holding tank oder removal

[Ken Schwinger]

I am rebuilding my head system. The toilet and holding tank seem to work just fine , I'm replacing everthing else! I need to remove the oder from the tank,I have tried clorox,baking soda,mureatic acid and many other cleaners with no change in the smell. Any suggestions ??



kens@dmv.com

[Larry DeMers]

You are approaching this the right way. Most of the awful odor comes from permeated hoses, and leaks in the hose that goes to the holding tank. Replace the corrugated hose from the toilet to the tank, using the very expensive ($8/ft. last summer) white heavy hose. This product is smoth inside, which allows the effluent to slide quickly along, and with no pockets of trapped material. IT is also very thick, and of a material that should prevent permeation for a long time.

Take a good look inside the area of the holding tank, and wash it down well..outside of the tank of course. Use new hose clamps on the new hoses..plural. You will want to replace the vent hose also..with the standard rubber hose that was there. Since this hose is mainly dry, it will permeate slowly.

Lastly, I use a deodorizer that comes in small little blue paper packets which you throw into the bowl and flush into the holding tank.

With this combination, there is no chemical odor, or head odor at all. We use our head all the time, as we anchor out all weekend, every weekend. Money well spent~!

Cheers..

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

I am rebuilding my head system. The toilet and holding tank seem to work just fine , I'm replacing everthing else! I need to remove the oder from the tank,I have tried clorox,baking soda,mureatic acid and many other cleaners with no change in the smell. Any suggestions ??

demers@sgi.com

[Tom]

I am rebuilding my head system. The toilet and holding tank seem to work just fine , I'm replacing everthing else! I need to remove the oder from the tank,I have tried clorox,baking soda,mureatic acid and many other cleaners with no change in the smell. Any suggestions ??

I haven't tried the blue pellets that Larry suggests, but what I've found works best in the bilge are two things. Liquid Fabric Softener that your wife uses in the laundry. Pour in a healthy slug let it sit for a day and then pump. Another possibility is coffee. It turns out coffee was a deodorant before people started drinking it. I wanted to use some old 2 gallon plastic bleach bottles for emergency water containers but couldn't stand the bleach odor even though we put a tablespoon of bleach in our main water tanks in Mexico just in case. Interestingly enough the coffee took all the bleach smell out of the plastic jugs although I let them sit for weeks to completely do it. I used fine ground coffee but didn't make coffee with hot water or anything like that, but that might work too. I haven't tried these in holding tanks but they're cheap and readily available and what have you got to lose? You only find stuff like this on this bulletin board. BTW somebody posted a notice about Howards Finish Restorer for the oiled teak below. I tried it and like it. I've also found the best stainless steel polish I've ever used. It's called Colombite 850 metal wax. I don't know why they call it a wax. It's not a very good wax but it cuts rust spots faster than Blue Magic or Wenol maybe it even waxes a little. It's on page 322 of the Boat US 2000 catalog. Item 410180 they call it just Liquid Metal Wax. The worst stuff I've ever used is All Shield it accelerates rust. But this has nothing to do with holding tanks so bye for now.



TomCambria@mindspring.com