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View Poll Results: What Head Do You Have And Are You Satisfied With It Poll
<$200 Manual Pump Head ~Satisfied 41 20.10%
<$200 Manual Pump Head ~Unsatisfied 2 0.98%
>$200 Manual Pump Head ~Satisfied 41 20.10%
>$200 Manual Pump Head ~Unsatisfied 2 0.98%
Vacuum Head ~Satisfied 20 9.80%
Vacuum Head ~Unsatisfied 0 0%
Electric Head ~Satisfied 41 20.10%
Electric Head ~Unsatisfied 6 2.94%
Composting Style Head ~Satisfied 34 16.67%
Composting Style Head ~Unsatisfied 1 0.49%
Bucket And Chuck It ~Satisfied 4 1.96%
Bucket And Chuck It ~Unsatisfied 0 0%
Other...? 6 2.94%
Porti Potties! Duh! ~Satisfied 4 1.96%
Porti Potties! Duh! ~Unsatisfied 2 0.98%
Voters: 204. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-12-2013, 19:17   #76
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

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Onestepcsy37, I don't see it but I bet you are talking about a incinerator style head? Yes, I forgot that too. I also forgot porta potties but the mods are kind enough to add it for me. I sure would hate to bother them again about this poll. Though, only the really big boats have em, they are out there...hmmm.
sorry, ocean girl, but it seems to have disappeared from northern tools catalog. it was submitted only as a joke - it's basically an open toilet seat that fits into the receiver where a trailer ball goes; i suppose you were expected to either dig a hole under it or place a bucket.

sorry for the poor joke....

what suprised me about the poll - or maybe it shouldn't have surprised me - is that nearly everyone is satisfied with their choice of toilets. the percentage of unsatisfieds in all categories is pretty low....
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Old 09-12-2013, 19:32   #77
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Have both a LAVAC manual and Electric (could only vote once).

Both seem to work well.
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Old 09-12-2013, 19:33   #78
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Ya mean this one


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Old 09-12-2013, 19:50   #79
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Thanks for voting NahanniV, and for posting about it too.

Rain Dog and I were just talking about the high satisfaction percentage. I want to get a big sampling, my goal is a 1000 votes . But, even in this small sample, it brings up the issue that maybe the bad rap of the "boat head" is not the actual head but everything after that, hoses, vents, holding tanks, pumps, macerators etc.. The heads itself seems to be well designed, and works great. Interesting. Well, as interesting as marine sanitation can be that is.
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Old 09-12-2013, 19:59   #80
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

The one we use is the Tecma Silence Toilet. Very strong and well built with good components.
Thetford Tecma Silence Toilet
8 years daily use without a problem.
I think part of the reason is that we flush with fresh water
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Old 09-12-2013, 21:35   #81
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Agree with Pelagic, Tecma Silence is a great unit, use freshwater and will last a long time.
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Old 10-12-2013, 00:04   #82
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Interesting how few "unsatisfied" responses there are, and by far the most among electric heads.

My experiences:

1. El-Cheapo Jabsco Twist-n-Lock: Unsatisfied. Frequent problems. Hard to pump with direct handle on the piston, instead of a lever system like other manual toilets. Water slowly leaks back from vented loop despite twist-n-lock mechanism. Only redeeming feature is they are so cheap, you can keep a few spare pump units on hand and just swap them out instead of trying to fix them.

But in general, I don't like manual toilets on boats at all. A key thing to keeping the plumbing happy is pumping enough water through the vented loops to really flush everything out. I'll bet no more than 3% of those with manual toilets really pump enough, because to pump enough to flush all the way through the long pipe going through the vented loop requires a ridiculous amount of pumping. For me, electric all the way.

2. Jabsco electric conversion (vertical noisy one). Unsatisfied. All kinds of priming problems on several different ones. Very expensive. Incredible racket; don't get up to pee in the night if you don't want to wake up the whole boat! I'm stuck with this in my forward heads because I can't get to the plumbing underneath to reroute the pipes to take a Raritan. Thank God the one I have now is finally working ok, and has been ok for a year. Crossing my fingers it will continue to serve.

3. Raritan Sea Era conversion. I have this in my after heads. Satisfied. This is a good toilet. Seems lighter built than the Jabsco, but it is clearly much better designed. Diaphragm instead of impeller supply pump so much quieter (still fairly noisy, however). No priming problems. In fact no problems of any kind so far - just works, which is what toilets on boats really need to do.
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Old 10-12-2013, 00:08   #83
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

P.S. -- concerning fresh versus sea water flush --

I'm using sea water and have no odor issues whatsoever, except only for that first flush after having been away from the boat for a while (dead critters syndrome).

I think that most of the problems associated with sea water flush can be avoided by simply flushing enough water through after every use to flush all the way through the plumbing. Many people don't realize how much water it takes to get all the way through the very long hose leads through a vented loop.

We have never had any problem with calcification in the lines, either -- and I am just about certain this is because of thorough flushing. Fresh water flushing, by the way, will use a lot of fresh water if you flush thoroughly enough. I like the idea that I can flush as much as I want without depleting the fresh water tank.
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Old 10-12-2013, 14:52   #84
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Thanks for voting and contributing.
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Old 11-12-2013, 11:57   #85
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

My guess regarding the poll results, either people have a good setup that works for them or we were unhappy enough to take action. It would be interesting to know how long people put up with an inadequate setup. For me it was 2 years.

You may get more dissatisfied responses as the sample increases just because early respondents are head conscious. Regardless of the percentages, there is a lot of shared wisdom in this thread. Thanks.
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Old 11-12-2013, 12:48   #86
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

I agree with Jim K here. It's our nature (as in human-nature) to love what is yours, no matter how bad it is. So it's not surprising most people are satisfied with their current choice of head.

Perhaps someone could design a poll asking people: "What head did you switch from?" This might be more revealing, although the number of permutations would be rather extensive...
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Old 11-12-2013, 13:05   #87
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

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I agree with Jim K here. It's our nature (as in human-nature) to love what is yours, no matter how bad it is. So it's not surprising most people are satisfied with their current choice of head.

Perhaps someone could design a poll asking people: "What head did you switch from?" This might be more revealing, although the number of permutations would be rather extensive...
Exactly. If I didn't like the head I have now, I would get a different one.
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Old 11-12-2013, 13:18   #88
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

Ask me again in a year! I bought this boat last April and I don't like the noisy electric head, or the freshwater consumption, or the way the holding tank drains. So…I plan to try out a composting head this coming season (keeping the noisy one stored ashore just in case). My previous experience has been with Groco manual heads. I liked them fine.

Definitely expect more satisfied people than not. As in my case, if you don't like it, you are going to want to change it sooner rather than later!
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Old 11-12-2013, 16:26   #89
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Interesting statistics. My interpretation if you have a compost head you are more likely to vote then other people that have heads. If you have a standard pump head and voted you are a liar, optimistic, very lucky or are most satisfied disassembling a head. manual head owners are less likely to vote or are busy fixing their head so they can feel satisfied. Vaculflush and lavac owners are thinking about composting but really don't want the satisfaction of working on a toilet and in their leisure are likely to vote. Porta pots and baggers are satisfied easily. Unlikely to vote. They have different priorities and aren't worried if splash or bag wins. What the other is scares me. I had a dog once that wouldn't go on the boat. So maybe another option should be holders.
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Old 11-12-2013, 16:59   #90
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Re: Head Poll -What Do You Have, satisfied?

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........................ If you have a standard pump head and voted you are a liar, optimistic, very lucky or are most satisfied disassembling a head. manual head owners are less likely to vote or are busy fixing their head so they can feel satisfied. ...............
This seems to be a pretty harsh assumption, but I must concede that my experiences are limited. I have ony had "standard pump heads" for for the past forty one consecutive years. I do tend to be involved in the replacement of about five feet of hose in the system every five years and I usually need to replace the joker valve about every three years, while my macerator pumps usually last about five or six years. I have had two holding tanks over the last four decades. I do replace some seals and clean some parts once every few years. My total work invested in maintaining my two "standard pump heads is probably about three hours per year. I am not counting in this the time that is spent moving to the pump outs or operating a pump out of my holding tank.

Maybe you are right! These are the only systems I've used for a very long time, but I'm not overworked.
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Air Head, C Head, composting Head, Deccicating head, Electric head, head, Jabsco Head, lavac, Manual Head, Natures Head, poll, raritan, toilet

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