Peggie Hall wrote:
It's about a 20 to 25 foot run to the holding
tank.

Unless it's all downhill, that's at least 4 x further than all but a few
high end electric toilets can move bowl contents...you'll always have
waste sitting in the line, and that will result in stinky hoses. The
optimal distance from the toilet to a tank is 6' or less...10' is the
absolute max.


This touches on a question I had for you. I've added the manual pump
in series with the electric on my Lavac. The performance has been
getting weaker over the years, and the manual pump is need as a
frequent backup. In tracing all of the hoses I now understand why its
always been sluggish. The water intake line is about 12 feet long,
the head output to the pump should be two feet, but they circled it
around for at least ten, and the holding tank is about 12 or 15 feet
from the pump. Thus the total run is maybe 35 feet, an awful lot for
even the Lavac pump.

Some of this will be dealt with in the Fall (if we last that long!)
but I wonder about one item: The waste line from the pump goes up to 5
feet over the sole, then down under the sole, under the shower, though
the engine compartment and then rises up to go into the holding tank
which is built into the stern steps. This means there's a low section
about 6 feet long, maybe 3 feet lower than the high point near the
tank. Is this very bad, or just sub-optimal? Since I can't shorten
this, should I keep it high, perhaps using some pvc as a conduit to
run it through the shower? And how much do I have to clean the hose
that might not ever come out of the bilge?

TIA, Jeff

Jeff wrote:
Peggie Hall wrote:
This touches on a question I had for you. I've added the manual pump in
series with the electric on my Lavac.

I wouldn't recommend that. I wouldn't recommend the electric Lavac either.

The performance has been getting
weaker over the years, and the manual pump is need as a frequent
backup. In tracing all of the hoses I now understand why its always
been sluggish. The water intake line is about 12 feet long, the head
output to the pump should be two feet, but they circled it around for at
least ten, and the holding tank is about 12 or 15 feet from the pump.
Thus the total run is maybe 35 feet, an awful lot for even the Lavac pump.

Sheesh! O WONDER you have problems! I don't suppose it ever occurred to
anyone so far to read the bloomin' installation instructions?

Some of this will be dealt with in the Fall (if we last that long!) but
I wonder about one item: The waste line from the pump goes up to 5 feet
over the sole, then down under the sole, under the shower, though the
engine compartment and then rises up to go into the holding tank which
is built into the stern steps. This means there's a low section about 6
feet long, maybe 3 feet lower than the high point near the tank. Is
this very bad, or just sub-optimal? Since I can't shorten this, should
I keep it high, perhaps using some pvc as a conduit to run it through
the shower? And how much do I have to clean the hose that might not
ever come out of the bilge?

Who dreamed up THAT nightmare????? The right solution: relocate the
tank! If you don't think that's possible, you're wrong...email me.
--
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://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304