I've been planning on separating at least one of my two onboard shower drains from the bilge pump for some time now, but am having problems deciding how to go about it.
The shower within the aft cabin head has been designated as the best for use by us and guests. There is a stainless grate set in the mosaic tiled floor, connected to a hose which empties directly into the engine bilge. This is obviously a bad situation for marinas and must be corrected.
I will run the drain hose to a pre-plumbed shower sump box I will install under a removable aft cabin floor hatch, with the engine room as an alternate location. A new drain hose will then connect to the outlet port. Ideally, I'd like to have both heads connected to the shower sump. My problem is where to send the grey water as it leaves the shower sump.
This image shows the starboard side of True Blue. The forward head and aft head floor drains are approx. 20 feet apart, separated by the galley/salon and pilothouse. The engine room is beneath the pilothouse, with bilge level below that.
Amidships, above the waterline, are two bronze through-hulls. One is for the engine bilge pump, the other connects to a manual emergency bilge pump. Below the waterline are 12 bronze through hulls for various functions. Aside from the diesel engine wet exhaust port, heater exhaust and deck scuppers, no other through-hulls exist above the waterline.
Where should the new shower sump drain hose go? Would it be problematic to connect it to a Y-fitting, shared by the emergency bilge pump? Or, is it best to use the engine bilge fitting. Will the shower water back-up into the keel bilge, beneath the engine room, without a check valve?
I could drill a hole for a new bronze through-hull fitting, above the waterline adjacent to the other pair . . . but will check out easier solutions first.
Steve
The shower within the aft cabin head has been designated as the best for use by us and guests. There is a stainless grate set in the mosaic tiled floor, connected to a hose which empties directly into the engine bilge. This is obviously a bad situation for marinas and must be corrected.
I will run the drain hose to a pre-plumbed shower sump box I will install under a removable aft cabin floor hatch, with the engine room as an alternate location. A new drain hose will then connect to the outlet port. Ideally, I'd like to have both heads connected to the shower sump. My problem is where to send the grey water as it leaves the shower sump.
This image shows the starboard side of True Blue. The forward head and aft head floor drains are approx. 20 feet apart, separated by the galley/salon and pilothouse. The engine room is beneath the pilothouse, with bilge level below that.
Amidships, above the waterline, are two bronze through-hulls. One is for the engine bilge pump, the other connects to a manual emergency bilge pump. Below the waterline are 12 bronze through hulls for various functions. Aside from the diesel engine wet exhaust port, heater exhaust and deck scuppers, no other through-hulls exist above the waterline.
Where should the new shower sump drain hose go? Would it be problematic to connect it to a Y-fitting, shared by the emergency bilge pump? Or, is it best to use the engine bilge fitting. Will the shower water back-up into the keel bilge, beneath the engine room, without a check valve?
I could drill a hole for a new bronze through-hull fitting, above the waterline adjacent to the other pair . . . but will check out easier solutions first.
Steve