Water lines

[Carver269]

I have a 1986 carver 3607 aft cabin that we just bought was trying to figure out why neither toilet when I turned the pump on there was no water going into the toilets so I removed the cover on the pump where the impeller is supposed to be and there was no impeller in the casing on either toilet somebody had removed them and there were no water lines hooked to where the impeller is it was hooked directly to the top of the back side of the toilet the toilet in the rear bedroom has 2 lines coming out of the floor 1 is plugged off and the other one is hooked up and the toilet in the front of the yacht has only 1 line coming out of the wall so I started to trace lines and seen they went into the fresh water side and they put a solenoid and it controls it by a switch right beside where you turn the motor on for the toilet to flush I checked with the marina and they said it should draw from the raw water I would like to make it back to run off raw water as it should instead of using all the fresh water just for the toilets does anybody know where I could get a diagram that shows where the lines for the toilets are supposed to run and hook up at to go to the raw water? I know its not original to come off the fresh water because it is shark bite couplings where they cut the cold water lines to re route to the fresh water tank.

[tomschauer]

I would figure out how the fresh water solenoids are activated and stick with the fresh water flushing. It will keep your toilets cleaner and keep smells from your toilets and storage tanks to a minimum.

[Carver269]

I would but there is not enough pressure to flush the toilets properly

[buster53]

Since you are in Michigan, I assume you are boating on a fresh water lake. While the water isn’t city water clean, it’s certainly clean enough for flushing…way better than those of us boating in salt water

[km1125]

Honestly, I'd stay with the fresh water system and make it work. I'd even add a dedicated tank for that purpose if necessary.

I had a 3607 and the heads did pull lake water. The thru-hull is right in front of the port engine. I added a device that would add a cleaner (like the blue 'mr toilet' tabs) in that feed to try and keep the smell down, because eventually the algae does start to accumulate in those lines. That worked OK but you always had to refill that system.

There is a lot of extra room under the dinette settee where the forward waste tank is. Enough that you could add a dedicated fresh water tank for the heads if you really wanted to. I had thought about that.

However, you also have some pretty good size fresh water tanks... 120 gallon IIRC. Are you really using that much to flush the heads? That must mean you also do a lot of pumpouts too, even though the waste tanks on that model are also much larger than similar boats.

If there's insufficient pressure, perhaps you need to troubleshoot that issue. Do you have plenty of pressure at all the faucets? Is there something restricting the lines going to the heads?

[Cooler]

If your toilet is an electric Raritan, the OEM strongly recommends fresh water tank source. They do that so you can't suck up seaweed and stuff from the lake. You may need to hold the button to flush in for more than 5 seconds to get water to the bowl. Also, under the base cover, there is a small plastic bottle to put treatment in, so each flush gets deodorized. Google Raritan Crown models, and you will see info from the operators manual. Good luck! er

[bud37]

The last thing you want is smelly water from marina, back bays etc sitting in your toilets for the week while you are away.
I agree, stick with the fresh water, we did that and it worked just fine....relatively quiet and odor free.

[tomschauer]

"I would but there is not enough pressure to flush the toilets properly"

Your fresh water will have more pressure than the raw water. Boat toilets don't use pressure to flush. The water is used to flow the waste to the macerator, to be ground and pushed to the tank.

[ScottPDX]

Fresh water pumps are pretty inexpensive. I’d focus on that before reverting to seawater. Carver put a strainer in the bilge on my 1995 that was inaccessible and badly corroded. I changed the pump and cut out that strainer for under $200 and my freshwater flow is much, much improved. However, you asked about diagrams. There are diagrams in your owners manual: https://carveryachts.blob.core.windows. ... ver_86.pdf

[Midnightsun]

Nothing wrong with lake water intake as long as you are in fresh water. The last 3 boats I had were lake water drawn from the factory and most are in my area. Never heard of an issue. I believe the only boats that draw from the potable water tank are those set up for salt water use as in equipped with heat exchangers.