I had the same thing happen to me. And of course, it was on a day that I was sailing with guests!
can't pump out waste tank
- Thread starter sabbatical88
- Start date
You're macerater unlike mine is in line with your deck pump out. If you pumped it out dockside the line to the bottom of the tank is already clear, the overboard line after the macerater could be suspect as well as the through hull valve. I would worry that that hose could blow however then using the pump, obviously it didn't happen to you.
That deck fill cap possibly leaking would be on my mind but I have no hands on experience with your pump out setup/if that could cause your problem, my guess is yes
It should...but there's an easy way to prevent vent blockages: replace the "vent" thru-hull with an open bulkhead or "mushroom" thru-hull--the kind your bilge pumps drains out of. Not only do they allow a lot better air exchange with the gasses in the tank, essential to creating the aerobic conditions needed to prevent odor, but it also allows you to put a hose nozzle against the thru-hull and backflush the vent line every time you wash the boat and/or pump out. Any overflow material or critters that have tried to set up housekeeping in it will get a water slide ride into the tank.
--Peggie
Last edited:
Possibly Yes.
It would depend on how much time it took to pump out.
My forward hold tank takes about 15 minutes to empty, if completely full.
I tested that when I redid my forward Head.
You may be able to snake down into your HOLD tank from the Deck Pump out
Jim...
I eliminated my Catalina stanchion vent with a 1"ø thru-hull at Peggie's suggestion last year and it has been a big improvement. The old vent limited the air flow so that when I pumped out, the pump would need to pull air through the head past the jocker valve to keep up.
I flush my vent every time I pump. I don't like the idea of putting the hose against the thru-hull because I worry about pressurizing the system. What I do is, while the pump out is running, I direct a stream of water at the thru-hull so that the suction created by the pump pulls as much water as is being removed. That way it is under suction and not pressure. This also has the effect of rinsing the bottom of the tank very well. I used to need to fill and dump the tank several times along with a lot of pumping of the head to get the outflow to run reasonably clear. Now I rinse the vent for about 30 seconds that the pump out sight window show completely clear water.
While we are on the subject of vent lines, last summer on our 2004 AC41, I was inspecting all the fittings and found that Hunter had used a bronze elbow coming off the tank for the vent line. It had completely separated from the tank due to corrosion. We always pump out well before the tank is full, so we had no issues. Had we filled the tank up, that bad fitting could have made a real mess. It has been replace with PVC. People may want to give their tanks a close look for any metal fittings.
You wouldn't be flushing out the tank via the vent thru-hull, you'd only be cleaning out the vent line, which only takes a few short blasts of water. No way that can pressurize the system. But a blocked tank vent will.
And btw...you still need to flush out the tank 2-3 x a season and especially ahead of winter or other extended layup...it's not hard to do and doesn't require filling the tank with water. Put 4-6" of water into the tank via the deck pumpout fitting cuz that sends the water into the tank at the bottom to stir up any sludge...pump that out. Repeat...repeat...till you're pumping out clean water. A lot easier than filling the tank several times.
--Peggie
Last edited:
By letting the pull on the vent line created by the inrushing air to replace what it pulled out by the pumpout, the water is sort of "shotgunned" into the tank. It makes a heavy large droplet spray pattern that covers about 1/2 of the tank from the outlet to midway back. Letting it do this for 30 seconds cleans all of the buildup down to the plastic bottom with almost no residue. It actually works much better than the "no-fuss flush" sprayer that I have on my RV.
Before I added the new 1" vent, I would flush by filling the tank via the deck pumpout fitting but still had problems with tank buildup because the water just flowed smoothly out of the large diameter hose and did not do much agitating of the stuff.
After replacing the macerator for the fwd toilet and snaking the line from macerator to the T with the holding tank-deck fitting and double checking the deck cap, I was able to pump out. Whew. Yet not sure which of the things I did fixed it. I'll do an autopsy on the old Macerator and see if it was good or not. If not I'll try refurbishing it to have a spare. Thanks for all the help. I'm done with poop projects for a while, yeah!
If you find the maserator functional I would suggest replacing the threaded rods that hold the motor and head together because they have a nasty habit of failing.