Chip & Debbie Willis on s\v Elegant'sea: Clogged poo filter blow out bellows

The adjustment to the Marina life has been let's say, somewhat different. Normally we would be at anchor now somewhere on the Mexican Riviera.

March 2024 - ⛵ Chip & Debbie 💑 Currently in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Mexico

Debbie is in our pullman birth area where normally the mattress is. She is using 3M UV 4000 to re-seal the pump out flange.

Our Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Mexico offers free holding tank pump out service which is really nice. We usually have them come by twice a week. We have a 33 gallon holding tank that Debbie and I install about 15 years ago and it is a special plastic tank. We have every hole in it at the top, not sides or bottom. It has served us well. The flow of pump out goes from the VacuFlush 5000 series VacuFlush toilet through a J Series Vacuum Tank to the holding tank to be pumped out (or it can be macerated out).

There is a vent with a filter on it to prevent odors . We also installed a direct out valve for days at sea etc. At the dock they pump us out then we have them rinse the tank with 22 gal of water, twice. We even put a gallon/litre gauge on the hose that gets reset each time. Only the last time the person was not watching and he overfilled the tank and it went up the vent and clogged the filter. Of course we did not know this and by using the toilet it built up pressure in the tank. At one point we heard a loud bang and, well we had a problem. Debbie removed the filter after we decided it was pressure issue. Yep it was clogged. Also the fitting on top of the tank for pump out was dislodged on the holding tank. And our bellows in the vacume tank was split. So for the last two days we have been fixing and trying to prevent this from happening again. First, Debbie removed the filter as we really do not need it anymore (It is a reusable filter that we can empty out clean the mesh and add new activated charcoal, about once a quarter). Then she climbed in the deep storage and under our Pullman berth to seal up the fitting on top of the tank wit some 3M UV4000 we had leftover from another recent project. I took on the vacuum tank with the bellows and after a couple tries we replaced all four duckbills and had to buy a new bellows at Lopez Marine here in La Paz. We used our little spare porta potty so we did not need to march up to the marina facilities at night. Dirty, uncomfortable work and as my collarbone is still not completely back to normal, painful at times. Possibly upsizing the holding tank breather hose and fittings to 5/8 from the current half inch. That is on the new list along with being more hands-on at pump out.

Where our J Series Vacuum Tank is located.

Our porta pottie ghat we can use in emergency. We decided to use it instead of walking up to the marina at night.

New bellows that we purchased for the vacuum tank.

Bellows assembly with motor.

After removing the bellows we tested it and an old one that we had for leaks by filling them with water. They both leaked. So much for the back up one.