Odor from Macerator

[peghall]

Originally Posted by Chuck34

Yes, Peggie, you're right. I was also only suggesting vinegar for the macerator and hoses. I know it doesn't help with the holding tank. I'm glad you chimed in as I was going to say, I got the idea from you.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[Bleemus]

[QUOTE=peghall;2586723]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Peg,
Can you point to any studies showing vinegar to be effective against build up in discharge lines? Everything I have read shows it to be ineffective./QUOTE]

I checked out the link you provided. It doesn't address PREVENTION, only cure...and didn't even show doing that as it needs to be done.

If you start with clean hose, regular doses of a cupful or two of undiluted distilled white vinegar will PREVENT buildup....that's been proven many times by many boat owners.

Vinegar can also dissolve buildup, but it takes too long and is too labor intensive. Few people including the "expert" in the video know that, for vinegar to dissolve a buildup, it has to be replaced about every 45-60 minutes with fresh vinegar, and can take hours--even days--so they jump to the conclusion that no results even after several hours soaking in a single application of vinegar is "proof" that vinegar doesn't work. It can, but it just requires waaaay more time and effort than it's worth when a single dose of muriatic acid or Sew Clean--maybe two doses--can clean even the worst buildup out of a hose in as little as an hour or two.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

Not sure if you were replying to me because the link I posted wasn't a video.

I was merely wondering if you knew of any studies that give a explanation of the chemical reasoning of why vinegar would benefit. Saying it "works" for many sailors is hardly scientific.

[sailorboy1]

This vinegar thing is thread drift really. But as someone who spend 14 years as a water treater specifically to control scale among other things, I feel this vingear thing is a waste of time. I use hull cleaner (muriatic acid)as that is effective.

If you want to see the difference next time you change your Joker valve keep some of the scale. Put some into a couple of plastic containers and add vinegar (add a lot to make it fair) to one and some muriatic acid (add just a little to be fair) to the other. Then after you decide. I also tried this once with CLR that is suppose to dissolve scale and let it sit all day and it did nothing to the scale that I could notice.

BTW - for those that took enough chemistry, do the math to find out just how little scale a whole bottle of vinegar could dissolve.

Now - if you were to squirt vinegar into your toilet bowl each time you used it to get the pH down so that the LSI (look it up) was less than 0, that would prevent scale.

[sailorboy1]

[QUOTE=Bleemus;2586735]

Originally Posted by peghall

I was merely wondering if you knew of any studies that give a explanation of the chemical reasoning of why vinegar would benefit. .

Calcium and magnesium come out of solution and form scale based on the LSI index. The main factors of the index are the amount of the calcium and magnesium and the pH of the solution, with higher pH levels resulting in more scale. Vinegar is an acid and it lowers the pH, which results in lower scaling.

But there's a world of difference between preventing scale and removing it!!!!

[peghall]

Not sure if you were replying to me because the link I posted wasn't a video.

Perhaps not a "video" as defined in modern parlance...but what else would you call a tale told using a succession of photos interspersed with written narratives?

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself."

[Bleemus]

Originally Posted by peghall

Not sure if you were replying to me because the link I posted wasn't a video.

Perhaps not a "video" as defined in modern parlance...but what else would you call a tale told using a succession of photos interspersed with written narratives? [emoji3]

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself."

A slideshow?

[Bleemus]

[QUOTE=sailorboy1;2586743]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Calcium and magnesium come out of solution and form scale based on the LSI index. The main factors of the index are the amount of the calcium and magnesium and the pH of the solution, with higher pH levels resulting in more scale. Vinegar is an acid and it lowers the pH, which results in lower scaling.

But there's a world of difference between preventing scale and removing it!!!!

Thank you Sailorboy. That helps.

[peghall]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

A slideshow?

And what is a slide show if not a form of video?

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[Bleemus]

I can explain the difference between a slideshow and a video to a six year old.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

There is holding tank odor in the locker than my macerator is. The locker does connect to the the locker than has the holding tank, but the smell in the macerator locker is different. This has been going on for years and the hoses have been replaced with the high end 101 hoses. Is it possible the odor is acturally are coming from the pump itself (standard Jabsco type macerator)?

Anyone experienced the same?

Well it turns out it's simple; you need to keep that stupid plastic plug on end of the motor installed!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Well it turns out it's simple; you need to keep that stupid plastic plug on end of the motor installed!

Well it turns out to not be that simple.

[peghall]

Care to elaborate?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by peghall

Care to elaborate?

Putting the plug in the motor didn't really stop it. The pump is less than 1 year old (but the odor was there before replacing the pump) and the Trident 101 hoses are around 4 years old (for the price they should last much much longer). The area has been cleaned, washed and flushed a lot of times including using Pure Ayre, bleach, CP. I even have an ozone generator and put it in the locker and the odor came back within days.

Thinking it was stale air in the locker below that has the holding tank itself I installed a fan to blow fresh into it all the time. That didn't anything other than make it not stale moldy smelling.

The locker just has this mix of holding tank (the well operating holding musty smell) and rubber hoses.

BTW -I've been on a friends same model boat and it has the same locker smell

[peghall]

If PureAyre didn't eliminate the odor completely, it means you haven't been able to eliminate the source of the odor. I'm guessing you may have trapped water below that locker or near it. That can make a whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer. That you have a combination musty/moldy/sewer odor seems to confirm that theory.


Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by peghall

If PureAyre didn't eliminate the odor completely, it means you haven't been able to eliminate the source of the odor. I'm guessing you may have trapped water below that locker or near it. That can make a whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer. That you have a combination musty/moldy/sewer odor seems to confirm that theory.


Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

I don't think it's possible to have trapped spaces in that locker as 1 side is the hull and other drains into the space that the holding is in and that drains freely, but I'll look to see.