last year i bought an old boat with 2 heads.1 is a direct discharge
type that we always used (perfectly legal where we hang out). the
other head is a vacuflush which i decided to figure out how it all
worked. first problem i dicovered is that none of the lights on the
tank tender panel lit up even though there is 13.4v at the back of the
panel. what could be the cause since at least one of the lights should
be lit?
i flushed a few clean bowlfulls of water into the holding tank. good
vaccuum.i turned on the discharge pump which pumped convincingly but
just bubbles came out the through hull.i decided to give the holding
tank a good rince out by filling the tank through the deck discharge
port.i was quite surprised to discover that the holding tank was
completely full already! (that explained a list that had been
troubling me) we have not used this toilet so heaven only knows how
long said contents have been solidifying in the holding tank. i
proceded to replace the duck bill valves in the discharge pump and
inspect for cloggage and loose hose clamps. put the whole thing back
togeher. the pump thumps convincingly but only passes gas which
bubbles out the exit orfice under the boat.now i can figure out that
the exit pipe from the holding tank may be clogged with petrified
copros but i am reluctant to disconnect the discharge hose from the
tank in case the petrified copros theory is incorrect.the nearest pump
out station is at least 4 hours away making it a whole days journey.
can anyone suggest anything that is both simple and foolproof that
might have escaped my novice brain? all advice will be greatly
appreciated, i look forward to being flush with sucess.

First answer this question: What are you doing trying to discharge your
holding tank into a body of water? Even the rinse water contains crap.

What type of pump?

Is your pump "thumping convincingly" while pushing and pulling a blown
diaphram?

We're assuming the sea cock is fully open, of course

First answer this question: What are you doing trying to discharge
your
holding tank into a body of water? Even the rinse water contains crap.



*************

????????

It is perfectly legal, and a very common practice, to discharge
directly overboard when more than three miles offshore in the ocean.
Notice that the poster's closest pump out station is a four-hour cruise
away, and he has noted that where he intends to pump out it is
perfectly legal to do so. In a sal****er environment and with a
mega-billion to one dilution ratio, moderate quantities of human waste
are environmentally benign.

The concept may seem foreign to freshwater, inland lake boaters and it
should be.
Dumping into a small body of water that may be shallow, not frequently
flushed, and is likely used for swimming, water skiing, or even
drinking water is going to raise the fecal coliform to an unhealthy
level. While a one boat exception wouldn't create an enormous problem,
every boater would want to be considered the "exception" so a strict
enforcement is appropriate.

This guy dumping a holding tank several miles from shore in open salt
water is doing no more damage to the environment than the average city
dweller who flushes the john, sends the stuff to a plant for minimal
treatment and dilution, and then watches it bubbling up a few hundred
yards from shore- often in a freshwater or inland salt water
environment.

Some of the cleanest water one will ever be lucky enough to boat in is
up in British Columbia, where until just recently pumpouts didn't even
exist. This situation can exist because the waters are large, deep, and
salty and the number of boaters per square mile is relatively
small......exactly the conditions one would expect to encounter three
or more miles offshore. The large city of Victoria treated it's sewage
by running it through a screen to filter out rags, etc, as well as to
break up the largest "chunks". That was it. The practice either
continued until very recently or may still be the norm up there. Their
waters are cleaner than most.

Communities along rivers often extract drinking water from the same
body of water that received the outflow from the treatment plant
50-miles upstream. To me, that's a gross concept but to folks who live
there it probably isn't a big deal.

It's long been a fact that some of the best lobstering is around the
outfalls from sewer treatment plants on the east coast. The lobsters
are finding a lot to eat in that "treated" sewage.

Do you have a grassy yard around your house? If so, and if you are
using commercial fertilizer and weed killers on it you are contirbuting
far more to water pollution than somebody pumping a holding tank into
the open ocean three or more miles from shore.

There's no reason to be frightened of human waste. It isn't very
pleasant and can transfer certain diseases under certain conditions and
concentrations, but its been with us for millions of years and it's an
unavoidable byproduct of biological activity. Proper management and
disposal is important, and that can include putting it directly back
into the environment where safely appropriate. Owners of properties
with septic tanks, outhouses, etc, have been doing just that for years.
Of the "stuff" coming out of the average holding tank, the chemicals we
dump in for odor control, etc, are incredibly more lethal than the
human waste.

"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 08:33:14 -0400, "JimH" wrote:

First answer this question: What are you doing trying to discharge your
holding tank into a body of water? Even the rinse water contains crap.


First sentence......

"last year I bought an old boat with 2 heads.1 is a direct discharge
type that we always used (perfectly legal where we hang out). "

Not my idea of a good idea, but, truly, if

"the nearest pump out station is at least 4 hours away, "

this guy must not be too near civilization....

--




Thanks for pointing that out Gene. My mistake. Another brain fart.

Maybe he lives in that pristine area of Alaska known as ANWR. ;-)
Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Southport, NC.

http://myworkshop.idleplay.net/
Homepage*
http://www.thebayguide.com/rec.boats
Rec.boats at Lee Yeaton's Bayguide

You could try to email Peggy Hall at or contact
Sealand http://www.sealandtechnology.com/vf.asp.

Peggy Hall is not associated with Sealand but is an expert on marine
sanitation systems. That is the last working email address I had for Peggy.

..

On 26 Apr 2005 19:58:48 -0700, (neil) wrote:

last year i bought an old boat with 2 heads.1 is a direct discharge
type that we always used (perfectly legal where we hang out). the
other head is a vacuflush which i decided to figure out how it all
worked. first problem i dicovered is that none of the lights on the
tank tender panel lit up even though there is 13.4v at the back of the
panel. what could be the cause since at least one of the lights should
be lit?
i flushed a few clean bowlfulls of water into the holding tank. good
vaccuum.i turned on the discharge pump which pumped convincingly but
just bubbles came out the through hull.i decided to give the holding
tank a good rince out by filling the tank through the deck discharge
port.i was quite surprised to discover that the holding tank was
completely full already! (that explained a list that had been
troubling me) we have not used this toilet so heaven only knows how
long said contents have been solidifying in the holding tank. i
proceded to replace the duck bill valves in the discharge pump and
inspect for cloggage and loose hose clamps. put the whole thing back
togeher. the pump thumps convincingly but only passes gas which
bubbles out the exit orfice under the boat.now i can figure out that
the exit pipe from the holding tank may be clogged with petrified
copros but i am reluctant to disconnect the discharge hose from the
tank in case the petrified copros theory is incorrect.the nearest pump
out station is at least 4 hours away making it a whole days journey.
can anyone suggest anything that is both simple and foolproof that
might have escaped my novice brain? all advice will be greatly
appreciated, i look forward to being flush with sucess.

This would be a good question for Peggy over in rec.boats.cruising. She's
written books on the subject. I think she has more sense than to come over here.
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

This would be a good question for Peggy over in rec.boats.cruising.
She's
written books on the subject. I think she has more sense than to come
over here.
--
John H

********

She used to be a regular here.

It didn't take a lot of abuse from somebody upset that she was posting
about a topic in which she had commercial experience ("SPAMMER"!) to
drive her away.

Wonderful lady, a true loss to this group.

On 27 Apr 2005 13:09:43 -0700, wrote:

This would be a good question for Peggy over in rec.boats.cruising.
She's
written books on the subject. I think she has more sense than to come
over here.

My 'head' consists of a little plastic bucket, but I greatly enjoy reading
Peggy's posts over in 'cruising'. She has a star detractor over there also, a
Capt Neal. He very much reminds me of a couple folks over here.
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

wrote:

She used to be a regular here.

It didn't take a lot of abuse from somebody upset that she was posting
about a topic in which she had commercial experience ("SPAMMER"!) to
drive her away.

Wonderful lady, a true loss to this group.


I second that comment. The cruising group is still semi-functional, no
thanks to Capt Neal & like.