Shower and Grey water from shower drain

[Dojo1111]

2019 R29 CB- Just purchased one week ago, The water in the shower takes a long time to drain (10 minutes). Anything I can fix or clean? I lifted out the strainer in the bottom and cannot see any sign of a clog there. Is it safe to or prudent to put any sort of drain unclogger here?
Also does this water go into the Black water tank? Nothing is pumping out of the boat while the shower or sinks are draining? At least not that I could see or hear.
Thanks in advance

 

[Bruce Moore]

Bumping post delayed in moderation queue.

 

[Brian98133]

IME, these sumps can get kinda 'gooey'. I would never put any "drain cleaner" (Draino, et al) in there - so I use a product called Bio Clean... a bacterial enzyme product - of which there are many - that eats all dead organic material but leaves everything else (plastics, rubber seals, etc.) completely unharmed.

Bio Clean is the one I'm familiar with, so that's the name I put out here. My only association is selling it in my retail store. Somewhat biased, I know. But for this situation, any bacterial enzyme product should keep the sump and associated hoses nice and sparkly clean 😀

In no way do I endorse doing this... but if anyone is curious about how safe it is to use... I've eaten this stuff. Only twice, and it was n-a-s-t-y :mrgreen: :mrgreen: But... it does get the point across that it's safe for the environment! 😀

 

[Brian B]

I had a 25SC so the setup may be different. The shower drains into a shower sump box that has a pump and float switch that pumps overboard. Your pump or float switch may be faulty. Access to the sump was under the sink on my boat.
I’m sure someone with a 29 will chime in.

 

[S. Todd]

The shower drains into the shower sump that is under the floor section that lifts up between the head and the bed (Starboard side of the bed). Assuming the drain line from the floor of the shower to that sump, which is only a few feet away is not clogged, the water should flow quickly into the sump. If you do not hear that sump pumping the water overboard, I suspect a bad or clogged pump or float switch. If the pump is not doing its job, and the line from the shower floor is not clogged, it may be that the water is just slowly draining out of the sump (between the sump and its lid) into the bilge where it eventually will flow to the aft and be pumped out by the bilge pump. A proper working shower sump will pump out of the through hull fittings approx. six inches above the water line outside the helm window. The air conditioner condensation also drains into this same sump so you want to make sure it works properly. (Page 6 of the R29 Owner's Manual will identify which through hull port the water should be pumped out of, depending on whether you have the NW Edition or the Luxury Edition.)

 

[Capt’nKarl]

Florida has a small wasp that LOVES to build nests in small openings like boat drains. You might want to run a small flexible wire through the drain opening to make sure there’s no blockage. I keep painters tape over ALL the drain openings to prevent these insects from clogging the lines. I know first hand that they can and will block a drain or bilge opening. One of the last things you want to find out is when you need your bilge pump to work it won’t because the line is clogged.

 

[Dojo1111]

Thank you all, great info.