BoatBanter.com - Electric Head

BoatBanter.com (https://www.boatbanter.com/)

- Cruising (https://www.boatbanter.com/cruising/)

- - Electric Head (https://www.boatbanter.com/cruising/69444-electric-head.html)

Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

Leonard wrote:
Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

I have an electric Lavac head, where the electric pump is actually 4
feet "downstream" of the head. It can be setup with a manual pump in
series, which would be handy since the electric tends to suffer from
minor clogs. I don't have room to do it, but I can swap out the pump
in about 10 minutes, or even do strip down and clean in about 20
minutes total, so its not a big deal.

Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!

On Sat, 06 May 2006 09:33:23 -0400, Jeff wrote:

Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!

My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

For someone just five feet tall, she seems consumed by the notion that
Lavacs are the one marine head you can "flush a pair of jeans down".
Personally....

R.

It depends on the head. Some have manual pumps that are connected to a
motor. Disconnect the motor and stick in the handle and you have a manual
head.

rhys wrote:

My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

Your wife does know that they can be installed on other boats, doesn't she?

rhys wrote:
On Sat, 06 May 2006 09:33:23 -0400, Jeff wrote:

Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!

My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

For someone just five feet tall, she seems consumed by the notion that
Lavacs are the one marine head you can "flush a pair of jeans down".
Personally....

R.

Sorry, Lavacs are not that powerful. The pump is simply a Henderson
Mk V bilge pump. The manual version can pass small debris and waste
fairly well, but the electric can get its flapper clogged by a small
bit of solid waste; I end up stripping our down once a year (a 20
minute task). The difference is that you can give a mighty yank on
the manual, while the electric just chugs along at a modest pace.

There is one electric vacuum head that can pass a t-shirt, but I think
it requires fresh water; Peggie probably knows which one it is.

On Sat, 06 May 2006 15:54:03 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

rhys wrote:

My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

Your wife does know that they can be installed on other boats, doesn't she?

Yes, but I wanted to avoid describing a Lavac head as "icing on the
new cruiser cake", a simile I suspect even Peggie H. would avoid.

R

Thanks for the insite. My wife decided we need a Jabsco "Quiet Flush"
in the master cabin. We will also install a Raritan "PH-II
Electric/Manual" in the guest head.

I can't find any conversion system for the Jabsco, but the downstream
idea should work fine.

Thanks again for the info.

Leonard wrote:

Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

Only if the toilet is actually a manual toilet to which a motor has been
added. Macerating electric toilets and others that were designed
specifically to be electric toilets cannot be flushed manually.

However, I've always been baffled by the big concern over whether an
electric toilet can be flushed in the event of a power failure...'cuz if
that should happen, so whether you can flush a toilet will be the LEAST
of your worries...you'll also lose all your electronics and engine...but
at least you'll still be able to use a bucket if you can't flush the
toilet.

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304

Leonard wrote:

Thanks for the insite. My wife decided we need a Jabsco "Quiet Flush"
in the master cabin. We will also install a Raritan "PH-II
Electric/Manual" in the guest head.

You won't like the PHE II. The manual PH II is one of the best manual
toilets made...but adding a motor turns it into a very poor excuse for
an electric toilet. The motor does nothing but replace the pump
handle...it pumps a lot faster and with a lot shorter stroke than
pumping manually. That means it takes longer to prime, resulting in
increased dry friction wear to the rubber parts in the pump, requiring
frequent rebuilds. The faster shorter stroke also causes it to "choke"
on flushes that slower more deliberate pumping manually could push
through easily.

And it's not a matter of deciding to pump manually this time, push the
button next time...it requires a bit of doing to disconnect the motor
and rever to manual...and vice versa. I can't count the number people
I've known who've gotten so fed up with it that they've taken the motor
off and put the pump handle back on.

So if you think you'll ever need a manual toilet, install a manual
toilet. Don't try to have it both ways.

And fwiw, the Raritan SeaEra is a FAR more durable reliable electric
macerating toilet for less $$ than the Jabsco.

Btw...the only electric toilets that are actually quiet are electric
toilets designed to use onboard pressurized flush water. A so-called
"quiet flush" that uses raw water will NOT be quiet, because contrary to
what most people believe, it's not the discharge pump and macerator than
make all the noise, it's the raw water intake pump.

Do NOT try to solve the problem by connecting any toilet designed to use
raw water to your fresh water supply. That cannot be done without risk
of polluting your potable water supply with e-coli, damage to the
toilet, or both...and every toilet mfr specifically warns against it in
their installation instructions.

I can't find any conversion system for the Jabsco, but the downstream
idea should work fine.

No, it won't...'cuz the Lavac is designed completely differently from
any other toilets. It cannot be done with a Jabsco or any other
piston/cylinder manual toilet.

People have tried installing a discharge macerator pump downstream of
piston/cylinder manual toilets to "convert" 'em to electric, but it
doesn't work...'cuz the macerator pulls 12 gal/minute, which is far more
than can be pumped manually and results in repeated fried impellers in
the macerator pump. The toilet must also be pumped manually to supply
any flush water. So you'd have to pump, turn the macerator pump on for a
few seconds...pump some more...turn the pump on again. Or spend half
your time mopping up the head and repairing the macerator pump.

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304

Jeff wrote:
There is one electric vacuum head that can pass a t-shirt, but I think
it requires fresh water; Peggie probably knows which one it is.

That would be the Headhunter toilets, which are not vacuum toilets, but
ultra-pricy mega-yacht toilets. Headhunter demos 'em a boat shows
flushing panty hose, loose change, BIC lighters etc.

It's also important to remember that while the TOILET may be able to
pass all that stuff, if it ends up in the holding tank, how will you get
it out of the tank? :)

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304