Blocked pumpout! Advice welcome

[Sheila Hurley]

We have a pump out toilet on our narrowboat. It is a flush toilet not a dump through. We have pumped it out several times without any problems, however this week we pumped it out when the indicator light went red (we knew it was due as we log how many flushes) later that day it showed red again & the flush water did not go down. We are leisure users & the last time we pumped out was October 2020, as due to lockdowns & maintenance work etc we've not been able to use the boat.

Any advice gratefully received:

Is this something we can sort ourselves or do we need to get professional help?

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, Sheila Hurley said:

Is this something we can sort ourselves or do we need to get professional help?

 

It depends on your skill levels and your willingness to get 'down and dirty'.

 

A typical problen with low, or 'lack of usage' is that a lot of liquid can evaporate off, the solids all drop to the bottom and be come a layer of 'concrete poo', flushing & pumping out alone will not loosen it. 

Do you gave a tank access hatch that you can remove and view that actual levels inside the tank ?

[jonathanA]

Either you didn't get as much out as you thought. I  had this recently when my pump lost its suck but did enough to make me think it was working OK. 

 

The other problem I've had is cling ons on the warning sensor keeping the just too late red warning lamp on even though the tank is empty. 

Although if the toilet isn't emptying that would suggest a full tank.

 

Alan's point about a build up could be the issue. I tend to give a good flush with a hose down the pumpout and rock the boat to stir things up if it's been sat for a while.

[Iain_S]

I would expect to get a good few flushes out of it (or into it) after the light had gone red. Does the red light indicate tank full, or is it a general fault warning?

 

If the problem is a blockage, my initial action these days is reverse the power connections on the macerator, run it a couple of times (without adding more water!) and then try a normal empty.

 

As others have said,  it could be a compaction problem.  Even so, it should last longer than a day! Do you know roughly how much "stuff" came out during the pump out? Did it take the normal time to empty the tank, or was it a lot quicker?

[Tracy D'arth]

1 hour ago, Sheila Hurley said:

We have a pump out toilet on our narrowboat. It is a flush toilet not a dump through. We have pumped it out several times without any problems, however this week we pumped it out when the indicator light went red (we knew it was due as we log how many flushes) later that day it showed red again & the flush water did not go down. We are leisure users & the last time we pumped out was October 2020, as due to lockdowns & maintenance work etc we've not been able to use the boat.

Any advice gratefully received:

Is this something we can sort ourselves or do we need to get professional help?

When you last pumped, did you actually get anything out of it?

I have found a wet vax the best for unblocking pumpout tanks and hoses. Used both down the bowl and on the tank pumpout there are not many blockages that it will not shift.

[Tom and Bex]

33 minutes ago, Iain_S said:

my initial action these days is reverse the power connections on the macerator, run it a couple of times (without adding more water!) and then try a normal empty.

This is my go to first action with any problems now! 

 

When you flush, can you hear the macerator pump working? Ours will quite happily keep flushing the toilet until the the tank overflows (and still keep flushing and overflowing into the canal even then if we wanted to!).

[blackrose]

My advice is get a cassette.

 

[jonathanA]

C90 or C60. I always liked tdk tapes myself....

 

Something to listen to whilst waiting 

Edited July 17, 2021 by jonathanA

[haggis]

10 hours ago, blackrose said:

My advice is get a cassette.

 

 

How helpful 🙂 . 

[Sheila Hurley]

13 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It depends on your skill levels and your willingness to get 'down and dirty'.

 

A typical problen with low, or 'lack of usage' is that a lot of liquid can evaporate off, the solids all drop to the bottom and be come a layer of 'concrete poo', flushing & pumping out alone will not loosen it. 

Do you gave a tank access hatch that you can remove and view that actual levels inside the tank ?

Yes I think so- my photo is too big to upload but it looks like a round screw lid about 20cm in diameter. I've never dared touch it! Would you advise having a peek?

11 hours ago, blackrose said:

My advice is get a cassette.

 

 

Luckily we've got two which came with the boat but I prefer the pump out loo

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, Sheila Hurley said:

I've never dared touch it! Would you advise having a peek?

 

 

 

If you cannot unblock it by reversing the macerator, then its really the only way - you dont want to be poking things down the toilet there are all sorts of seals and valves you can damage.

[dmr]

Your evidence suggests the last pumpout did not work for some reason. Some pumpout operators know what they are doing, some are useless. Its possible the pumpout nozzle did not make a good seal.

 

Open that inspection hatch and have a look. Do a good job of resealing it!

 

Assuming the tank is full then get another pumpout. If you can take the inspection hatch off before the pumpout and watch to confirm the level is going down.

 

The "concrete poo" problem is often mentioned but I am not convinced its true, its possibly just an invention of the cassette fans who like to criticise pumpouts. You have left the tank for a long time, but some domestic septic tanks go 10 years or more between pumpouts, they do get very stodgy but still suck out.

 

If your tank will not empty then the most likely causes are an air leak in the pipe or a blockage, maybe a wet wipe or similar has got in there, though I am surprised the macerator did not "catch" it.

 

................Dave

[GUMPY]

Another reason for pumpouts failing is that the pipe within the tank that sucks the stuff out corrodes and rusts away this means it becomes shorter and shorter leading eventually to very little being evacuated from the tank. In extreme cases it can corrode through where it enters the tank.

If the boat has any age to it I would suspect this first.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Loddon

[dmr]

51 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Another reason for pumpouts failing is that the pipe within the tank that sucks the stuff out corrodes and rusts away this means it becomes shorter and shorter leading eventually to very little being evacuated from the tank. In extreme cases it can corrode through where it enters the tank.

If the boat has any age to it I would suspect this first.

 

As its a remote flush thing rather a dump through I was assuming its more modern so likely made out of plastic. Can the OP confirm?

 

.............Dave

[cuthound]

15 hours ago, Iain_S said:

I would expect to get a good few flushes out of it (or into it) after the light had gone red. Does the red light indicate tank full, or is it a general fault warning?

 

If the problem is a blockage, my initial action these days is reverse the power connections on the macerator, run it a couple of times (without adding more water!) and then try a normal empty.

 

As others have said,  it could be a compaction problem.  Even so, it should last longer than a day! Do you know roughly how much "stuff" came out during the pump out? Did it take the normal time to empty the tank, or was it a lot quicker?

 

Indeed. When I bought my boat I was concerned what might happen if the bulb in tbe red light blew!

 

I fitted an MSC guage (easy, just drill a hole in the top of the waste tank for the sender, cut a hole for the guage and pick up a suitable 12 volt supply).

 

The MSC guage showed that the red light came on when the waste tank was only 50% full. This meant that the MSC guage paid for itself after about 10 pumpouts.

Edited July 18, 2021 by cuthound
Clarification

[Sheila Hurley]

3 hours ago, dmr said:

 

As its a remote flush thing rather a dump through I was assuming its more modern so likely made out of plastic. Can the OP confirm?

 

.............Dave

It's not a macerator (I don't think- but I'm new to this- just a holding tank) pipes & tank are all plastic. The pump out operator is husband! He thinks it seemed to take the usual amount of time 😂but I think we'll be brave & try opening the hatch! Also I think the red light indicator is working ok as you get about 3 or 4 flushes b4 it stops disappearing into the tank! I'll report back but it's 31C & time for cold beer 🍺 I really appreciate all your suggestions!

[Markinaboat]

I had this problem with just crud from lack of use and maybe spiders ensts etc. The red full light would come on when the tank was knowhere near to full.

 

Check the vent isn't blocked. Locate it outside (roof or in the hull topside/gunwale) and poke it with a wire coat hanger or similar. If your vent is in the roof then unlikey I guess but maybe blast down it with a pressure washer unless it's a staright enough run to put sonething down there. Alternatively, disconnect the vent pipe at the tank and prod about form there.

[Bod]

If you have a translucent plastic tank, a powerful torch held against the side or top, in the dark, can give an indication of the fullness of the tank.

 

Bod.

[dmr]

In the slightly longer term fitting a good gauge would be a very good investment, the MSC device was mentioned. I can't comment on this but their freshwater gauge works very well.

 

..............Dave

[ditchcrawler]

I still am not sure if you are talking about a blockage in the pumpout line of in the toilet

Maybe the pumpout pump was blocked and didn't empty your tank. Talking to the lady doing our pumpout last trip she had a problem, The boat came in with no plug in the pumpout fitting, sucked a bit and stopped pulling. Snails in  the tube that went into her pumpout out fitting.

[Midnight]

21 hours ago, Sheila Hurley said:

We have a pump out toilet on our narrowboat. It is a flush toilet not a dump through. We have pumped it out several times without any problems, however this week we pumped it out when the indicator light went red (we knew it was due as we log how many flushes) later that day it showed red again & the flush water did not go down. We are leisure users & the last time we pumped out was October 2020, as due to lockdowns & maintenance work etc we've not been able to use the boat.

Any advice gratefully received:

Is this something we can sort ourselves or do we need to get professional help?

I've never encountered evaporation causing crud but several people have mentioned it so is worth checking via the inspection hatch. If your system is not a macerator or a dump through is it a vacuum toilet? I err towards the theory that it's the pump out machine. I had lots of issues with a 12v toilet pump not working when tiny solids stuck in the joker valves.