Paul Fays boat tips and news

Diesel fuel problems part 2

2012-02-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Continuing what BIO fuel can do for us boaters - first I want to explain what has been happening in recent years.

The authorities want to reduce pollution and in an effort to achieve this have reduced the amount of sulphur in the fuel. Also to make world fuel stocks go further a proportion of BIO fuel has been added to Diesel.

The BIO part is renewable as it comes from various crops which can be grown. When prepared to be added to the diesel it is known as FAME (Fatty acid methyl esters). In general use the diesel supplied for road use is likely to have 5% but can have up to 20% of this FAME added.

It has been recognised that this can be harmful to engines and is considerably more difficult to store than normally refined diesel.

This is a shortened list of the problems that boaters are likely to find by using low sulphur FAME - and some solutions I have found:-

1/ Diesel injection systems, especially older versions, rely on sulphur for lubrication. Therefore increased wear can be caused by low sulphur fuel. Many people are adding 2 stroke oil to their fuel to overcome this. We now add 2 stroke oil at the generally recommended ratio of 1 to 200 and when not added we notice that the engine does not run so smooth. ( I have read a paper from a German university who found that of all the additives available for diesel fuel, 2 stroke oil is by far the best)

2/ FAME causes some rubbers such as fuel lines and ‘O’ rings soften, swell or harden and crack. This was the problem with our injector pump, a pair of small ‘O’ rings had swollen and jammed a tiny valve. We now carry several spare ‘O’ rings. It has been seen to melt the fuel pipes on some older engines.

3/ Free methanol in FAME corrodes aluminium, Zink and some other parts sometimes found in injection systems.

4/ It can cause increased blocking of injector nozzles.

5/ Water dissolved on the fuel can cause a reversion of the fatty acid which will block filters.

6/ There will be an increase in the DIESEL BUG as FAME supports the various types of bug much better than normal diesel.

7/ There tends to be more sediments which will cause filters to block quicker.

8/ The FAME tends to break down any crud which has formed inside the fuel tank and hoses / pipes etc. This causes quicker filter blocking.

9/ There can be a high volume of particles which can sediment and block filters. Solid impurities can also increase wear.

10/ It can have a high viscosity at low temperatures which can cause overheating especially in distributor type injector pumps. This was also one of our problems.

11/ There are problems with storing this type of fuel. Even commercial suppliers are recommended not to store it for longer than 6 months due to it going off and the BUG growing. This sort of makes a mockery of using it in a boat where it is likely to be unused over the winter.

The actual list is considerably longer than this short version but this shows what a disaster it can be for a boat engine, especially the older engines of which there are many.

As a surveyor I try to keep abreast of the latest safety developments and about 5 years ago I replaced all the fuel lines on Ti Gitu with the latest EC – RCD approved fuel lines. I now find that there can be problems with some of these and if you are replacing yours it may be worth asking the manufacturer if they are suitable for FAME fuel. (Just in case you take some aboard without knowing)

I do not know what is happening about this problem in the Mediterranean and Caribbean where I do know most suppliers are adding FAME to the road fuel, however it has been recognised as a major problem in the UK and now many marinas have approached their suppliers and are receiving FAME FREE FUEL.

I would like feedback from anyone with information in other countries. Just post a comment or email me please.

I have spoken to marina managers who have said that they have difficulty with some suppliers who seem to know nothing about FAME FREE FUEL. One marina manager actually found that despite being assured by his fuel rep that he was being supplied with the correct fuel later found that the company knew nothing about it and were supplying normal road fuel.

The engine manufacturers are worried about FAME to the point that several are saying that for most of their engines, if it is found that fuel with more than 5% FAME is found to have been used then any guarantee / warranty is void. BEWARE.

So in summary, I suggest that all boat owners with slightly older engines (roughly more than four or five years old) make absolutely sure not to take on any FAME fuel and even those with the very latest engines which should be OK with FAME do not store the fuel for long. Also it may be a good idea to carry a good supply of fuel filters.

Happy sailing.

Diesel Fuel Problems Part 1.

2012-02-13T02:16:00.000-08:00

Our problems started when we filled up with diesel in one of the Islands West of Italy. Around the world, especially in smaller places there are often fuel stations where they sell to both cars and boats. This station was one of those. It was on a road alongside the quay and served cars one side and boats on the other, from the same pumps.

We had heard that Bio fuel was being added to most diesel in Europe, but like most sailors and the authorities, did not realise the problems that would result from putting it in our tanks.

Within a few hours after the fill up, the engine started running strangely. Suddenly slowing then picking up again and generally running rough.

A filter change did little to help and eventually, several anchorages and much head scratching later, Ti Gitu was in the very deep anchorage at Capri. Several boats started to drag anchor as the wind changed, which quickly included us. The crew of an enormous motor boat scrabbled around with fenders to hold us off as we dragged and we just missed them. They did enquire about our engine and kindly offered us a tow but by then we were passed and so quickly hoisted sail and sailed out of the anchorage.

Ti Gitu gently headed East and I attempted to fix the problem. It totally baffled me. I tried everything I could think of, eventually giving up on fixing it at sea.

Looking at the chart we saw that Salerno which is a big commercial harbour was an overnight sail away. There would surely be a diesel workshop there. In the strong breeze we made good progress until the wind turned off in the middle of the night. That was when we really appreciated our junk rig which by holding the sails flat allowed us to sail very slowly on, sometimes just making half a knot. But it was progress.

Realising that despite Salerno being an enormous harbour we may have problems, we telephoned our insurance to let them know what was happening and seek advice about the possibility of them covering us to be towed in.

The lady at Piatkus was marvellous, giving sound advice and yes we were covered and would we call as soon as we were safely in harbour.

What a farce followed, but that is another story. We did get in at about eight in the morning and telephoned to let Piatkus know that we were safe.

By pure chance Mo asked what we were covered for and we found that if - as by then I was suspecting – it was bad fuel then we were covered for everything except replacing the fuel.

Our next problem was that it was the holiday season and Italy had virtually closed down for the month.

Due to the holiday it proved impossible to have things repaired locally so Piatkus covered us to have a replacement injector pump flown out from the UK and for injector servicing and tank cleaning.

This did not entirely cure the problems, although things were better and I started researching what could possibly be wrong.

What I found is that there are enormous problems with adding Bio fuel to Diesel. So much so that the UK government has acknowledged this and it is now possible and perfectly legal to buy and use Bio free diesel in sea going craft in the UK. This is known as FAME FREE fuel and is the only fuel that should be used in sea going craft.

To find out the type of problems that will be caused by this Bio Fuel read part 2 of this ‘Problems with Diesel Fuel’ post.

Boat batteries and desulphation

2012-02-04T04:52:00.000-08:00

There are a number of topics which invariably seem to be discussed when a group of boaters get together and one which is fairly high on the list is the batteries.

The whole topic surrounding batteries is subject to all sorts of claims by both manufacturers and boat owners. In my 35 years of cruising and working

on pleasure craft I have heard just about every claim it is possible to dream up. Therefore what follows is a straightforward appraisal of what I have found works and what does not work. A great deal of this is for sail boats, however much does also apply to motor boats, such as the type of battery and a method of charging when sat in the perfect anchorage for a few days.

The first thing which we need to examine is the way we use our batteries on pleasure boats.

We abuse them is the simple answer. We expect them to sit for long periods without a charge, often running them down to a deeply discharged state. In practice when away from a mains shore supply it is generally true that our batteries are rarely charged much above 80%. Then we want them to charge up as fast as possible. After sitting on a mooring or in the marina, often for weeks, they have to turn a diesel engine by giving out a very high amperage. They often live in a box without good ventilation and inside this box can become really warm, especially in summer weather. Maintenance such as regular topping up with distilled water, keeping them clean and well strapped down is often overlooked. How often do the terminals get checked and cleaned? We expect to pay the minimum but to get the maximum life from them.

Then on top of all that we have to consider the claims of various manufacturers. Maintenance free - sealed for life - Gel - no spill – AGM - heavy duty - deep cycle - golf cart - mono block - latest technology – starter – leisure - 24 volt – 12 volt – 6 volt – single 2 volt cells – calcium – traction – semi traction - etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Out of all this we have to find a set of batteries that will serve our needs.

Charging is another nightmare. Alternators - alternator regulators - high capacity chargers - car type mains chargers - multi stage chargers - solar panels - wind generators - engine driven generators - suitcase type generators - inverter chargers - towed water generators - prop shaft generators – desulphating chargers - split charge diodes – split charge relays.

As you will be realising, this is a vast subject. I am not going to delve deeply into each facet but simply give an understanding of ‘what works’?

What the battery does.

In simple terms the battery stores electricity. Exactly how it does this can be found in numerous reference works. For our purposes all we need to know is that the battery has a series of lead plates which are suspended in dilute sulphuric acid. Charge or feed a current one way through the battery and it will convert that electrical current into stored energy. Connect to the battery the other way and we can recover and use that stored energy as direct current to power the various devices aboard the boat.

We want to use as much of that stored energy as we can before needing to re charge. Therefore, deep cycle batteries, which are built more robustly than normal are best to use. There are some ‘heavy duty’ truck batteries which are suitable for us, as on modern trucks which have sleeper cabs they need the ability to deep cycle them. But not all of them. The ones which I have had good experience of are the German ‘Hoppecke’ batteries. Not inexpensive but lasted very well.

However, one thing that many do not realise is that all batteries are designed to last for a certain number of ‘cycles’. A cycle is a discharge and re charge. This is where manufacturers often mislead. They will state a number of cycles for their battery but many do not state how deep, or in other words how discharged this is. Without obtaining the technical details for each manufacturer all we can do is buy a battery with a stated number of cycles at something like 70 to 80% discharge. This will totally exclude starting batteries such as normal vehicle batteries as these are designed with thin plates which give high power for a short period, not heavy plates which will give up their power over a longer period and will stand many more deep discharges.

One thing to be certain of is that the less the battery works the longer we may be able to make it last. We can do this by not deeply discharging. The best and most economical rates of discharge is about 30% to 50% of capacity. This will give reasonable use and reasonable life from the battery. Therefore if we have a 100 amp hour battery we should expect to use up to 50 amps before re charging. This makes a battery management monitor a necessity. These will tell us how many amps have been used, what the voltage is and the rate at which we are charging. But don’t forget that for long periods we are likely to only achieve 80% of charge. Therefore, in reality our 100ah battery may only be good to supply 30ah, and this must considered when sizing a battery bank.

Trickle charging from solar panels or a wind generator is good for keeping things topped up but we often need to charge from the engine or through the mains charger either fed from a shore supply or from an on board generator. In practice a lot of cruisers take their boats into a marina once a month to top up the batteries from a shore supply (and to fill the water tanks while catching up with the washing).

Charging from the engine.

The engine will have an alternator. This alternator will often be designed and have a regulator designed for re charging after engine starting. It will not last long if it is used to regularly re charge deeply discharged batteries, it is simply not designed for this purpose and is being over worked.

Fitting a high capacity regulator to an ordinary alternator should not be done as this will overload and overheat the alternator. The best solution is to fit both a high capacity alternator and high capacity regulator. This will charge the battery quickly and also have other benefits which I cover later. I have used several types of alternator and high capacity regulator. The ones supplied by Driftgate in the UK ( Home Page of Driftgate 2000 Ltd. ) are excellent and sensibly priced. I have also used the well known Balmar alternators ( http://www.balmar.net/ ) to good effect. I have several Sterling electronic devices, including a high capacity alternator regulator, aboard my yacht but have become unhappy with their recent technical and after sales support. ( However I must say that Mr Sterling’s appraisal of batteries is worth reading. )

Some of these high capacity regulators will also raise the voltage to de sulphate the battery which I cover later under desulphation.

When fitting a high capacity alternator we must remember that the drive belt will be put under a higher load. A single 9mm V belt will drive a 50 amp alternator. If a high capacity regulator with a ‘soft start’ is fitted then a single 9mm V belt seems to work OK up to about an 80 amp alternator. ( Soft start means that as the alternator starts spinning it does not immediately go to full charge but slowly increases the rate of charge). Above these charge rates either a twin V belt, a larger V belt or perhaps a serpentine belt will have to be fitted.

Charging from the mains.

When I say charging from the mains I mean either a shore supply or the mains power from a generator. There are various different voltages and hertz around the world but the common ones are 230 volt 50 to 60htz and 110 volt 50 to 60htz.

This 110v or 230v will supply some form of battery charger. There are a number of chargers from lots of manufacturers. What we want is a charger that will work anywhere. By that I mean a charger that is autoranging. This means that it will automatically work on a supply from around 90v to 260v with a hertz of between 50 and 60. A charger like this can be plugged into virtually any supply around the world.

We want a charger that will supply about 20% of the battery capacity. Most battery manufacturers give the 20 hour discharge rate. This is the number of amps supplied over a 20 hour period at which point the battery will be flat or discharged. Therefore for a 100ah battery we want a 20 amp charger.

In a battery, the rate at which energy is drawn affects the overall amount of energy available from the battery. For example , a 100 Ah battery rated at the 20 hour rate means that over 20 hours there are 100 Ah available, or to put it another way you can expect to draw up to 5 Amps per hour for up to 20 hours, 20x5 = 100Ah. Draw more or less amps each hour and the available energy will slightly rise or fall.
We also want a charger that is multi stage. The stages are bulk – absorption – float. In the bulk charge period it is charging as fast as possible. In the absorption stage it holds the voltage higher than normal (usually 14.8) which also helps to condition ( de sulphate ) the battery. Then it drops the voltage to around 13.5 to hold the battery charged and to supply any power being used aboard.
Aboard my yacht we have a bank of batteries rated at 460 amp hours. I have two 40ah chargers ‘stacked up’. These are rather ancient Sterling units but I note that Sterling still sell similar units which can be stacked up. Stacking up simply means that multiple units are wired in parallel. Therefore our two chargers give an 80 amp charge rate. (In reality when the batteries are very low I have noticed that to start with they give 90 amps). These units work between 80 and 250 volts and at 50 or 60 hertz.
Having a charging system like this means that the charger can be supplied either from the shore or a generator.
Type of battery.
Having fitted a high capacity alternator and regulator along with a smart mains charger we now need a set of batteries that will be suitable.
There is only one type of battery that will do. I will say that again!!!
There is only one type of battery that will do!!!
That type is a straight forward, vented, deep cycle, lead acid battery that can be topped up with distilled water.
The reason for this is that we want to fast charge the battery and that means gassing. As the battery charges the liquid begins to bubble and gives off hydrogen gas. This gas must be allowed to escape otherwise there will be a build up of pressure inside the battery which may lead to an explosion. Also the bubbling is good as it stirs the liquid up ensuring an even distribution of the particles in the liquid. Once charging is complete and the battery has cooled it will be seen that a small amount of liquid will have been lost. This will need replacing at regular intervals by topping up with distilled / de ionised water.
During fast charging and de sulphation the voltage in the battery will normally rise to 14.8 volts and can usefully rise to 15.5 or 16 volts. The only type of battery that can take this is a vented lead acid battery.
You will notice on your charger that there are different settings for vented as opposed to sealed and gel batteries. All that the sealed or gel setting does is to reduce the voltage being delivered. This means that the battery will take longer to charge.
It can be seen from this that sealed for life – gel – no maintenance etc. are not good to use on a boat. I have also tried Elecsol AGM batteries. They lasted for just two years of their five year guarantee and I have since read from a battery supplier that AGM are not suitable for our purposes.
Some claim to have a system of recovering the liquid that is gassing off but on talking to a manufacturer they also said that this type of system would be inadequate for our purposes.
There are lots of claims made by battery manufacturers trying to sell their latest style of battery. Do not believe them, I don’t. I just stick to the straight forward deep cycle lead acid type.
The best set I ever had were not the most expensive. They were a set of four x 6 volt x 240ah monablock semi traction batteries. ( A traction battery is designed to power a vehicle such as golf cart or fork lift) These gave 480ah at 12 volt. I had been thinking that I would buy some single 2 volt cells to make the voltage but when I spoke to the supplier he asked about the areas we would be sailing to. When he found that we may end up in some fairly remote areas he pointed out that should a battery fail, finding a single 2 volt cell may be a problem. But he argued a 6 volt battery can usually be obtained anywhere. He left the choice to us and we decided on the 6 volt version.
When these needed replacing we were first coerced into trying the Elecsol AGM batteries and when they prematurely failed we were in Greece, The Ionian to be precise. The guarantee was eventually honoured but only in the UK despite saying that it was Europe wide. I had a good look around the Ionian and despite it being a popular sailing area nearly all the batteries offered were just heavy duty lorry types. We tried to have a set of Trojans sent out from the UK but the carriage was excessive. We then found that there was a Trojan supplier in Athens. He did not have the 6 volt type we wanted but did have some 12 volt batteries. After some awkward discussions regarding price, we eventually bought four for the same price as we could obtain them in the UK. As advertised on the Trojan website they had a 7 year guarantee. This was confirmed 3 times with the supplier who stated that the receipt was our guarantee. With these much respected and guaranteed batteries we felt things would be OK.
Two years and one month later while in Gibraltar preparing for an Atlantic crossing, one cell failed. We then found that the Trojan guarantee is nearly worthless. We eventually obtained a replacement but it took an enormous amount of effort to make Trojan honour their guarantee.
I have compared the weight of several manufacturers and the weight of the 6 volt type that I prefer, which will be similar to the Trojan T125, varies between 28kg and 37kg (61 lb to 81 lb). That is a 20lb difference, on one battery!! Therefore, knowing that I want a battery with good heavy lead plates I guess that the heavier version may be more suitable.
Sulphation and battery charger desulphation.
This is something which began to work its way into the sailing vocabulary a few years ago. What happens is that as a battery is used the plates slowly develop a layer of lead sulphate crystals on them. Eventually so much of the battery plate area is covered that the battery is then unable to supply much current. This is a natural process that occurs in all lead acid batteries, but can occur significantly faster if placed in the wrong combination of temperature, poor charging technique, protracted battery disuse, etc. (sound familiar).

This slow reduction of the capacity of the battery is the single biggest reason for batteries needing to be replaced.
Most battery manufacturers instructions will say that the battery should be deeply discharged and re charged at a regular interval. This helps to keep things working well and helps to slow down desulphation. However the battery will still sulphate.
It is known that by raising the voltage while charging to 14.4 to 16 volts for several hours, (up to 24 hours) the sulphate crystals will be broken down. Thus to a large extent restoring the batteries capacity to deliver its power. This is the part of the charge cycle known as absorption or equalising. There are all sorts of claims made regarding this and many battery chargers do supply a reasonably high voltage during this phase. BUT most will only go to 14.8 volts. This is OK but not really high enough for our purposes.
My mains chargers will raise the voltage to 14.8 when first turned on but reduce to the float charge after 3 hours. I have found that by resetting the timer by simply turning the charger off and back on every three hours for a day, therefore holding the batteries at 14.8 volts, that the performance of the batteries is greatly improved.
In general it seems to be good to do this every 4 to 6 weeks, which seems to fit very well with the cruisers generally going into the marina once a month to top up the batteries. I have read of one cruiser who claims to have modified his charger to give 15.5 or 16 volts and he does this for a day once a month.
When doing this a close watch needs to be kept on the batteries as they will get hot and gas freely. This is probably the reason that the charger manufacturers only set their units to supply a safe 14.8 volts.
High tech desulphation.
In recent years it has been found that by passing a ‘spike’ or ‘pulse’ of high voltage through the battery every few seconds, this will stop the sulphate forming and after a long period of pulsing will eventually break down most of the crystals in older batteries returning the crystals to the original lead and acid. Therefore restoring the working capacity.
There has been a lot of experimentation and now there are a number of commercial units available on the market. However there are just as many claims made for commercial desulphators as there are about batteries.
I decided that this appeared to be a technology which may well be really useful to yacht owners and I started examining these ‘pulse desulphators’ some time ago.
These units are small. The one that I have tested is 125mm x 50mm x 50mm (5in x 2in x 2in) There are simply two connections. One red wire and one black wire. The red goes to the positive (or +) of the battery terminal and the black goes to the negative (or –) terminal. The unit is powered from the battery taking the energy through the leads and then sending a pulse of higher voltage back to desulphate.
I built one and set it to work on the batteries of Ti Gitu. We have 4 x 12 volt batteries in one bank and as electricity will always take the path of least resistance, I realised that if I simply fitted the desulphator across the whole bank the pulse would take the line of least resistance. This would be across the least sulphated battery. Leaving the most sulphated without treatment. Therefore I fitted it across one battery at a time, for a month each. It has been great to see each battery recover to the green section on the hydrometer and each cell to level out with all the others. Once restored I will try putting it across the whole bank and see how it lasts, but it will probably be another year before I can report on that.
As this is using power from the battery it also needs a battery charger connected to keep things topped up. Therefore we still need to keep charging the battery while the desulphator is working. There are a number of commercial chargers that have the desulphator built in. But of course these are trying to desulphate the whole bank at once as all our positive and negative leads are connected together. Therefore the pulse will again go through the line of least resistance and desulphate the battery that least needs it. Also the power of many of the available units is not stated. They will be far too small for our purposes, only really capable of desulphating a small car battery. There is a lot of difference between a 10lb car battery and a 120lb deep cycle battery.
Now what I consider would be really great, is a method of desulphating that can genuinely be fitted and forgotten. For us boaters it seems that a desulphator which would work on several individual batteries at once would be great. The problem is it seems that the people who have tried desulphating more than one battery from a single unit have found that it doesn’t work very well. This leaves us with either moving the desulphator leads around or having a desulphator for each battery. I am looking into solving this and will post more as I progress.

Happy sailing.

Marine fuel or diesel

2012-01-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

Just been writing about batteries and charging etc. and hope to publish that next week. Meanwhile I have just found information about diesel fuel that will be of interest to all boaters especially in the Mediterranean and perhaps the Caribbean. I will post about that shortly but for now be aware that a lot of the fuel sold in marinas and at fuel stations is for road vehicles and MUST NOT be put into the fuel tanks aboard your yacht or motor boat.
Happy sailing,
Paul

Lavac sea toilets

2012-01-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have been contacted by our old friend David T who has a Lavac sea toilet. These use a Henderson type bilge pump for emptying. David has found that hydrochloric acid attacks a small piece of aluminium in the pump. (see his reply) What David does is to strip the pump and use a domestic loo cleaner to clean the parts.
I did not realise that there were aluminium parts
in these pumps, I do have one somewhere and will check but think that the fairly recent version I have is all plastic.
Worth checking if you have a Lavac!!
Another method of keeping the system clear of calcium is to use vinegar. This is considerably more expensive and not as aggressive as hydrochloric acid so may well be OK where there are aluminium parts in the system. Used in a similar fashion to the acid it should help to stop the calcium build up and the need need to regularly strip the system.
As far as I am aware all the normal heads such as the almost universal Jabsco plastic pump type only have stainless parts.
Some years ago I tested all these stainless parts from an old loo along with some 304 and 316 bolts by leaving them in 50% strength acid. After 3 days I examined them under a powerful magnifier and found only a slight dulling but no corrosion.
Our current Jabsco is around 6 years old and has not needed the valves or pipes cleaning yet.

Silicone Grease

2012-01-18T01:41:00.000-08:00

Silicone grease can be hard to find in some areas and I have found that purchasing it on e-bay is the simplest way to obtain it. I always use http://stores.ebay.co.uk/lubesetc as I have found this site gives excellent service.

Silicone grease is amazingly waterproof. There are several
versions, both normal and food grade. I purchase a 60ml pot of food grade grease which lasts for ages, even when I am working and using lots of it. The reason for the food grade is that it is safe to use anywhere including in the fresh water system aboard the boat as well as the other places.

Silicone grease can usefully be used for lots of things. Being so waterproof and electrically inert it is great for electrical connections, especially those exposed to the weather. The ends of wires will be protected by having it worked into the lay of the strands. All the small screws and pins can be coated to keep them in good condition.

Another place as described in the 'loo tips' is to lubricate the head where it will keep the head lubricated for weeks of service.

Wherever there are rubber parts that need lubrication such as all 'O' rings on deck fittings then silicone grease is good. The valves in both fresh and salt water pumps and the 'O' rings on the pipe connectors of pumps can usefully be lubricated.

The impeller in the engine salt water pump will also benefit from being lubricated when checking it at the beginning and end of each sailing season. To do this, remove the impeller and liberally rub the silicone all over. Also wipe the silicone around the inside of the pump body and on the cover. Where the impeller pushes over the shaft can also be greased which makes removal of the impeller easier.

Blocked Loo

2012-01-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

The blocked loo is one of the most feared problems of the cruising sailor. It generally happens due to the reaction of urine and salt water producing a calcium build up. This narrows the pipes
and coats the valves stopping them working.
If you currently have a blockage then you may well need to dismantle the system to clear it first (YUK) as the following will only help in keeping it clear. It will be unlikely to unblock it and may well make it difficult if you eventually need to dismantle the loo as the acid will be trapped in the system.
The way to keep the system free of calcium is to use hydrochloric acid. In many countries this can be purchased very cheaply from hardware stores or supermarkets.
In the UK our laws make it difficult to purchase chemicals which are freely available in other countries. In France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece etc. it comes in a red plastic bottle and costs around one euro.
In the UK I have found that garden patio cleaner is strong hydrochloric acid and in this form is easy to purchase.
To keep the system clear I pour the whole bottle (about 1 litre at 30% strength) into the loo pan and then slowly, by giving a few strokes every half hour, pump it through the system.
I do this roughly every 2 to 3 months in an area that is NOT environmentally sensitive as the acid ends up in the sea!
This has virtually no effect on the plastic and metals in the system but will kill off any microbes in a holding tank system.
Some people claim that these microbes can help to stop the holding tank smelling - I prefer not to have blockages!
I will be putting a link to this blog on the http://www.faymarine.com/ web site so that it will be easy to find.
Paul.

Loo tips

2012-01-06T03:13:00.000-08:00

Arriving back in England once again one of the most talked about boaty problems the marine loo began to give us trouble. After 30 years living aboard Mo and I have pretty much solved most of the problems.
Many of us yotties have now fitted
the standard modern plastic pump loo. Along with many other and older types they suffer from getting stiff to operate and from blocking.
The stiffness is due to a lack of lubrication and the blocking due to the reaction of urine and salt water which produces a calcium build up inside the pump - pipes - holding tank and valves.
In some places an expensive product called 'Head Lube' or something similar can be bought. This is a biologically degradable oil that is simply poured into the pan and pumped through.
A much less expensive solution is to use cheap cooking oil in the same way. This will need repeating every few days.
A longer lasting solution is to clean the system by pumping a little bleach or disinfectant through the system and then removing the pump top located under the pump handle. This gives access to the inside of the pump and the rod and piston / plunger will just lift out. Dry with rag or paper kitchen towel and then grease with a thin smear of silicone grease. This will last for weeks. How to cure the calcium problem in the next post.

Hello

2012-01-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

Hello, Mo and I are now back in the UK and living aboard on the South coast. The last few years have been good, sailing from the UK to Greece, then across to the Caribbean before coming back to the UK. We have continued to work on and write about yachts and the cruising life and will continue to pass on the things we find to all our friends. Of course the first problem encountered after arriving in the UK was the toilet. (always a problem) and I will give some tips about keeping the loo working on the next post.
Paul.