Greeting rid of the Pumpout Loo

[Sarahr]

My hubby has finally had enough of the Pumpout loo. We would not have chosen to have one, but it was on the boat when we bought it. The main problem is the holding tank is built into the rear of the boat under the back steps and forms part of the structure of the boat, there is a long run of pipe to the tank and despite replacing the pipe it still smells and we have had enough of the pong.

It will be a huge task to remove the tank so if we do get rid of the loo we will have to cap the tank and leave it in place. Is this a risky thing to do, could it rust away and cause future problems. Apart form the pong we love our boat and have no plans to sell it in the near future so if we get rid of the loo we don't want to jeopardise the boat. Has anyone got any advice, is there something we could put in the tank to stop it rusting away, is it safe to just cap the tank and leave it will it still smell if we do this, there is a breather thingy on the Pumpout outlet.

Obviously it should say getting rid not greeting rid! Tried to edit but could edit the title!!

[MtB]

I abandoned my pump-out bog ten years ago. I emptied the tank, filled and flushed it a couple of times then just left it empty. No ill effects so far!

 

You could do the same. Disconnect the long hose and see if the smell goes away. If the smell persists then you can't have sealed off the tank fully!

(I drilled a small hole in the outside filler cap so eventually the inside of the tank would dry out.)

[OldGoat]

Convert it into a long range fuel tank??

[FadeToScarlet]

Did you replace the hose with the flexible white hose stuff? That can go porous over time and leach smells through.

 

I think a forum member (Biggles?) replaced the flexible pipe with solid, which took away the smell.

[MtB]

It's a well knon problem in the world of plumbing. Water inside underground plastic water mains tend to get tainted by the 'smell' of the ground it is buried in.

 

Sometimes tap water can taste absolutely foul for this reason.

[Sarahr]

Did you replace the hose with the flexible white hose stuff? That can go porous over time and leach smells through.

I think a forum member (Biggles?) replaced the flexible pipe with solid, which took away the smell.

Sadly it is not a straight run to the tank I don't think solid pipe would work, I think we have got to the fed up and rip it out and put a cassette in stage!!!!

[ditchcrawler]

Did you replace the hose with the flexible white hose stuff? That can go porous over time and leach smells through.

 

I think a forum member (Biggles?) replaced the flexible pipe with solid, which took away the smell.

His blog report about it here http://boatbuildblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/down-tubes.html

 

long thread here http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=55764

Edited May 31, 2016 by ditchcrawler

[Alan de Enfield]

Excellent title and very apt.

[bizzard]

With a bit of a rinse out an additional water tank would be useful.

[Theo]

Fully sealed up, rusting will be no problem. Once all the oxygen is used up there will be no further rusting.

 

N

[Theo]

This will sit more comfortably in Equipment. I am moving it.

 

Theo

[RichM]

I have a cassette toilet and wish I had a pump out. It only holds 17L of waste and needs emptying often which is annoying. It can be a little messy too.

 

I don't know much about pump out toilets but surely there must be some chemicals you could use to perhaps neutralize it?

Edited May 31, 2016 by Armitage Shanks

[cereal tiller]

I have a cassette toilet and wish I had a pump out. It only holds 17L of waste and needs emptying often.

 

I don't know much about pump out toilets but surely there must be some chemicals you could use to perhaps neutralize it?

Napalm?

 

 

CT

[FadeToScarlet]

I have a cassette toilet and wish I had a pump out. It only holds 17L of waste and needs emptying often which is annoying. It can be a little messy too.

 

I don't know much about pump out toilets but surely there must be some chemicals you could use to perhaps neutralize it?

You need some spare cassettes. Much easier, two or three weeks between trips to the water and elsan point.

[Horace42]

I did not realise until reading all the stories about flexible pipes that the problem was likely to be caused by the pipes leaching the smell.

If everything else is working OK, why not change the pipe.

The link to someone else carrying out a major re-piping exercise sounds a bit off-putting. Can you block off and remove the old one?, and run a new 'anti-smell' pipe by an easy to reach route instead.

Or as some say, bind the old pipe with aluminium tape.

 

.

[RichM]

You need some spare cassettes. Much easier, two or three weeks between trips to the water and elsan point.

 

Got two but don't really have any space to store extra poop tanks, which is essentially what they are. I mean I could put them in the corner, not far from the stove but.... I can see why that would make sense for those who have space to store them though.

[Drayke]

When I had a pump out loo we to had lots of smells, so had a stainless steel tank made for the engine room and used solid pipe work, no more smells. It was also a long pipe run to engine room and did cause some problems, so now trying out a composting toilet.Should you try the solid pipe work make sure you use sweeping bends on any corners.

[Claude]

Sadly it is not a straight run to the tank I don't think solid pipe would work, I think we have got to the fed up and rip it out and put a cassette in stage!!!!

Is it proper sanitary grade barrier hose? The good stuff isn't cheap. I think at least a tenner/metre. But I think I'd just go for a cassette too.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Claude