All you ever needed to know about holding tanks
A holding tank is an onboard temporary storage tank for discharge from marine toilets (black water) and sinks and showers (grey water). On the inland waterways black waste can be safely pumped into a holding tank or sewer at a point ashore, normally at a marina.
Holding tanks can be installed in your boat relatively easily. We recommend using a tank that’s made from high density polythene – such as the Vetus waste water tanks. Equally important is that the walls of the tank are odour impermeable with sufficient wall thickness to prevent odour escaping through the wall. You’ll need a separate tank and appropriate system for black and grey waste, with a connection for each toilet, shower and hand basin.
When installing a system all connections should be double-clamped, avoid running pipes around tight bends which can cause blockages in the pipe – try to minimise the number of bends. Use the appropriate pipe clips to secure. The Vetus range of tanks start at just 47L for small boats and increase in size up to 390L. There’s a range of sizes and shapes to suit and all tanks over 88L come complete with baffles as a standard construction element.
By fitting a gauge or control panel to your tank you’ll be sure to know in plenty of time when the system requires pumping out. The Vetus waste water control panel takes total control of the system, indicating the contents level at 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% through a series of LED lights and controls the pump out either automatically or manually for you depending on what you select and what’s appropriate for where your boat is lying.
