Holding tank odor

[Pascal]

glad you found it !

a few years ago, I had a clogged vent filter on my previous boat... one day i went to pump out and got the brown geyser from the tank being pressurized.. after the pump out, and 2 hours clean up..., i realized the tank had partly collapsed during the pump out. no cracks, no leaks, but i failed to notice that the wire for tank watch had been pulled out and ripped leaving a very small hole at the top of the tank. it took me a while to find the source of the smell!

FWIW,it's been over a year since i stopped using any kind of tank treatment... no difference, no smell... except for the brief smell outside when flushing and waste pushes air out, but i doubt the treatment woudl suppress that anyway.. and it's outside. I usually pump out every 2 weeks on average....

 

[Liquid Asset]

It is amazing to me how much a 1/4" hole can let out in the way of a smell. I put a new machine screw in the hole tonight and within an hour the smell had gotten so much better. Since this holding tank was not hooked up when we purchased the boat I have no Idea how long it has been missing. I can not believe I didn't notice it when I was converting the tank back to a holding tank.

Pascal, I dont like vent filters for the reason you are describing. I figure that my neighbors can just deal with it if it smells. At our marina they have a pump out boat that comes around weekly for free if you are a tenant and all you have to do is put your name on the list. So I put my name on the list every other week and they take care of it. It does not get flushed with fresh water, but thats ok most of the time since I dont have to be around.

 

[Nonchalant1]

Pat,

Glad you found it!

BTW - We use OdorLos and it seems to completely keep the odor away in the holding tanks. Hard to believe, but it seems to really work. Even when I have had to open up the tanks and the pumps, no smell! I was prepared for working in the worst smells, but was surprised by not smelling anything.

Doug

 

[jim rosenthal]

Interesting discussion....Blue Note has a LectraSan as well and I think did when she was built. I try to keep the maintenance up on it- so far, it has held up well. I have to admit I think that makes more sense than driving around with a box full of waste in the boat, but obviously I am not neutral on this...no one WANTS a holding tank, we would probably all rather treat and d/c if we could.

 

[MikeP]

I talked with "Patrick" about this again today. He totally ignores the no dumping "rules." He or his partner knows to immediately go below and turn the seacocks appropriately/attach the wire tires if the CG is inspecting. He has the boat CG inspected every year at the dock and, according to him, having the CG inspected sticker has prevented any CG random boardings/inspections. He says he has never been boarded in 20+ years in LI sound. I wish I had his cajones!

He pointed out one of the rules I have also questioned - it's OK to take a dump directly off the boat into the water while hanging your butt off the side. It is NOT ok to take a dump in a bucket and then throw it off the boat into the water. Does this make any sense at all?

 

[Genesis]

He's right, and it makes zero sense.

The only thing you can be busted for hanging it over the side is indecent exposure.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Lots of stuff about these laws doesn't make sense. They now have a waste treatement system that sends the final product out to the water cleaner than the rules require for a bathing beach. When I asked the great lakes DEQ people about this, they said they were aware, but the great lakes rules are quite simple. You are not allowed any sewege discharge regardless of how it is treated. Thank god they haven't applied these rules to so called grey water, or the discharge water from sinks. Of course, I believe the freighters are still allowed to discharge their human waste directly into the water. They also are allowed to paint their bottoms with tin based paints. I just learned that they burn high sulfur bunker oil when on the lakes and switch to clean diesel only in rivers. I guess the air doesn't circulate according to our law makers.

 

[GaryNW]

Well, I hoped this thread would die out before it got me riled up! didn't happen.
Here in the great pnw we just had a total failure of a municipal sewer system. So up to (4) million gallons per day of raw sewage was dumped into the pristine waters of port angeles (or port townsend-i don't recall). Residents were asked to not flush, do dishes or shower until the problem was fixed. The sewer part needed was obsolete, so a few days passed with the raw sewage discharge while the needed part was fabbed. The attitude of local officials was $hit happens-but all is well. Then I remembered-and this is the problem with reading even the poorest local paper- that virtually all major cities in this region, and probably all of u.s. default, by design, to raw discharge into the nearest saltwater site. Meanwhile, the latest expensive test contract by a nearby stupid waterfront city with liveaboards (everett, wa- but you didn't hear it from me) revealed, as these things always do, that the liveaboards were causing absolutely no problem. Of course the latest marina expansion by the same city, prohibits liveaboards. They are not quality folk. Quality folk have million dollar view and waterfront homes that discharge raw sewage when $hit happens, but would never dream of living on their 60' yachts down at the new marina. Where would their poodle, Fifi, be able to do his business?
Gary

 

[MikeP]

Here's a report of the LectraSan system done in New Zealand to test its effectiveness. It's very thorough and makes some interesting conclusions and cautions about the system. It points out the one "hole" in the logic that LectraSan output should be OK - that there is no assurance that the boat's LS is working properly or that it is even being used for each flush.

http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/lectrasan-report-jun02.pdf

 

[Liquid Asset]

Good point mike, but in this day and age, you would think they could build a lectrasan that has some sensors that keep it from working if there is a problem. We do have the technology! If every boater dumped their poop into the water, I really dont think it would make a large difference in polution. There is already so much of it that we dont even know about.

 

[luckydave215]

You guys are all being foolish. Why do you expect laws and enforcement to be logical? Get over it.