Adding 2nd Holding Tank

D

dbric36

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Joined
Sep 26, 2006
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23670
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Is there any problems with adding a second holding (waste0 vs adding a single bigger tank? Any pumpout problems with dual tanks?
 
Interesting. Never seen that request before. It's probably as simple as adding a third kidney! :)

Your profile says a 42 Gibson. Do your waters prohibit the use of an onboard sewage system like a hold and treat? If not, that's the way I'd go.

If so, I can picture in my mind the way I'd do it with the least disruption to the current system but even that is somewhat disruptive.
 
David, adding a second holding tank is alright if it is completely independent of the original tank and has it's own vent and deck fitting for pumpout.

But I cannot recommend tying a second holding tank to one that is already there, to try and increase the overall capacity. It becomes a plumber's nightmare, trying to pump them out and properly vent them so that they can be pumped out, plus they have an annoying tendency to clog at the point where the two are connected together.

So if you have two heads, and each has its own individual holding tank with its own vent and pumpout fitting, that's fine. But connecting two holding tanks together - nothing but aggravation.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vic Willman

David, adding a second holding tank is alright if it is completely independent of the original tank and has it's own vent and deck fitting for pumpout.

But I cannot recommend tying a second holding tank to one that is already there, to try and increase the overall capacity. It becomes a plumber's nightmare, trying to pump them out and properly vent them so that they can be pumped out, plus they have an annoying tendency to clog at the point where the two are connected together.

So if you have two heads, and each has its own individual holding tank with its own vent and pumpout fitting, that's fine. But connecting two holding tanks together - nothing but aggravation.

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Weeeeellllllllll........that shoots my Rube Goldberg in the foot.
 
The lake I am on you can't traet and dump has to be pumped.
That is what I thought guess it is just better to get a bigger single tank.
I currently have a 55gal but have plenty of room for a bigger tank.
 
NDZ's have to be one of the worst idea's this government has ever come up with. I don't ever advocate dumping raw waste but treated waste is another story. I agree with Vic unless you had a Macerator as a transfer pump that would be the nnly way I would use 2 holdding tanks. Then as he said it is a plumbers nightmare. I'm maxed at 36 gallons without major surgery to the boat I have a
H-N-T & PuraSan but I am in an NDZ. I only have to go a few miles and I'm not. So far NJ has stopped at Little Egg/ Barnegate w/NDZ's.
Bill
 
How much do you need. 56 gallons should be enough for a four day stay out. Is gray water over the side a no-no as well and everything is going to the holding tank?
 
I know my set up is a bit different however one thing might help. I have two heads each with it's own 50 gallon holding tank. But this is what's interesting I have only one pump out. There is a Y valve to switch which tank you pull from. This works well so there may be a way to do this but the way I see it you need to add two Y valves one before the tanks and one after you would also need a second vent I don't think it would be a major big deal to accomplish if you have good access to the plumbing.
 
Well with the price of gas and now most NY waters are now NDZ's it doesn't look like I will be doing much travel North.
Bill
 
Audrey II; That was my thought. Pump/macerate from a main tank to a reserve tank. pump/macerate from the reserve tank to the main at pumpout.

As I said.....Very Rube Goldberg.
 
I agree with Vic. Fourwinns uses the tied together method, and it always clogs where the two tanks tie together. You can never get both tanks completely empty.
Separate vents and pumpouts is the way to go.
 
KiDa, gray water may almost universally be pumped over the side in the U.S.

At the present time there are no Federal regulations on it. Only a few lakes, reservoirs and impoundments ban the overboard discharge of gray water. Lake Champlain and Lake George in the upper New York/Vermont/Canada area are the only ones of note. There are a few others, but their locations escape me at the moment - but they're smaller and less-known than Champlain and George.

Going one step farther, just for general info, there is no current technology available for the treatment of gray water that can be used on small boats (smaller than commercial ships). You can rest assured that if that technology were currently available, considering the fools in Washington and the various state legislatures, the discharge of gray water would, likewise, be banned. The detergents and fats that are in gray water, are not compatible with treatment systems for black water (sewage) and the two types of water may not be mixed before going to a black water treatment system - or the black water treatment system will be ruined.

In areas where the overboard discharge of gray water IS banned at the present time, it must be collected and stored in its own separate holding tank, then pumped out via its own deck fitting, at a dockside facility or pumpout boat. What THEY do with it once they have it, I have no idea.

That's the situation in March, 2011. However we never know what evils may be lurking about in the future.
 
quote:
Originally posted by KiDa

How much do you need. 56 gallons should be enough for a four day stay out. Is gray water over the side a no-no as well and everything is going to the holding tank?

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It is in a houseboat. Not the easiest to move to the pumpout station. Have to pay extra to have them come to the boat to pump. Not a big expense, but when you go out for the weekend with 10 or so people you have to make sure it is empty before you leave.
Now if someone would buy my engine compartment heater I could afford to get a bigger tank.
 
I wouldn't put them in series but parallel something like this.
Pumpput.png


I have two heads each feeding into two tanks but one pump out I have no problems pumping everything out. If they were in series I could see this presenting trouble.
 
Good point, Dave - but nearly everyone wants to connect them in series - it's easier! Plumbing the two tanks in parallel requires a lot more plumbing, but it works a whole lot better!
 
Is Lake Champlain really a no gray water discharge lake?

We were planning a trip there this summer, and our grey water goes overboard straight from the sink.

Can anyone who has traveled here confirm this?
 
I checked with another source, and Lake Champlain (New York and Vermont greenies) doesn't want ANYTHING discharged from a boat's plumbing, so they buffalo people into thinking that you can't discharge gray water - BUT - Lake Champlain, being an interstate waterway, comes under Federal jurisdiction. And the feds have no such ban on the discharge of gray water. So if you're just passing through, I don't envision any problems. Lake George, on the other hand, is entirely within New York, and they DO ban the discharge of gray water.

My boo-boo!!!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vic Willman

.....(New York and Vermont greenies)
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I got into an argument with one of these guys once and asked if they had killed all the wildlife within ten miles of the shoreline. Well, he didn't have an answer to that.

I agree we don't want the QE II discharging its holding tank in our harbor, but what's a little poop among friends if we grind it up and discharge it where the river will take it out to sea? I'll bet one manatee poops ten times more in one day than I do.
 
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