Beneteau Grey Water system

[Captedward]

Mea culpa, we sold our sailboat and switched to the dark side but hope sailboatowners.com can come to our rescue.

We own a 2008 Beneteau Flyer 12 cruiser (Pearl) she was manufactured in France and brought over to the US by a PO. We’re looking to chat with any Beneteau boat owners regarding some of their systems, in particular the grey water system. While we are pleased with Pearl we have a few questions about systems which Beneteau France can’t answer, they refer me to a local Beneteau dealer who only wants to sell us a new boat.

Naturally being a French boat built in France all documentation was in French and there is no mention of this system. I usually email France and wait for their reply.

The current system in question is a grey water holding tank system which receives water from the sinks, showers, and somewhere else to be determined; it looks like some type of a small sump from the forward bilge.

The system supposedly will drain the tank when powering on the 12 v system, it also has an internal float switch which should drain the tank. It stopped emptying the tank, I replaced the float switch and Scheiber circuit board, there is power at the board but i can’t get the pump to pump out the grey water tank. The pump does work, a Whale gusher. Hopefully there are Beneteau owners with a similar system who may be able shed some light on the system’s operation. I see no override switch on the breaker board nor in either of the heads nor any type of manual override.

Many thanks, Ed

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Gray water tanks are a lot harder to maintain than black water tanks because the only thing that goes into a black water tank is toilet waste, where as not only water, but food particles, galley grease, bath soap scum. toothpaste and everything else that goes down a drain ends up in the gray water tank. All that makes odor control difficult if not impossible and makes cleaning the tank several times a year a necessity.

Unlike several European countries, it's legal in the US to discharge gray water directly overboard. So you'll prob'ly save yourself a lot of grief if you reroute your sink drains to new thru-hulls and install a shower sump that also drains directly overboard.
It'll be a lot of work, but definitely worth it IMO.

---Peggie

 

[dLj]

Mea culpa, we sold our sailboat and switched to the dark side but hope sailboatowners.com can come to our rescue.

We own a 2008 Beneteau Flyer 12 cruiser (Pearl) she was manufactured in France and brought over to the US by a PO. We’re looking to chat with any Beneteau boat owners regarding some of their systems, in particular the grey water system. While we are pleased with Pearl we have a few questions about systems which Beneteau France can’t answer, they refer me to a local Beneteau dealer who only wants to sell us a new boat.

Naturally being a French boat built in France all documentation was in French and there is no mention of this system. I usually email France and wait for their reply.

The current system in question is a grey water holding tank system which receives water from the sinks, showers, and somewhere else to be determined; it looks like some type of a small sump from the forward bilge.

The system supposedly will drain the tank when powering on the 12 v system, it also has an internal float switch which should drain the tank. It stopped emptying the tank, I replaced the float switch and Scheiber circuit board, there is power at the board but i can’t get the pump to pump out the grey water tank. The pump does work, a Whale gusher. Hopefully there are Beneteau owners with a similar system who may be able shed some light on the system’s operation. I see no override switch on the breaker board nor in either of the heads nor any type of manual override.

Many thanks, Ed

I agree with Peggy.

In the short term, I would see about why the system isn't pumping. First, I'd get a 12V supply and hook directly to the wiring going into the system, bypassing all the upstream possible logic things that you don't know where or if they exist. By doing this you have a known 12V input into your switch and logic system that is part of the sump so yo uknow it's not some kind of switch somewhere else. Get that sump system running. This may entail trouble shooting of the internal components. Once that is up and running, hook back up the original, from the boat, 12V power supply and see if it now runs or if not working. It is does not run that way, you have a problem on the supply side somehow.

Sorry to be so vague, but that's the best I can do with what you've said above.

dj

 

[BarryL]

Hello,

There is a good Jeanneau forum site here

Home | Jeanneau Owners Forum

Visit our forum at: jeanneau.proboards.com

jeanneau.proboards.com

Both power and sail are included. Many knowledgable owners are on.

Good luck,
Barry

 

[Captedward]

Gray water tanks are a lot harder to maintain than black water tanks because the only thing that goes into a black water tank is toilet waste, where as not only water, but food particles, galley grease, bath soap scum. toothpaste and everything else that goes down a drain ends up in the gray water tank. All that makes odor control difficult if not impossible and makes cleaning the tank several times a year a necessity.

Unlike several European countries, it's legal in the US to discharge gray water directly overboard. So you'll prob'ly save yourself a lot of grief if you reroute your sink drains to new thru-hulls and install a shower sump that also drains directly overboard.
It'll be a lot of work, but definitely worth it IMO.

---Peggie

Thank you Peggy, like most things on a boat, easier said than done; 3 sinks, 2 shower drains and an additional forward bilge with a Jabsco hydroair switch pumping the forward bilge into the grey water tank, not sure if OEM or installed by a PO. I'll post photos soon, regards, Ed

 

[Captedward]

I agree with Peggy.

In the short term, I would see about why the system isn't pumping. First, I'd get a 12V supply and hook directly to the wiring going into the system, bypassing all the upstream possible logic things that you don't know where or if they exist. By doing this you have a known 12V input into your switch and logic system that is part of the sump so yo uknow it's not some kind of switch somewhere else. Get that sump system running. This may entail trouble shooting of the internal components. Once that is up and running, hook back up the original, from the boat, 12V power supply and see if it now runs or if not working. It is does not run that way, you have a problem on the supply side somehow.

Sorry to be so vague, but that's the best I can do with what you've said above.

dj

Thank you dj, we do miss sailing on the Chsapeake. Will follow your advice and follow-up with results and photos.
regards, Ed

 

[Captedward]

Hello,

There is a good Jeanneau forum site here

Home | Jeanneau Owners Forum

Visit our forum at: jeanneau.proboards.com

jeanneau.proboards.com

Both power and sail are included. Many knowledgable owners are on.

Good luck,
Barry

Thank you Barry, I'll check out the site, regards, Ed

 

[rgranger]

Unlike several European countries, it's legal in the US to discharge gray water directly overboard.

So (snip) save grief if you reroute your sink drains to new thru-hulls and install a shower sump that also drains directly overboard.

What a gray legal distinction. You can run gray water to a sump and pump it overboard but not to a tank and then pump it overboard???? Gotta love government.

So what if the OP cut the top off of his existing tank, would it now be considered a sump? Okay being more serious.... could you simply take out the tank and replace it with something that would be considered a sump by most "normal" people and keep all of the existing lines running into and out of the new sump?

BTW: I went to "lawinsider.com" and tried to find the legal definition of a sump... here is the definition of a sump that I found....

"a pit or reservoir serving as a drain or receptacle for liquids: such as. : cesspool. : a pit at the lowest point in a circulating or drainage system"

So the distiction between a holding tank and a sump remains a bit vague (arn't you glad I didn't say gray again? ).

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

So (snip) save grief if you reroute your sink drains to new thru-hulls and install a shower sump that also drains directly overboard.

What a gray legal distinction. You can run gray water to a sump and pump it overboard but not to a tank and then pump it overboard???? Gotta love government.
Oh cool your jets! It has nothing whatever to do with legality. Most shower drains on sailboats are below waterline, making it problematic for 'em drain shower water directly overboard. So the shower water goes into a sump that has a pump to push it out an above-waterline thru-hull. Shower sumps are a LOT easier to maintain than a gray water tank into which every sink AND the shower drains.

And while it's illegal to dump a black water holding tank in all US waters, it's just as legal to dump a gray water tank as it is to send gray water directly overboard via a sink drain.

--Peggie

 

[rgranger]

Unlike several European countries, it's legal in the US to discharge gray water directly overboard. So you'll prob'ly save yourself a lot of grief if you reroute your sink drains to new thru-hulls and install a shower sump that also drains directly overboard.
It'll be a lot of work, but definitely worth it

sorry, I had miss read legal as is as illegal in your original post

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I've been known to do that m'self!

--Peggie

 

[Captedward]

here's my update, first thanks for the referral to the jeanneau site, unfortunately I can't access the site, they don't know my email though they do send me emails to reset my password. Still trying to access the site.

with "a picture is worth 1,000 words" please see the attached, the pump does work via the manual shower switch in each head but the auto function does not. I had my a/c guy look at the system as he was familiar with Beneteau, not sure if the leads were incorrectly plugged back.
Also waiting for Beneteau France to get back to me. As some may know when the boat circuit switch is turned on the auto grey water pump should work pumping the tank for 3 minutes or also work when the float switch closes the circuit. Beneteau says there are 5 drains into the grey water tank, galley sink, port shower & sink, starboard shower and sink for 5. Per the photo I have 6 and I'm still looking for #6. My issue is while we're away #6 is slowly filling the tank with fresh water, fresh being non salt, it looks very clear & no odor and given enough time the water will back up into the showers. Perhaps the a/c condensate is going into the tank though my other mechanic said no, I'll check it next week but still open to fixing the auto drain system.

Many thanks for reading this and open to any and all comments.

Cheers and Happy Independence Day to all!

 

[kappykaplan]

Cheers and Happy Independence Day to all!

Same to you and yours!

 

[Captedward]

Update, yes the mystery water line into the grey water tank is the main salon a/c condensate line which is doing a good job filling the grey water tank. In addition to trying to win lotto I’m trying to find a marine mechanic in the Jacksonville FL area familiar with the Beneteau grey water system, in particular the wiring of the Scheiber pump controller board as noted in my earlier post, also looking for a Beneteau or Jeanneau owner who could share the wiring schematic of their boat re the pump board. Beneteau Fr is v e r y slow in responding to my inquiry. At this point in time separate thru hulls for each sink etc isn’t an option.