Just wondering how we avoid replacing the hoses where we believe the head smell is eminating from - any ideas / fixes? Thank you.
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The head mistress helped me
Mike, mine did the same thing, real bad odor when flushed after setting a couple days. The vent hose is plugged, I just changed mine, it's easy. I did poke out the clog but when I found how plugged it was I just replaced it. NO smell now. Sail on, Dean
Mike, mine did the same thing, real bad odor when flushed after setting a couple days. The vent hose is plugged, I just changed mine, it's easy. I did poke out the clog but when I found how plugged it was I just replaced it. NO smell now. Sail on, Dean
Am I missing something here?
Mike: I am wondering if I am missing something here. If you know that the hoses are the culprit why wouldn't you just replace them or have it done. Peggy has excellent advise in her forum. Read it! The quality hose is about $8-10/ft. It is not cheap but if you use cheap stuff you can start over again in a very short period of time. Maintaining your head system is actually a full time job. If you are using your boat you need to maintain the head or pay the consequences.
Mike: I am wondering if I am missing something here. If you know that the hoses are the culprit why wouldn't you just replace them or have it done. Peggy has excellent advise in her forum. Read it! The quality hose is about $8-10/ft. It is not cheap but if you use cheap stuff you can start over again in a very short period of time. Maintaining your head system is actually a full time job. If you are using your boat you need to maintain the head or pay the consequences.
head odor /hose replacement
Mike, you have answered your own question on fixing the odor,if you are sure it's the hoses the only cure is to replace them!
Mike, you have answered your own question on fixing the odor,if you are sure it's the hoses the only cure is to replace them!
Possible new IG Product?
In addition to taking care of the source, I have an idea for wrap and pads that will trap any escaping odors. Do you think anyone would be interested. I could certainly make up prototype products for next season. The material absorbs smell so that you can hold it over your nose while doing a cat tray too! Any interest? Jim Willis
In addition to taking care of the source, I have an idea for wrap and pads that will trap any escaping odors. Do you think anyone would be interested. I could certainly make up prototype products for next season. The material absorbs smell so that you can hold it over your nose while doing a cat tray too! Any interest? Jim Willis
The ONLY cure for permeated hoses is replacement
There's no way to reverse permeation. Jim, I hate to rain on your parade, but Saran Wrap is an odor impermeable material....often used as a temporary "band aid" fix to allow boat owners to finish out a season before replacing hoses. I used it myself...it works for several months. The secret behind SeaLand's OdorSafe brand hose is a "skin" of a similar product that's bonded to the outside of the hose...the hose itself can still permeate, but the skin on it can't, so the odor remains contained inside the hose.
There's no way to reverse permeation. Jim, I hate to rain on your parade, but Saran Wrap is an odor impermeable material....often used as a temporary "band aid" fix to allow boat owners to finish out a season before replacing hoses. I used it myself...it works for several months. The secret behind SeaLand's OdorSafe brand hose is a "skin" of a similar product that's bonded to the outside of the hose...the hose itself can still permeate, but the skin on it can't, so the odor remains contained inside the hose.
Salt water culprit
Make sure you have quality hoses It's worth the price and effort then read article in SAIL Mag Jan 2002. Salt water has organisms that die and stink Flush system with fresh water and odor treatment regularly after pumpout or build fresh water tank as in article Don't waste time with cheap hoses
Make sure you have quality hoses It's worth the price and effort then read article in SAIL Mag Jan 2002. Salt water has organisms that die and stink Flush system with fresh water and odor treatment regularly after pumpout or build fresh water tank as in article Don't waste time with cheap hoses
Not quite, Larry
In fact, only a small part of the problem...stagnant seawater odor is only present in the rim of the bowl or when the head is flushed after it's been sitting for a while. Head intake hoses rarely if ever permeate. It's waste that's the main culprit...when it's left to sit in the head and tank discharges hoses. A cupful or two of undiluted white vinegar down the head once a week, especially just before the boat sits a while, will do FAR more to prevent hoses from permeating than flushing with fresh water. And it has the added advantage of dissolving sea water calcium carbonate and urine crystal buildup in the hoses. Remarkable stuff, white vinegar...
In fact, only a small part of the problem...stagnant seawater odor is only present in the rim of the bowl or when the head is flushed after it's been sitting for a while. Head intake hoses rarely if ever permeate. It's waste that's the main culprit...when it's left to sit in the head and tank discharges hoses. A cupful or two of undiluted white vinegar down the head once a week, especially just before the boat sits a while, will do FAR more to prevent hoses from permeating than flushing with fresh water. And it has the added advantage of dissolving sea water calcium carbonate and urine crystal buildup in the hoses. Remarkable stuff, white vinegar...
Larry is correct
I know because I have had the same problem on a brand new boat that was one month old! Never had anything but urine in the bowl. The smell was a rotten egg / sulfer kind of stink that you'd get on the first few flushes after the boat sat for a week in the heat. The problem was sea water and little criters dying in the water trapped between the hand pump and the seacock. It was the worst when the weather got hot. Did I say it really bad? It was worse than that! I solved the problem with one of those in-line deodorizer/sanitizer attachments. Cheap, and took 5 minutes to install. The hoses are not the problem, or at least weren't on my boat, they were brand new. We tried everything! but this fixed it once and for all, never had the problem again.Even in 100 degree heat. Sorry Peggy, but thems the facts.... Regards, Chris
I know because I have had the same problem on a brand new boat that was one month old! Never had anything but urine in the bowl. The smell was a rotten egg / sulfer kind of stink that you'd get on the first few flushes after the boat sat for a week in the heat. The problem was sea water and little criters dying in the water trapped between the hand pump and the seacock. It was the worst when the weather got hot. Did I say it really bad? It was worse than that! I solved the problem with one of those in-line deodorizer/sanitizer attachments. Cheap, and took 5 minutes to install. The hoses are not the problem, or at least weren't on my boat, they were brand new. We tried everything! but this fixed it once and for all, never had the problem again.Even in 100 degree heat. Sorry Peggy, but thems the facts.... Regards, Chris
You're missing the point, Chris
You said it yourself: "The smell was a rotten egg / sulfer kind of stink that you'd get on the first few flushes after the boat sat for a week in the heat." The operative phrase is "the first few flushes." It's the stagnant sea water itself trapped in the intake and rim of the bowl that stinks, not the hoses. If it were the hoses--if the hoses had permeated--you couldn't get rid of it by flushing OR prevent it with any inline device. Intake hoses rarely, if ever, become permeated (saturated) with odor...only those hoses in which waste sits. It can happen in weeks, it can take years...it may never happen. But once it happens, the odor will be present in ever area in which the hose passes, not just in the head--in fact, may not even show up in the head--and CAN permeate everything else in the boat. The ONLY cure for permeated hose is replacement. THEM is the facts, Chris.
You said it yourself: "The smell was a rotten egg / sulfer kind of stink that you'd get on the first few flushes after the boat sat for a week in the heat." The operative phrase is "the first few flushes." It's the stagnant sea water itself trapped in the intake and rim of the bowl that stinks, not the hoses. If it were the hoses--if the hoses had permeated--you couldn't get rid of it by flushing OR prevent it with any inline device. Intake hoses rarely, if ever, become permeated (saturated) with odor...only those hoses in which waste sits. It can happen in weeks, it can take years...it may never happen. But once it happens, the odor will be present in ever area in which the hose passes, not just in the head--in fact, may not even show up in the head--and CAN permeate everything else in the boat. The ONLY cure for permeated hose is replacement. THEM is the facts, Chris.
Perhaps I wasn't clear
I said I thought the problem was the sea water in the hoses, not the hoses thenselves. These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose. Anyway take it for what it's worth. I had a similar problem on a brand new boat in which the head had been used maybe ten times. I fixed the problem the way I said, and it worked. It's cheap and it worked for me. Easier and cheaper than guessing about changing hoses. Regards, Chris
I said I thought the problem was the sea water in the hoses, not the hoses thenselves. These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose. Anyway take it for what it's worth. I had a similar problem on a brand new boat in which the head had been used maybe ten times. I fixed the problem the way I said, and it worked. It's cheap and it worked for me. Easier and cheaper than guessing about changing hoses. Regards, Chris
Larry and critters
When I said larry was right I was refering to the sea water and critters that die the stagnated water. Regards, Chris
When I said larry was right I was refering to the sea water and critters that die the stagnated water. Regards, Chris
Chris, don't feel bad..(or wrong)
Receiving a dogmatic (even argumentative) opinion from a certain person in this forum is rather common. I have been a recipient myself. Sometimes, it seems, the reply is made before the post is fully read and understood. I agree with your post. I have been flushing with fresh water by using a large plastic cup that sits on the counter. We fill it with fresh water from the sink faucet and pour it in the bowl and then pump with the valve closed to sea water. Usually we repeat the process with a second pour of fresh water. The odors have lessened considerably. Chris
Receiving a dogmatic (even argumentative) opinion from a certain person in this forum is rather common. I have been a recipient myself. Sometimes, it seems, the reply is made before the post is fully read and understood. I agree with your post. I have been flushing with fresh water by using a large plastic cup that sits on the counter. We fill it with fresh water from the sink faucet and pour it in the bowl and then pump with the valve closed to sea water. Usually we repeat the process with a second pour of fresh water. The odors have lessened considerably. Chris
Chris G
Try the deodorizer/sanitizer it's cheap and works. It has a little bottle that had a hard tidybowl kind of stuff in it. The bottle srews into a T in the sea water intake line. It gives you the blue bowl water but doesn't stain the bowl. Kills all the odors associated with stagnated seawater. Here in the spring we get millions and millions of these little jellyfish. They get sucked up into your head intaake and end up dying in there. You come down to the boat a week later and flush the head and your knees get weak from the smell! I'm told when the bottle gets empty just cutup chunks of any solid bowl cleaner and put in the bottle. I wouldn't take that chance myself. I know this stuff works and is safe for marine heads. Regards, Chris
Try the deodorizer/sanitizer it's cheap and works. It has a little bottle that had a hard tidybowl kind of stuff in it. The bottle srews into a T in the sea water intake line. It gives you the blue bowl water but doesn't stain the bowl. Kills all the odors associated with stagnated seawater. Here in the spring we get millions and millions of these little jellyfish. They get sucked up into your head intaake and end up dying in there. You come down to the boat a week later and flush the head and your knees get weak from the smell! I'm told when the bottle gets empty just cutup chunks of any solid bowl cleaner and put in the bottle. I wouldn't take that chance myself. I know this stuff works and is safe for marine heads. Regards, Chris
You were quite clear...
You just missed the point: stagnant seawater goes away...odor from permeated hoses does not. "These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose." Oh??? I've been in the marine sanitation biz for more than 15 years, and that's news to me. Care to elaborate on the reasons why you think so?
You just missed the point: stagnant seawater goes away...odor from permeated hoses does not. "These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose." Oh??? I've been in the marine sanitation biz for more than 15 years, and that's news to me. Care to elaborate on the reasons why you think so?
my idea
my head sink drains thru a T off the head intake. So when I am leaving the boat for the week I close the head sea water intake, fill the head sink with fresh water from the tap(about 2 litres) then pump the head. The head pump draws the fresh water from the sink into the head. By the time the sink is "pumped" dry the head intake hose, the head pump and the bowl all have fresh water in them which doesn't "rot" over the week and surprise me the following Saturday. Cheers
my head sink drains thru a T off the head intake. So when I am leaving the boat for the week I close the head sea water intake, fill the head sink with fresh water from the tap(about 2 litres) then pump the head. The head pump draws the fresh water from the sink into the head. By the time the sink is "pumped" dry the head intake hose, the head pump and the bowl all have fresh water in them which doesn't "rot" over the week and surprise me the following Saturday. Cheers
Over-ruled!
Not argumentative...You made a statement: "These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose." I just asked you to explain why you think that's true. Dogmatic? Yep. And sometimes pedantic too. Hey...nobody's perfect. Tom's solution is the easiest and least expensive solution to the problem of intake odor...I've recommended it ever since a customer told me about it in 1993. It's explained in a bit more detail in the article "Intake Odor Cure" in the Head Mistress forum Reference Library (on the forum home page).
Not argumentative...You made a statement: "These intake hoses are not pourous like the head to holding tank hose." I just asked you to explain why you think that's true. Dogmatic? Yep. And sometimes pedantic too. Hey...nobody's perfect.
Tom's solution is the easiest and least expensive solution to the problem of intake odor...I've recommended it ever since a customer told me about it in 1993. It's explained in a bit more detail in the article "Intake Odor Cure" in the Head Mistress forum Reference Library (on the forum home page).Pourous hoses
Peggy, Are clear vinyl hoses porous? If they are I stand corrected. Best regards, Chris
Peggy, Are clear vinyl hoses porous? If they are I stand corrected. Best regards, Chris
Yep..far more so than white sanitation hose.
A clear holding tank vent hose will permeate in a heartbeat. There's also another issue when it comes to using clear hose: Although most boat builders do use clear hose that IS rated for below waterline use, most clear hose isn't. We've always recommended using sanitation hose throughout the system...but if you choose to save money by using clear hose, epecially for the head intake, make sure it's rated for below-waterline installations.
A clear holding tank vent hose will permeate in a heartbeat. There's also another issue when it comes to using clear hose: Although most boat builders do use clear hose that IS rated for below waterline use, most clear hose isn't. We've always recommended using sanitation hose throughout the system...but if you choose to save money by using clear hose, epecially for the head intake, make sure it's rated for below-waterline installations.
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