Macerator seacock open?

george2064

george2064

New Member
Apr 15, 2010
92
Portland, Maine
Boat Info
310 Sundancer 2001
Engines
300 Mercruisers,
Raytheon RL70CRC
Raystar 120 WASS/GPS
I have been watching the holding tank being in empty since the beginning of the season, I filled the water tank twice and still empty. I went to put gas yesterday and asked the guy to pump out the holding tank and nothing was coming out. Does that mean that the Macerator seacock was left open from the guys who commissioned my boat in the spring?

I have not used the boat that much this year and only water from the sink and occasional flush from the toilet, but still ... awful .... any ideas?
 
GEorge
I was seeing the same issue in my 340 Sundancer and found the holding tank has been leaking. Refer to the thread Blackwater tank leaking. You may find the tank is leaking. The seacock being open won't empty the tank unless you turn on the pump to empty.
Rob
 
If you seacock is open and you run on plane, the suction from the water going by the open seacock will suck out the contents of the holding tank regardless if you have the discharge pump on or not. That is the reason the USCG wants the seacock closed and locked. Trust me, happens all the time. That is how we leave our boat when in the bahamas and we never have to discharge as it is being discharged when on plane. I know other will argue this but I have seen it happen many times and it may depend on the configuration of the hoses but it does happen.
 
To confirm what I am saying, pour some of the blue holding tank fluid in the toilet and flush and then see if you have blue in the bilge...that is how I found out for sure. Not disputing what some have said about the tank emptying on plane, but I have never had a boat empty through the seacock in 20 years unless I wanted it to. Guess it would depend on the configuration, but never experienced that.

george2064 said:
I have been watching the holding tank being in empty since the beginning of the season, I filled the water tank twice and still empty. I went to put gas yesterday and asked the guy to pump out the holding tank and nothing was coming out. Does that mean that the Macerator seacock was left open from the guys who commissioned my boat in the spring?

I have not used the boat that much this year and only water from the sink and occasional flush from the toilet, but still ... awful .... any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for suggestions. A couple dumb questions. Where is the holding tank???
On the port side there is what looks like the water heater ( blue hoses and red ones coming out. The there is a plastic tank that looks like a water tank (on the top it has a cylinder that looks like a filter (see picture) at the bottom of the tank there is some moisture (otherwise the bilges are completely dry).
6uhu5e8u.jpg
y4uvahuh.jpg

I did see the seacocks for the cooling system for the engines but not the one for the holding tank. Where is that?

Thank you
 
That is your holding tank. That moisture is suspect - could be a leak.

Are you sure you have a macerator? Follow the big hoses from the tank. One will go towards a smaller tank. This is your vacuum tank that sucks the waste from the toilet (note the other big hose that dissappears forward towards the head) and then pushes it into the main holding tank. There will be another big hose that goes either directly to your pump-out fitting or to a Y-valve. If there's a Y-valve, then another hose will go to the macerator. But, Sea Ray doesn't use an actual "macerator" (at least not in the smaller cruisers) - they use a transfer pump which looks like your vac pump, but serves the same purpose as a mac. It's possible, that you may, instead of a y-valve, have yet another hose that goes directly to the mac/t-pump... but I don't think so.
 
Robf said:
To confirm what I am saying, pour some of the blue holding tank fluid in the toilet and flush and then see if you have blue in the bilge...that is how I found out for sure. Not disputing what some have said about the tank emptying on plane, but I have never had a boat empty through the seacock in 20 years unless I wanted it to. Guess it would depend on the configuration, but never experienced that.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, the seacock does have to be open and if you have a Y valve it must be in the correct position, open to the macerator from the holding tank. Close either of these (which btw is a federal law it must be closed) then they will not evacuate. That sure does look like a leak from the holding tank to me as well.
 
trit21 said:
If you seacock is open and you run on plane, the suction from the water going by the open seacock will suck out the contents of the holding tank regardless if you have the discharge pump on or not. That is the reason the USCG wants the seacock closed and locked. Trust me, happens all the time. That is how we leave our boat when in the bahamas and we never have to discharge as it is being discharged when on plane. I know other will argue this but I have seen it happen many times and it may depend on the configuration of the hoses but it does happen.
Click to expand...

I have never shut my holding tank seacock ( I know, not the right thing to do but its been like that since I bought it & I think its frozen open) and my tank has never evacuated from running. I guess like you said, it depends on the configuration.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
 
Agreed on the holding tank emptying if seacock is open. It has happened on my boat as well so I leave it closed. I thought this was a problem but never investigated it because I leave it closed anyway.
 
You are at the right place. Your picture is of the top of the holding tank. As mentioned in another reply, you will need to follow your large hoses from this tank to see if one goes to a transfer pump (on my 340, a round pump that sits on top of the tank) and from the transfer pump to a through hull fitting just like the ones that supply water to your engines (with the exception of the strainer of course). With the fluid around the tank, I suspect you have a leak as well. Seems like this is very common with Searays and the Sealand tanks. I will be pulling mine apart this weekend. Good Luck.
Rob

george2064 said:
Thank you for suggestions. A couple dumb questions. Where is the holding tank???
On the port side there is what looks like the water heater ( blue hoses and red ones coming out. The there is a plastic tank that looks like a water tank (on the top it has a cylinder that looks like a filter (see picture) at the bottom of the tank there is some moisture (otherwise the bilges are completely dry).
6uhu5e8u.jpg
y4uvahuh.jpg

I did see the seacocks for the cooling system for the engines but not the one for the holding tank. Where is that?

Thank you
Click to expand...
 
Ok, while we are on the subject, every time I get a Coast Guard inspection they look at my holding tank discharge sea cock. They are checking to see if it is shut and secured shut using a tie wrap….. My boat is not normally operated more than 3 miles off the coast. Is this some type of regulation? Are you required to shut and secure shut the discharge sea cock?
 
hack4alivin said:
Ok, while we are on the subject, every time I get a Coast Guard inspection they look at my holding tank discharge sea cock. They are checking to see if it is shut and secured shut using a tie wrap….. My boat is not normally operated more than 3 miles off the coast. Is this some type of regulation? Are you required to shut and secure shut the discharge sea cock?
Click to expand...

Yes - and in some areas (Long Island Sound for example) it's more than three miles.

Mine is tie wrapped closed, but good luck on them ever seeing it - it's tough to get to on my boat!

"Section 312 of the Clean Water Act seeks to address this gap by prohibiting the dumping of untreated or inadequately treated sewage from vessels into the navigable waters of the United States (defined in the act as within 3 miles (4.8 km) of shore). It is implemented jointly by EPA and the Coast Guard. Under Section 312, commercial and recreational vessels with installed toilets are required to have marine sanitation devices (MSDs), which are designed to prevent the discharge of untreated sewage."
 
My sinks do not drain to the holding tank but do drain outside the boat to the open water. You mentioned you only used the head a couple times, that is all that would be in the tank.


george2064 said:
I have been watching the holding tank being in empty since the beginning of the season, I filled the water tank twice and still empty. I went to put gas yesterday and asked the guy to pump out the holding tank and nothing was coming out. Does that mean that the Macerator seacock was left open from the guys who commissioned my boat in the spring?

I have not used the boat that much this year and only water from the sink and occasional flush from the toilet, but still ... awful .... any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
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