Raritan Electro Scan

[bobconnie]

We have had two of the older units in the past ! worked great ! never a problem in over 10 yrs. Just the abilty to not have to find a pump out or go offshore to dump is great at least to me !If our new boat(when we find it) is a holding tank boat it's the first thing to be replaced with a new MSD of one type or another ! Down here in Louisiana, almost all the houseboats must have a MSD of some type and the electro san-scan work the best ! even a lot of the homes down the Bayou have Modad Systems for sewage treatment ! very little if any discharge of untreated sewage in the Bayous anymore !! Just our 2 cents ! Bob and Connie

[smj]

We had 2 Lectra Sans and had nothing but trouble with them. Since then we have switched to composters and had no trouble.

[peghall]

I'm on your side 100%...but there are a couple of minor points you didn't quite get right:

Although the law only requires that a Type I MSD macerate to "no visible solids" (puree), the discharge is actually so highly diluted that it really can't even be called a slurry, much less sludge. What you'd see if you were under the boat next to the thru-hull when the toilet is flushed is something that looks like skim milk that's been cut about 50-50 with water and had a few grains of instant coffee added.

And unless the EcoNazis have changed course a second time (they tried going after the bacteria till they found out that, while the LAW only requires that a Type I reduce bacteria count to a maximum of 10/100 ml, the LS, PS and ES actually reduce it to <10/100 ml), it's not the suspended particulate matter from a LectraSan they're after...they're convinced--despite incontrovertible proof to the contrary--that if all boats with toilets installed treatment device the BOD (bio-oxygen demand) level would result in entire coastal regions exploding into algae blooms. The FACTS are, the BOD from a LectraSan, ElectroScan or PuraSan is equivalent to that of 4 oak leaves falling off a tree and being washed into the water. But...since the LAW only says "no visible solids," it's entirely possible that they're changing course again.

Type II (for boats 66+' LOA) are a different matter...they have to reduce bacteria count to max of 200/100 ml (which is the federal water quality standard for swimming) and reduce suspended particulate matter to be not greater than 150 milligrams per liter (think, 100 grains of instant coffee in a half cup of water). That's VERY close to potable.

[peghall]

Actually the power consumption looks like a lot more than it is. A draw of 37A is scary, but the actual daily consumption for a cruising couple continuously aboard is less than 20 AH.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by peghall

Actually the power consumption looks like a lot more than it is. A draw of 37A is scary, but the actual daily consumption for a cruising couple continuously aboard is less than 20 AH.

I never could find a runtime per use in their literature. Other than the Cost and still Needing a small holding tank this is looking a little better.

[Geoduck]

Ok - here's one for you!
How about someone coming up with a way to pump poop into an internal combustion engine on the power stroke and burning it in while running?
It would probably be a good source of lubricant and might even boost our fuel economy!!!!

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Geoduck

Ok - here's one for you!
How about someone coming up with a way to pump poop into an internal combustion engine on the power stroke and burning it in while running?
It would probably be a good source of lubricant and might even boost our fuel economy!!!!

Just like water injection on an old radial aircraft engine

[peghall]

It's been done...sort of. About every 10-15 years somebody comes up with an inspiration to use the engine EXHAUST system to remove sewage from the boat. The first ones showed up in in the 70s or 80s in the RV market...and might have worked if it hadn't been for two li'l problems:

The animal fats in waste clogged up catalytic converters....and the ODOR out the exhaust was totally unbearable for the occupants of vehicles following a coach with that system installed, especially going up a long hill.

The idea went dormant just long enough for a couple of Italians to believe they'd thought of it all by themselves in the '90s...they were gonna revolutionize onboard waste disposal in the marine market (for a price that makes an Electrosan a MAJOR bargain!). They too overlooked something important:

It only could work on DRY exhausts...but 95% of boats have wet exhausts, and wet exhausts dont get anywhere NEAR hot enough to do the job. The Italians were forced to go back to earning a living under the Tuscan sun on land.

The latest inventor to ignore the lessons of history is this guy: The ZLD This one even won awards for "innovation." But it seems to followed its predecessors into oblivion.

However, you'd be the first to try to actually try to power an engine with human guano. It wouldn't work, but there could be a little profit from sales of a docu-drama/comedy of your R&D efforts.

[Geoduck]

My full intention in this thread was to instill a little humor on a really shitty subject.......I think I will eat less and drink more while sailing in the future and I believe I'll keep my bucket handy in case all else fails!
Tomorrow is another day - my birthday, in fact!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO ME!!!!(maybe I'll get a new bucket?)

[peghall]

In honor of your birthday, I'm happy share with you these 15 things that it took me YEARS to learn:

1. Never, NEVER... under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. (This one is very important)

7. Never ever... lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person..
(This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. .Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

[dandrews]

Peg...truly outstanding words of wisdom! and funny too :-)

[tdenney]

I have an Electro Scan that I installed in my boat. I am pretty handy, having replumbed and rewired the entire boat without a problem. The Electro Scan installation is very simple. The only problem that I had was mounting the tank. Every thing else was "plug and play". We tried it out by creating salt water (we were in the Indian River, Florida) with "instant ocean" for salt water aquariums. It worked fine. Then we left for the Bahamas. It barely created enough current to avoid an error condition, then got worse. Muriatic helped, but was needed about once a week. Then one of the macerator motor shafts started leaking. I cleaned it all out and reassembled (at anchor, in a hurry). It was back in order, until the display unit just died. Then we had no idea what was going on, but as long as it completed a cycle, we used it. Then the "on-off" button died. Green to the end, we hot wired it, timed it for two minutes, and checked the amperage. We are so bummed, almost everyone has no problems with the unit. Nothing but glowing reports. I really do not think that I blew the installation, it's just too easy. Go figure.

[GatorDontPlay]

Funny, I've heard mostly negative things about them so far. My boat has one, installed about a year before I bought it, but I immediately switched over to the holding tank, as it seems like bad form to be pumping that out in the marina (or anywhere on a freshwater lake - I'm on Lake Union btw). I talked to multiple marine sanitation techs and they all had the same thing to say - they don't actually kill the bad bacteria all that well, and they are scheduled to no longer be legal inside 3 miles sometime in 2014. I plan to have mine removed so I'll have more working room in the bilge.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by GatorDontPlay

they are scheduled to no longer be legal inside 3 miles sometime in 2014. I plan to have mine removed so I'll have more working room in the bilge.

I believe you are mistaken. Please provide your source for this. We just installed a new model Purasan. Why would Raritan go through a new development, testing and Coast Guard certification cycle for a soon to be banned product?

[GatorDontPlay]

bstreep, it looks like I probably was indeed misinformed -- I've since been educated by the Headmistress, and while I'm still using the holding tank at the marina, am planning to switch back over to the Electro-Scan on an upcoming trip in the Sound, and certainly not planning to uninstall it anymore.

My best guess at where the (wishful?) soon-to-be-banned info came from is a proposal for a NDZ in Puget Sound, which I've also learned is highly unlikely (efforts from state dept. of Ecology here: Clean Green Boating | No Discharge Zone | Washington State Department of Ecology )

Sometimes hard to separate the facts from the competitive marketing when service providers also not separable from the equipment sales channel.