MAKING HEADWAY ON THE HEAD
On Wednesday April 24th, after months of research and planning, the final hose was connected on our new pump-able head. Several months ago I volunteered to install a new head on the Alpha as part of my contribution to this project. When I began searching for information on how to do it I discovered that heads are not a popular topic. I had hoped to do some looking at how they were installed in various boats at the boat show but ended up being out of town that week. Finally, Dave found a great article on marine toilets on the internet and I began to make some "headway" on the project.
Just figuring out what to order was not easy but credit West Marine with providing a check list for doing a basic head installation and we figured out what to buy. The parts arrived in time for work day #2 but it wasn't until the very end of the day that Dave and I started looking at the situation and began the actual installation. Drilling a one inch hole below the waterline of the boat was a little disconcerting. This was for the water intake valve on the toilet. Then it was a matter of figuring out where to put the six gallon holding tank and drilling the holes in the head compartment for the hoses to run through. Dave and I ended this first shot at installing the head by figuring out what extra parts we would need. When we quit that day we realized that we were "ahead" of the game and that this was not the impossible job we thought it might be originally.
Then on
Wednesday afternoon April 24th I picked up Gordon S. a friend who said he would
help me with the task and we "headed" up to Cambridge. Gordon had never
installed a head before but he had them on several boats that he has owned over
the years so he knows the ins and outs of how they operate. Working in confined
spaces with very little "head room" made the job a real challenge but at the end
of the day we had completely hooked everything up. We were not able to test it
as the boat needs to be in the water for that but everything seemed to fit
together quite perfectly.
I am now busy preparing a brief lecture on operating a marine toilet properly that I will deliver to the troops at the picnic in June. My friend Gordon S. showed that he has a real "head" for marine toilet operation when he said, "the main thing you have to teach people about a marine toilet is that if at all possible, they should never use it."
J.F.L. 04/25/02
The following is an excerpt from an article I found on the Internet that describes the process of using a marine head. I thought it was very helpful so I am including it here as a resource. The web address for the article is listed at the bottom of the page.
Before
most of us had reached the ripe old age of three, we thought our "potty
training" was finished…then we grew up and bought boats. Would you
believe that most equipment failures in marine sanitation systems happen because
most people don’t know how flush them? They stop pumping, or pushing the
button, or release the pedal the second the bowl is empty, not realizing that a
marine toilet—unlike the one at home—is a mechanical device that won’t
continue to move the bowl content’s after the pump stops pumping…that it’s
necessary to continue flushing a marine toilet to move the contents all the way
through the system and rinse the hose behind it. So paper and solids get trapped
in the pump, macerator, and/or discharge line, build up, and lead to a clog.
Urine (remember how corrosive it is?) rusts the system, cutting the life
expectancy of any metal pumps and macerators in half…then the owners claim
that the brand is "a piece of junk."
A
manual marine toilet has two settings: "flush," which brings flush
water in with every pump stroke, and "dry," which only pushes the
contents out of the bowl and on down the line to its destination. Find out how
many pump strokes it takes to push the bowl contents all the way to its
destination—holding tank, MSD, or the through-hull (when at sea)—and
religiously pump it that many times plus two or three more to rinse the hose.
"But I don’t want to fill up my holding tank with flush water!" you
cry. When holding tank space is at a premium, the default setting for the head
should be "dry." After urination only, pump that all the way to the
tank, then turn the lever or knob to "flush" for only two or three
pump strokes to rinse behind it, and back to "dry" to send that all
the way to the tank. Since no manual head is designed to hold water, put a
cupful or two (as much as you think appropriate) of water from the sink in the
head before depositing solids and more than a sheet or two of paper…and then
follow the same procedure.
Never
put anything into a marine sanitation system that isn’t specifically marketed
for that purpose. Do not use detergent, bleach, dish soap or other
cleaners--especially cleaning products which contain pine oil, petroleum, or
alcohol. Those substances will break down the seals, gaskets, and valves in the
system, and will also break down the walls of the hose, causing it to be more
susceptible to permeation. Above all, do not ever—as some people tell me they
do—pour vegetable oil down the head to "lubricate" the parts; you
wouldn’t put vegetable oil in your engine--why would you put it in your head?
A layer of oil on the sewage will only seal the contents of the tank, keeping
air out of it--and we already know what that causes! It will also combine with
the animal fats present in sewage to "gum up" your MSD. Follow
manufacturers’ recommendations for periodic head maintenance and
lubrication—which usually involves taking something apart.
At
least once every two years, put a complete rebuild kit in your head as part of
your regular spring commissioning; if you lay your boat up every winter, we
recommend doing it every year. When seals, gaskets, valves and impellers dry out
they become brittle and prone to crack. By replacing them regularly you all but
eliminate the possibility that you’ll have to make emergency repairs to the
head--and we all know those emergencies only happen at the worst possible
times--and you control the conditions under which you’ll take the head apart.
Although it’s impossible to predict someone putting something in the head
that’s too large to pass through, a well-sealed pump that’s working to
factory specifications can often push a borderline object through that a worn
system can’t.
Although
some boat owners follow the rule, "nothing goes into the head that hasn’t
been eaten first," marine toilet paper is designed to virtually dissolve in
your hand. (The cheapest "no-name" single-ply paper at the grocery
store is the same thing as "marine" toilet paper, and it’s a whole
lot cheaper!) Just don’t put anything else in the head.
By
Peggie Hall
The Hall Group, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia
Peggie
Hall is recognized in the boating industry as one of the few experts in marine
sanitation. As a member of ABYC, she was a member of a sanitation project
technical committee formed to establish a standard for sanitation equipment and
installation onboard from its inception in 1991 through 1996. She is often asked
to speak at conferences, conduct seminars for various organizations and at major
boat shows, and is a consultant to a number of state agencies.
http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/phall.htm