Crown Head Flush water

I

imspacemancraig

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Posting this for a friend, has a 1990 34' Carver Santego with a Crown Head on it. I think we need to replace the impeller on it as it is inconsistent on the flushing.

But, the main question, does this draw water from the outside? Can it be flipped to use shore water instead? Simple as a valve switch or do we need to rig something else up? He says it looks like river water...
 
Don't know for sure, but a quick look at the Owner's Manual ( pg 3 ) indicates that the Crown is designed for "raw water flush", that is, it draws water from outside the boat.

Vic will know if there is a "fresh water conversion kit" for that head. I do know that converting a raw water flush unit to a fresh water flush unit is not just "hooking up to shore water".

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Your friend really needs to get to know the boat better. It is an important safety issue to know the location and use of all through-hull fittings, in this case, the head's water intake sea cock.
 
I would agree, he is in process of purchasing the boat right now, so, he is getting to know the boat amongst a whole load of things to run through. I am trying to lend a hand but my boat has a Vacu-flush so I am not as up to speed on the Crown Head. While I understand it wouldn't be just as simple as "hooking up to shore water", I thought there may be something that could switch from one to the other. From another post you supplied a link to the manual and I passed this along and have not read it myself yet. So thank you for the information as I help him get to know his boat better and learn a little myself.
 
As a very general statement, you rig a head to either use raw water or you rig it to use pressurized fresh water, but you do not ( to my knowledge ) have the ability to switch from one to the other with a simple "switch". correction: Apparently you CAN use a simple switch ie: Raritan Eng. "Sea Fresh", as stated below.

There are advantages/disadvantages to both.

Raw water: You do not need to carry a supply of flush water, but you can have issues with "murky water" and with odors. Also, there is a through-hull connection required.

Fresh water: No odor issue, and the bowl water is clear, but you need to carry a supply of flush water. That water also needs to be pressurized, so your boat needs to be configured for a "full pressurized fresh water system".

One thing to keep in mind is that, on a boat, most devices are part of a system. Changing a device may alter the operation of the rest of the system, so be careful when focusing on just one small part.

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btw: I am not in any way being critical of your actions. I sometimes focus on the specific issue and neglect common courtesy, for which I apologize.
 
Great information! I will have to grab his Carver manual and take a look at the rest of his water system to see how it is hooked up. My boat must be a fully pressurized system then and his is not. Could there be a mix between the two?

With the raw water, other than the rv/boat stuff you can purchase to cut the smell down, is there other stuff? I can imagine that the raw water may add to the funk in the holding tank. Not sure what size tank it is, but guessing that normal waste plus raw water can make for some potent stuff.

As for the rest, no harm done. Thanks for your experience.
 
The odor issue with raw water is NOT related to human waste, but rather the tiny organisms that ( used to ) live in the sea water. The raw water intake takes up not just water, but also plankton and sometimes bits of sea grass. After the flow is stopped, these organisms can die in the hose, or inside the "rinse ring" of the bowl. ie: prior to ever actually making it to the bowl. As these items decay, they do so with a bit of odor.

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The holding tank is a separate issue.

There are two methods of dealing with a holding tank: 1) aerobic digestion and 2) "kill everything then perfume it".

K. O. and related products are actually live bacterial colonies. They require fresh air ( aerobic bacteria ) to work, therefore a well ventilated H/T is required. In the long run, this is also the cheap method, as the colony breeds... BUT you must avoid adding chemicals that would kill these beneficial organisms. ie: cleaning w/ chlorine bleach will "kill the tank" and produce a very stinky mess and a bothersome process to restore it to it's operating state.

R/V systems ( in general ) are based on formaldehyde. This kills everything including the anaerobic bacteria ( bacteria that digest the waste in a low/no oxygen environment ). Anaerobic bacteria are the stinky ones. Aerobic bacteria do not stink. So they kill it all, then perfume it. Effective, but can cause issues at some pump-out stations, and frankly it is not particularly beneficial to the environment regardless of where you dump the tank.

Again, we are back to, "it's a system, not a device". And a marine sanitation system, even though it "looks" like what you have at home, is a very specialized, self-contained waste treatment plant, not "just a toilet".

Note that I have skipped a couple of other methods. Vic can tell you more but I am simply not familiar enough to speak about them.
 
There is a "switch" available from Raritan to swith from one to the other.its called "Sea Fresh".............This past spring, I worked on a similar size Carver that had Crowns. It was plumbed from the fctory pumping fresh water with no solenoid valve in line. My suggestion to the new owner would be to change out the Crown to the Raritan Elegance....which I did on the Carver
 
I have a 1990 Santego and the raw water valve is under the floor by the salon / head door.

A friend installed a tee with a one way check valve and is drawing water from the fresh water tank line (before the pressure pump). I didn't feel comfortable with that so I added a 30 gal. fresh water tank just for the Crown head. In either case, you don't have to change anything on the unit itself.
 
The Crown Head is designed and intended to be a RAW WATER FLUSHING HEAD ONLY. It can be converted for pressurized fresh water flushing. But it is not cheap, not recommended, and not all that easy, to do it .

The Sea/Fresh option will not work with a Crown Head.
 
My system isn't pressurized. It doesn't matter if you draw raw water from a thru hull or a holding tank. Last year, I placed a 30 gal. fresh water tank in the space under the front bed and installed a deck fill plate. Run the tubing from the bottom tank fitting on the tank, make a loop and to the inlet side of the crown head. That's it! It works great, no more river water smell, dirt, small veg. floating in the bowl. I installed RV tank monitors, the ones with four stick on pads. One panel reads four levels of the fresh water tank, Gray water tank (which is my head tank) and a black water tank. There is a fourth monitor that's for LP, but it works on a value, so I'm thinking of adding a sender and monitoring my fuel tanks.
 
The way Night Moves describes it, is perfectly OK to do. But DO NOT tap into the same fresh water tank that is used for showering and drinking water, etc. Always have a separate, dedicated tank that is just for the toilet.

By using the fresh water storage tank that also supplies water for showering and drinking, even if you're just tapping into the tank, and the water is unpressurized, you're tanking a helluva chance on contaminating the tank. If you want to go from raw water to fresh water, and don't want to convert the head itself, the only safe way to do it is to have a separate, dedicated tank for just the toilet.
 
Thanks again for the info. All good stuff. At this time I think he is going to leave things as they are, less headache. Although he is going to change out the impeller as he is having problems that sometimes it flushes and sometimes it doesn't.
 
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