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Macerator toilet smell.


Felshampo

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I have read several threads about smelly toilets but don't think they are like my problem. 

We have a bog standard set up with a macerator toilet feeding a large tank under the floor in the back cabin. All was working fine until one day in August the macerator stopped working. Took the pump off to find it was seized up. It had always seemed noisy so we think it may have been abused in its past as we had been very careful what we put down it. Anyway I bought a new pump and it all worked fine, only quieter. 

Then a few weeks latter we got a terrible smell in the toilet area. At first I feared a pipe had come loose but checked the ones I had taken off when replacing the pump and they were fine. Smell went away. But this happened again a couple of weeks later. It now seems to happen about once a week. We live on board so use the toilet several times a day. 

I have checked the vent pipe from the skin fitting by running water through it and that isn't blocked. It seems that the toilet is just as effective as a vent so should we be keeping water in it to stop this smell? Like the u-bend in a house toilet. We didn't do this before and never got a smell and we had the boat for a year before the pump failed. 

When I put the new pump on the pipe seal had a rubber flap on it. I cleaned off the limescale and put it back. Could it be this flap is the wrong way round and hanging open rather than closed. Should I have got a new valve? I don't want to take the toilet apart again if I don't have to. 

 

Any advice gratefully received. 

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I suspect that whereas those few (!) folks wh have dump through loos put something down to reduce unpleasant smells - those who have a remote tank don't, then 'complain' when the smells go up the vent pipe.

 

Since wr now have a good quantity of hospital grade washing machine fluid we've discovered that a small quantity of said fluid introduced on a reasonably regular basis not only reduces the odour but also breaks down the solids which feed the smelly bacteria.

The same concepts / issues obtain whether your tank is under the bed (Why For FS put your poo under the bed...) or underneath the seat.

Yoy don't need a lot to add - Tesco (and mebe others) sell a powder sounding like Oxy-gen for little and that works as well as our dwindling  stock of the real McCoy.

For remote tankers - put in the loo and at leat the breather vent won't smell as much with the added benefit that wheb you conme to clean the under-bed-tank, it'll be slightly less unpleasant.

 

 

It's all you ex-urban folk who can't deal with unpleasantness - I've been shovelling horse and cow poo from thr age of ten - you get used to it and human stuff (can be) only slightly worse...

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28 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

I suspect that whereas those few (!) folks wh have dump through loos put something down to reduce unpleasant smells - those who have a remote tank don't, then 'complain' when the smells go up the vent pipe.

 

 

 

 

It's all you ex-urban folk who can't deal with unpleasantness - I've been shovelling horse and cow poo from thr age of ten - you get used to it and human stuff (can be) only slightly worse...

I inherited a half tank full of blue. I continued to use it with no smell problems for 6 months. We were in the process of changing to Silky when the pump failed. The smell we get now isn't too bad. It is not coming out of the vent pipe into the boat but out of the toilet itself. 

 

We had pigs on our farm, I never got used to shovelling their poo! 

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12 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

When our macerator bog was installed we were advised never to use chemicals. We don't, and the system doesn't smell.

 

 

It is amazing how when you go into someones house, who is a smoker, or has dogs that you are hit by the smell of 'ashtrays' or dogs, yet they never think their house smells.

I have been on a number of boats with similar minded owners.

 

I believe the phrase is 'nose-blind'.

 

Even the Queen's poo 'stinks' just the same as everyone else.

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17 minutes ago, Felshampo said:

Do you leave the water in it or is it part of the design like the s bend in a house toilet? 

Some macerators have an adjustment screw on them to raise /lower the water level in the pan (Seem to recall that Tecma's do on the back of the control panel)

 

Edited by PaulJ
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1 minute ago, PaulJ said:

Some macerators have an adjustment screw on them to raise /lower the water level in the pan (Seem to recall that Tecma's do)

 

Ours is a Johnson-Pump which empties the pan when you use the macerator. You can then add about 1 inch of water if you want to. 

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1 hour ago, rustynewbery said:

It is alleged that a sample was/is contained in formaldehyde solution when the Queen's loo on an RAF Britannia aircraft was emptied after a royal flight.  

I can neither confirm nor deny that, in the late 70s, I did myself lay eyes upon the "Princess Margaret Trophy", made by the stokers who looked after the plumbing in the Royal Yacht. It comprised of an impressively large, oven dessicated movement, varnished and mounted on a wooden plinth, and it resided in the rather unique leading hands' bar on the Yacht itself. I'd not be surprised if one or two other members here may also be unable to confirm nor deny seeing it.

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On 31/12/2019 at 12:13, Alan de Enfield said:

It is amazing how when you go into someones house, who is a smoker, or has dogs that you are hit by the smell of 'ashtrays' or dogs, yet they never think their house smells.

I have been on a number of boats with similar minded owners.

 

 

 

You're OK - I wasn't going to invite you on board anyway.

 

 

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On 30/12/2019 at 20:19, Felshampo said:

 

I inherited a half tank full of blue. I continued to use it with no smell problems for 6 months. We were in the process of changing to Silky when the pump failed. The smell we get now isn't too bad. It is not coming out of the vent pipe into the boat but out of the toilet itself. 

 

We had pigs on our farm, I never got used to shovelling their poo! 

If you use blue with a macerator you will always get a smell as it kills tne 'good' bacteria. We have had our Tecma loo for over 10 years. The only stuff we put down is biological washing power occasionally.

But to get to where you need to be you'll have to go through several tankfuls with no blue, which will unfortunately smell, until you have flushed out all tne blue.

 

Steve

 

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10 hours ago, NewCanalBoy said:

Her Majesty's smells of strawberries don't you know.

However, I think it unlikely that it'll be anything close to the product of a gallon of John Smith's and a Lamb Vindaloo. These things are all relative. ;)

 

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On 01/01/2020 at 21:28, Just Heaven said:

If you use blue with a macerator you will always get a smell as it kills tne 'good' bacteria. We have had our Tecma loo for over 10 years. The only stuff we put down is biological washing power occasionally.

But to get to where you need to be you'll have to go through several tankfuls with no blue, which will unfortunately smell, until you have flushed out all tne blue.

 

Steve

 

If the toilet smells it is very tempting to pour a load of bleach into it.  Never use bleach as it will also kill the good bacteria in the tank, turning it into a festering pit.  For that reason, don’t even use bleach or similar for cleaning etc. 

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On 01/01/2020 at 21:28, Just Heaven said:

If you use blue with a macerator you will always get a smell as it kills tne 'good' bacteria. We have had our Tecma loo for over 10 years. The only stuff we put down is biological washing power occasionally.

But to get to where you need to be you'll have to go through several tankfuls with no blue, which will unfortunately smell, until you have flushed out all tne blue.

 

Steve

 

Yep the smell is now much improved if you see what I mean. However it's not the smell that bothers me but the fact it comes out the toilet. This didn't happen when I was using the last of the blue stuff yet when I did a pump out the contents were rank. 

 

On 04/01/2020 at 10:39, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Is it always the day after curried sprout night?  ?

That's Friday, I'll get back to you. 

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On 06/01/2020 at 21:55, Sea Dog said:

What exactly were you expecting? Roses? Lily of the Valley? Freshly laundered linen? ;)

 

Ah yes well. Exactly. No the comment was to illustrate the anomaly between the smell before and after. 

Using blue no smell from toilet but waste tank very smelly. Using no blue toilet smelly but waste tank not so smelly. 

That's what I don't understand. ?

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22 minutes ago, Felshampo said:

Ah yes well. Exactly. No the comment was to illustrate the anomaly between the smell before and after. 

Using blue no smell from toilet but waste tank very smelly. Using no blue toilet smelly but waste tank not so smelly. 

That's what I don't understand. ?

Some times it's difficult to give a truly definitive explanation. Often that's because not all the variables are known to both parties.

In this case - and with no other information than the above, I can only suggest that whatever blue you have introduced (?)via the toilet bowl has moved into the tank and is 'doing its job there'.

I had something similar to the above when using "Oxy" washing powder and hospital quality detergent. I scrubbed the bowlseals and pipe with the detergent and got a 'no smell' situation - and it's not returned. However, you do have to repeat the dosing procedure 'regularly'.

In my view Blue type treatments kill everything in sight, whereas the others break down the materials and discourage the smelly bacteria and at the same time promote 'good' bacteria which don't smell. I think this not only is longer lasting and more pervasive than the 'smother everything' technique.

'Our' marina banned the use of Blue for pump outs because it killed all bacteria and made the effluent more difficult to treat later and therefore increased the disposal costs.

 

The above doesn't give you a definitive answer - but may shed some light on your experiences... (or not)

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We had a funny larger type smell in ours when we got it. No matter what we tried it wouldn't go. So i replaced all of the rubber pipe work and smell no more.

Apparently where I got it from the man said they need replacing after 5/6 years as they start to perish and crack up on the inside, wasn't until I got mine off you noticed how bad it was.

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On 31/12/2019 at 12:48, Detling said:

My maserator always has a bit of water in it the only ones I know that don't are vacuum flush.

Vacuflush? They do have water in the bowl.

On 03/01/2020 at 15:20, Chewbacka said:

If the toilet smells it is very tempting to pour a load of bleach into it.  Never use bleach as it will also kill the good bacteria in the tank, turning it into a festering pit.  For that reason, don’t even use bleach or similar for cleaning etc. 

Bleach will also ruin any rubber seals.

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