Running freashwater to head intake

[Joe Perez]

What's the best way for running freshwater to the toilet? I have a Pearson 36-2, which uses sea water for the toilet water. But, as you all know, this is a major cause of odor. I usually flush with fresh water after sailing, which keeps the toilet clear until I use the boat again, but this is just a bandaid. Running the head intake to one of my fresh water tanks is the way to go, especially since the 36-2 carries a lot of water for our needs.
Does anyone have a diagram? Do you have to use a dedicated tank for this or can you split the line so it still goes to a faucet? Also, do you tap into the fresh water line before the accumulator tank?
I'd love to hear ideas of what others have done.

 

[Stu Jackson]

What's the best way for running freshwater to the toilet? ... Running the head intake to one of my fresh water tanks is the way to go, especially since the 36-2 carries a lot of water for our needs.

I'd love to hear ideas of what others have done.

Never, never, never connect the two.

You use the head sink outlet teed into the head intake for last flush of the day.

Like this: Head Odors 101.1 - "T" into sink drain: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5755.msg38216.html#msg38216

 

[Joe Perez]

Hi Stu
Thanks for the thread. However, they seem to all say to flush the last flush with fresh water, which is what I do.
My boat has 2 large water tanks. Even when we're away for a week, we don't run through one entire tank. Plus we always have opportunities to refill anyway.
We've chartered boats that use fresh water for the head and have heard of many, many successful retrofits. I just haven't see plans showing how and where the connections are made.
???

 

[NYSail]

Joe, I do the same, however always use fresh water to flush, not just the last flush. Right now I use my bathroom sink facet and just spray in the toilet when I need a flush. When we are on long trips, we have a water bag that we fill with the cooler water (melted ice). So only fresh water has been going into my holding tank for several years. I have thought about putting a tee from the aft tank and running this to the toilet intake, but have not gotten to it. I would assume you would also need a back feed preventer with this so as not to contaminate the water tank.

 

[wilyoung]

Remember that usually the pump that pumps sewage out also pumps flush water in using the same cylinder with a piston that pumps both ways. If you connect the head input to a fresh water tank you are almost assured of some cross contamination. If you must flush with fresh water find a totally different source. Personally, I have never had a problem using raw sea water.