[Public-List] holding tank vent

[George Dinwiddie]

Hi, Kirk,

On 3/6/13 6:08 AM, Kirk Little wrote:
>
> For what it's worth, my holding tank vent did leak and did create (a
> minor) problem.  My tank and it's 1/2"? vent are in the closet
> directly behind the head and the vent is located about 6 inches below
> the rail.  On several passages I noticed 'some' water coming in and I
> would just turn on the macerator to pump it out, so no real problem
> as mentioned before.  Until one day the macerator pump broke and
> started leaking.  This left me offshore with a full, leaking tank and
> no way to empty it overboard.  For the emergency fix I  put a wood
> plug into the vent and got to the business of draining the tank
> inside with a bucket, all while offshore.  Lucky for me I never use
> the tank and it was relatively clean.  Later I bought but never
> installed a one-way valve to stop the sea-water intrusion and
> realized that this would create vacuum issues when trying to pump out
> the tank via the macerater.  Eventually I just added a small loop
> going up to the bottom of the deck into the vent hose which seems to
> have stopped the water but I feel that with only a few thousand miles
> since the fix it hasn't quite been proven.  So I suppose my point is
> that yes, if water comes in through the vent and fills your tank
> offshore while sailing, it's no problem, as long as everything else
> in your system is flawless.  -Kirk

I'd say the geometries are quite different if the vent is at the beam of 
the boat instead of up on the bow.

  - George

-- 
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   When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
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   So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
   So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
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