Toilet Duck - intake water smell?

[Jfrano]

So I’ve determined my head problem is the intake water. If it sits for a few days and I flush it’s really nasty. The holding tank itself smells amazingly good.

Some solutions I’ve read is to put a tablet of Toilet Duck in the intake strainer. Product is not suppose to have a bad effect on seals etc like bleach.

Anyone have experience with it.

Thanks

 

[HookedUp]

I've done a couple of things to get/keep the water better. Camco 40043 TastePure RV/Marine Water Filter when filling it up.
And, Star Brite Aqua Water Treatment and Freshener to help keep it fresh.

I had a similar problem and I flushed out the fresh water and added new. A few months later the same thing. Since I've done the above I haven't noticed a problem. I'm sure there are other, possibly better products, but these work for me.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

So I’ve determined my head problem is the intake water. If it sits for a few days and I flush it’s really nasty. Anyone have experience with it

Yes. The problem on my boat is that water is trapped between the strainer and the toilet. If it sits more than a few days it does get foul smelling. The only work-around that I know is to flush the toilet about three times to expel the old nasty smelling water from the line and draw fresh water into it.

The exact same thing happens with the washdown pump water line and the fix is the same— run water through it until fresh is drawn into the line.

 

[Scuba Too]

I had the same issue. Below is the description from another post but basically just flush 10-20% vinegar through the intake line (add to the strainer) and let it sit for a couple of days. Still working great!


Update to this problem. It turns out to have been the raw water side of the head was causing the odor. I did pull the vent hose and there was no particularly strong smell nor blockage. I also did the vinegar flush and soak in case there was calcification on the joker valve (which I didn't think was the case since there wasn't a smell from the tank but it certainly couldn't hurt). I then added water to the bowl using the switch and realized that it was coming from the intake side - and it was bad! I thought I'd just flush it a few times when getting on the boat but it didn't help a lot. I then tried the vinegar flush through the intake and that worked great! Weeks later and still no strong odor. Nice thing is that I didn't have to pull the hose on the intake - the strainer filled to the brim has sufficient volume for a flush with a little left over so that the pump doesn't run dry. I added vinegar and water (10-20% vinegar) and flushed until I smelled vinegar in the head and then a couple more times just to be sure. I then let it soak for a few days and success! As to why the intake was so bad after no problem for over 2 years it could have been that we had a really persistent red tide in California which lasted months (really unusual) and all those critters died in the hose. In any event back to being a happy skipper. And I'll be doing the vinegar flush as regular maintenance going forward.

 

[Jfrano]

Vinegar it is ...Yeah , I’m in NYC Worlds Fair Marina, so the water in the bay is not Alaskan pristine! LoL

 

[Rocky]

Our R29 Developed this smell as well. We cleaned out the line with fresh (not salt) and vinegar.....then came back in a week, and the first couple flushes had really nasty looking water come into the bowl....after that, all good and no smell since... I assume this is going to become an "every so often" maintenance item.....

Sorry, I know nothing of Toilet Duck....

Thanks!!

Rocky

 

[Chimo]

I guess it depends on the configuration of the head compartment but we never use seawater to flush. Experience from previous boats, particularly in warm climates taught us that it leads to issues. Eventually that smell permeates the actual hose and then it needs to be replaced. Not a fun job.

We simply pull the handle/shower hose from the sink and flush with fresh water. The raw water side still has the potable antifreeze in the line from winterizing.

 

[HookedUp]

Duh...my bad. I forgot that some boats still use raw water for flushing. After having had that on my Albemarle I swore off boats that use raw water for the head. After it started smelling I could only stop it temporarily. Since I had 4 granddaughters on the boat quite often, the toilet got used a lot and with every flush there was odor. We even got smell out of the vent when it wasn't being used.

Now that they're older it's not as many trips to the toilet on my Sailfish, but it still gets used. With the fresh water toilet it is no where near the problem I had with the raw water toilet. I like the idea of using the shower head to put fresh water into the toilet instead of using raw water.

If it wasn't too much trouble I'd re-plumb it use fresh water. I don't know about the water your boat is in, but I do know water in and around Chesapeake Bay gets rancid in no time at all in the waste tank.

 

[BB marine]

If you have a Raritan head changing over to a fresh water flush is not a big job. Raritan sells a kit to change from raw to fresh water flush. The Raritan rep that I spoke with said the raw water feed line tends to get sea life in it and causes odors. He also stated the discharge line tends to build up with a scale from the sea water. Eventually this also causes a odor. I converted to fresh water flush a few years ago in preparation for cruising salt water.