Bathroom refit

[gibbu]

Hiya,

 

We are about to attempt a bathroom refit on our narrowboat. We are stripping old the old (very) compact bath and possibly replacing with a compact corner bath to save a bit of space. The plan is to go from a bathroom off a corridor, to one the whole width of the boat but with a entry/exit door in each side (if you know what I mean). We're pretty new to narrowboats, but we plan to do it ourselves - it doesn't look that hard!! (we'll see).

 

Main problem: since we have had the boat, sometimes in the morning, or if we haven't been onboard for a day or so (we are in the process of moving from our house onto the boat) there is a small amount of often smelly water accumulated in the bottom of the bath. I don't really see how we could be taking in water through the outlet. Sometimes the pump takes a while to get the water out. Is anyone familiar with this problem? Is it an issue with the plumbing, or with the pump, or what??

 

Second problem: this is more ignorance. But as the water in the boat is not under pressure (unless the pump is on), then can I take the pipes off the bath/sink taps without water flowing out of the them? If so, then I guess I need to seal them off at the ends before I use the water pump in any other area of the boat? That's probably a ridiculous question, but whether it is or not, I would appreciate some advice!

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[trackman]

Water in the bath, if smelly, is probably just dirty water that's run back from the outlet pump & pipes under gravity after emptying the bath.

Your bath drain outlet will be below the canal water level and the fitting it is connected to in the bit side has to be above the canal level. The pipework thus has to run uphill.

Unless there's a non return valve between pump and bath plughole, some water that is left in the pump & pipes will often run back down into the bath when the pump stops.

As for the water pressure, even if the pump is off, and you have opened a tap and let out the pressure in the system*, some water will still run out. It may be a surprising amount. Depending on your set up, it's even possible that water may syphon out, tho that's unlikely.

*Your system will almost certainly have an accumulator somewhere. These look like a small steel gas bottle. They are usually in the pipe from the pump and quite close to it. They store a certain amount of pressure as the water pump runs, and so when the pump is off they will push quite a bit of water out of any opening even if the pump is isolated. They smooth out the flow from the taps and stop the pump from cutting in and out rapidly as water is used (cycling).

You need to take account of this when working on your system. Find the isolator valve on the pipe from your water tank to the pump. Turn off the pump and the valve, then open a tap. Let water run away until it stops. Then put a drip bowl under any joint you intend to undo before starting work.

[gibbu]

hey, thanks trackman. i guessed as much with the water in the bath, but surely we don't have to put up with that!! what's the solution? is it this one way valve - are these usual to be fitted? or could the plumbing be re-configured somehow so this doesn't happen?

 

thanks for the info about shutting off the water supply - i will be sure to isolate the water and drain the system as you suggest, and also have a bucket handy of course!

[Bod]

Are you moving the toilet?

If so, is it pump out or cassette ?

 

Bod

[tillergirl]

Check and see if your waste pump has a strainer on it too it might be full of crud........hair and the like. We clean ours once a month keeps the waste water running away pretty well.

 

He refitted our bathroom in the new year...........took about 2 weeks. We toyed with the idea of having a walk-through but then decided against it in the end. Mainly because people can still traverse the length of the boat whilst someone is using the bathroom. We decided on a shower cubicle with built in storage at the side instead of the bath arrangement it had.

[frahkn]

I find that if you pump out the bath, wait a minute, then run a few pints of clean water and pump this out in turn - you will still have some 'run back' but it will be clean water. Left a few days, it will not be smelly. Left longer, it will evaporate.

 

Of course this won't work if you are getting a lot of water flowing back. In that case it will be easier to move the pump so that there is minimum run of pipe to the bath drain.

[gibbu]

the toilet is a cassette toilet...

 

the problem is that we get variable amounts of water, and it doesn't just run back in at that time, it seems to build up overnight. maybe it is just water from using the sink in the galley and we hadn't realised yet...

[trackman]

We have a Whale Gulper shower waste pump with a non return valve between it and the shower. No run back there as long as you keep the pump running a few seconds after the shower drain looks dry.

If your bath and basin/sink drains are interconnected so water can get to the bath outlet from the basin or sink, I'd be changing that!

Edited June 28, 2013 by trackman

[Tobymonster]

Sometimes the pressure relief valve from the hot water caliorfier drains into the bath - this is the set up on my boat. Is there a outlet quite high up on the bath, probably mistaken as an overflow?

 

In my case, when returning to the boat after a period of time, with the hot water heating turned off and engine not used, there can be a surprising amount of water in the bottom of my bath, especially in the summer. This water is not smelly though, so in your case it could be down to some crud in the pipe from the hot water cylinder (if fitted) or it mixing with dirtier water sitting in the waste pipe.

[smileypete]

One way round the drainback problem is to put enough hose between bath trap and gulper/whatever to accomodate the water that drains back, the trap in the bath should keep smells in. Also it might help to have the outlet pipe after the pump go straight up then round a bend and gently sloping down towards the outlet.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[ditchcrawler]

hey, thanks trackman. i guessed as much with the water in the bath, but surely we don't have to put up with that!! what's the solution? is it this one way valve - are these usual to be fitted? or could the plumbing be re-configured somehow so this doesn't happen?

 

thanks for the info about shutting off the water supply - i will be sure to isolate the water and drain the system as you suggest, and also have a bucket handy of course!

I was told make sure the pipe between the bath waste and the pump is longer than from the pump to the skin fitting, that way any water above the pump that runs back will have insufficient volume to fill the pipe and reach the bath

[gibbu]

Thanks to everyone for your help and advice!! i'm pretty sure i know what to do now, or at least I hope i do. now that i have removed the bath and the sink it seems that the original plumbing was pretty shoddy, but it shouldn't take much to sort it out, especially with your help!