HEADS UP HOW DOES MY MARINE HEAD WORK?

 

HEADS UP   HOW DOES MY MARINE HEAD WORK?

When it comes to power boat system questions they come in waves, right now it is marine head questions. How does my marine head work? There are four types of marine heads that production power boats generally install (not one of them will work like your home toilet). At home gravity, a few gallons of water and a siphon effect do the job. With the waste being carried away in large 3 inch pipes. On a power boat things are totally different, there is no gravity or siphon effect and certainly not a 3 inch drain pipe.

Power boats are set up with a Porta Potty, Manual Pump Head, Electric Head or Vacu Flush Head. Each one of these heads represents a completely different way of flushing away waste and have there own unique good and bad characteristics. Only two of these heads are truly interchangeable with out a large amount of additional modification to the vessel. As a matter of fact a Porta Potty does not even qualify as a marine head in some jurisdictions when it pertains to power boat laws.

If your boat has a PORTA POTTY:

A Porta Potty install will mean that your boat is not equipped with either a fresh water system or a waste holding tank (BLACK WATER). This is the most basic head installation that you can have on a power boat. The Porta Potty provides a place to go, however the filling of water for flushing and handling of the waste tank is manual. The Porta Potty latches to the floor with two brackets, one on each side at the bottom of the unit so you can remove and dump the waste. The issue with this is the dumping of this waste, you have to locate a place to do this that is safe and convenient. Some boat owners and manufacturers have manufactured a system where the Porta Potty has been modified.  There has been a waste hose attached to the bottom waste holding tank complete with a waste discharge fitting installed on the deck. All of these modifications allow you to pump out the Porta Potty tank at the waste pump station at your local marina.

NOTE: FOR DETAILS ON THIS MODIFICATION CONTACT boatnutmedia@gmail.com REFERANCE/ PORTA POTTY PUMP OUT MODIFICATION 

A Porta Potty works with a trap door system where by the waste simply falls into a holding tank on the bottom half of the unit. There is a small water tank on the top half of the toilet so you can pump water into the bowl with the waste, providing a cleaner flush. Porta Potty is an emergency head as far as I am concerned, the holding tank is very small and the system is notorious for odors if you try to use this as a fully operational head.

If you want to upgrade from the Porta Potty set up, you may or may not be able to do this. Any other marine head installation will require a waste holding tank complete with a two inch discharge (flush) hose from the marine head, a water pick up line from the bottom of the hull complete with through hull and a waste tank vent installed in the side of the hull. If your power boat is to small or designed without an area for a small holding tank you maybe out of luck. The other consideration is you must be able to run all the hoses and the through hull valve required to make the head system operational. If you are looking at a boat with only a Porta Potty on board and plan to use the boat in a fashion that would require a more conventional marine head then be sure to have the boat looked at for the possibility of installation before you buy.

A Porta Potty with or without a way to pump out at the dock quite often does not qualify as a marine head in the case of drinking on your boat be sure you know the laws in your region do not assume that as long as you have a porta potty you are legal.

If your boat has a Manual Pump Head:

This will mean that your vessel has a waste holding tank (Black Water) and a through hull in the bottom of the boat for the head to pick up raw (fresh) water to flush the waste away. This style of head has a manual pump to remove the waste and to draw fresh water from the lake, river or ocean to flush. This pump maybe a handle that you move up and down or a upright manual pump that has a handle that you pull up and push down.

 

This is the most basic and popular complete marine head system. The manual pump head works well and is relatively bullet proof. Most of the designs and makes of heads are completely serviceable, and easy to maintain.  Manual flush heads are actually damaged or broken more often than not by the technician or boat owner by over tightening the hardware that holds the pump pieces together. These head pumps are an all plastic body with a ceramic bowl. They are designed to be disassembled for repair,  mistakes made when reassembling the plastic pump bodies will lead to cracking at the screws.

Thus creating leaks.

 

A Manual Flush Head works on a push/ pull system were every pump of the handle is either pulling the waste toward the discharge hose or pushing the waste toward the discharge hose. At the same time you are pulling lake water to the head through the bottom of the boat. Most manual pump heads have a switch located beside the pump handle allowing you the option of a dry flush meaning no lake water is added to the bowl, or a wet flush meaning you are flushing with lake water entering the bowl. This option allows you to flush fluid waste with out the addition of extra water reducing the volume of liquid filling the waste holding tank. This is a genuine concern if you have a small waste holding tank on board. The reason for the popularity of the manual flush head is they will always work, no power is required to operate. More advanced marine head systems require 12 volt power to flush the waste away. No power no flush!

Manual Flush Heads are the easiest marine heads to correct a plugged issue. You must remember that any marine head has a two inch discharge hose and relies on one method or another to push or pull waste from the head to the holding tank. For this reason you should not flush anything but human waste down any marine head. It is important to place a waste basket beside the bowl for paper products or any other waste that could normally be flushed away at home. If you post a sign or purchase a decal that shows what the head will not accept for discharge and educate your guests you will save yourself many head aches and service calls. As a matter of fact technicians will quite often charge a premium to work on a head system, due to the environmental factors that they face in opening up a waste system. Do not use drain cleaners or an auger to clean a plug, use a shop vacuum, complete with running water to flush the system. This way you will not damage components.

 

If your boat has a Electric Head:

An Electric Head is a swap out for a manual pump head!  It will require the installation of a flush switch and a 12 volt circuit to be run to the head. However the head uses the same water pick up and the same discharge hoses. Remember there is no hole under the head for a waste pipe all waste leaves the head through the two inch discharge hose. All of the electrical and mechanical workings off the electric head are part of the toilet itself, at the back of the bowl near the bottom there is a 12volt electric motor that drives a double pump case. The case is divided into two parts the fresh water pump impellor which pumps the water from the lake to the bowl and a macerator with a stainless steel chopper blade to remove the waste. This type of head is extremely efficient at its job, it chops and pumps the waste away quickly.

 

When it is in action it looks a lot more like the operation of your home toilet than any other head. Of course you must remember that there is a large electric motor and flushing will be far from silent, so night flushes for those sleeping by the head wall can be annoying.

The electric head is a serviceable system, meaning the every once in awhile you will have to service the pump and have a new water pump impellor installed to keep the flushing water at the correct volume. The amount of time between service will depend on the amount the head is used. The worst thing you can do to an electric head is not use it the electric motor will begin to sieze and the water pump impellor can swell or lock up with some of the blades bent over. If the electric motor ever starts to trip the breaker due to lack of use or age you can purchase a new one and should! If you attempt to get a stuck motor going (which you can) it will not last long at all, you will experience problems with the breaker tripping when you flush. You must remember NO POWER NO FLUSH!

If you watch what you flush down the head, maintain and use the electric head regularly it can give you years of uninterrupted service. They really are reliable. If you use you boat for charters or just have a lot of guests this is the head to have. The electric head is very efficient at moving waste down the discharge hose, which may not seem like a big deal, however it is! Waste left in the discharge line for extended periods of time can do two things. One- It can dry out between uses and create narrowing of the hose diameter inside leading to plugs. Two- This is the more important, odor, the waste in the rubber line will eventually leach its odor through the hose material. Once this happens every time you close up the boat and leave for days a time when you return you will have that waste smell lingering in the air. The new white triple wrap waste is line is far and away better than the old black waste line for odor protection. The use of cheap discharge hose on any marine head is a bad mistake.

 

 

If your boat has a Vacu Flush Head:

Honestly you have a bucket load of parts between the head and the tank to go wrong. Vacu Flush works with the same size discharge hose as any other marine head. Do not be deceived by that big trap door that opens in the bottom of the bowl. I have had boaters who think that the trap door opens and there is a huge pipe to swallow the waste, not so! The black area you looking at is the bottom of the bowl. When the Vacu Flush system is working right it is awesome, but there are a lot of working parts to make this head function.

First at the bowl, there is a seal on the trap door that must make contact with the bowl opening if this seal is damaged or dries out the system is compromised and the pump that creates the vacuum will keep running (TIP: Keep the trap door covered in a small amount of water this will keep the seal from drying out) Next there is the Vacu Flush pump which is what you will hear running when the head is flushed this pump housing is made up of several key parts. From time to time these parts will need to be replaced. There are at least four duck bill valves split- two on the intake side of the pump and two on the discharge side of the pump, these rubber valves age or get damaged and no longer allow the vacuum to build in the system. Then there is the pump itself the piston that the pump operates is plastic and can crack with time, load and items that are to hard to crush travelling thru the body. If the bellows that seals the piston tight (allowing vacuum to build up) crack the pump will continue to work, if you all of a sudden notice a strong odor of waste one of the first places to check is the pump bellows. As the pump continues to run with the broken bellows there will be raw waste pumped into the area that the pump is located in the bilge. Depending on the year of the Vacu Flush system there maybe a separate vacuum tank and pump location on the vessel. Older tanks are white tanks that resemble a torpedo. The newer systems have the pump and vacuum tank as one unit. On the tank you have a vacuum switch which determines the amount of vacuum created to complete a flush, the amount of vacuum is adjustable. This same switch  dictates when the pump is to start up or shut down when the desired vacuum in the system is reached. It is all these working parts that make this system a failure trap if misused or mis installed.

 

If you are buying a power boat with a Vacu Flush upgrade be sure to tell your surveyor that the system was installed post manufacturer. Quite often when the Vacu Flush is installed after market the runs to the pump are up hill or have to many turns for the Vacu Flush to be reliable. If the installer uses cheap discharge line the system may continually plug.

More so than any other marine head you must be sure that no one is flushing feminine products or hard objects through the Vacu Flush system, this will get very costly to repair. These products along with paper towel will damage the duck bill valves and the pump "no doubt". If your bowl continues to loose water then the seal at the flush door must be replaced. The foot pump flush switch is another area that must be watched. The Vacu Flush head works with the fresh water system of the vessel only. This valve that the foot switch is attached to is plastic, abusive use of the flush pedal will damage it. When this happens the floor of the head can continue to flood as long as the fresh water pump on the boat is left on or you have the vessel connected to active dockside water.

Of all the head systems this one is the one that will plug up the easiest due to the amount of flow restrictions on the way to the holding tank. This head will be as reliable as you treat it!

 

 

 

 

 

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HOW TO ELIMINATE WATER IN THE GAS TANK Pt 2

 

HOW TO ELIMINATE WATER IN THE GAS TANK  Pt 2

Any work on a fuel system requires the upmost of care and concern for safety. Do not tackle this job if you have the least bit of question. Hire a pro, however an understanding of the process is necessary so you can check the boat over after the first fueling . The boat owner will also want to check the tank are over the first few weeks for possible leaks.

There is more than one way to clean up a contaminated fuel tank, however the best way to really remove debris and water out of the fuel tank, is to hire the services of a fuel scrubber. Have you ever seen a portable fuel scrubber machine? What the scrubber does is it pulls the contaminated fuel from the tank though one line, runs the contaminated fuel thru multiple filters, and returns clean fuel to the tank through a second line. By doing this it moves the fuel completely around the tank and cleans the tank and the fuel at the same time. This is a service that works on diesel or gas. Bad diesel will become a burnable fuel again and gas will clean up and by adding octane booster you burn off the cleaned gas.

If you know of, or can find the services of a fuel scrubber it is a good idea to have them service your vessel at least every two or three years (depending on the running hours) to clean the tank(s). Beware: Full scrubber services, if you have an older boat with a aluminium fuel tank (as the machine cycles the fuel) will remove corrosion and occasionally open small leaks in the  fuel tank. Be sure to have the company who sets up the scrubber, and provides the scrubbing service complete the removal of the sender unit at the fuel tank. The service technician should follow all the safety precautions I outline below and be the only person on the boat while the scrubber is hooked up.

The scrubber machine is portable and can be transported to the dock next to your boat. The machine will run for hours (the time that it needs to run is dictated by the volume and condition of the fuel) to complete the tank and fuel cleaning job.

 

So what if there is no scrubber available?

You will have to work with a manual vacuum pump and draw all the contaminated fuel out of the fuel tank to be disposed of in a responsible way (follow the local disposal laws). The way to do this is to remove the fuel sender from the fuel tank in question, and use this opening for your vacuum access. NOTE: ALL BOAT MANUFACTURERS ARE TO ALLOW AN ACCESS POINT FOR THE FUEL TANK SENDER Before you just undo the sender and remove it there are several steps you must take.

Make sure that there is no one on the boat before you start and keep the boat free of others until you are finished and tested.

1- Disconnect all the batteries on the boat

2- Make sure the shore power is disconnected at the dock

3- Make sure the area you are working in is well ventilated

4- Be sure you have the correct tool to undo the sender screws, the sender screws may require a clean up with a wire brush first as corrosion is not uncommon

5-Do not loose any of the sender screws and if you do or there are screws that are to corroded to reuse you must replace with the correct hardware. do not attempt to replace with any old screw as this is an area were you do not want leaks.

6-Have a correct replacement gasket for the sender on hand to reinstall.

7-When you remove the sender make a note on the direction the float arm faces

8-You must replace the sender facing exactly the same direction otherwise the fuel gauge will receive an unreliable signal.

9-If your are replacing the sender the measurements of the old sender are necessary for the gauge to work properly.

10-Once the sender is replaced and you add fuel be sure to make sure you have no leaks in the tank or the sender seat.

11- verify that you fuel gauge is working correctly

12- Anytime you open up the fuel tank you should mark your initials in the rub rail on the transom, this is a warning that the fuel system has been tampered with after the original install.

 Use only a manual vacuum pump do not use any power pumps or pumps that require a power source . The spark or heat created by any power source can ignite! The fumes from even bad gas are explosive! I recommend that you hire a professional to do this work as the risk of an accident is high.
 

When using the manual vacuum to remove all the fuel (you will need): To transport the fuel to a recycle location in certified gas cans for correct disposal at an authorized fuel recycle location. Once the fuel is removed you can take your time with the manual vacuum and remove as much debris from the tank as you can reach. Quite often there are two lengths of hose with the manual vacuum kit so you can reach along way into the tank. Once you have cleared out the fuel tank as much as possible you will need to reinstall the fuel sender. It is a must that the gasket on the sender be replaced. Boaters can buy these gaskets at your local marine parts store. (If the sender is corroded go ahead and replace it.)

Boaters will want to keep at least two spare filters on board after the cleaning fuel tank, as loose debris that you did not clean out will now be floating in the fuel. The filter will catch this debris and protect the motor. If you do not have an in line canister filter you will need to install one before you start to feed the motor with gas from the recently cleaned fuel tank.

After a self service fuel tank clean out you will also want to add fuel conditioner, not fuel stabilizer. The conditioner helps the motor burn raggedy fuel and suspends particles so the new fuel filter will collect it up without the debris getting to the motor
.

Please remember to keep an eye on the tank for the first few weeks after a cleaning to be sure that no weak spots in the fuel tank have opened up.

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Copyright 2015 © Boat Nut Media, Toronto, Ontario. All rights reserved. No part of this information/publications may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to photocopy, magnetic, or other record, without prior agreement and written permission of the publisher, Boat Nuts Media ©™ No liability is assumed with respect to the information provided
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CONTAMINATED FUEL/ WATER IN FUEL

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      CONTAMINATED FUEL/ WATER IN GAS PART 1 

        Contaminated fuel is like a dog with a bone it will not give let go!

 It will give you more motor running problems then you can imagine! Quite often when you think that you have beat the issue, the contamination is all gone, then mechanical failures show up. Contaminated fuel will come back to get your motor again and again. So how does the fuel get contaminated with water and other debris, and what are the effects to your boat motor?

First off lets discuss how this contamination can happen:  Gas caps and the fuel vents are the first common sense place to look for a point of  water entry into your gas tank. When you look at power boats there are generally two different types of fuel caps.

 

The first type of fuel cap is the self venting cap. This is a filler cap that includes a built in vent. The vent allows the tank to expand and contract with temperature variations. The vent also allows the tank to expel air during the filling process and allow air to enter the tank while the fuel is being consumed.

*This type of cap quite often has a large inside rubber gasket that seals off the filler pipe when closed while leaving the vent to be able to breath air for expansion and contraction and varying fuel levels. In many cases were the fuel in the tank has become contaminated the gasket which seals the filler pipe is damaged or missing. Meaning that in the rain or while washing your power boat the water can pass the cap and enter the filler pipe, down the filler hose to the fuel tank.

*The second type of fuel cap is the screw type fuel filler cap: These caps generally require a deck key to open them. The cap threads into the filler pipe. There are two major issues with this type of cap one there is a rubber o ring that creates a seal under the cap lid which maybe missing or damaged. The filler cap maybe deck mounted in such a fashion that rain water or wash down water may pool on top off the cap.Giving the water lots of time to work past the cap and enter the tank.

*The fuel vent: The fuel vent is mounted on the hull side and is used in conjunction with a non vented fuel filler cap. The vent could be turned so that the air opening is facing in a direction were when either running the boat, while raining or washing the water may enter the vent and thus get into the tank through the fuel tank vent line.

                   The other factors that may allow water to enter the fuel tank are:

Environment VS Volume of fuel in tank;  This means that if the volume of fuel is never topped up and or the boat lives in an area were the temperature can make large swings the fuel tank can sweat thus water will build up over time. (This also occurs when the boat has been stored for lengths of time without use).

Please keep in mind that current fuels that contain methanol will absorb water, compounding the problem.

You may have purchased contaminated fuel at the fuel provider. What can also happen at a full serve gas dock is that the attendant mixes up which cap is which and water is accidentally added to the fuel or visa versa were fuel ends up in the water. Any Power Boater who has been around awhile has seen this happen.

Off course there is always the possibility that the contamination is from the tank fitting themselves there are bad signs that go along with this issue, the primary sign is that there is an issue with tank fittings failing is the smell of fuel in the bilge or near the tank.

NEVER START OR RUN A POWER BOAT IF THERE IS THE ODOR OF FUEL IN THE BILGE ALWAYS HAVE THE VESSEL CHECKED BY A PROFESSIONAL TO LOCATE THE PROBLEM!

  How do I know if the tank is contaminated:

1- The way the engine runs (or doesn't run) will be the first sign of issues it will loose power, and start to run rough. The motor will hesitate and sound like it is miss firing and likely stall. Another sign is hard starting with  a hard time idling, stalling through the shift and popping while running. The motor will also create white smoke out the exhaust. Do not get me wrong there are other issues that can cause these same issues,                          

You have more checking to do to confirm contaminated fuel.

2- If you have a fuel filter in line between the tank and the motor, This filter is a canister and should look like an oil filter. This filter traps water that is leaving the tank on its way to the motor and should be changed in a regular maintenance schedule. To check the condition of the fuel in the filter remove the filter and pour the contents into a clear glass container and allow the fuel to settle for several minutes if the filter is trapping contamination you will see the water sink to the bottom of the glass container (it will look like clear jelly at the bottom). This dump the fuel out of the filter test it is not always accurate as some filters trap water and the only way to know if the filter is contaminated is to change it. 

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3- Remove the fuel line at the filter or fuel pump and draw some fuel from the tank direct and let the fuel settle. Check the bottom of the clear glass container  you are using to inspect fuel samples for water. ( BE SURE THAT YOU DUMP THE FUEL FROM YOUR GLASS CONTAINER AND CLEAN AND DRY BEFORE POURING A NEW SAMPLE TO VIEW) The amount of contamination you find is important to how you remove the water from the tank.

4-No in line fuel filter to dump and inspecting the fuel from the tank is to risky. There is another way to check for water. Take off the flame arrester on the top off the carburetor or throttle body on the top of the motor.(While the motor is not running) Spray some WD40 around the top edges of the carburetor or throttle body. Not a lot just a thin coat and start the motor the spray from the injectors or the mist from the carburetor will contain water and white spots will show up in the WD40. The water will also build up and run down barrel openings of the body.

5- Remove the spark plugs and check the color of the end were the spark takes place. You can read the way a motor is burning fuel by the color on the plugs.

6- If you have experience with fuel you can dip your fingers in the fuel at the carburetor or under the injector spray and see the water it will form little bubbles in the fuel.

   So I have contaminated fuel what can happen to my motor if I continue to operate my boat?

Several issues can and do occur if you run the boat on contaminated fuel:

The first of which is the ignition system will start to fail. Due to the fact that you are trying to ignite fuel that is not wanting to burn properly. The coil wire can burn off, the coil can fail. The cap, rotor, wires and plugs will live a much shorter life. If the ignition side of your boat suddenly fails one of the reasons could be contaminated gas.

The next thing on a carburetor motor is the carburetor itself will act up. The water that does get through the system can corrode the inside parts of the carburetor. This causes flooding and stalling. You may have to rebuild or at the very least service the carburetor. The carburetor can give you issues hours after or years after running on contaminated fuel as the damage on the inside can get worse when the boat is stored or sees a reduction in running hours.

A newer boat with throttle body injection can suffer far more problems. This is a brief list:

Fuel Pump

Injectors

Fuel filter in cooler

Sender failure

Over fuel dumping at injectors

Computer codes

And if you have a hard start even gas in motor oil

Water in Fuel will also eat up spark plugs

The bottom line is contaminated fuel could be and quite often is the culprit of a bad running motor quite often over looked and dismissed as needing a tune up that leads to more and more service. Contaminated fuel can be a costly situation to have to deal with if you only tackle one failure at a time, as they show up. If you have water in the fuel be prepared to go all the way other wise you could have the I AM BACK AT THE DOCK BLUES over and over until the whole system is serviced

To guarantee access to all of  Boat Nut Magazine articles, pictures and featured services visit the official Boat Nut Magazine ©™ website. Be sure to reply to the Boat Nut Association registration on our site for the latest Boat Nut weekly and monthly news letters and opportunities.

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Copyright 2015 © Boat Nut Media, Toronto, Ontario. All rights reserved. No part of this information/publications may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to photocopy, magnetic, or other record, without prior agreement and written permission of the publisher, Boat Nuts Media ©™ No liability is assumed with respect to the information provided
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Part 2 will discuss how to get ride of the gremlins contaminated fuel will produce.