Jabsco holding tank

[South of Heaven]

I have a Jabsco raw water manual head on my 2000 Camano. How do I know the level of the holding tank if there's no gauge and the tank is not transparent??

 

[HeadMistress]

You can add a tank level indicator...these are the best (you want the "Solo" model)
Profile Tank Monitors

Meanwhile...
Jabsco holding tanks seem to be available in two sizes--7.5 gal and 10 gal. They're rectangular, so you can find out which you have by multiplying L x W x H and divide by 231 (cu. in/gal). Because you'll be measuring outside dimensions and because not every cu. in. in a tank is useable, if it's 7.5 gal tank you may get a number higher than 8...or higher than 11 if it's a 10 gallon tank.

Now to figure out how many flushes your will hold: the average flush from a manual toilet is about .6 gal (2 liters) but that can vary depending on good you are using the "dry" mode to minimize the amount flush water going in. The average adult uses the toilet 5x/24...so ON AVERAGE, each person continuously aboard will put 3 gal/day into a tank. So a 7.5 gal tank will last a couple a little over 24 hours unless you go swimming every time you have to pee...a 10 gal tank MIGHT get you through 2 nights aboard.

So IMO, instead of adding a tank level monitor the tank you have, you really ought to replace your tank with a larger one...at least 15 gal, and put a level indicator on it.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

 

[FlyWright]

I had the same problem with no indicators on the holding or FW tanks. I installed the Profile Solo Tank Monitors that Peggie recommends above. They work great and have been reliable for 6 years. I have the holding tank monitor in the head that indicates RED when full and the FW tank monitor in the galley that indicates RED when empty.

A friend installed a different brand about the same time and his control panel was about 5 x 9 inches. The thing looked HUGE and took up way too much panel space. The Profile monitors are appropriately sized at about 2 x 3.5 inches and are easy to read.

 

[BruceK]

Professional solutions sure beat it running over when full .

 

[HeadMistress]

I had the same problem with no indicators on the holding or FW tanks. I installed the Profile Solo Tank Monitors that Peggie recommends above. They work great and have been reliable for 6 years. I have the holding tank monitor in the head that indicates RED when full and the FW tank monitor in the galley that indicates RED when empty.

There's a largely overlooked federal reg that requires all waste holding tanks have a means of determining when they're at least 3/4 full. If the tank is in a location and made of a material that allows visual inspection of the level in the tank, that satisfies the law, but if not a gauge is required. However a a gauge that only lets you know that you should have pumped out the holding tank (or refilled the water tank) before you headed out isn't much help.

Your Profile gauges should be giving you readings at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 as well as full. If you never calibrated yours to do that, you should. It's not hard to do.

 

[South of Heaven]

Thanks so much HeadMistress. I'll measure my tank and report. As per the owners manual it's 14 gallons but that same manual also says that different Camanos have different heads too, so I'll check it myself. Im really hoping its a 14 gallon one.

Those gauges sound like just the ticket and I'll be buying them for the water tanks too.

 

[HeadMistress]

I hope your owners manual is right! I couldn't turn up a Jabsco tank bigger than 10 gallons in a google search...so if your tank is 14 gal, it may not be a Jabsco. If it turns out to be smaller, or if 14 gal is too small for your needs, Ronco Plastics Ronco Plastics marine Tanks makes top quality tanks for a very reasonable price and has more than 400 shapes and sizes, over 100 of which are non-rectangular...we can find one that'll fit.

I've known Dennis Ferriello, who owns the company that makes the Profile systems, for more than 20 years...he not only makes top quality equipment, he's the most helpful person on the planet. You'll like him.

 

[LarryM]

I've known Dennis Ferriello, who owns the company that makes the Profile systems, for more than 20 years...he not only makes top quality equipment, he's the most helpful person on the planet. You'll like him.

Absolutely, Dennis is very responsive and his Profile tank monitors work very well. I've used them on three boats and recommend them to others whenever the subject comes up. I've never heard anything but praise for his products.

 

[South of Heaven]

*UPDATE*

Guys, after researching different brands and reading lots of old threads I finally made a decision. I bought the Scad Profile 8 tank monitor. I liked it because it allowed an outside sensor to be attached to the outside of my two water tanks and solo black water tank. That was the big deciding factor for me!

It would have been very difficult to add a internal sensor to my water tanks because of the proximity of the top of the tank to my cabin deck. The Scad system is pretty cool. It can monitor up to 8 different sensors and has the ability to accept different types of Scad sensors. That is neat too because that gives me the ability to add 2 new fuel gauges in the future if my old ones are on the fritz.

I didn't tackle this job, so I can't take the credit! But my mechanic mounted the gauge facing the galley. It's a good spot. The initial programming was a little bit of a pain in the butt. We had to have an empty reading and a full reading. Now I need a pumpout. Lol.

Anyway, the gauge is working good! The only downside to this tank monitor is that it's not 100% accurate. By that I mean it won't tell you if you're 100% full or 100% empty because the sensor is on the outside. But it'll tell you if it's ALMOST empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or ALMOST full. Good enough for my needs.

SCAD Technologies Profile 8-Tank Monitor

PS: HeadMistress---My tank is 14 gallons. Thanks for your measure calculation! It works great. I guess my tank isn't a Jabsco...just the head is.

 

[rwidman]

The Camano had an option of a manual Jabsco head or a vacuflush from the factory. Obviously, a pre owned Camano could have any head that was ever made.

The fact that it has a Jabsco head does not mean that the holding tank is a Jabsco. Mine is more or less square but with a "V" shaped bottom to take advantage of the "V" shaped hull at this point. I've never looked for a manufacturer's name

It is listed as a 14 gallon capacity and is translucent so you can see the level of the contents (unless it's totally full or empty). A flashlight helps.

I installed some sort of gauge that uses external sensors. It measures two tanks so I installed it to measure one of the potable water tanks and the holding tank. It works fine on the potable water tank but the holding tank side reads full all the time unless I manually clean the "poop" off the inside wall of the holding tank. If I do that, it will work for a while until the poop builds up on the wall again.

BTW: That tank is 14 gallons because that's the largest tank that would fit in that space. Bigger would be better but there's no practical way to do it. Possible perhaps but not practical. And marinas charge the same for 14 gallons as they do for 100 gallons.