Can ABS piping be used?

[Ray Bowles]

Peggie, When I replumbed both heads on our IP38 I had to replace a line from the bow head back to the holding tank next to the port waist head. I used Shields Series 101 no-odor hose which was a real love to work with in very tight areas.
I wondered if ABS plastic black water lines could be used in some of these areas. The formed elbows and other fittings would really improve many of the plumbing maizes that bent rubber hoses cause.
Thanks for being such a great resource for this humbled plumber.
Ray

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

You can use hard pipe, but...

But when hose is hard to bend, don't try to bend it...break it and use the same "formed ellbows and other fittings" that would make using hard pipe easier.

However, I think you have another problem that's all too common on boats with two toilets at both ends of the boat: one tank where two should have been used, or a single tank in the wrong place...'Cuz it sounds like the the distance from the forward toilet to the tank is way too long. Ideally the tank should be within 6' of the toilet 'cuz that's as far as bowl contents will move in the amount of time anyone will spend pumping a toilet. That can be fudged to 7-8', but longer than that leaves waste sitting in the line to permeate and/or create clogs. If yours is longer than that, the RIGHT solution is either move the tank to location that's within 6-8' of the toilet or install another tank for the forward head.

 

[Ray Bowles]

Peggie, thank you. The line was around 16 feet long. We thought about the pipe having solids sitting in it because of the length so we removed the head and used that area for a shower. In my world no boat needs two heads. Again, thanks.
Ray

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

In my world no boat needs two heads.

When I was in my 20s, as many as 10 of us would chip in to rent a ski cottage for the winter that had only one bathroom--party weekends there could be up to 20 people in that house! But we didn't see just one "head" as a problem....we had rules to deal with it (for instance, nobody does ANYTHING else in the mornings until everyone has peed!)...and everyone followed 'em.

However, as most of us have gotten older, our criteria for the number of people a boat can "sleep" is no longer determined by the number of berths, but by the number of people with whom we'd have to share a head. :dance:

 

[alexco38]

ABS

Chime in here.

This is how we use ABS for longer run. We put in a short piece of flex hose where the pipe may move even a very little bit. Also for expansion (not that much) due to heat-cold cycle. Since the hose is so short, there is little permeation.

 

[py26129]

Chime in here.

This is how we use ABS for longer run. We put in a short piece of flex hose where the pipe may move even a very little bit. Also for expansion (not that much) due to heat-cold cycle. Since the hose is so short, there is little permeation.

+1 on the above approach. I used exactly that approach on our last boat and had no problems at all during the 12 years we owned the boat. We never babied boat and it had a single cylinder diesel so the installation was subjected to lots of vibration. Also I'm sure our Montreal winters gave it a good work-out as well.

Matt