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More head trip (plumbing issues)
This got lost in the sea clutter of someone changing the title of my
original post, and wasn't responded to. Having just returned from yet another trip to work on the boat, and getting to the point of installation on the new gear, this is pertinent anew: Date: Monday, October 18, 2004 8:30 PM OK, now having returned from my first plumbing expedition, I see that there are some responses. Peggie, my apologies for the paging - it wasn't I :{)) My title was "- Pipe down, you'se guys! he said Archly" - a Swiftie which was lost in the translation... (my prior) I went to check it out and found that the conduit is actually Schedule 40 grey pipe. So, my question is, would this work for the Schedule 40 pipe installations in sanitary service, (Peggie's prior) Ah...I did miss that part. Yes, it can be used in sanitation systems, but is only recommended for long straight runs. And it must be "soft-coupled" to anything fixed in the system--toilet, tank, thru-hull, y-valve, overboard discharge pump--with enough hose to provide shock absorption and protection from cracking due to hull flexing...so unless you have a long straight run of 10' of more (unlikely in any properly designed system on a boat under about 60') you'd have so many unions in the plumbing (potential leaks) that it's not worth doing. Plumb your system with AVS96 sanitation hose (the mfr's original name for the same hose SeaLand sold as the "OdorSafe" brand for a number of years, now sold direct for $5/ft cut to any length), PVC fittings are ok. I'm glad to see that it's available inexpensively (relatively speaking). Since our last exchange on the subject, what's happened about the SLOSafe replacement made in Italy? And, I was unable to find info about fittings. Do you know if aussiegroup handles that, as well? Back to the subject at hand, if getting them in is as easy as getting them out, I'm all for not doing it again. Granted, I had to take out something on the order of double, in that I removed the aft Lectra-San, with its attendant very long runs of hose, *plus* the very tall vented loop runs (seems just *asking* for trouble to have to pump it that high in order to get it out of the boat at the bottom! - you can see it in the /engine room/electrical panels of the boatpix from the below URL), but the wrestling match I had to go through isn't something I'm looking forward to duplicating! On the subject of the vented loop, it's *right* on the centerline, and, based on the lavatory in the aft head, considerably above the water line. On the center line, how far above the water line does it have to be for safety? Above any level of conceivable heel's waterline? Given that it's full of water and other crap (pardon the expression), all the time, against the duckbill, it makes me wonder. On the subject of joints, I'm of distinctly curious mind. While my current home isn't this way, my prior home had hundreds of feet of PVC pipe run, with all the necessary ells, Ts and other fittings, all successfully carrying high pressure hot and cold water. With the hot, there was notable deformation of the pipe as it expanded and contracted due to hot vs room-temp water, over long runs. No leaks, no failures, in 25 years. Properly supported, I am clueless as to how a no-pressure (well, aside from the 2.5' head) 1.5" line would be at risk of failure If I keep the existing height of the vented loop, that's about 2.5 feet each way, plus the elbows to and from. The "supply" is about 1.5 or so feet, and the waste out is another 3 feet or so (currently - I may have a thru-hull available closer when I'm through ripping out stuff in there). If it won't make the corners readily, I'd have to use ells, anyway, doubling my joints. The current vented loop has a screw-in couple of SeaLand connectors or the like. I'd see using a screw-in PVC with Teflon tape, and a coupler joint to the pipe (no corroding clamps - or, better, a nipple/joint, saving me one more glue-up on each side). If I had to redo it, I could just saw it off and start over (unscrew and insert new after sawing). I'd have two terminations of SeaLand PVC, and 8 clamps (two each at both ends of both terminations), and very little hose, and only two elbows plus the joints at the vented loop. So, I'd have the same number of clamps, and the same number of hose connections, but only a foot or two of hose, and the rest solid installation. Am I missing something? The forward head isn't as convenient in straight runs, so that one likely will have mostly hose. I'm glad for the savings with the lower prices... The stuff I took out of the aft head was either exhaust hose or very brittle and fully saturated white pipe. I rather suspect it was not the SeaLand OdorSafe :{/) L8R Skip (and Lydia, by proxy), champing at the bit to cast off, now that refit is actually under way! Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig http://tinyurl.com/384p2 "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain |
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