Waste Hose/Pipe Run Length

[kazenza]

What would people say is the reasonable maximum length for a 1 1/2 inch waste hose or pipe from the head to a holding tank. I'm trying to consolidate my two heads into a single Electrosan Hold n Treat system instead of the two tanks they are running into currently.

[kapnd]

Your question is hard to answer without more specific details.
How far is the run?
Can bends be kept to a minimum?
Is it possible to keep a downward slope on the entire run?
Is the processing unit capable of handling the increased volume?

[peghall]

That depends on several factors. Without a lot of help from gravity (there are work-rounds that can create that help), manual toilets and, except for the high end all china "thrones," electric macerating toillet pumps can only move bowl contents about 6' in the amount of time anyone will spend pumping or leave their finger on the flush button.

Which is why Raritan has always specified that their treatment tank be no further from the toilet (or, in this case the holding tank), and that the treatment device be no further than 6' from the thru-hull...'cuz the ElectroScan and PuraScan discharge an amount equal to the amount coming into it.

If the distance from one of the toilets to the tank will be too far, you might want to consider leaving it on the tank and only convert the most-used toilet to the Hold n Treat system.

You DO know that you don't have to buy the Hold n Treat "bundle" (combined tank and treatment device) to have it...The Hold 'n' Treat controls holdntreat controls can be retrofitted to any existing holding tank. You would have to buy the treatment device (ElectroScan or PuraSan), but you can use one of your existing tanks...maybe both with a y-valve and some creativity, but I'd recommend you have a chat with Raritan before doing that!

(This is not a forum I regularly monitor...just happened to see the header for this thread on my way out the door from the Plumbing forum. If you have more questions, I may need a prod to see them if they get buried under other topics.)

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

[kazenza]

Thanks Peggie. My heads are over 15 ft apart and I had a fantasy about running them into a single treatment system that doesn't sound now like the best solution. I have two manual Groco heads currently and plan to replace one with an electric head (Raritan Elegance is my choice of the moment) and rebuild the other, but it looks like I will need to have parallel storage/treatment options in place.

I've looked at both the hold n treat and the controls for converting an existing tank. The existing tanks are cheapie tanks installed by the previous owner so I plan to upgrade the tanks anyway, but have considered that I may want a tank slightly larger than the 15 gallon that comes with the Raritan unit.

Bought your book btw. It's been very helpful as I make my plans.

Randy

[Standbly]

Whatever you do, try avoid having the hose in such a manner that it can contain water permenantly. The buildup of "cement" in those parts of the hose goes very quickly in salt water. It's a chemical reaction between the sea water and urine.