'Regurgitating' Jabsco Head

[Skuzzlebutt]

I recently installed the ~$65 repair kit into my Jabsco manual head, due to wastewater backing up into the unit.

Worked great for a few days, now every week or so, I go thru the same problem for a couple of days, then it works OK.

Offshore, so holding tank is bypassed. Flushes easily, no back pressure to speak of.

Any thoughts? Other than a composting head, which is becoming more of a possibility as the scent in the boat is less than appealing.

Any suggestions appreciated.

[svmariane]

To me, that sounds like a joker valve problem.
Might be the "new" rebuild kit valve wasn't so great?

Good luck!

[123jashe]

The other possibility is that the holding tank vent is plugged.

[SthnJeff]

Joker Valve problem by the sounds of it. Did kit have a replacement one?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by 123jashe

The other possibility is that the holding tank vent is plugged.

"Offshore, so holding tank is bypassed."

[newhaul]

Joker valve would be my first guess

[Greenhand]

Check the vented loop, not just that the duckbill vent is clear, but that the whole thing isn't clogged up with calcium and what nots.

[steve77]

If you are flushing directly overboard, then I would just recommend that you flush long enough for all the smelly stuff to get to the ocean. I would recommend you do this every time just to keep the discharge hose empty of nasty stuff. A clean discharge hose is a happy hose.

Your head has a valve of some type to select between "flush" and "dry", right? After completing the flush, put the valve in the "dry" position. That should help prevent water from filling the bowl.

If this works, then I agree with the majority of the folks here that you should look at the joker valve.

Not knowing your plumbing layout, I am trying to think what other explanations there are. If you flush a long time to clear the discharge hose, and you still get smelly water backfilling the bowl, then it has to be coming from the holding tank. Is there any possibility that your Y valve is not fully in the "overboard" position? Could you have a gravity drain from the holding tank back to the head through a Y valve that is either leaking by or not fully in the correct position?


Cheers!

Steve

[peghall]

Originally Posted by Skuzzlebutt

I recently installed the ~$65 repair kit into my Jabsco manual head, due to wastewater backing up into the unit.
Worked great for a few days, now every week or so, I go thru the same problem for a couple of days, then it works OK.

Offshore, so holding tank is bypassed. Flushes easily, no back pressure to speak of.

Any thoughts? Other than a composting head, which is becoming more of a possibility as the scent in the boat is less than appealing.

Any suggestions appreciated.

If you have back pressure only when flushing into the tank a blocked tank vent has to be the problem The most common location for a vent line blockage are the event throug The most common location for a vent line blockage are the event thruhull and the other and the other end of the vent line-- that end of the hose and vent fitting on the tank.

[Tetepare]

When is the last time you replaced all hoses?

I agree it's probably the vent and accumulation.

After rebuilding the toilet every other year I replaced the Jabsco toilet on sale for the price of two rebuilds. While it's a drop in replacement, examination of the new Jabsco with the 25 year old model revealed a number of improvements.

I also replaced all hoses after 20 years, something I should have done 10 years earlier.

[Skuzzlebutt]

Thanks to all of you for the help. I'm tending toward the joker (no joke) as there is no back pressure, and the toilet flushes easiily. I do flush extra water thru at the end, so fortunately there are no return 'blobs'.

Will also clean up the vents -- they likely haven't seen dayllight in 30 years. Probably is time for a complelte hose replacement. And the J-Valve -- it has a broken handle, and very well might be leaking. Better to get the whole 'crappy' job done at once!

Also replacing the mascerator after the holding tank in order to be able to put that back into service, as I'll be going into the Florida Keys soon.

Regards,
Charlie

[Simply Sailing]

Any thoughts? Other than a composting head, which is becoming more of a possibility as the scent in the boat is less than appealing.



Sounds like you already know the answer.

[antoha]

we once had a similar problem (although the reasons may be totally different): we pumped into the tank and when off shore ran the macerator - or so i thought; the duckbill valves in the macerator pump were no good so it wasn't pumping out. so we'd fill up the tank pretty quickly (flushing abundantly, counting on being able to evacuate the tank easily, so having lots of liquid was supposed to help keep hoses cleaner).

long story short: full tank would back up, especially with boat heeling. looked like nothing was in the tank (no gauge, and most of what was in there was water, so it appeared transparent). ended up changing the vent hose, other hoses, and head. finally got to the duckbills in the pump, and that should have been the first $25 spent.

anton