Spa flex PVC hose for sanitation hose

[TrojanSailor]

Home Depot sells a Spa Flex PVC hose which looks an awful lot like the sanitation hose West Marine sells for about 3 times the cost per foot. Can the spa flex hose be used for head systems? They're both PVC, but I know the West Marine says it has an additive. Thanks.

[Sailormann]

This is the LAST place that you want to economise. The hose that West Marine sells is denser and does not allow odour to escape the way the standard hosing does. Although it doesn't sound logical, hoses can be a major source of head stink. The stuff seeps out. If the Home Depot stuff worked - we'd all be using it.

[brak]

PVC hose is a horrible choice for any installation on the boat. If you care for my advice - don't do it at all. It is inflexible, very hard to get on any fittings and absolutely impossible to get off. What more - it gets permeated too, no matter what anyone says. The problem is - because the damn thing is so hard to work with - you will leave it where it is until the smell gets completely unbearable or you sell the boat, whichever comes first. Moreover, because it is so rigid, it forms much worse seals on fittings and stench will come out of those seals as well.
Use flexible hose (shields 101 or other similar odor-safe rubber flexible hose) - and it won't get permeated any worse. But if it will - you can actually take it off, and replace, or (gasp) adjust fittings - what a concept!

[TrojanSailor]

Originally Posted by brak

It is inflexible, very hard to get on any fittings and absolutely impossible to get off. What more - it gets permeated too, no matter what anyone says.

It sounds like you're talking about the PVC pipes for sprinkler systems. The Spa Flex hose I saw is flexible just like West Marine's, but I didn't know if it was permeable. Both of the responses answered my question though. West Marine's is also PVC. Thanks!

[sailingdog]

I would recommend using OdorSafe hose—it is a bit more expensive, and a PITA to work with due to its stiffness and inflexibility, but Peggy Hall says it is the stuff to use... and so do I... Once the hoses on a head are odor permeated, they will stink, even if they are empty... since the smell will be a part of the hose... Economizing on hose for the head is a good way to find yourself re-doing the repairs in short order... So save your self the headache of re-doing it by going with the good stuff to begin with.

[SVDistantStar]

What about using hard PVC pipe on the long straight runs, and hose where you need bends. My boat has a run of about 5ft from the head to the tank and ive thought about making it with hard PVC pipe and then useing hose where it bends to connect to the head and tank.

[sailingdog]

SVDS-

That would work but you then have more joins to worry about... since you have to have two hose-to-pipe connections at every bend. That may cause more problems than the hose itself does, especially if you use OdorSafe hose.