Holding Tank Fitting Problem

[RossD]

My boat is a 1985 Bayfield, built in Canada. The holding tank outlet was leaking a tiny bit at the threads and the hose was original (stunk terribly), a black with green striping, and measures 1.5"ID near as I can tell. It was attached to both the deck fitting and the tank with clamps, however, someone along the way smeared it with something which made it almost impossible to remove from the fittings.

I literally had to cut the tank side several times in order to get it off, thinking that substance may have been 5200. At any rate, the new hose is extra heavy 1.5" vacuum hose I purchased at West Marine. It slid over the deck fitting barb OK but took quite a bit of force. But I cannot get it over the barb for the tank fitting.

This may be a dumb question, but would a Canadian builder use a metric fitting on a holding tank rather than a standard 1.5" pipe fitting?

[peghall]

No, it would not be metric...and I'm trying to figure out how you could still have a tank that isn't leaking like a sieve if you "literally had to cut the tank side several times..." What exactly did you cut??


Looking at your photo, your new hose appears to be Shields VAC which is corrugated hose, which is only suitable for water--vanity, sink, shower drain lines and above-waterline thru-hull connections...it should not be used in sanitation systems because a) it's not the least bit odor permeation resistant...and b) waste and sea water minerals get caught in the corrugations. Plus, most corrugated hose require a "cuff" to connect them to anything. So I'm not surprised that you can't get it onto the hose fitting in the tank and it wouldn't surprise me if your connection to the deck pumpout fitting leaks.



My advice: scrap that hose and chalk up what you paid for it to education (we all have a few of those!) and buy sanitation hose. You don't provide a clue about what part of the country you're in, but if you're on the east coast Defender's prices almost always beat everyone else's and they have Raritan SaniFlex for <$10/ft. It's proven to be 100% odor permeation resistant and has the added advantage of being so flexible it can be bent like a hairpin without kinking Raritan SaniFlex hose and here's the link to it on Defender Raritan Sani / Flex Sanitation Hose at Defender To connect it--or any other hose--to fittings, lubricate with a little dishwashing liquid.



--Peggie

[Tin Tin]

Yes sanitation hose would be better. In the meantime the best way to get a hose onto a tight or slightly oversize fitting is boil a pot of water, stick the hose end in for 40 seconds or so, wear gloves as it will be hot, and it should go over the fitting easily. Vaseline or soap at the same time will help too. When you come to take it off heat it with a hair dryer.( Air heating is not as good as water heating and can potentially melt the hose.)

[RossD]

Sorry for the confusion about the hose and the cutting. I was so beat up last night when I posted this, if you could see my arms they are more bruised than not, along with two burns from the heat gun.

The new hose is X heavy sanitation vacuum hose, it was over $7 a foot. The picture shows the stub of the old hose which I had to cut longitudinally at 90 degree increments radially, at the outlet fitting to remove. And then it took the better part of an hour thanks to that adhesive.

Here is another picture, it shows the white vac hose in the bow area before I fed it through to the tank. I sure agree with Peggie re the gray hose, it was a cheap repair done by the previous owner when he replace the head (runs from head to tank inlet). He used just enough of the good stuff to get past the bulkhead where you could no longer see it without tearing the anchor locker apart, then transitioned to the other.

I'll try the hot water trick, the heat gun helped with removal but not so much with the installation (other than to burn me when it fell onto my arm from the head). Should have thought of that yesterday, works great on my glasses for changing lenses.

[RossD]

By the way Peg, I'll check out that saniFlex. Oh and the large diameter black hose in that picture is my wet vac, you can guess what I had to do to kick this all off!

[RossD]

Never, after decades of boats and plumbing, have I encountered such an issue, never. Two and a half hours this afternoon and no success mating the tank outlet fitting to the pipe and in fact I'm surprised I didn't break it.

I tried boiling water and heat gun several times and all but a couple of times I had to cut the pipe from the nipple due to it going only 3/4 to 1" onto the fitting. Vaseline, soap, brute force, nothing works.

I'm thinking I will replace that fitting with a compression outlet so all the force is away from the tank threads.

[sailalibi]

be very very very careful while manipulating the hose/fitting to the tank. I had a leak at the outlet fitting and couldn't fix it. The result was to replace the tank! The tank fitting itself was cracked due to past hose changes because as you know dont come off easily.
Also, epoxy,glues,sealants WILL NOT adhere to polyethelene which most tanks are made of.

[Capt Clark]

Are you sure the new hose is 1.5 inches? Sounds like it could be 1 1/4”.

Capt Clark.

[RossD]

Originally Posted by sailalibi

be very very very careful while manipulating the hose/fitting to the tank. I had a leak at the outlet fitting and couldn't fix it. The result was to replace the tank! The tank fitting itself was cracked due to past hose changes because as you know dont come off easily.
Also, epoxy,glues,sealants WILL NOT adhere to polyethelene which most tanks are made of.

This is why I finally gave up on the current arrangement, I was in fear of destroying the threads. With the 90 degree elbow I cannot get a straight shot at it and I don't have enough room to spin it if I add a stub piece to tie into. I purchased a straight fitting and a 45 degree elbow.

[RossD]

Originally Posted by Capt Clark

Are you sure the new hose is 1.5 inches? Sounds like it could be 1 1/4”.

Capt Clark.

That was my first thought but it's clearly labeled 1.5", I'm going to check again today when I get back at it.

[Cheechako]

Hose vs fittings is an ongoing problem in marine hardware. Wire wound hose can be terribly difficult. I use hot water and some slippery stuff like soap to push them on. Yeah, that corrugated hose doesn't stretch!

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by RossD

Never, after decades of boats and plumbing, have I encountered such an issue, never. Two and a half hours this afternoon and no success mating the tank outlet fitting to the pipe and in fact I'm surprised I didn't break it.

I tried boiling water and heat gun several times and all but a couple of times I had to cut the pipe from the nipple due to it going only 3/4 to 1" onto the fitting. Vaseline, soap, brute force, nothing works.

I'm thinking I will replace that fitting with a compression outlet so all the force is away from the tank threads.

KY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RossD]

I finished it last night, at least done until I'm near a pump-out for testing. No more wet-vac

What I found is the new West Marine XHD vac hose is 1/16" or so smaller than what was on there as original equipment, which was a black rubber, wire reinforced, similar to exhaust hose. It's also that much smaller than a similar type hose used to install my in-ground pool suction 25 years ago (I saved a few pieces). But it measures 1.5" exactly! The other stuff is just that much larger for some reason, but still called 1.5".

So I used a piece of my flexible hose saved from the pool install as a transition piece along with HD PVC fittings to tie to the tank.

Now on to finish tightening my deck to hull bolts.