I've added the tide pod-like packets, put some baking soda in the head sink. got a little better. opened the door under the sink today and nearly puked. everything looks tight and dry. please, please help.
just bought 2014 Beneteau, and head reeks
- Thread starter JasonFromJersey
- Start date
Several possibilities: 1. a leaking connection...2. permeated sanitation hoses...something else.
Is the odor confined to the head?
Does it emanate from the toilet bowl, or does the source seem to be under the vanity?
If from the bowl, do you see black flecks in the bowl when you bring in flush water (they'd be coming out of the channel in the rim of the bowl)?
You said putting some baking soda down the head sink helped a bit...is your toilet's flush water intake line teed into the sink drain line (Beneteau wouldn't have plumbed it that way, but it's a common owner mod-- a good one actually). If so, I'm wondering if the toilet could have pulled in some animal sea life that's died and decayed there.....
Had the boat been sitting for an extended period, either in or out of the water?
If there's a shower sump, is it dry?
Those are enough questions to start with...
--Peggie
Is the odor confined to the head?
Does it emanate from the toilet bowl, or does the source seem to be under the vanity?
If from the bowl, do you see black flecks in the bowl when you bring in flush water (they'd be coming out of the channel in the rim of the bowl)?
You said putting some baking soda down the head sink helped a bit...is your toilet's flush water intake line teed into the sink drain line (Beneteau wouldn't have plumbed it that way, but it's a common owner mod-- a good one actually). If so, I'm wondering if the toilet could have pulled in some animal sea life that's died and decayed there.....
Had the boat been sitting for an extended period, either in or out of the water?
If there's a shower sump, is it dry?
Those are enough questions to start with...
--Peggie
Good suggestions from Peggie as always. A couple other ideas I’ll add -
I’m pretty sure our Beneteau from the same year has the Trident 102 hose that Peggie recommends. At 6 years old it shouldn’t be permeated. Ours is still fine.
The holding tank is behind the head, in the cabinet. You could pull the forward most cabinet mirror open to see the tank and to try to tell if that’s where the smell is coming from.
The shower sump pump output is teed into the sink drain. If baking soda down the drain helped then that lends credence to the possibility that it’s a shower sump smell.
I’m pretty sure our Beneteau from the same year has the Trident 102 hose that Peggie recommends. At 6 years old it shouldn’t be permeated. Ours is still fine.
The holding tank is behind the head, in the cabinet. You could pull the forward most cabinet mirror open to see the tank and to try to tell if that’s where the smell is coming from.
The shower sump pump output is teed into the sink drain. If baking soda down the drain helped then that lends credence to the possibility that it’s a shower sump smell.
When I bought my boat it had sat on the hard for a couple of years with the sanitation hose filled with pink antifreeze. The odor was cured when the hose was removed. Same happened with a water filter in the galley, threw it out and the odor went away.. Apparently, as propylene glycol breaks down, it makes good microbe food.
Mine weren't suggestions...they're questions that I hope he'll answer 'cuz the answers will help me nail down the source(s) of the odor(s).
--Peggie
--Peggie
The shower sump drain is plumbed to a sump pump in the cabinet under the vanity. There is a push button on the front of the vanity in to the right of the sink for running the pump. But there should be nowhere for sump odors to escape except out the drain itself. How does smell in the vanity cabinet compare to the cabinet where the holding tank is? The two are somewhat connected.
Spitballing now - If the cleanout port on the tank leaked the effluent would likely run down under the hull liner under the head. The cabinet under the sink is one place where the liner would let any smells escape. The fact that there’s no smell in the bilge is a good sign though.
Spitballing now - If the cleanout port on the tank leaked the effluent would likely run down under the hull liner under the head. The cabinet under the sink is one place where the liner would let any smells escape. The fact that there’s no smell in the bilge is a good sign though.
hadn't noticed any particular odor when opening the left vanity mirror in front of the holding tank
Hoses are 6 years old. No signs of leaks or cracks.
No leaks or cracks in the plumbing doesn't rule out permeated hoses...some can permeate in less than a year. There should be markings on it that include the mfr's name and/or maybe a logo, "model" name and even some numbers. They repeat every few feet. If you aren't sure what any of the markings mean, post a photo of a section of the hose showing the markings.
Bear with me...we'll get to the bottom of your odor problem.
Btw...please stop using AquaKem...the active ingredient is formaldehyde.
--Peggie
No leaks or cracks in the plumbing doesn't rule out permeated hoses...some can permeate in less than a year. There should be markings on it that include the mfr's name and/or maybe a logo, "model" name and even some numbers. They repeat every few feet. If you aren't sure what any of the markings mean, post a photo of a section of the hose showing the markings.
Bear with me...we'll get to the bottom of your odor problem.
Btw...please stop using AquaKem...the active ingredient is formaldehyde.
--Peggie
Jason can confirm for his boat, but I double checked ours today (same make, model, and year) and they are Trident 102 for all the black water. Gray water (sink drain and shower sump) uses black unmarked hose with a shiny black outer liner. We're the original owners so that's how it came from the factory.
And don’t forget the wonderful y valve..... mine were real stinkers. Happy to now have none. Also on my beneteau holding tank from 2005 there is a large inspection port. It has a rubber gasket however I found that it did not seat tightly and stink was getting through especially when flushing. I added some Teflon tape to the threads and that ended that.
good luck.....
Greg
good luck.....
Greg
Exactly the same with mine. See attached photos.
Some more intel that might help. The smell in the head was generally better today. I noticed the the shower drain had non-tox pink antifreeze. I turned on the water pressure and ran some water out of the tap nozzle. It spurted and sputtered, the ran some grey water with dark flecks than ran clear. That water stank. Then I ran the clean water onto the shower floor and ran the pump to drain the shower. More stink. I ran some more and pumped some more. The shower drain is now clear, not pink. I'll report on the smell tomorrow or later in the week.
Is it possible that the stagnant water in the shower drain and the faucet hoses was the source? I've been leaving the vanity door open hoping the it just needed to air out.
Lastly does water that has somehow gone into the vanity drain into the bilge? Could it be the bilge? I would think if it were, then the small would be more ubiquitous.
Jason
Attachments
Jason,
Could get mal odors from faucet hoses and shower drain, if water has accumulated for long period.
The vanity sink should not drain into the bilge; all water from the sink should go directly into a waste water hose and out of the boat by way of a valve and thru hull fitting. If the thru hull valve was closed and water sat in the hose for an extended period of time, that would be another source of the odor.
Have you emptied and flushed the holding tank and hoses several times, yet? Definitely to check to determine if the hoses are permeated.
It's very possible that the sink--both head sink and galley sink-- and shower drain lines are t least one of the sources of your odor. And if any gray water (galley, bath and shower water) or ice box drain water drains into the bilge, that's another likely source, but if it is, it's not likely that the odor would be confined to the head.
The sinks drain directly overboard....but what about the shower? On most sailboats the shower drains into a sump where it's pushed out an above-waterline thru-hull by a sump pump...an shower water in a sump can turn into a stinking primordial soup if the sump isn't cleaned regularly. Fortunately cleaning them is easy...in fact, keeping them clean just about the only job on a boat that doesn't require any manual labor:
Raritan only markets their "C.P. Cleans Potties" as a bowl cleaner--and it is an excellent one. But it's also the best sump and drain cleaner on the planet. C.P. is a bio-enzymatic cleaner that not only destroys odor on contact, but the enzymes in it "eat" hair, soap scum, body oils, galley grease and all the stuff that clogs sumps and drains and makes 'em stinky. To clean sink drains, close the seacock, then put about about 2 ounces of C.P down the drain and fill the drain with waterwhen it can stand at least overnight....the enzymes need time to work. The next morning, open the drain thru-hulls and run clean water through the drains...that's it. T clean a sump, put 2-3 oz of C.P. down the shower drain when it can stand at least overnight...The next morning flush clean water through the sump. You can even let it remain in the sump for weeks, 'cuz although the enzymes exhaust themselves in 24 hours, there's nothing in C.P. that can harm anything.
--Peggie
I think we're getting closer now. The disintegrating pink antifreeze in the sump and hoses could've been the source of part of the problem. When our pump runs it tends to "burp" a little air backwards in between pump strokes. It's possible that that burping pushed some of the air back from the hoses up the sump. Now that you've purged all the bad antifreeze from there hopefully it will be better.
Any water that leaks under the vanity does run to the bilge. Water in the sink and shower drains should run right out the sink discharge thru hull. It sounds to me like you probably didn't have any foul water under the vanity, just what was in the hoses. The bad water in the hoses may have permeated the black drain lines and led to the smell under the vanity. Hopefully now that you've purged the bad water the smell will be better.
The Beneteau 37 has a very small "sump" - really just about a 1/2" recess in the shower floor pan. The sump pump pulls from there into a discharge hose that is Tee'd into the sink drain. They discharge through an underwater thru hull.