In reworking my holding tank plumbing, I think I can simplify. Do I really need a vented loop after my Macerator pump if I always leave the seacock closed, unless the pump is running?
Ben,
Good topic–I’m planning on redoing Shaula’s head plumbing one of these days. If you assume that your head (and the holding tank?) are below the waterline, is it possible to get a siphon going through the macerator?
You should assume that the seacock, on some rare occasion, doesn’t get closed, like it is supposed to. Alas, I say this based on personal experience with our intake seacock, which is also “always…closed” except when pumping the head.
I don’t know what the interior of a macerator looks like, but it seems likely that there would be enough resistance there to break a possible siphon. Siphoning from jugs into tanks leads me to think that siphons are fairly easy to break, and that gravity is pulling on both sides.
Dan Shaula
even better use a syphon loop with a carbon filter for smell reduction.
Ben, I agree with every comment made so far. I am not clear on what you are doing. Are you pumping your head overboard with the macerator or to the holding tank? Are you using this same pump to pump out your holding tank? The bottom line is that your head is below the waterline.
I would suggest you cover yourself and install the vented loop. At the top of the vented loop remove the flapper valve or any valve that prevents the siphon and replace it with a hose barb. Then “T” into the holding tank vent line with a “T” hose barb. Connect a hose (3/8, 1/2???) between these barbs and you will not have an odor from the vented loop or the holding tank. The larger the vent line the less chance you have of odors…
I seriously think you should not cut corners when it comes to head installation. When you have a problem…and you will…you do not want to have to solve it at sea. I also suggest you flush freshwater through your head whenever you leave it for more than a day or two.
Roger
Ben, I agree with every comment made so far. I am not clear on what you are doing. Are you pumping your head overboard with the macerator or to the holding tank? Are you using this same pump to pump out your holding tank? The bottom line is that your head is below the waterline.
I would suggest you cover yourself and install the vented loop. At the top of the vented loop remove the flapper valve or any valve that prevents the siphon and replace it with a hose barb. Then “T” into the holding tank vent line with a “T” hose barb. Connect a hose (3/8, 1/2???) between these barbs and you will not have an odor from the vented loop or the holding tank. The larger the vent line the less chance you have of odors…
I seriously think you should not cut corners when it comes to head installation. When you have a problem…and you will…you do not want to have to solve it at sea. I also suggest you flush freshwater through your head whenever you leave it for more than a day or two.
Roger