siphoning out water tank

J

jamma

New member
it's difficult to get the water to siphon out even after attaching tube to faucet and putting it out the window or out the rear door. Last year, the suction finally worked, but took overnight to drain…just a slow drip out. any quicker solutions?…..we put a bottle of vodka in to refresh.
 
I installed an RV pump on my boat and I just pump it out. If you don't mind some water on the floor, you can take the fresh water hose off of your foot pump and the tank will drain in a matter of minutes through the hull fitting at the bottom of your door. That is if you pull it out.....And your trailer lifts the tongue high enough.
 
We use clear plastic hose on the sink faucet as a siphon, run it out the cockpit window to the ground where it is about 6' lower than the faucet and about 3-4' lower than the tank bottom. It works well but is not fast. There is a steady stream of water coming out, not just drops. I just connect it and leave it for a couple of hours. Sounds like you might have a partial vacuum in the line. You might try opening the water fill plug to let more air in and hopefully speed the process.
 
I use the same method as Barry, but I weight the bottom of the syphon hose to get it as straight/low as possible. If it curls up draining slows down considerably. I also wrap a bit of electricians tape around the faucet end to ensure that it doesn't suck any air into the syphon.
 
You might also try tracing the water line from the sink to the tank. Mine was missing a 90 degree elbow fitting at the tank. Instead they used a straight fitting, which eventually caused the attached tubing to kink and water to flow very slowly.
 
May be sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong, but it seems if the vent hose was clogged, it could slow things down considerably.
 
jamma":2bbeohtq said:
it's difficult to get the water to siphon out even after attaching tube to faucet and putting it out the window or out the rear door. Last year, the suction finally worked, but took overnight to drain…just a slow drip out. any quicker solutions?…..we put a bottle of vodka in to refresh.
Click to expand...

Or, alternatively, use vodka for something else and forget about it! :mrgreen:

Charlie :thup
 
Added a marine water pump and that solves several water issues, including emptying out the tank. I don't like to leave water in the tank even between outings. There are those who say that you use too much water with an electric pump, but I think that is up to the user to control. My wife HATED the stomp pump to rinse a dish. The small 1 gpm electric pump is just the ticket, cheap and the faucet that came with it has a high goose neck which is much better for rinsing a pot. We carry our potable water in small jugs and never drink the on-board water as an extra precaution against nastys being in the water supply. I don't worry so much with a dish being rinsed in properly treated water from the tank, but I don't drink the stuff.
 
many thanks to all of you! We do about 10 days in the Chesapeake each year with my brother who has a 22 Dory as well…we are quite the spectacle up and down the rivers and creeks….many "awwwwwwwww" expressions on faces.

I think all advice will help a lot!
 
My boat came with a simple method of draining the tank. Where the plastic water tubing crosses floor, under the door, the previous owner placed a "T" fitting that aligns with the screw out fitting that drains the cabin into the cockpit. He used a rubber plug to seal the "T" fitting. To drain the tank, unscrew the cabin drain, pivot the "T" down and push it out the drain hole, and pull the rubber plug. Gravity empties the tank.
 
I always liked the smell of Gin, so I drained my water tank and poured in a half bottle of Gin..... but then I started getting little black blobs .... it turned out that the Gin ate the metal inside the foot pump.... not good..
Everything else in da world is made of plastic...but not the darn pump.

I had to buy a new foot pump.. No more Gin... I bought some fresh Smell tabs from West Marine... guess I will drink bottled water.

Joel
 
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