Raritan II handle goes slack

[ShoeFamily]

Hello,
We are a american cruising family in Australia currently getting ready to cross the Indian Ocean as soon as we get to Darwin. We have a Raritan II that we replaced the joker and flapper valves on a year and a halfago. We also replaced the shaft seal about a month ago. I couldnt fit the tothed ring on it (I think it was) it was so tight. After reassembly it worked great..at first. Now it sometimes suddenly looses the grip while pumping and the pump handle feels all loose. Its like you have to do some quick pumps to prime it begore it pumps any water again. If youre on dry, its impossible to get it to "bite" once it has lost it. Do you have any suggestions? We will leave Townsville here soon and sail straight to Darwin. Im considering ordering a new repairkit and have it shipped to Darwin so its there when we get there, but im not sure it will do any good.
Thanks for any advice
Beatrice on sv Elin
sailblogs.com/member/shoemaker/

[deblen]

Originally Posted by ShoeFamily

Hello,
We are a american cruising family in Australia currently getting ready to cross the Indian Ocean as soon as we get to Darwin. We have a Raritan II that we replaced the joker and flapper valves on a year and a halfago. We also replaced the shaft seal about a month ago. I couldnt fit the tothed ring on it (I think it was) it was so tight. After reassembly it worked great..at first. Now it sometimes suddenly looses the grip while pumping and the pump handle feels all loose. Its like you have to do some quick pumps to prime it begore it pumps any water again. If youre on dry, its impossible to get it to "bite" once it has lost it. Do you have any suggestions? We will leave Townsville here soon and sail straight to Darwin. Im considering ordering a new repairkit and have it shipped to Darwin so its there when we get there, but im not sure it will do any good.
Thanks for any advice
Beatrice on sv Elin
sailblogs.com/member/shoemaker/

Assuming you have a Raritan PHII- I recommend,due to your remote location,you buy the complete pump assembly-pricey,but....
Raritan PHII Pump Assembly Complete
Might be wise to purchase a repair kit also,for future.

possible Aus source http://www.amisales.com.au/manual-to...c-45_2366.html

Cheers/ Len

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by ShoeFamily

I couldnt fit the tothed ring on it (I think it was) it was so tight.

The "toothed ring" sounds like the toothed lock washer (with the red arrowhead pointing to it in the graphic below). Right?


And that suggests a possible cause of your problem. Everything was fine at first. But without that lock washer in place, the working of the pump has allowed tension to disappear leading to failure of a seal.

Ouch! I forgot the graphic
The easy solution is to disassemble and then reassemble, including that toothed lock washer. If you don't still have that lock washer, visiting a local hardware store (or a chandlery such as Whitworths, which might stock a lock washer in stainless steel if you can indicate the diameter of the shaft around which the washer should sit) should provide a solution with a higher benefit/cost ratio than a complete new repair kit.


As Len noted, AMI Marine does distribute Raritan marine toilets in Australia. AMI has a representative in Queensland (in Ormeau, in southeast QLD. Telephone (07) 5540 6800 qld@amisales.com.au). In addition to US retailers, you should find Raritan repair kits on ebay.com.au and similar sites.


If you cannot find what you need in Townsville, Cairns would be the next place to try. Townsville has good industrial infrastructure. Cairns has less industry, but the marine industry there (e.g. commercial vessels taking tourist to the Reef) means Cairns has excellent support for boating gear - if it's not on the shelf, it can be trucked or flown in, and failing that, someone could make it for you.

[Alan Mighty]

I've put a red arrow pointing to what I think is your toothed lock washer.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Beatrice.

[ShoeFamily]

Thanks for advice and pointing me in the right direction.
Beatrice

[ShoeFamily]

Thanks for your input. Sounds reasonable, and I believe I still have the ring.Should give it a try
Beatrice

[Alan Mighty]

I've forgotten what chandleries are in Townsville, Beatrice.

You'll find a Whitworths chandlery in Cairns (but not in Townsville). The staff are often (but not always) quite helpful.

[sv Winterlude]

That happened to us ... after replacing everything short of the entire pump assembly, a Raritan tech told us to replace the O Ring inside the pump. Haven't had trouble since. Not sure if it's the same issue. Good luck!

[skipgundlach]

Is your pump older than 1992? If so, you need the washer. If not, you don't. If it was too tight, likely (and nearly certainly; those pumps would have died long ago if actually used for that long) it's not the old style.

A couple of things can cause a feel of 'slack' - and they're relatively easy to fix.

First is available water. We had an oyster growing in our forward head intake. That led to sucking water from the teed sink drain - except it wasn't full, so it caught air. If you have a supply issue, that could be the cause.

If you mean that when you pump down, there's no resistance, that could also be a flapper not fully engaged, usually from being fouled. Sometimes a forceful 'downstroke' can overcome that. Symptoms would include a rising water level in the bowl (because it's not all being sucked out, or, more properly, is being sucked into the chamber, but then flows back due to no seal on the flapper.

Third might be some issue with the seal/ring around the piston; those wear out and have to be replaced; frequent (if it's been 18 months, you're overdue) lubing of the chamber walls is a good idea; you want superlube in the US, or the stuff they ship with their rebuild kits. Teflon-based pool supply-type grease for everything needing grease, which does NOT include anything white rubber; only the housing and the black stuff; even the balls don't use grease. Look at the piston ring. It should have sharply defined edges, viewed from the side, looking about like a W. If they're rounded off, it severely degrades the performance. Ask me how I know

A full pump is breathtakingly expensive; a rebuild kit has all the stuff, other than a cure for a broken housing (BTDT, more than twice, so it's possible, though you'd have seen a lot of drippage if that were the case), to make everything tight, including a new cartridge for the pump shaft.

And, at best, you could give Raritan an email to discuss; here's my contact:

macm@raritaneng.com - Mac McCoy...

Hope that helps.

L8R

Skip

[peghall]

There are TWO different repair kits for the PHII...and several of the parts in each one are NOT interchangeable. The version built before 06/92 needs repair kit PHIIRK...the version built after 06/92 needs repair kit PHIIRKC.

If kept well lubricated and rebuilt--the whole kit, not just odd pieces--every 5-6 years, a PHII will easily last at least 20 years. If yours is a pre-06/92 version, it would make more sense to replace the pump than to rebuild. But it's significantly newer than that, the right kit should be all it needs to give you at least another 5 years provided you keep it lubricated.