Clogged Waste Line

[Steve Carpman]

The waste line between the holding tank and the deck plate appears to be clogged. After attempting to pump out the tank, liquid sewage remained in that line up to the level of the deck plate. My theory is the pump out suction was strong enough to pull the blockage into the waste line, but was not strong enough to pull the blockage all the way through the line. The waste line is about 4-5 feet long with a farily straight run. My repair scenarios are (i) find a pump out facility with stronger suction, or (ii) find some type of snake to free the obstruction. My concern with the snake is that I do not want puncture the waste line.Does anyone have any other ideas? Is there a snake made for waste lines on boats?

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

You don't have a clogged pumpout line

You have a blocked holding tank vent. The pumpout pulled a vacuum, pulling waste as far as it could without any air coming in the vent to replace it. Without any air coming in the vent to relieve the suction from the pumpout, it couldn't go back down. Finding a stronger pumpout could result in a cracked tank...in fact, you're just lucky that it hasn't already happened, 'cuz any pumpout strong enough to leave waste all the way up the pumpout hose IS strong enough to crack your tank.Clear your tank vent--99% of of vent blockages occur at the thru-hull, so that's the first place to look--and you should have no trouble pumping out the tank. Meanwhile, don't even THINK of using the toilet again until you can pump out...or attempting to pumpout OR use your macerator (if you have one) to dump the tank until you've cleared the vent.Meanwhile, you might want to read the articles in the Head Mistress forum reference library (that's the LIBRARY, not the archives!) to learn how to properly operate and maintain your sanitation system to prevent problems like this one in the future.On the plus side, at least you asked BEFORE you did anything you'd regret...and you'd definitely have regretted doing either of the things you were thinking of.

 

[Steve Carpman]

Thanks Peggy

Thanks Peggy! I will clean the vent line this week end.

 

[Joe Barrett]

Garden Hose

Steve, whenever I pump out I always follow with fresh water down the deck fitting to clean out the line between the deck and holding tank and too also clean out sediment on the bottom of the tank. Then I pump this all out again then if I don't see clear water thru the site glass on the pumpout I will repeat till I'm satisfied I've got everything out and the tank and lines are clean.I'm sure Peggy is right though about the vent being clogged which can happen when someone try's to flush into a holding tank that is already full.