Hi Peggy, Read your post earlier about Teeing off the Sink discharge in order to flush the intake of all seawater... very efficient, although the thru-hulls in my Hunter 466 are not terribly easy to access, meaning lots of contortions for what should be a pretty simple process. Any suggestions or gotcha's with permanantly tying into my pressurized fresh water system? Would a Tee off the vanity cold water, using a checkvalve, be a viable alternative to provide freshwater to my Jabsco manual head (today) and (TBD)electric flush in the future? What issues would I run into with when the system is pressurized (or not)? I'm becoming an expert at pulling my intake hose off the thru-hull and sanitizing it to get rid of the wonderful odors, so I'm motivated to fix this permanantly by using the plentiful fresh water resources on the boat (200 gal) Thanks in advance, allan
Converting from Salt to Fresh Water
- Thread starter allan11826
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BIG no-no! Don't even think of doing it.
Only toilets designed by the mfr to use pressurized flush water can safely be connected to the onboard fresh water system. NO raw water toilet should ever be connected to the boat's fresh water system...it cannot be done without risk of polluting the potable water supply and damage to the toilet. Teeing into a water line in the head would mean that the water in the line is pressurized--there won't be any water in it unless the pump is on TO pressurize it. Rubber parts in manual toilets are designed to PULL water in, they're not made to withstand pressurized water being pushed through the pump...so teeing into a pressurized line will turn the toilet into a fountain. Teeing into the fresh water system ahead of the pump is just asking for e-coli in your potable water...there is no check valve that can prevent bacteria from the bowl from migrating into the water tank. If you want to stick with a manual toilet, there are only two safe ways to flush with fresh water: 1) use the shower head or a cup, or 2) install another water tank dedicated solely to supplying water to the toilet. Or, replace the toilet with one designed by the mfr to use pressurized flush water. However, if teeing your head intake into the head sink drain isn't practical, there is a much easier way to flush the sea water out of your existing system than removing the intake hose from the thru-hull: using a 3/4" y-valve (which you can probly get from any hardware store) ...tee a piece of hose long enough to stick into a gallon milk jug into your head intake line in a location that is accessible. Close the seacock, stick the hose into the milk jug, turn the y-valve, flush the toilet. Even if the only place you can tee into is in the bilge, moving a y-valve handle sure beats taking a hose on and off a thru-hull.
Only toilets designed by the mfr to use pressurized flush water can safely be connected to the onboard fresh water system. NO raw water toilet should ever be connected to the boat's fresh water system...it cannot be done without risk of polluting the potable water supply and damage to the toilet. Teeing into a water line in the head would mean that the water in the line is pressurized--there won't be any water in it unless the pump is on TO pressurize it. Rubber parts in manual toilets are designed to PULL water in, they're not made to withstand pressurized water being pushed through the pump...so teeing into a pressurized line will turn the toilet into a fountain. Teeing into the fresh water system ahead of the pump is just asking for e-coli in your potable water...there is no check valve that can prevent bacteria from the bowl from migrating into the water tank. If you want to stick with a manual toilet, there are only two safe ways to flush with fresh water: 1) use the shower head or a cup, or 2) install another water tank dedicated solely to supplying water to the toilet. Or, replace the toilet with one designed by the mfr to use pressurized flush water. However, if teeing your head intake into the head sink drain isn't practical, there is a much easier way to flush the sea water out of your existing system than removing the intake hose from the thru-hull: using a 3/4" y-valve (which you can probly get from any hardware store) ...tee a piece of hose long enough to stick into a gallon milk jug into your head intake line in a location that is accessible. Close the seacock, stick the hose into the milk jug, turn the y-valve, flush the toilet. Even if the only place you can tee into is in the bilge, moving a y-valve handle sure beats taking a hose on and off a thru-hull.
I added a seperate sprayer
I added a seperate spryer to the fresh water system next to the toilet just for flushing and cleaning,I got the idea from my motorhome switch has the same type sprayer like on your home sink years ago just push with your finger and it sprys water,it works great. nick
I added a seperate spryer to the fresh water system next to the toilet just for flushing and cleaning,I got the idea from my motorhome switch has the same type sprayer like on your home sink years ago just push with your finger and it sprys water,it works great. nick
Thanks Peggy!
You have confirmed my suspicions and concerns about mixing the head intake with the freshwater system. Thanks much. I'm going to take your advice and install the T for the short term odor issue while I research the electric head situation more... I'm also concerned about the water usage of some of these units, even if they are adjustable. I have 2 heads and 2 25 Gallon holding tanks, and don't have a sense for how my current Jabsco manual uses water compared to the various electrical flushed heads. Boat show demo's just don't quite do it for me. Do you have any opinions (that you are willing to share) about which heads give the best performance, balancing amps per flush, maceration, water usage, etc? thanks, allan ps. The book is on order!
You have confirmed my suspicions and concerns about mixing the head intake with the freshwater system. Thanks much. I'm going to take your advice and install the T for the short term odor issue while I research the electric head situation more... I'm also concerned about the water usage of some of these units, even if they are adjustable. I have 2 heads and 2 25 Gallon holding tanks, and don't have a sense for how my current Jabsco manual uses water compared to the various electrical flushed heads. Boat show demo's just don't quite do it for me. Do you have any opinions (that you are willing to share) about which heads give the best performance, balancing amps per flush, maceration, water usage, etc? thanks, allan ps. The book is on order!
About the same...
Electric toilets designed to use pressurize flush water use no more flush water--and often even less--than most people use flushing a manual toilet, especially if they flush the manual toilet is the wet mode mostly instead of the dry mode. In my experience, the Raritan SeaEra is the best "bang for the buck"...about the same price or even less than any Jabsco, but FAR more durable and reliable. The best prices I've seen are here: http://www.boatfix.com/elec/rarprod.asp
Electric toilets designed to use pressurize flush water use no more flush water--and often even less--than most people use flushing a manual toilet, especially if they flush the manual toilet is the wet mode mostly instead of the dry mode. In my experience, the Raritan SeaEra is the best "bang for the buck"...about the same price or even less than any Jabsco, but FAR more durable and reliable. The best prices I've seen are here: http://www.boatfix.com/elec/rarprod.asp
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