Pumpout from the top?

[Steven Sommer]

Hi Peggy,The tank I'm installing is directly beneath the pumpout fitting on the deck. I've been puzzing over the possibility of pumping the tank out from the top rather than the bottom (and avoiding the running of hose down and around the tank). On thought was to insert a PVC tube into the tank that seals at the pumpout connection - and is cut at the bottom to strategically allow material to flow. It would probably have to be adhered to the bottom of the tank somehow to avoid damage as the contents slosh around.Have you ever seen such a setup?Thanks!Steve

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

My favorite way to do it when there's enough

clearance above the top of the tank for the fittings. However, the pickup tube isn't installed in the tank, it's cemented to the thread-barb fitting and inserted into the tank like meat thermometer when you thread in the fitting.Buy a piece of 1.25 OD (OUTER diameter) hard pvc at any hardware store...expect to trim it, because you can't get an exact length measurement until you know how far into the fitting it'll go, and the wall thicknesses of fittings can vary, but you want it to reach all the way to the bottom of the tank. Have one end of it--the end that will go to the bottom of the tank--cut at a 25-30 degree angle...any flatter and undissolved solids or paper can get caught under it and clog it...any sharper, and you leave too much in the tank.Take that with you to the boat store to buy the thread-barb fitting, so that you make sure to get one that the pipe will fit into (the threaded end) snugly. Then it's just a matter of measuring how much to cut off the top of the pipe and cementing it (use PVC cement) into the fitting.