Lectrasan

[Chrisc]

4 Years ago I took early retirement and my wife and I went full-time cruising. The plan was that when I got to be 65 and of pensionable age, we would sell the boat, move ashore and live in our house like normal people. And that is exactly what happened. The trouble is, we've been living ashore now for two months and we both detest it, so now we are shopping for another boat so we can get back to where we belong. So be warned, all you cruisers, liveaboards and potential liveaboards - one the nautical life has got its hooks into you, there is no going back!
And the reason for this thread, we are looking at two boats, each of which is fitted with a lectrasan. Let me say that I do not wish to crank up this lectrasan good/lectrasan bad debate. One of the boats has been carefully maintained, and the other, not so well and as a result the lectrasan is a little bit smelly. My question is, if you have a 3 year old lectrasan that has not been maintained, is it possibel to bring it back to its former sweet smelling self, or is it kaput?

Chris

[FrankZ]

Raritan advises to clean it with muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) every other year. They also advise to try this when it smells.

Mine has been giving off a funk and well, I had to address it. I did the clean with the acid, and it helped. I also replaced the discharge hose and the attachment to the Lectrasan. Someone used a bit of hose (a rubber PVC hose connector) instead of the proper discharge flange. I got the correct parts from Raritan and with the replacements I now have no funk.

So, yes, you can get rid of the funk, it can be a nasty dirty job though. Blech.

As we are in brackish water if I had replace it I would go with the Purasan.

[svHyLyte]

We have an older LectraSan (circa 1996) that had been abused/misused when we acquired our boat. We thoroughly flushed it many times and than removed it, steam cleaned it and sent it off to Raritan in Ft. Lauderdale for a rebuild. They replaced the plates, motor drives and seals for a few hundred dollars. Since then we have followed the Raritan maintenance schedule religiously, including the annual cleaning with Muriatic Acid mentioned previously and we have had no difficulties or odors since. One needs to thoroughly clear the unit's tank--i.e. pump several full bowls of water through-- but that is not difficult. Use only Raritan's "C.P." cleaning materials for cleaning the head. We keep a squeeze bottle with a solution of "Salt-Away" and water in the head and give the bowl a shot of that after its been pumped clear following a use to ensure the valves all remain free of salt and calcium carbonate build-up and we've had no difficulties.

FWIW...