Got a mild steel loo tank? About 15 years old?

[pig]

 

This is the loo holding tank I removed from my boat.

 

The shower drain pump had been cunningly placed under the loo tank, so when the pump failed, I had to move the tank, and noticed it was wet and smelly in one area underneath . Luckily the tank had been emptied and flushed through, but it was still quite disgusting to deal with.

 

I managed to up-end the tank to have a good look, and it was clear that it had come to the end of it's life (gentle prodding with a screwdriver showed three areas where the rust had been holding the contents in!).

 

So... do I go for a porta-potti?

 

NO! I wouldn't be without a pumpout loo, so I'm having a polyprop tank custom made to fit.

 

So just a heads-up for people with a tank of similar vintage - keep checking for leaks!

 

hth

Neil

[Mike Tee]

I take it that it is a mild steel tank? I thought they were always built in stainless - wrong again! I must be reaching that certain age,,,,,,,,,,,,sorry, lost the thread for a minute.

[BEngo]

I take it that it is a mild steel tank? I thought they were always built in stainless - wrong again! I must be reaching that certain age,,,,,,,,,,,,sorry, lost the thread for a minute.

Some of the anaerobic conditions found in waste tanks mean that stainless is not much better than mild steel in this application.

 

N

[Keeping Up]

Ours was built with a stainless steel tank, but with a mild steel internal pipe and a mild steel flange for the bowl to be bolted to.

 

The pipe dissolved away after about 8 years, then a few years later the flange rusted away and dropped the bowl and occupier into the tank - a new and unwanted definition of "dump-through". The stainless tank has lasted 21 years so far and appears to be 100% sound.

[mattlad]

Hi Neil you have a PM!

Edited April 22, 2013 by mattlad

[billh]

We had a mild steel toilet tank on the trip boat for about twenty years. It finally rusted through on the top and was condemned. The rusting was from the *outside* and caused by being permanently wet under some "lino" in the toilet compartment. I hasten to add that the wet was a result of a leaking roof and regular cleaning of the toilet area. Inspection of the removed tank showed very little wasting of the metal that contained the effluent. I suspect that the loo blue or whatever we used actually preserved the steel in some way

Bill.