Shower is set up to Drain into Bilge (YUCK)

[wyb2]

This is an old thread, but I've been debating this in my head for a little while, and this is where searching sent me.

What's worse: shower water in the bilge, or stagnant shower water in a shower sump? Our current setup is a separate shower sump (just a deep shower pan with teak slats over it) with a Rule 360 pumping through a vented loop to the sink drain. Works great, except with no check valve and maybe 6 ft of plumbing to the vented loop, there is always a few cups of water left in the shower sump (right under your feet). Right now the shower sees infrequent use, but we plan on living aboard in the near future, and when we do the shower sump will pretty much never dry out. I'm imagining this will lead to mold, smell, etc. Seems like it would be preferable for it to drain to the bilge where water egress from sailing/rain/packing gland will keep the water moving and the gunk from the shower would be diluted.

As a theoretical "what if" I'm entertaining the idea of drilling a small hole in the bottom of the shower sump, such that we would still pump it out at the end of a shower, but any leftover water would slowly leak into the bilge. Interested in why this would be a dumb idea.

[Capt Phil]

Regardless of how much raw water you think will dilute your shower sump water, it will still stink and pervade the whole boat. We lived aboard for many years and have dealt with both using your bilge as a sump as well as having a dedicated sump for our shower.
My advice is to have a dedicated sump for your shower that is easily accessible, say in the engine room and to religiously clean out the hair and other detrious material every other day and when leaving your boat. A squirt of simple green after cleaning it out keeps everything smelling sweet. Phil

[weavis]

Simple Green is a very good best friend.

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

Regardless of how much raw water you think will dilute your shower sump water, it will still stink and pervade the whole boat. We lived aboard for many years and have dealt with both using your bilge as a sump as well as having a dedicated sump for our shower.
My advice is to have a dedicated sump for your shower that is easily accessible, say in the engine room and to religiously clean out the hair and other detrious material every other day and when leaving your boat. A squirt of simple green after cleaning it out keeps everything smelling sweet. Phil

On our 36' boat, any solution that involves an engine room isn't really applicable. However your point of 'it will stink regardless of dilution' is understood, and your experience to back it up is helpful. I guess I'll lean more towards a system that can adequately drain the sump.

[Winf]

Ours initially had the shower and vanity water going to a sump which then pumped to the bilge. Double yuck. Our shower sump was just an open type accessibly directly through an access in the cabin sole.

I initially got rid of the connection to the bilge but after 12 months living aboard with the sump I got sick of a slight smell all the time and having to do a regular clean of all the grey water slime in the sump. Also we had a couple of instances where the sump pump Or float switch failed with the grey water overflowing into neighbouring compartments. Wife has long hair that was also a problem for the pump.

Recently completed a revamp of the whole shower and ended up making my own mini sump with float and pump out system. Looked at buying one of the readymade sump boxes but what I didn't like was the centrifugal pump and the float switch mounted inside the sump. Ended up making my own mostly out of salvaged bits and pieces.

Used some 4" PVC pipe about 6-8" long. Put an end cap on the bottom with a hose barb fitting through it for the outlet. Put a screw cap fitting on top and attached the float switch to that. Made a float out of foam from a vege box painted with some epoxy. A thin steel rod in the middle of the float goes through a short bit of plastic tube which is fixed to the centre of the screw cap. Bored a couple of holes in the top with hose burbs to take the shower and vanity drain lines. The pump is a whale 320 diaphragm type mounted high and dry under the vanity cabinet.

Was a bit of fiddling around. Seems to work ok so far. I like that the outlet of the sumo is right at the bottom at the lowest possible point so hopefully won't get a buildup of any muck as the chamber will empty completely each time. Also like that the float switch is actually out of the water as I can't seem to get more than a few months out of a submerged switch.

Winf.

[DumnMad]

Don't use animal fat soap. Needs to be cold water soluble.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by wyb2

This is an old thread, but I've been debating this in my head for a little while, and this is where searching sent me.

What's worse: shower water in the bilge, or stagnant shower water in a shower sump? Our current setup is a separate shower sump (just a deep shower pan with teak slats over it) with a Rule 360 pumping through a vented loop to the sink drain. Works great, except with no check valve and maybe 6 ft of plumbing to the vented loop, there is always a few cups of water left in the shower sump (right under your feet). Right now the shower sees infrequent use, but we plan on living aboard in the near future, and when we do the shower sump will pretty much never dry out. I'm imagining this will lead to mold, smell, etc. Seems like it would be preferable for it to drain to the bilge where water egress from sailing/rain/packing gland will keep the water moving and the gunk from the shower would be diluted.

As a theoretical "what if" I'm entertaining the idea of drilling a small hole in the bottom of the shower sump, such that we would still pump it out at the end of a shower, but any leftover water would slowly leak into the bilge. Interested in why this would be a dumb idea.

I would not say dumb idea, but naive. The deal here is that soap scum goes with the shower water. It is far better, and once you get used to it, not a big deal, to, after the water from the shower has all drained to the sump, pull out the grate, and bail the last bit out. After each two showers. Every time. Always stays clean, and y'all take turns.

The problem with soap scum is that it may clog your proper bilge pump when you need it to work.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by wyb2

This is an old thread, but I've been debating this in my head for a little while, and this is where searching sent me.

What's worse: shower water in the bilge, or stagnant shower water in a shower sump? Our current setup is a separate shower sump (just a deep shower pan with teak slats over it) with a Rule 360 pumping through a vented loop to the sink drain. Works great, except with no check valve and maybe 6 ft of plumbing to the vented loop, there is always a few cups of water left in the shower sump (right under your feet). Right now the shower sees infrequent use, but we plan on living aboard in the near future, and when we do the shower sump will pretty much never dry out. I'm imagining this will lead to mold, smell, etc. Seems like it would be preferable for it to drain to the bilge where water egress from sailing/rain/packing gland will keep the water moving and the gunk from the shower would be diluted.

As a theoretical "what if" I'm entertaining the idea of drilling a small hole in the bottom of the shower sump, such that we would still pump it out at the end of a shower, but any leftover water would slowly leak into the bilge. Interested in why this would be a dumb idea.

Sump?

Or Bilge?


That is the question.

Or is it?

Whale make a gray water sensor pump with no sump. It pumps straight overboard:

Whale Marine - Products


My gray water tanks are the most disgusting thing aboard. The stench, when you open them up to clean them out, is indescribable. Thinking about ripping them out and replacing with these.

[Cheechako]

Put a pump in the hose to the shower drain. Small above water thru hull nearby to discharge. (or just use your sink drain as currently do I suppose) Have a switch in the shower to activate the pump. This evacuates the sump very well as opposed to one of the plastic boxes or a bilge pump type.

[Victorsailboat]

I have in my CSY 33 a dedicated small shower bilge discharging directly to sea, but wonder if not better practice to let shower and bathroom sink water go through the strainer into the main bilge for these reasons: the shampoo and liquid soap will help keep the main bilge clean and even remove some engine oil or coolant thay may leak of spill fromain engine, also ensure that the bilge pump(s) (I have two) work as they should, prevent stale water and smells (soap and shampoo will help with smell also).
It seems to me soap deposits will not be a problem because the liquid soap will be very diluted.
Another advantage is not having the shower bilge in the way when accessing pumps and hoses in the bilge.
Comments pro appreciated and con even more.

By the way, the CSY 33 only boat I know with no spongy decks even after 44 years (100% solid deck, hull too)(Not for sale)

GREAT SITE (new)

Cheers!

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Victorsailboat

I have in my CSY 33 a dedicated small shower bilge discharging directly to sea, but wonder if not better practice to let shower and bathroom sink water go through the strainer into the main bilge for these reasons: the shampoo and liquid soap will help keep the main bilge clean and even remove some engine oil or coolant thay may leak of spill fromain engine, also ensure that the bilge pump(s) (I have two) work as they should, prevent stale water and smells (soap and shampoo will help with smell also).
It seems to me soap deposits will not be a problem because the liquid soap will be very diluted.
Another advantage is not having the shower bilge in the way when accessing pumps and hoses in the bilge.
Comments pro appreciated and con even more.

By the way, the CSY 33 only boat I know with no spongy decks even after 44 years (100% solid deck, hull too)(Not for sale)

GREAT SITE (new)

Cheers!

I had no problem with it on my smaller boats. And yes, it does keep the bilge clean. I think the water off your body is cleaner than most bilges with their oil, fuel, algae growth.

[Victorsailboat]

Thanks for the answer. Good point, shower water cleaner than bilge water. You say: " in my smaller boats"; I plan to move to a 40-46 ft and why not do same?

[SailingHarmonie]

Oh, man....

If you have oil in your bilge water, just fix the damn leak! There is no excuse for it. Besides being a smelly mess, and just nasty to the environment, and it is illegal. Your bilge water should be clean. Or if you have a decent boat, there is NO bilge water. Just dust bunnies. There are just damn few builders making decent boats these days. The idea that adding shower water to a bilge makes it CLEANER is just goofy.

Shower water is stinky. Maybe not today, but next week it will be--assuming you use soap when you shower. Soap congeals into a sticky scum that becomes the food for a whole ecosystem, and its associated smelly gases. And that is before we add hair, dirt, and skin flakes to the mix. It is part of that essence of "cheap boat smell."

If you share living space with stagnant shower water, you will know. Or if you learn to ignore it, all your visitors will notice, but are hopefully too polite to comment.

The ONLY reason to dump shower water into a bilge that is under the living space in a boat is to save money. A separate gray water tank, or direct pumping overboard is the way to go.

[Victorsailboat]

The bilge has to be cleaned niw and then because being the deeper point lots of things go there; dust, any spill of anything, etc., but deep bilges are out of reach of hands, have several hoses and pumps, over time all sorts of stuff lands there and people tend to forget. I also consider a significant safety issue to be certain bilge pumps work and make it easy to verify.
If the bilge is flushed regularly by shower water, all we do is sendind the water, soap, etc., that will go to sea through the bilge. A hair trap still is necessary.
Considering that excrement is allowed to go directly to sea when boats are a few miles off the coast, running the shower water through the bilge does not seem a major issue to me.
In terms of oil going into water I suspect two stroke outboard motors and the wet exhaust systems put out a lot more and more serious contaminants, including oil and other stuff.