Pumping out the Toilet.

Toilets onboard narrowboats appear to fall basically into 2 categories. Those that are self contained units and those that are an integral part of the boat i.e. have a holding tank built into the boat and the toilet is fixed. The self contained units vary from make to make but what they all have in common is that they must be emptied by taking a part of them off the boat to a sanitary station and emptying the contents.

As you are aware from previous pages the Queue-E-Too has a pump out toilet. These are of the integral type and the holding tank has to be emptied by a machine. On the QE2 the level in the tank can be seen when the toilet is flushed. I am not sure of the capacity of the tank and the level appeared to be about 6 inches below the toilet so I decided that for the experience I'd pump it out.

I'm sure any seasoned boaters reading this will feel this is a rather basic topic but for a beginner these are the things you really need to know.

The pump out machines are placed a various locations on the canal system. Some are privately owned by marinas and others owned by British Waterways. The first thing to ascertain is where are the pump out stations near where you are. The previous owner of QE2 said he used the one at Long Sandall lock. This is a BW machine and you need to have a key card to operate it (as with lots of BW facilities). These cards are purchased from BW offices and, I understand, some marinas.

There was a card on QE2 which allegedly had some time on it so off I went.

The machine is actually inside the lock mounted on the wall of the control station. I am sure this would cause problems in season as the lock is effectively out of action whilst you are in there pumping out. The lock must be flooded to bring the boat to the level of the machine.

The outlet for the tank is on the left hand side of the boat (port) so the first thing is to get the boat facing the right way as the tube from the machine would not reach over the boat. The outlet is opened by unscrewing a cap with a key (which came with the boat). The cap on QE2 has what to all intents and purposes is a large allen key slot which the key fits. Care has to be taken undoing the cap as it is not attached to boat when removed (unlike the diesel filler which is attached by a chain) so it can easily be dropped in the water never to be seen again.

The large pipe from the machine is then inserted into the outlet. It is sealed by just being a very good fit. It is a little awkward to get on on the QE2 as the cap is very close to the cabin side and the pipe has a valve with an arm on it which should be closed when fitting it into the boat and then opened when the pipe is fully in. Once in and the valve opened the key card is inserted into the machine much like an ATM machine at a bank. A button is then pressed and the machine starts to pump. Very quickly I could feel the machine sucking air as the tank emptied. At this point a pause button is pressed and the machine stops. Close the valve on the pipe and remove it. Some water should then be put into the tank to rinse it. At this station there was a hose marked "Not for drinking" just for this purpose. After putting some water in the big pipe is attached again and the pause button pressed again. The machine then pumps out the water and any residue in the tank.

When this is done some "Blue" sanitary fluid can be added to the tank. I am not sure how much so I put in a good "dollop". This is the same stuff used on caravan toilets and other chemical toilets and is readily available at chandlers caravan suppliers etc. It actually uses formaldehyde which kills bacteria in the tank. Formaldehyde is not nice stuff and the blue does stain if spilled.
Some boaters are now using a "bio" treatment that actually adds "good" bacteria to the tank to break down the waste.

Doing this pump out exhausted the money left on the card (I actually don't think I got all the rinse water out). The card was a £6 one but I'm not sure what had been used previously. I'm told that to pump out can be quite expensive so perhaps it was full. So I decided to try to get another. I asked another boater where they can be bought from and he said BW offices. There are no BW offices in Hull so on my return I phoned Doncaster the nearest one to me and asked if they could sell me one on the phone by credit card. They said they could not which I thought a bit odd!

Anyway I've since found out there are 2 pump outs privately owned between Bramwith and Thorne at marinas so I'll use these in future.

Whilst out on the boat last weekend (which we spent moored at the Black Horse Pub Rawcliffe Bridge) I noticed that when the toilet was flushed there was water dripping from the side where the operating lever is. Looking at it it appeared the water was coming from the mechanism that controls the water for flushing. I could not see exactly where the leak was as there is a plastic cover over everything. The water dripped from a brass nut but was obviously running down from somewhere else.

Luckily the previous owner had left all manuals etc. on the boat and the one for the toilet had a parts list in it. However it did say there should be a sticker on the toilet showing the model number. I could not find this and the only number on any sticker was a serial number that did not relate at all to the model numbers in the manual. There were pictures of the valves and they all looked similar so I rang Blue Water and asked if they could get this valve for a SeaLand Traveller toilet. Their supplier did not have one in stock so I stated a quest on the "net" and found the main outlet in this country for SeaLand toilets is Lee Sanitation. I gave them a ring and ordered the part and it arrived the next day!

The offending valve

I would have attempted to fit it myself but the quite comprehensive fitting instructions that came with the valve said that the water inlet fitting had to be changed from previous models which meant altering the piping so I've left it to Blue Water to fit. They are quite happy to go to the mooring and do the job.