Source for fittings?

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wkearney99

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Joined
Jan 29, 2006
RO Number
20088
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272
I'd like to install a fitting for cleaning out the holding tank. It's a spinning gizmo. But it has a garden hose thread fitting along with a one-way valve. That combo is too tall to fit between the tank and the decking above it. If I could find a right angle elbow fitting that'd make it possible to install it. But I'm having no luck searching for the right parts.

Ideally I'd like to find a garden hose threaded male to female elbow. That'd be the most straightforward way to connect things. What I really need is the elbow to have a male hose thread fitting on one side. I could adapt whatever else is on the other end of it.

Any suggestions on what materials to use (or avoid) and where to find them?
 
quote:
Originally posted by wkearney99

I'd like to install a fitting for cleaning out the holding tank. It's a spinning gizmo. But it has a garden hose thread fitting along with a one-way valve. That combo is too tall to fit between the tank and the decking above it. If I could find a right angle elbow fitting that'd make it possible to install it. But I'm having no luck searching for the right parts.

Ideally I'd like to find a garden hose threaded male to female elbow. That'd be the most straightforward way to connect things. What I really need is the elbow to have a male hose thread fitting on one side. I could adapt whatever else is on the other end of it.

Any suggestions on what materials to use (or avoid) and where to find them?

Click to expand...


Ping GeeBee. He put one on his Sea Ray in the last couple of years. Very neat install. The hose fitting is installed on the exterior. He posted pix of the process. I am installing one on Saint Max this winter.
 
quote:
Originally posted by wkearney99

I'd like to install a fitting for cleaning out the holding tank. It's a spinning gizmo. But it has a garden hose thread fitting along with a one-way valve. That combo is too tall to fit between the tank and the decking above it. If I could find a right angle elbow fitting that'd make it possible to install it. But I'm having no luck searching for the right parts.

Ideally I'd like to find a garden hose threaded male to female elbow. That'd be the most straightforward way to connect things. What I really need is the elbow to have a male hose thread fitting on one side. I could adapt whatever else is on the other end of it.

Click to expand...


You should be able to find the adapters at your favorite home center. A plumbing supply house may have a better selection and more qualified help. Don't eliminate the "one-way valve", it's what lessens the possibility that sewage from your holding tank can find its way back into the city water system or your private well system. It's a "backflow" or "cross contamination" preventer.
 
Adapters I can find, trouble is (and I indicated as such) combining adapters won't fit in the space available. It's a tank at the centerline with a floor panel just above it. There's not enough clearance to combine things. I need something that has a male hose thread on and, preferably, a female hose thread on a 90 degree elbow. I've searched a bit and have yet to find a source for such a fitting. I'd prefer to find it in nylon (or similar) not a metal.

I have no intention of eliminating the one-way valve. I'd like to keep it as close to the fitting as possible but could live with using a section of hose for it. Trouble is that would leave a spot in the hose for water to collect, and that'd be a winterizing issue (not to mention just nasty). But it's a boat, so there's always going to be compromises.

I suppose my other direction could be to switch to a one-way valve that used pipe threads. I do seem to recall seeing a MHT to NPT elbow. Then I'd need to find a NPT one-way valve suitable for the job.
 
I came across that spinning thing on a web site somewhere. It was sold for RV's. People wrote in reviews and they all said it was junk.
 
Junk like it caused more trouble than a plain fitting? If the spinner breaks, leaks or causes other trouble I'd certainly want to avoid it. I'm looking for an easier way to get water into the tank for flushing it. I don't like the idea of sticking a hose down into the existing pump out waste fitting. From what I found, in a very limited search, the problem seems to be related to misusing the device. Apply the initial surge of water carefully and don't use a hose directly to the spinner fittings. Is there more? I'd probably only be using this setup about a dozen times a season so it's not like I'd 'wear it out'. But it's infrequent enough to make it problematic to deal with dried TP and solids getting stuck on the level monitoring floats.
 
My thought is that if holding tanks needed a special spinning device to keep them clean, they would be designed with one already installed. If you use a tank treatment that encourages decomposition, the correct toilet paper, and enough flush water, there should be no dried toilet paper, it should disolve in the tank.

There's a book written by Peggie Hall:

51MVVWQ34HL._SL500_BO2,204,203,200_AA219_PIsitb-sticker-dp-arrow,TopRight,-24,-23_SH20_OU01_.jpg


That covers marine sanitation systems very well and nowhere does she mention or reccomend such a device.
 
Hey Ron, I hear ya. Were I not having problems I wouldn't be looking for solutions.
 
quote:
Originally posted by wkearney99

Hey Ron, I hear ya. Were I not having problems I wouldn't be looking for solutions.

Click to expand...


I've been using Odorloss and no other chemicals in my Glastron since 2003 and my Camano since I bought it. I use Scotts single ply toilet paper (remember, you're not at home, you can't use twenty feet of it).

I've never had a problem although I'm not sure how I would know if paper or solids were sticking to the tank and not coming out with the pumpout.

If you have a level indicator and sewage is affecting it, one possibility is to replace it with the type that mounts to the outside of the tank and never comes into contact with the sewage.

http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=120574

Or, go to a really good plumbing supply house (not the home center) and ask them about your fittings and adapters.
 
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