR no-no. NO toilet that isn't designed
by the mfr to use pressurized flush water should ever be connected to
the potable water supply. It cannot be done without risk of e-coli
contamination of the potable water supply, damage to the toilet, or both.

I've been working on other more important things...

That depends on what you consider important. Do not use your fresh water
for anything BUT toilet flushing again until you've disconnected the
toilet from the system and recommissioned the fresh water system to
purify it (email me for directions).


but this was going to be my next, um job, sort of, but anyway the
first thing I was going to try was to open the seacock toilet waste
valve. I haven't tried this yet though, all this has been happening
with that valve closed.

Well, no WONDER waste is going through the y-valve into the tank no
matter which way the valve handle is turned! If it couldn't get past the
the y-valve, flushing the toilet against a closed discharge seacock
closed would create enough pressure to make it erupt back through the
bowl with enough force to give you a bath in it! You're just lucky that
just enough can escape through the tank vent to prevent that from
happening... or worse yet, a ruptured tank.

Also, waste slowly leaks from around the top of the tank, onto the
top of the tank either out of the vent line or from around the screw
fitting. Whenever I look there is a little puddle of waste on top of
the tank. Again this seems impossible. How does the waste even get
there when there seems to be none making into the tank and while
there is definitely none collecting in the tank itself. I'm very
curious.

Everything you describe indicates a tank that's actually full to
overflowing and seriously pressurized due to a blocked tank vent.

So, um, guesses? solid answers? things I should check first?
Directions I should head to solve this?

First, clear the tank vent...the most likely place is the
thru-hull...clean it out with a screwdriver blade. If there's nothing in
it, the next most common place for a blockage is the the fitting on
the tank...a kinked vent line is also a good possbility. Don't use the
toilet again or attempt to pump out again until you've found the
blockage and cleared it.

Once you've done that, if it were my boat, I'd pull out the the whole
system, rebuild the toilet while it's out of the boat, and reinstall
everything correctly...with all new hoses--including the vent line--a
new y-valve (or maybe not--nor any macerator to dump the tank
either--unless you're in coastal water that offer immediate access to
open sea at least 3 miles from the nearest point on the whole US
coastline...'cuz it's illegal flush directly overboard OR dump a tank in
ALL inland waters including the Great Lakes and any coastal waters
inside the "3 mile limit".)...reconnect it to the intake
thru-hull--which I suspect you've mistaken for a head discharge
thru-hull...I'll bet the PO "converted" it when he connected the intake
to the fresh water system.

The Hunter Owners Website at http://www.hunterowners.com/ is an
excellent resource for any information you need about anything on your
boat. Groco can supply you with a manual for your toilet that includes
directions for installing and plumbing it correctly. And I think you'll
find the link in my signature useful too.

If you still have questions, I'll be glad to answer 'em.

-
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://69.20.93.241/store/customer/p...40&cat=&page=1