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Old 26-01-2016, 05:38   #1
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Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Hi

I have been thinking of reducing the number of below water line sea-cocks. I like to hear your experience and opinion on this way of routing the waste water.

Current set up: Head basin and shower are discharge to a sea cock below water line. The shower has a shower sump and a float pump which T to the basin outlet.

Galley sink are discharged to a sea-cock below water line.

Proposed set up:

Route the shower, head basin and galley to a sump and pump it over to aft thru hull above water line.

Seal off 2 below water line sea-cocks.

The down side of this set up is the discharge is dependent on the pump. Of course, some one at the back will hear the water discharge.

What is your take?
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Old 26-01-2016, 06:00   #2
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

I give it a plus on the shower and basin...not the galley sink...too much crud potential, rice, other scraps to plug sump strainer...just a thought...
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Old 26-01-2016, 07:06   #3
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Hi,
Our boat has a grey water holding tank. Every sink and shower drains to it.

There is a fine mesh strainer just before the tank. I think it's important to have one, to keep the pump from getting clogged, but it's super gross and stinky. Every couple of weeks the kitchen sink or bathtub starts to drain slowly and we have to clean it. My new method is to tie a rope around it and throw it overboard.

The system works well, but... If you never plan to cruise somewhere super exotic that requires a grey water tank, I like the system on our previous boat more. It had a small diaphragm pump to drain the sink in the head, plumbed to a thru hull that was above the waterline. With an electric switch that turned it on and off. Super simple, no strainer, no float switch, and etc.

And if your kitchen sink is enough on the centerline to not flood, I really prefer a giant hose that goes overboard to near the waterline. I don't feel a thru hull with a hose to a sink is much of a risk-- I feel thru hulls with one way valves or toilets are more of a risk. I've had that on two boats and we never worried about it clogging, we could dump macaroni and cheese down it and it would keep going. For our current grey water system we don't even put coffee grinds in the sink, since they'll just end up in the strainer and mean we have to clean that out sooner.
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Old 26-01-2016, 07:16   #4
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

C&Cs have a similar set up.

Make sure you have a filter on the shower drain to collect hair and towel lint.
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Old 26-01-2016, 08:46   #5
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

If you go the sump-pump route, don't use an ordinary bilge pump; they get crudded up quickly and will be more hassle than they're worth. Go with a gulper pump, something like the one below. They handle bits of food, long hair and dead roaches. Personally, I would also go with an electronic bilge switch for the same reasons.

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Old 26-01-2016, 09:02   #6
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

I run galley and head sinks and shower to a grey water tank then pump out above the water line.................. a friend runs both heads' sinks and showers to a grey water tank beside the galley sink, which is plumbed into the tank then pumps out above the water line........
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Old 26-01-2016, 09:03   #7
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

+ 1 on the gulper pump. They don't need a strainer, we have been using one on our galley sink for over 2 years without a hiccup, and have not had to clean it once.

We have the IC version, that can take inputs from two sources, typically a sink and shower. We just capped off the second input.

These pumps are AWESOME!!!!

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If you go the sump-pump route, don't use an ordinary bilge pump; they get crudded up quickly and will be more hassle than they're worth. Go with a gulper pump, something like the one below. They handle bits of food, long hair and dead roaches. Personally, I would also go with an electronic bilge switch for the same reasons.

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Old 26-01-2016, 09:31   #8
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericoh88 View Post
Hi

I have been thinking of reducing the number of below water line sea-cocks. I like to hear your experience and opinion on this way of routing the waste water.

Current set up: Head basin and shower are discharge to a sea cock below water line. The shower has a shower sump and a float pump which T to the basin outlet.

Galley sink are discharged to a sea-cock below water line.

Proposed set up:

Route the shower, head basin and galley to a sump and pump it over to aft thru hull above water line.

Seal off 2 below water line sea-cocks.

The down side of this set up is the discharge is dependent on the pump. Of course, some one at the back will hear the water discharge.

What is your take?
We route shower, aft cabin sink and fridge / freezer drain to our grey water tank. Inside is a rule bilge pump and float switch.

It pumps out above the water line. Each line is fitted with camlock fittings so we can remove and clean the grey water tank each 6 months. We liveaboard full time.

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Old 26-01-2016, 09:58   #9
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Our Moody came with shower / sink discharging just above the waterline ask does the sink on the other side. That just leave the engine intake and heads to worry about. If you are thinking about new valves, how about plastic ones so removing the corrosion problems.

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Old 26-01-2016, 11:15   #10
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Our Pearson 424 has an above water line discharge for the shower stall. The head and forward cabin sinks drained through thru hulls below the water line. I installed a sump pump and directed all to it so that they drained through the shower discharge port. I then capped off the sink thru hulls.

The only maintenance is cleaning the sump filter, so mount it in an easy access area. You do have to keep an ear out to make sure the pump is running. If the motor dies, the drains will be slow as the gray water overflows from the sump box into the bilge. My last sump pump box from West lasted 3 years.
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Old 26-01-2016, 11:57   #11
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

not to hijack the thread: i was thinking about plumbing just the head sink (+shower, although we seldom use it, we don't live aboard) to a tank so i can set up the bowl for freshwater flush (or greywater flush, as it were).

i don't care to remove the throughhull, and want to be able to switch back to the current flow. just want to be able to use non-salt water for flushing the toilet. (the only way i can currently do it is by closing the intake seacock and filling the sink - the sink discharge and toilet intake share the same throughhull.)

i didn't want to deal with storing/disposing of the galley water with all the grime and all. but after washing hands and brushing teeth and what not the water is probably still better than saltwater for flushing, or am i wrong?

thank you!
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Old 26-01-2016, 12:33   #12
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Be sure to use liquid soad (aka body wash). Bar soap will solidify again as soon as the water stops running. Liquid soap will not readily solidify. Good luck with your project.
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Old 26-01-2016, 12:37   #13
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Quote:
Originally Posted by captjcook View Post
I give it a plus on the shower and basin...not the galley sink...too much crud potential, rice, other scraps to plug sump strainer...just a thought...
+1

Totally agree with this.

My boat is set up just like you propose, but the crud from the galley sink makes it N A S T Y!

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Old 26-01-2016, 13:16   #14
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

Your boat's design seems strange. As far as I know, there is never a good reason for a sink to not drain to an outlet above the waterline. Same for shower sump pump discharge or seawater coolant discharge. The advice on picking a sump pump sounds good. Look for resistance to clogging. I generally believe that through hulls should only be used where necessary; cooling water intakes, depth transducer, etc. Good luck with your repairs.
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Old 26-01-2016, 14:32   #15
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Re: Advice needed: Sink & shower discharge

The original design on my Pearson 39-2 is for the shower to drain to a sump, that is pumped up to my centerline galley sink discharge line. This discharges below the waterline. Basically, it avoids one additional thru hull.
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