Shower drains slow

[Head Sail]

The shower in my 89 MK1 drains very slow. By this I mean I have to run the the pump for about 5 minutes to drain the shower. I have a filter between the shower drain and pump that is clean. No check valve between the shower drain and pump. The hose from the shower is clear. I've owned the boat for a couple of years and this has been an issue since then. My question is, is this normal or should the shower drain faster?

 

[Stu Jackson]

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,8573.0.html

No check valve? No wonder.

 

[Head Sail]

I don't think a check valve has anything to do with the speed at which the shower drains while the pump is running. I have no problem with back flow when the pump is off. So back to my original question. How long should it take to drain the shower?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Well, you could do it by checking the flow rate of the diaphragm pump and compare it to the maybe 2 gpm out of the faucet/shower wand. I would guess it's most likely a 4 gpm pump, maybe even less.

My pump sucks it out at about the same rate as the shower water.

We have an inline shutoff on the wand:

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4174.0.html

The sump, as you probably know, is under the fiberglass sole just outside the head door. Pretty inaccessible unless you cut the glass. One of our intrepid skippers wrote up how to do that many years ago.

So, either a hose or the sump itself may have a blockage.

How long? I'd say instantaneously.

 

[Head Sail]

Ok, I finally found the problem. The Jabsco "Pumpguard" is a check valve not a filter as I had thought. It was installed backwards by PO.

 

[woodster]

ok why do you need a check valve in the system is it for rotten sour smells

...i have my shower drain dumping in to 1 1-1/8 hose that has a removable strainer on it in the sump box....then from there the water migrates to the bottom of the box where i have a through hull fitting coming in to a 5/8 hose that then runs to the jabsco 3 gal pm diaphragm pump that is operated by a water witch float switch and a toggle switch in the head that will go auto off or manual it then goes overboard via a bronze through hull fitting ...it also has a beckson 6" clear inspection port to access the strainer for cleaning ....i would think that the diaphragm pump would act as the check valve in this case the box is also vented to let the water flow at will

 

[Head Sail]

Woody, since the pump is mounted above the shower floor, the check valve is to prevent shower water in the hose from draining back into the shower. In this design, shower water is pumped above waterline then returns down to a thru hull after passing through an anti siphon valve.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Ok, I finally found the problem. The Jabsco "Pumpguard" is a check valve not a filter as I had thought. It was installed backwards by PO.

Great news, good detective work. Glad to hear, happy showering!

 

[woodster]

Woody, since the pump is mounted above the shower floor, the check valve is to prevent shower water in the hose from draining back into the shower. In this design, shower water is pumped above waterline then returns down to a thru hull after passing through an anti siphon valve.

mine is not the conventional setup most sump boxes i have seen use a bilge pump like a rule or Johnson.... my sump box is below the head/shower floor and it drains buy gravity to the sump box where the pump hose is mounted in the lowest point of the box there is a diaphragm pump that then pumps the box dry and once it gets past the pump it can not go back to the box....i really like the diaphragm pumps for that reason i am thinking about changing all my bilge pumps to diaphragm pumps when they go kaput and just have a hose down in the bilge with a pickup strainer on the end it will make servicing them a lot easier mounted up high thanks for the reply