Clearing 90 degree thru hull vent

[Alvorada]

How do you clear a 90 degree metal thru hull vent? OK, so we have two little ones on board (not an excuse) and now the vent is clogged. I took apart the vent hose and it's not the hose or the the tank inlet. It's the darn 90 degree metal through hull (Beneteau). When we pumped out this past weekend, I could hear the air gurgle through the head as it reached the bottom of the tank. It's got a build-up in it and is barely letting any air through it. I need to clean it promptly as the head is starting to smell. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Weeeellll...

Without seeing exactly what it looks like, I can't tell you what to use to scrape it out. But since it seems this is likely to become a recurring problem if the thru-hull isn't designed to let you backflush it regularly to prevent it from becoming blocked, I CAN tell you how I'd solve the problem: replace the thru-hull with one that you can stick a hose nozzle up against and flush out. (see the photo)

 

[Ron20324]

I upped the size of my vent to 1.25" and used the fitting in Peggy's post. It's easy to stick a hose into the thru-hull or just shoot a stream of water from the dock.

I've been wondering if anyone has used a male hose barb for a thru-hull? it would be easy to attach a hose to that. And yes, Peggy, I realize a bigger hose would be better, but I was just pondering the thought.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

You shouldn't need to attach hose to a vent

It would take longer to attach and remove the hose than you need to spend flushing the vent line.

 

[c_witch]

If its shaped anything like this one then a small plumbers snake or el cheapie a piece of #9 wire ie coat hanger bent into an arc and you should be able to snake it clear from inside ie hose barb or outside.

>Brina

How do you clear a 90 degree metal thru hull vent? OK, so we have two little ones on board (not an excuse) and now the vent is clogged. I took apart the vent hose and it's not the hose or the the tank inlet. It's the darn 90 degree metal through hull (Beneteau). When we pumped out this past weekend, I could hear the air gurgle through the head as it reached the bottom of the tank. It's got a build-up in it and is barely letting any air through it. I need to clean it promptly as the head is starting to smell. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Welll...yes and no..

If the ONLY blockage is in the thru-hull, you can prob'ly ream it out...but the thru-hull is only ONE of the TWO most common locations for a vent line blockage...the other one is the other end of the vent line--both the tank vent fitting and that end of the vent line. And the only way to zap both is a thru-hull that lets you backflush the vent line.