Cassette v pump out

[Guest]

Just something else to add into the mix - Jan's just mentioned this to me.

 

- from memory of our caravanning days the Cassette loo used water from our fresh water supply to flush, all our experience of pump outs (Hire on the broads/canals) I know we drew river/canal water to flush - so this will mean cassettes will reduce the fresh water supply quicker - has this proven an issue for anybody?? or can cassette loos be installed to draw river/canal water too. (Unlikely I think)

[Ange]

Just something else to add into the mix - Jan's just mentioned this to me.

 

- from memory of our caravanning days the Cassette loo used water from our fresh water supply to flush, all our experience of pump outs (Hire on the broads/canals) I know we drew river/canal water to flush - so this will mean cassettes will reduce the fresh water supply quicker - has this proven an issue for anybody?? or can cassette loos be installed to draw river/canal water too. (Unlikely I think)

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the cassette loo needing fresh water - we use blue on ours while it's on the boat - the only time we use fresh water is at the elsan point when we wash it out. The pump out draws its water from the fresh water tank when we flush (we've got a dump through) so my experience is exactly the opposite. We're still very new to this game (first boat bought last October) so wouldn't pretend to be knowledgeable

[alan_fincher]

Just something else to add into the mix - Jan's just mentioned this to me.

 

- from memory of our caravanning days the Cassette loo used water from our fresh water supply to flush, all our experience of pump outs (Hire on the broads/canals) I know we drew river/canal water to flush - so this will mean cassettes will reduce the fresh water supply quicker - has this proven an issue for anybody?? or can cassette loos be installed to draw river/canal water too. (Unlikely I think)

I'd be surprised if many canal boats draw their flush water from the cut, (or at least since sea toilets were outlawed), but I'm always happy to learn.

 

The flush water used by a cassette toilet is miniscule - or you want it to be, or you would be forever emptying it.

 

Your fresh water tank might hold 500 to 700 litres, your cassette will hold maybe 15. Even if you filled your cassettes just with flush water, and no actual human waste, you could completely fill maybe 40 cassettes or more before exhausting your fresh water supply.

 

(Unless I've got a decimal point in the wrong place!).

 

A pump-out loo is usually quoted as using significantly more of your domestic water for each flush - how much depends on the exact toilet type and technology I seem to recall.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the cassette loo needing fresh water - we use blue on ours while it's on the boat - the only time we use fresh water is at the elsan point when we wash it out.

Ange,

 

A built in cassette loo often draws flush water from the boat's domestic supply,

 

A stand-alone, (not built in), porta pottie, will not do this, but must surely still have a tank you fill with domestic water (by hand) to use for flushing.

 

You are not filling the flush tank with neat "Blue", are you ? You will be using a lot if you are!

[Guest]

Alan - you could be right re canal boats - it's a few years since our last excursion on the cut, less so since we were on the broads. Rosemary from Snaygill in Skipton may indeed have drawn her flushing water from the fresh water tank,

[Ange]

Ange,

 

A built in cassette loo often draws flush water from the boat's domestic supply,

 

A stand-alone, (not built in), porta pottie, will not do this, but must surely still have a tank you fill with domestic water (by hand) to use for flushing.

 

You are not filling the flush tank with neat "Blue", are you ? You will be using a lot if you are!

 

Sorry - like I said I'm a novice To date we've only been on the boat weekends - we only wee in the portapotti and generally don't flush (Dave's dad likes the contents for his compost heap!) If we're caught short poo wise we use the pump out toilet.

 

When we're on the boat full time we will need fresh water for the portapotti (just checked with Dave cos he's always looked after the loo stuff - he has a stronger stomach than me)

 

As an aside - when we bought the boat she'd been standing for quite a while with poo in the tank - it took three pumpouts to get through the hard layer that built up while she was standing and actually empty the tank.

[nb Innisfree]

Alan - you could be right re canal boats - it's a few years since our last excursion on the cut, less so since we were on the broads. Rosemary from Snaygill in Skipton may indeed have drawn her flushing water from the fresh water tank,

 

Mind you reasonably clean canal/river water for flushing holding tank toilets would reduce fresh water usage, just working out how to conveniently extract it.

[robkg]

They are currently fitting out the boat and one thing we were shown was a very clever toilet waste system. I forget the name of the company that build it, but it works like a saniflow system. It has a mulshing box at the base of the toilet, which then pushes the waste materials along a small bore pipe 30 or 40 feet away to a large holding tank in the bow! The tank was over 6-foot wide (Full boat width) by at least 3-foot high and about 3-foot deep. (Around 1530 litres) Basically enough waste storage for months of use. We were impressed with what we saw. Thought I would mention it.

I installed a system very similar to the one you describe when I fitted out Grace. I too have about 1500 litres of useable capacity.

The system works extremely well and I would recommend it, but I would offer two things to think about.

Firstly 1500 litres weighs 1.5 tonnes and if the holding tanks are located at the bow or stern, there will be a marked and potentially undesirable effect on the boats trim.

If both the sewage and water tanks are at the same end of the boat then filling and emptying would need to be synchronised to avoid further exacerbating the trim problem.

 

Secondly when paying for a pump out, it may be unwise to assume that the boatyard is going to be happy to spend half an hour carrying out the job for their normal charge.

They may or may not complete the job but there might be some grumbling and moaning to contend with.

 

For my part, I fitted my own home made, self pump out system, which I use where facilities allow. (No, I don't leave a mess or hold up cassette emptiers! )

 

Rob

[Chertsey]

I was told that if you only poo in your pumpout and wee elsewhere then it upsets the, ahem, consistency of the contents and makes it impossible to pump out - so a false economy. Can't say I've tried.

 

Some converted sea toilets use canal/river water. I had one on my first boat (only the inlet was permanently closed and I had to top it up from the shower after manually pumping to remote tank). Tarporley has a similar arrangement with an electric pump which sucks contents away, then the vacuum caused in the bowl (it has a sealing lid) draws the water in from the canal. The problem with both of these seems to be that they block easily because they are small bore pipes with no macerator. My guess that this isn't a problem for a sea toilet being used as intended because of the vast quantities of water available for flushing through. Unless you buy a fairly old boat though your chances of coming across this are pretty slim, so really I am only talking about it for my own enjoyment.

 

Nearly all modern plumbed in systems use water from the fresh water supply. Although when we use our porta-potti I do put canal water in the flushing tank.

[JamesFrance]

When we ran some hireboats and a couple of trip boats in the 60s, the hireboats used SL 400 sea toilets discharging into the cut, these were pleasant to use with no smells unlike the horrible holding tanks.

 

I would definitely vote for the cassette now, as when you live aboard it can cost a small fortune paying for pumpouts and even then it is hard to avoid any unpleasant odours.

 

I will never forget the look on the face of a rugby club member who was swilling a tankard in the canal (as we had a bar on board the big tripboat), who looked back to see me emptying the elsan over the side when it was full.

[Lady Muck]

The most minging thing I saw a boater do on the Lee was to use their dogs water bowl to get water out of the canal to put in the kettle to make a cuppa for a guest. Now that bit of the Lee is crystal clear but there is a sewage works upstream which discharges into the river whenever we have heavy rain.

[carlt]

The most minging thing I saw a boater do on the Lee was to use their dogs water bowl to get water out of the canal to put in the kettle

I hope he washed it, before making the dog eat out of it!