1974 F36 Pumpout problems

foofer b · Post by **foofer b** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:28 pm

That's the beauty of trailering, I just pump it into the yard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:55 pm

lol i wish i had a trailer... thats a whole lot of boat to haul, an f36 isnt the smallest boat out there lol

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:30 pm

foofer b wrote:That's the beauty of trailering, I just pump it into the yard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your neighbors must love you

jhalb · Post by **jhalb** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:48 pm

This reminds me when my old boats vent was clogged I took off the hose at the tank and got sprayed like Robin Williams in the movie RV. There was so much pressure built up the stuff shot out like a fire hose. I just bought the boat and assumed the previous owner pumped it out before he winterized it.It was a long drive home.

foofer b · Post by **foofer b** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:00 pm

prowlersfish wrote:
foofer b wrote:That's the beauty of trailering, I just pump it into the yard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your neighbors must love you

Like I care, they are fricking renters and I have only spritzed my side yard a half dozen times.

Seahawk93 · Post by **Seahawk93** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:24 pm

jhalb wrote:This reminds me when my old boats vent was clogged I took off the hose at the tank and got sprayed like Robin Williams in the movie RV. There was so much pressure built up the stuff shot out like a fire hose. I just bought the boat and assumed the previous owner pumped it out before he winterized it.It was a long drive home.

Haha. Now that's funny stuff right there.

g36 · Post by **g36** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:38 am

after reading all this makes males me love my purasan even more

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:53 am

lol well i think thats funny how you would just dump everything onto the yard from a trailer... i think my family would kill me if they didn't die from the smell first... anyyywhhoo lol

i took the vent line from the tank off to see if it was actually full... nothing squirted out thankfully so by the looks of it it isnt full... so still puzzled why i cant pump it out...

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:09 am

Vitaliy wrote:yes that is the vent line and yes i can see the hose connection to the pump out port... the problem is that i cant get to it... that's what the issue is... there are two fuel tanks that are right next to the waste tank and i cant get under there, also there isnt a single other access point to get behind there..... i just dont know what else to do, my knowledge of this isnt the best...

So lets do this step by step...
Any chance the Y valve leaks air into the system when trying to pumpout?
Can you blank off the open end of the overboard discharge and try again... does that blank off show signs of suction when pumping out? Y valves can leak.
There is a good amount of waste in the tank?
There is no sign of waste getting in the bilge nor any bad odour?
The suction pump does not pull out any waste?
If all three above are yes it is not your boat but the pump which is at fault. If that waste line was leaking air to prevent pump from emptying you would have odour certainly after pump out action.
Any chance the visible vent line is plugged? It does look small to me, try pumping out with that vent line removed from 90 bend..... do you hear anything, is air going in or out.
Do you have real suction from the shore pump... does it suck water from a bucket quickly? Suck the skin off your hand when you close it

My view is this is not a problem that needs expensive talent to solve... work through it step by step. Make sure you close any air leaks from the obvious points.
Add more water to the tank and then try to pump out again... maybe you don't have enough waste in the tank..... you could remove the vent 90 bend and dip the tank or sound the sides to get a feel for how full it is.
It is likely that an inch or two will always remain in an empty tank.....

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:08 pm

ready123 wrote:
Vitaliy wrote:yes that is the vent line and yes i can see the hose connection to the pump out port... the problem is that i cant get to it... that's what the issue is... there are two fuel tanks that are right next to the waste tank and i cant get under there, also there isnt a single other access point to get behind there..... i just dont know what else to do, my knowledge of this isnt the best...
So lets do this step by step...
Any chance the Y valve leaks air into the system when trying to pumpout?
Can you blank off the open end of the overboard discharge and try again... does that blank off show signs of suction when pumping out? Y valves can leak.
There is a good amount of waste in the tank?
There is no sign of waste getting in the bilge nor any bad odour?
The suction pump does not pull out any waste?
If all three above are yes it is not your boat but the pump which is at fault. If that waste line was leaking air to prevent pump from emptying you would have odour certainly after pump out action.
Any chance the visible vent line is plugged? It does look small to me, try pumping out with that vent line removed from 90 bend..... do you hear anything, is air going in or out.
Do you have real suction from the shore pump... does it suck water from a bucket quickly? Suck the skin off your hand when you close it

My view is this is not a problem that needs expensive talent to solve... work through it step by step. Make sure you close any air leaks from the obvious points.
Add more water to the tank and then try to pump out again... maybe you don't have enough waste in the tank..... you could remove the vent 90 bend and dip the tank or sound the sides to get a feel for how full it is.
It is likely that an inch or two will always remain in an empty tank.....

there aren't any visible Y valves that let me pump outboard, all the waste seems to go right into the tank, only the aft head has a Y that comes off from the toilet into the tank OR another lead (which i figure could be rigged for overboard) however that line has a plug and a clamp on it that doesn't leak, i took that whole fitting from the vent line off to see if the tank is overfilled which it isn't as i can easily step on it )and see it collapse on itself a little) without anything squirting out (thankfully) as far as the fwd head theres a Y valve right next to the AC unit (which is located right next to the head in the main saloon) however that line (from what i can tell from the diagrams and tracing it) controls where the flush water comes from. There is no odor that comes into the interior and from what i can tell there arent any leaks in the tank or any of the lines (at least the amount i can physically get to so i can trace it), ok now to address the issue of the pump, i actually went out and purchased a septic vacuum pump (and no it didnt work) and the pump that the dock provides wasn't able to pull anything out (and i know for sure that it works as i pumped my silverton out with it), the tank just girgles a little and it definitely smells like something should be coming out but nope, nada.... just a little liquid and thats it... im thinking of pouring some declogging solution straight into the pump out port to make sure that its no clogged....

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:18 pm

ok so here are the only two Y valves i could find on the whole boat that have anything to do with septic system

This one is of the aft head, right behind the toilet, the Y connects the toilet to the tank, and the other port is just a hose with a plug on it (as i said earlier probably for an overboard discharge)

This image is mid-cabin right under the stairs and to the right of the head (next to the AC unit), from what i could tell all it does is just regulates where the water comes from for the flush.... might be wrong?

rbcool · Post by **rbcool** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:24 am

Maybe there is a slight chance that the PO did alot of #2s using regular TP and then left several inches of solids on the bottom to compact like concrete, blocking the discharge outlet. Just a thought

Ron

g36 · Post by **g36** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:57 am

oh yeah! and right before breakfast too.

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:36 am

ive actually considered that, however i know that the tanks got pumped right before i bought her (she was sitting on land when i purchased her) with both the toilets clogged up fully (now fixed) so if there is sediment its a huge tank couze when i bought her we had about 50+ gallons of waste come out.

im gona try and see if i can boroscope the tank and see what i can find, but the better question is how do i get it all unclogged if there is a slab in there....

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:23 pm

i desided to go all out on the solution to this problem after pondering over it for some time now... and with no other ideas in mind after this point...

I know its been a while however i thought id give an update on what had to be done to get the problem fixed.... i attached a vacuum pump to the exhaust port of the septic system and to an enormous tank, disconnected the Y gates from both the heads, blocked all possible points from which water can leak out and blocked the vent hole with a plug and then the fun began....

so the vaccum pump didnt do much on the pump out side... but heres the fun part, on the FWD head Y gate i connected (mostly jeririged) a portable water rescue pump that my buddy was nice enough to donate to the cause, it was a smaller version of a navy p100 pumps, 7HP gas powered pushing about 200 gallons per minute of water, connected the inlet hose to the toilet raw water flush from the seacock and turned it on idle to where it barely had any pressure to it....

the tank started filling up as i felt the water starting to fill into the tank... so i cranked the pressure a little until there was a gush of what seemed to be water coming out of the deck fitting and into the tank....

long story short... about 100 pounds of what looked like chunked brown cement was finally pushed into the tank bottom....along with a few gallons of water.... PROBLEM SOLVED

and yes i was careful to see and make sure that all the clamps were on tight and that nothing would rupture under preassure.... hey at least i solved the problem.... lol

any thoughts?