pump out kits

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Hi everyone,

 

Whilst scanning the forum the other night I came across a respondent who mentioned that he had purchased a pump out kit off Ebay for something like £68 As (new this year continuous cruisers) we, like many others were frozen in solid for 9 days at the beginning of January, in one of the bleakest landscapes for miles. Our water supply ran out and as we have a macerator wc, we had no option but use the water from our fresh water containers to flush the loo. But what if we needed a pump out whilst we were frozen in? This got us thinking there must be an alternative to relying on the odd Marina for a pump out, which for some reason we need to do almost once a week. At £14 a time , it's no joke. What we would like to do is pump out the tank ourselves and dispose of the effluent in a responsible way.

 

If you are reading this and are the person who bought the pump out kit, then we woulsd like to hear from you. On the other hand if there is someone else out there who can help, me and er indoors would like to hear from you.

 

Regards

Alan

[Gary Peacock]

We do all the bits to put together both electrical or manual pump one but it will probably cost quite a lot more than the ebay offering.

 

If you need anymore info you will need to speak to Keith on 01924 493844 you could also get the bits from a certain expert toilet company but I don't have a very high view of them personally.

[JefR]

Do you mean something like this?

 

http://www.leesan.com/bundles/self_pump_out_kits_lr.pdf

 

Incidently, I used to use the manual version myself and can recommend it as a serious money saver!

Edited January 27, 2009 by JefR

[twocvbloke]

Could you not use canal water to flush the loo?

[ditchcrawler]

Could you not use canal water to flush the loo?

That's what we did while stuck in the ice, Plenty of room in the loo tank but not much drinking water, so just stood a bucket of canal water in the bathroom with a jug. Easy.

We also carry a Potapotty just in case the tank is full and we can't get a pump out. Used it twice in 7 years.

[Andy Woods]

Hi Alan,

It's me with bargain poo pump system!!

May take a little time for another one to appear , try searching for 'jabsco macerator pump' on ebay...

The pumps are available in the UK but tend to be in the £150 category.

Been using mine for the last two 'pump outs' and it's been fine. Quite a high current draw when working hard , overcome by putting a spare battery on the boat roof and connecting directly to it with a short lead. Two trips with two containers to the elsan point later and job done. So far thats £24 offset against purchace cost...wont be long before showing a profit!

Also easier this time of year is not having to move the boat, as we are on the river and it can be 'entertaining'....

Hope this helps,

Regards

Andy.

[MoominPapa]

Hi Alan,

It's me with bargain poo pump system!!

May take a little time for another one to appear , try searching for 'jabsco macerator pump' on ebay...

The pumps are available in the UK but tend to be in the £150 category.

Been using mine for the last two 'pump outs' and it's been fine. Quite a high current draw when working hard , overcome by putting a spare battery on the boat roof and connecting directly to it with a short lead. Two trips with two containers to the elsan point later and job done. So far thats £24 offset against purchace cost...wont be long before showing a profit!

Also easier this time of year is not having to move the boat, as we are on the river and it can be 'entertaining'....

Hope this helps,

Regards

Andy.

You know, this pumping out into a container is super. It's cheaper to empty those than a pump out tank, and much easier to find places to do it. I've had a great idea: rather than having a holding tank and separate containers to carry to the emptying point, why not integrate a carry-able container into the toilet? The waste could go straight into the container and eliminate the pump-out transfer operation. I've even thought of a name for my toilet-integrated carryable container, we could call it a "cassette".

 

What does the team think?

 

MP.

Edited January 27, 2009 by MoominPapa

[Gary Peacock]

Ahh but I have seen where the cassette gets emptied!

Edited January 27, 2009 by Gary Peacock

[david and julie]

This got us thinking there must be an alternative to relying on the odd Marina for a pump out, which for some reason we need to do almost once a week. At £14 a time , it's no joke.

Could the tank be clogged with sediment? unless there are several people living aboard only lasting a week is a waste of time.

 

Also the toilet itself can have a bearing on it, I once saw a boat with a house style saniflow toilet and I believe they use more water.

[Keeping Up]

Could the tank be clogged with sediment? unless there are several people living aboard only lasting a week is a waste of time.

 

Also the toilet itself can have a bearing on it, I once saw a boat with a house style saniflow toilet and I believe they use more water.

That's got to be worth checking.

 

We have never ever managed to generate more than a gallon per person per day, including flush water, so our relatively small 30 gallon tank has never lasted the two of us for less than a fortnight. Normally we reckon on not mouch more than half that quantity (ie the tank lasts nearly a month if we're careful).

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Could you not use canal water to flush the loo?

 

What a great idea! Except the canal was frozen upto 2 inches thick. Tried smashing it with the boat pole to no avail. Then found a house brick and couldn't break the ice with that either!

 

Cheers

Alan

 

You know, this pumping out into a container is super. It's cheaper to empty those than a pump out tank, and much easier to find places to do it. I've had a great idea: rather than having a holding tank and separate containers to carry to the emptying point, why not integrate a carry-able container into the toilet? The waste could go straight into the container and eliminate the pump-out transfer operation. I've even thought of a name for my toilet-integrated carryable container, we could call it a "cassette".

 

What does the team think?

 

MP.

 

Thanks for the info. Have looked on Ebay and found a site that has a lot of Jabsco 12v pumps. So have started bidding - lets hope we are succesful.

 

Alan

[Neil TNC]

What a great idea! Except the canal was frozen upto 2 inches thick. Tried smashing it with the boat pole to no avail. Then found a house brick and couldn't break the ice with that either!

 

Cheers

Alan

 

 

 

Thanks for the info. Have looked on Ebay and found a site that has a lot of Jabsco 12v pumps. So have started bidding - lets hope we are succesful.

 

Alan

 

I have used canal water to flush Earnest's macerator toilet from day one. Earnest has a raw water intake, just above the bottom plate, to a stand pipe, so no seacock below water level. Needless to say this is the most likely place for the hull to leak, so the side anode is positioned just above the intake. Earnest has a changeover valve for freshwater flush, if you are high and dry, or in very weedy conditions. It has a two stage filter, which does not need cleaning out that oftern. The worst and sadest blockage was a small fish.

Earnest also has a rather overpowerfull 240v AC self pump out system, using the rather outrageously price LeeSan / Jabsco kit.

[debbifiggy]

Hi everyone,

 

What we would like to do is pump out the tank ourselves and dispose of the effluent in a responsible way.

 

 

As a responsible person disposing of sewage it is worth noting that many BW Elsan points are not suitable for self-pump out as they are often cess pits with limited capacity. One pump out can completely fill a pit and leave others in the area who are dependent on elsan facilities and have no transport with nowhere safe to dispose of their waste. As a result there have been increasing reports of people emptying their cassettes directly into the cut (yeuck!, illegal and dangerous) and also there have been instances of people pumping their poo tanks so fast that there have been pollution incidents when facilities overflow .as they are not designed to take volume at speed ....

 

The EA do prosecute and the fines are bad and prison is worse but not as bad is being dead which a lot of the wildlife ends up being.

 

Think before you dump the results of your dump ....

 

D

 

[sueb]

As a responsible person disposing of sewage it is worth noting that many BW Elsan points are not suitable for self-pump out as they are often cess pits with limited capacity. One pump out can completely fill a pit and leave others in the area who are dependent on elsan facilities and have no transport with nowhere safe to dispose of their waste. As a result there have been increasing reports of people emptying their cassettes directly into the cut (yeuck!, illegal and dangerous) and also there have been instances of people pumping their poo tanks so fast that there have been pollution incidents when facilities overflow .as they are not designed to take volume at speed ....

 

The EA do prosecute and the fines are bad and prison is worse but not as bad is being dead which a lot of the wildlife ends up being.

 

Think before you dump the results of your dump ....

 

D

 

It is about time BW provided enough places to pump out. It has been aware that more boaters need more facilities for several years now and done very little except say that more facilities are not suited for pumpouts

Sue

[debbifiggy]

It is about time BW provided enough places to pump out. It has been aware that more boaters need more facilities for several years now and done very little except say that more facilities are not suited for pumpouts

Sue

I'm sure the intention is there but sometimes the rural nature of elsan locations and lack of mains sewers means that self pump out is not an option due to the cost of installing mains sewerage to remote locations. Current supply possibly does meet demand. If customers want more sewage facilities let someone know about it and hopefully at sometime it will happen depending on budgets. Not the perfect answer or what's desirable for us now I know but if you don't ask you never get.

D

[Neil TNC]

I'm sure the intention is there but sometimes the rural nature of elsan locations and lack of mains sewers means that self pump out is not an option due to the cost of installing mains sewerage to remote locations. Current supply possibly does meet demand. If customers want more sewage facilities let someone know about it and hopefully at sometime it will happen depending on budgets. Not the perfect answer or what's desirable for us now I know but if you don't ask you never get.

D

 

Ah!...a good toilet thread

 

The trouble is that BW have a flawed argument in saying that people with holding tanks make more err...well "stuff" than those with casstte toilets. There is also the flawed "mess" argument. Macerated "stuff" is virtually a liquid. The two blocked sanitary stations we came across when last out on the L&S last Oct (Wildenii, cassette) were due to cassette toliet contents being emptied all over the place and not diluted with enough water. If a cassette is emptied with enough dilution and flush water, then there is very little difference in the volume per..well "functional operation".

In Earnest's case the "stuff" is predigested with canal water and does not have evil folmadehyde blue it it, which stops the natural processes at sewage farms. I have a hooked fixed pipe on the end of the flexihose, that fits right down the sanitary station "hole", so there is less splashing than with a cassette.

I have been getting into Thetfordery recently. Linda wondered why hers leaked...until I showed her that cassette hooks on first, before cliping it down

I must admit with Mini Ne and its short journies, we normally take the casette home, due to the fact we have a nice big , easy toopen manhole right out side the back door, and by the fixed garden hose. I suppose this is what it will soon come down to for all.

[ditchcrawler]

Hi Alan,

It's me with bargain poo pump system!!

May take a little time for another one to appear , try searching for 'jabsco macerator pump' on ebay...

The pumps are available in the UK but tend to be in the £150 category.

Been using mine for the last two 'pump outs' and it's been fine. Quite a high current draw when working hard , overcome by putting a spare battery on the boat roof and connecting directly to it with a short lead. Two trips with two containers to the elsan point later and job done. So far thats £24 offset against purchace cost...wont be long before showing a profit!

Also easier this time of year is not having to move the boat, as we are on the river and it can be 'entertaining'....

Hope this helps,

Regards

Andy.

Do you do a pump out every time you have 100 lts in the tank. Mine holds about 3 times that amoun, for 2 of us it lasts over 3 weeks with NO peeing in the bushes etc.

 

Hi everyone,

 

Whilst scanning the forum the other night I came across a respondent who mentioned that he had purchased a pump out kit off Ebay for something like £68 As (new this year continuous cruisers) we, like many others were frozen in solid for 9 days at the beginning of January, in one of the bleakest landscapes for miles. Our water supply ran out and as we have a macerator wc, we had no option but use the water from our fresh water containers to flush the loo. But what if we needed a pump out whilst we were frozen in? This got us thinking there must be an alternative to relying on the odd Marina for a pump out, which for some reason we need to do almost once a week. At £14 a time , it's no joke. What we would like to do is pump out the tank ourselves and dispose of the effluent in a responsible way.

 

If you are reading this and are the person who bought the pump out kit, then we woulsd like to hear from you. On the other hand if there is someone else out there who can help, me and er indoors would like to hear from you.

 

Regards

Alan

Probably the reason you are doing it every week is that your macerator is using so much fresh water to flush your loo.

 

I'm sure the intention is there but sometimes the rural nature of elsan locations and lack of mains sewers means that self pump out is not an option due to the cost of installing mains sewerage to remote locations. Current supply possibly does meet demand. If customers want more sewage facilities let someone know about it and hopefully at sometime it will happen depending on budgets. Not the perfect answer or what's desirable for us now I know but if you don't ask you never get.

D

Debbie your own company has told users when this point has been raised for elsan disposal to use marina facilities.

Brian

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Hi Alan,

It's me with bargain poo pump system!!

May take a little time for another one to appear , try searching for 'jabsco macerator pump' on ebay...

The pumps are available in the UK but tend to be in the £150 category.

Been using mine for the last two 'pump outs' and it's been fine. Quite a high current draw when working hard , overcome by putting a spare battery on the boat roof and connecting directly to it with a short lead. Two trips with two containers to the elsan point later and job done. So far thats £24 offset against purchace cost...wont be long before showing a profit!

Also easier this time of year is not having to move the boat, as we are on the river and it can be 'entertaining'....

Hope this helps,

Regards

Andy.

 

Thanks Andy.

 

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. Have looked up the Jabsco pumps on the internet and have put a bid in. Let's hope I'm succesful.

 

Regards

Alan

PS. 'er indoors is well pleased

[debbifiggy]

Debbie your own company has told users when this point has been raised for elsan disposal to use marina facilities.

Brian

 

There's always the 70's solution of a spade and a big hole in somewhere that won't cause problems if you don't want to pay. Just don't do it in a field of crops as it could be your poo that helped the cornflakes grow (complete with Blu yeauck!)

 

To be honest, BW is so cash strapped with a big hole in finances that I'm surprised sometimes most workers still have a job .. okay okay cue someome going on about directors bonuses. Most BW staff don't earn very much but do care about the canals and actually a lot of them are customers too and also need elsan disposal points and pumpouts etc so know where you are coming from.

 

Living on a boat is not like living in a house and nor should it be. Neither should having a holiday on a boat be like a having a week in a luxury hotel. Planning is everything and always be prepared if you possibly can be. Don't go cruising without spare capacity for poos and pees before critical thetfordry or pump out is required as the ability to be serviced cannot be guaranteed whether that service is BW, boatyard or other.

 

Also there has always been got to be a balance between costs and benefits and demand especially when there's not much money in the budget (cue rant about moving fish to enable dragonflies to breed, public art etc etc). BW is not just a navigation authority anymore whose sole remit is boaters even if boating is core to the business. The harsh reality is that funding via taxes and grants etc is based on wider public benefits i.e walkers, commuters, cyclists, dog walkers, runners etc etc. Like it or lump it us boaters have to find ways of making it all work including campaigning via various waterway groups such as IWA, SOW, NABO, RBOA etc.

 

D

[cotswoldsman]

It is about time BW provided enough places to pump out. It has been aware that more boaters need more facilities for several years now and done very little except say that more facilities are not suited for pumpouts

Sue

 

I have been trying to keep out of this debate some people on here will know my view on the subject of self pumpout. Sue don't quite understand why BW should spend limited funds for people with pumpouts who can't afford to use a marina pumpout. If you cant afford the cost of a pumpout then buy a cassette toilet.

[Neil TNC]

It is about time BW provided enough places to pump out. It has been aware that more boaters need more facilities for several years now and done very little except say that more facilities are not suited for pumpouts

Sue

 

I suppose it I was ever mad enough to bring Earnest "home" then I could soon design a self pump-out to Thetford cassette filling system, using the WWWW's old Thetford.

Because of the diesel situation in Ireland I have just bought a 12v diesel pump, to make filling the tank from Jerry cans a whole lot easier and non-polluting.

[mrsmelly]

You know, this pumping out into a container is super. It's cheaper to empty those than a pump out tank, and much easier to find places to do it. I've had a great idea: rather than having a holding tank and separate containers to carry to the emptying point, why not integrate a carry-able container into the toilet? The waste could go straight into the container and eliminate the pump-out transfer operation. I've even thought of a name for my toilet-integrated carryable container, we could call it a "cassette".

 

What does the team think?

 

MP.

 

Hi mp

 

Your idea is very flawed. If such a thing as a cassette toilet existed how on earth could people have a cassette large enough to lug a round for weeks on end on their boat and be able to carry it to the disposal point. Also that would mean not having to pay stupid amounts of money to get rid of the waste and that would be money you could waste on boat licence or beer etc etc.

So you see pump out systems must be the best or have I got the wrong end of the stick oops and we know where that goes in a pumpout system.

And nearly forgot if your boat had a bloody great holding tank to lug round and then u fitted a cassette there would be a big useless space in your boat and nothing to put in it !!

Edited February 5, 2009 by mrsmelly

[tillergirl]

Well.............friend has one these kits and he goes to the Elsan point and sticks the pipe striaght down the foul drain, no charge job done

[sueb]

I have been trying to keep out of this debate some people on here will know my view on the subject of self pumpout. Sue don't quite understand why BW should spend limited funds for people with pumpouts who can't afford to use a marina pumpout. If you cant afford the cost of a pumpout then buy a cassette toilet.

I have invested in a self pumpout kit. I have used these kits for 20 yrs. BW are effectively closing elsan points to self pumpouts, many of which used to be available. As more boaters come onto the canals facilities need to be increased. It is quite possible to put a larger hole in the ground and/or empty the facilities more often. I have nowhere to store several/any spare cassettes and the cassette loo would have to sit in my shower. We had to do this when the loo broke and I have no desire to go back to that inconvenience.

Sue

[alan_fincher]

I have nowhere to store several/any spare cassettes and the cassette loo would have to sit in my shower. We had to do this when the loo broke and I have no desire to go back to that inconvenience.

Sue

Simply put loo and all cassettes in that massive space where the Rayburn used to be!