Odor from Macerator

[OrinocoFlo]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

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

We owned a Hunter 450 which had the same horrible sewage smell coming from under the master cabin bed and from under the forward cabin bed. We tried everything to get rid of it including the purchase of a commercial ozone generator. Nothing worked.

We sold the boat, what a stinker.

Pam

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by OrinocoFlo

We owned a Hunter 450 which had the same horrible sewage smell coming from under the master cabin bed and from under the forward cabin bed. We tried everything to get rid of it including the purchase of a commercial ozone generator. Nothing worked.

We sold the boat, what a stinker.

Pam

well I'm going to find some other fix

[OrinocoFlo]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

well I'm going to find some other fix

Good luck finding and killing the entity.

[sailorboy1]

Well I’ve been off the boat for 5 days so expected the odor to be higher. But it basically just smells like a locker that has been shut up with rubber hoses in it. The only thing I did is the day before I left I installed a vent filter on the tank. I know that makes a difference in the berth due to wind whipping around and swirling into the cockpit and if I have the port open it comes right into the berth. But I have no idea how it would matter to that locker. Maybe it was the ozone I did last week and it just took a little time.

[VanIslandGuy]

Hi SB,

We have the same boat (H-410) and replaced both the Jabsco macerators with Raritan Smart Macerators as the footprint and power draw are identical but they seemed better built. We've had two trouble free years with them so far.

In the first month of owning the boat I did give the area behind the headboard a super cleaning and saturating with Pure Ayre that Peggy mentions in her book. Since then I've found a similar product to Pure Ayre at the local dollar store in the pet section that seems to work just as well for a buck a bottle. We sprayed the mattresses with it and wiped all the upholstery with it as well.

I've worked with Ozone Generators before, they work really well but you must be cautious with them around anything with rubber as it will break it down pretty fast. The only other thing I could think may be the cause might be a loose hose clamp on the holding tank's vent fitting. We washed the outside of the tank everywhere we could reach with spray nine, followed by water rinse and finally pure ayre.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by VanIslandGuy

Hi SB,

We have the same boat (H-410) and replaced both the Jabsco macerators with Raritan Smart Macerators as the footprint and power draw are identical but they seemed better built. We've had two trouble free years with them so far.

In the first month of owning the boat I did give the area behind the headboard a super cleaning and saturating with Pure Ayre that Peggy mentions in her book. Since then I've found a similar product to Pure Ayre at the local dollar store in the pet section that seems to work just as well for a buck a bottle. We sprayed the mattresses with it and wiped all the upholstery with it as well.

I've worked with Ozone Generators before, they work really well but you must be cautious with them around anything with rubber as it will break it down pretty fast. The only other thing I could think may be the cause might be a loose hose clamp on the holding tank's vent fitting. We washed the outside of the tank everywhere we could reach with spray nine, followed by water rinse and finally pure ayre.

Thanks. I've done all that stuff including the clamps etc. I thinks there is just something about the boats arrangement as is there the same odor under the aft head sink once in a while. But I think sometimes that comes up gthe sink itself. I have cut a access into the pan under the aft berth port seat when I replaced hoses so I know that's clean, but otherwise I bet that is big nasty trap. Maybe we should start a aft berth smell thread on SBO.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by VanIslandGuy

Hi SB,

We have the same boat (H-410) and replaced both the Jabsco macerators with Raritan Smart Macerators as the footprint and power draw are identical but they seemed better built. We've had two trouble free years with them so far.

Did that stop the odor in that locker?

[VanIslandGuy]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Did that stop the odor in that locker?

Yes so farbut I really don't want to jinx things.

I have also been treating all the sink/shower drains and the heads with Zaal Noflex powder as directed on the label religiously. This product really seems to work well for our boat.

The first week we owned the boat I rebuilt the original Jabsco heads and the stench when pulling the joker valves was almost lethal. I just replaced them again after two seasons last week and there was zero odour whatsoever. I did the following in my quest to have an clean smelling boat.

Last season I pulled the holding tank top vent fitting off and cleaned it really well as there was almost no air getting through. I also treated both systems with a really serious muriatic acid soak through all the black water hoses via the head. I flushed the system through with plenty of fresh water afterwards and pumped out. Finally I filled the holding tanks via the heads each with about 8 litres of liquid tide, followed by lots and lots of hotwater until the tanks were full and let them sit for a couple of days, then went and pumped out the tanks, and refilled with fresh water, and pumped out again twice. It wasn't until we had done all of this that I declared victory. The boat was 18 years old when we bought it.

The raritan macerators work really well, and the smart switch function prevents you from damaging it by running it once the tank is empty. If money was no object I would put an electrosan in the aft holding tank area, and a new electric head in the aft. However money is an object, so I'm hoping that what I did above will be enough to correct things, and then I'll only have to do proactive maintenance from now on. Time will tell. I wouldn't mind doubling the venting of each holding tank but the question is how as access is a pain.

[sailorboy1]

I looked at the various specs and the Raritan pumps have a real shaft seal and the Jabsco has a lip seal. That sounds like a major puzzle piece to my original question.

[sailorboy1]

Update- I my have found the problem. It May have been a dripping hose connection on the engine. It also was why my tach wasn’t working the past 5 years.

The odor is better, but not really gone.

[Chuck34]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Update- I my have found the problem. It May have been a dripping hose connection on the engine. It also was why my tach wasn’t working the past 5 years.

The odor is better, but not really gone.

Long term odors won't go away overnight. It's going to take a while, but every week it will get just a little bit better