Waste water coming from bath faucet???

Joker66

Joker66

Member
Apr 18, 2019
70
Michigan
Boat Info
1995 Sea Ray 370
Sundancer
Engines
7.4 L Mercruiser V-Drive
Earlier today my waste tank registered as empty. We took ten folks out for a ride.
I'm guessing my vacuflush pedal got stuck in the down position more than once because 3 hours later I flush the toilet and get green stuff coming back up, the tank is registering as full/don't flush AND I've got green stuff coming from my faucet. I was using my fresh water tank. I look at the waste tank and it's bulging to point of pulling out the screws for the metal hold down bands. I go for a pump out, warned the guy, and the same green stuff is coming out of the cap as it's being unscrewed. I'm not sure how but I'm assuming that somehow the waste water is now in my system. Any advice from those who've been down this road would be greatly appreciated.
 
Joker66 said:
Earlier today my waste tank registered as empty. We took ten folks out for a ride.
I'm guessing my vacuflush pedal got stuck in the down position more than once because 3 hours later I flush the toilet and get green stuff coming back up, the tank is registering as full/don't flush AND I've got green stuff coming from my faucet. I was using my fresh water tank. I look at the waste tank and it's bulging to point of pulling out the screws for the metal hold down bands. I go for a pump out, warned the guy, and the same green stuff is coming out of the cap as it's being unscrewed. I'm not sure how but I'm assuming that somehow the waste water is now in my system. Any advice from those who've been down this road would be greatly appreciated.
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First off - eeew!
No sure how that could happen. The waste side of the toilets are not connected to the fresh water inlet. The water comes into the head from above the ball seal in the bowl. It’s also very strange that the tank could ever get so full that it comes out the top. Regardless, you will need to clean, then sanitize and flush the fresh water system. Lots of threads on how to do that, but if you have green crap in it, I would be doing it 4 or 5 times. And probably never using the water again for anything other than washing hands. Eeeew.

Once you get it all pumped out of the waste tank, and get the tank flushed out a few times, you will need to replace your vent line carbon filter and probably flush out that vent line. It should have prevented the tank from bulging because its designed to vent the tank. But if overfilled and plugged up, it could cause the bulging.
 
Does your boat have an overboard discharge for the holding tank? If the seacock was open and the macerator/transfer pump is shot, it's possible that water could force it's way into the system while underway.

Obviously, given you're in a lake, the seacock should always be closed and disabled (ideally remove the system all together)... but that's a conversation for another time :)
 
Creekwood said:
First off - eeew!
No sure how that could happen. The waste side of the toilets are not connected to the fresh water inlet. The water comes into the head from above the ball seal in the bowl. It’s also very strange that the tank could ever get so full that it comes out the top. Regardless, you will need to clean, then sanitize and flush the fresh water system. Lots of threads on how to do that, but if you have green crap in it, I would be doing it 4 or 5 times. And probably never using the water again for anything other than washing hands. Eeeew.

Once you get it all pumped out of the waste tank, and get the tank flushed out a few times, you will need to replace your vent line carbon filter and probably flush out that vent line. It should have prevented the tank from bulging because its designed to vent the tank. But if overfilled and plugged up, it could cause the bulging.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the quick response and advice on the sanitizing. I wasn't clear in my original post. The green water came back through the ball seal. Not from the top.
 
Lazy Daze said:
Does your boat have an overboard discharge for the holding tank? If the seacock was open and the macerator/transfer pump is shot, it's possible that water could force it's way into the system while underway.

Obviously, given you're in a lake, the seacock should always be closed and disabled (ideally remove the system all together)... but that's a conversation for another time :)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the quick response. I do not have an overboard discharge.
 
My boat does not have a macerator.

Based on your additional clarity I agree with all the replies. You dodged a bullet here in my opinion. Suggest you educate your guests on how to use the head system, and how not to use it.
 
Joker, it's still a bit unclear. Do you have green stuff coming through any faucet that would normally have fresh water (from your fresh water tank) coming out?

Is your fresh water tank empty - where you would expect it not to be based on how much you used?
 
Lazy Daze said:
Joker, it's still a bit unclear. Do you have green stuff coming through any faucet that would normally have fresh water (from your fresh water tank) coming out?

Is your fresh water tank empty - where you would expect it not to be based on how much you used?
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Lazy, I no longer have green stuff coming through my faucets, It only happened in my bath faucet yesterday. I put some water into my freshwater tank(It emptied yesterday) and ran it just now and it's coming out clear. I'm still confused as to what happened but it appears that nothing got back to the tank.
 
Pirate Lady said:
I cant say i ever known a SR not to have a macerator and seacock. Even the portapot systems have it.
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Mine does not have a macerator. I would think that most boats sold inland (not on the ocean) would not be sold with macerators since overboard discharge is not legal on any inland waterways, including the Great Lakes.
 
Joker66 said:
Lazy, I no longer have green stuff coming through my faucets, It only happened in my bath faucet yesterday. I put some water into my freshwater tank(It emptied yesterday) and ran it just now and it's coming out clear. I'm still confused as to what happened but it appears that nothing got back to the tank.
Click to expand...
It would be very strange for green water to be in the fresh water lines, however, if somehow your fresh water system got contaminated (like filing the tank with a skanky shore water hose that had stale or polluted water in it) then you could have a bacteria growth of some kind. If it was me, I would flush all the water out by running all the taps till tank is empty. (Including the hot water tank) Then add one cup of bleach to the water tank and then fill with clean water, and then run all the taps till some bleach smelling water comes out. Then go for a boat ride to splash things around a bit. Maybe leave it an hour or two max, and then run all the taps again to empty it all. Then do a complete fill and flush (run all taps till empty, including hot water) without bleach maybe two times to clear the bleach. That should sanitize the system. To be safe, you can add a very small amount of bleach to the tank (no more than one cap full for 40 gallons) to keep it sanitized. You shouldn’t be able to smell bleach in the water after this process. If you can, flush it all again.
 
Creekwood said:
It would be very strange for green water to be in the fresh water lines, however, if somehow your fresh water system got contaminated (like filing the tank with a skanky shore water hose that had stale or polluted water in it) then you could have a bacteria growth of some kind. If it was me, I would flush all the water out by running all the taps till tank is empty. (Including the hot water tank) Then add one cup of bleach to the water tank and then fill with clean water, and then run all the taps till some bleach smelling water comes out. Then go for a boat ride to splash things around a bit. Maybe leave it an hour or two max, and then run all the taps again to empty it all. Then do a complete fill and flush (run all taps till empty, including hot water) without bleach maybe two times to clear the bleach. That should sanitize the system. To be safe, you can add a very small amount of bleach to the tank (no more than one cap full for 40 gallons) to keep it sanitized. You shouldn’t be able to smell bleach in the water after this process. If you can, flush it all again.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice.
 
Creekwood said:
It would be very strange for green water to be in the fresh water lines, however, if somehow your fresh water system got contaminated (like filing the tank with a skanky shore water hose that had stale or polluted water in it) then you could have a bacteria growth of some kind. If it was me, I would flush all the water out by running all the taps till tank is empty. (Including the hot water tank) Then add one cup of bleach to the water tank and then fill with clean water, and then run all the taps till some bleach smelling water comes out. Then go for a boat ride to splash things around a bit. Maybe leave it an hour or two max, and then run all the taps again to empty it all. Then do a complete fill and flush (run all taps till empty, including hot water) without bleach maybe two times to clear the bleach. That should sanitize the system. To be safe, you can add a very small amount of bleach to the tank (no more than one cap full for 40 gallons) to keep it sanitized. You shouldn’t be able to smell bleach in the water after this process. If you can, flush it all again.
Click to expand...
This is good advice, I would just add to not flush the head while you have all that bleach in the system so you don't kill the good bacteria growth in the black water tank (if you aren't using NoFlex/Carter's Poopy Powder you should be). Otherwise the process Creekwood described is what I did initially when I bought my boat to make sure the tank and lines contained drinkable water.
 
GnrlPatton said:
This is good advice, I would just add to not flush the head while you have all that bleach in the system so you don't kill the good bacteria growth in the black water tank (if you aren't using NoFlex/Carter's Poopy Powder you should be). Otherwise the process Creekwood described is what I did initially when I bought my boat to make sure the tank and lines contained drinkable water.
Click to expand...
Good point, try not to let any bleach go into the holding tank.
 
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