Just finished reading your book - very helpful. One question I have is the use of vinegar in the holding tank system. There seemed to be a contradiction in your book. In one chapter you said vinegar was damaging to rubber in the toilet and pumps. In another chapter you said before leaving the boat for a period of time, flush a bowlful of water down then flush vinegar down and leave in the lines for odor control. Would this be harmful to the pump, macerator, etc? Thanks for all your insight.
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Don't leave vinegar sitting ANYwhere in the system
Use only a cupful, and flush it all the way through the system. It's a "rinse," not a "leave in." As long as the vinegar is flushed all the way through the system, it won't harm anything. It's only when rubber is allowed to sit and soak in vinegar for a while that it can damage them...they absorb it, swell up and distort. That's why I'm careful to say, flush it all the way through...don't leave it sitting in the bowl OR the hoses.
Use only a cupful, and flush it all the way through the system. It's a "rinse," not a "leave in." As long as the vinegar is flushed all the way through the system, it won't harm anything. It's only when rubber is allowed to sit and soak in vinegar for a while that it can damage them...they absorb it, swell up and distort. That's why I'm careful to say, flush it all the way through...don't leave it sitting in the bowl OR the hoses.
Vinegar use
Peggie: When you say "Flush vinegar all the way" through do you mean use water to wash it through so there is no significant vinegar remaining on the sides of the hose, or do you mean just pour it in the head bowl ang pump it until it is gone from sight?
Peggie: When you say "Flush vinegar all the way" through do you mean use water to wash it through so there is no significant vinegar remaining on the sides of the hose, or do you mean just pour it in the head bowl ang pump it until it is gone from sight?
Pump enough to push it through...
Any marine toilet that's working anywhere near factory specs can move anything in the bowl at least 6' in the dry mode--and that's without any help from gravity. Put in the bowl...pump it all the way to the tank or treatment device. There wouldn't be any point to using vinegar if you if you put water down behind it to rinse it all out.
Any marine toilet that's working anywhere near factory specs can move anything in the bowl at least 6' in the dry mode--and that's without any help from gravity. Put in the bowl...pump it all the way to the tank or treatment device. There wouldn't be any point to using vinegar if you if you put water down behind it to rinse it all out.
Is that 6' vertically?
Peggy, Vinny (New Beern NC) and I are talking with Ronco regarding a custom tank for a h40. I remember seeing a number of articles saying joker valves don't work if the sewage is higher than the joker valve. I worried that if we have the holding tank inlet 30" above the head outlet we'd get back flow through the joker valve. Do I understand correctly that using "pump dry" I could push all waste up into the tank. Total distance would be perhaps 6 or 7 feet; vertical rise would be 30 inches max. My head is a Groco HF
Peggy, Vinny (New Beern NC) and I are talking with Ronco regarding a custom tank for a h40. I remember seeing a number of articles saying joker valves don't work if the sewage is higher than the joker valve. I worried that if we have the holding tank inlet 30" above the head outlet we'd get back flow through the joker valve. Do I understand correctly that using "pump dry" I could push all waste up into the tank. Total distance would be perhaps 6 or 7 feet; vertical rise would be 30 inches max. My head is a Groco HF
All it has to do is clear the top of the loop
Gravity will take over from there. If your tank is above the toilet, there should be a loop--vented or not--in the line above the tank. The closer it is to the toilet, the better, because the uphill distance will be shorter. As for whether the joker valve will prevent waste from running back into the toilet...joker valves aren't supposed to prevent slow seepage, but only a flood...so if you leave waste or flush water sitting in a line that runs downhill to the toilet, it will seep back into the bowl. The solution: pump enough in the dry mode to push bowl contents all the way to the tank--or at least over the top of the loop...if there's nothing left in the line, there won't be anything to run back downhill into the bowl. Most people fill up their tanks with more flush water than they have to, because they only use the dry mode to move the last of the flush water out of the bowl (They also quit pumping as soon as the bowl is empty, leaving waste in the line to permeate it). You can double or even triple the number of the flushes your tank can hold if you do it this way: Pump a couple of times in the wet mode to wet the bowl ahead of use. Switch to the dry mode...pump enough to move the waste all the way through the system. Switch back to wet for only 2-3 pumps to bring in water to rinse out bowl and discharge line...back to dry to push the rinse water all the way through. Also use the dry mode to rinse out the line with clean fresh water, followed by a cupful of vinegar, when closing up the boat.
Gravity will take over from there. If your tank is above the toilet, there should be a loop--vented or not--in the line above the tank. The closer it is to the toilet, the better, because the uphill distance will be shorter. As for whether the joker valve will prevent waste from running back into the toilet...joker valves aren't supposed to prevent slow seepage, but only a flood...so if you leave waste or flush water sitting in a line that runs downhill to the toilet, it will seep back into the bowl. The solution: pump enough in the dry mode to push bowl contents all the way to the tank--or at least over the top of the loop...if there's nothing left in the line, there won't be anything to run back downhill into the bowl. Most people fill up their tanks with more flush water than they have to, because they only use the dry mode to move the last of the flush water out of the bowl (They also quit pumping as soon as the bowl is empty, leaving waste in the line to permeate it). You can double or even triple the number of the flushes your tank can hold if you do it this way: Pump a couple of times in the wet mode to wet the bowl ahead of use. Switch to the dry mode...pump enough to move the waste all the way through the system. Switch back to wet for only 2-3 pumps to bring in water to rinse out bowl and discharge line...back to dry to push the rinse water all the way through. Also use the dry mode to rinse out the line with clean fresh water, followed by a cupful of vinegar, when closing up the boat.
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