TMC Electric Toilet Pump - Anyone Familiar with these ?

[peghall]

Sea water or fresh has nothing to do with durability/reliability (nor holding tank odor either, btw). Marine toilets, like everything else vary in quality. Raritan is one of the few remaining small family owned companies to whom quality is important...which explains why their toilets have been consistently top rated for nearly 4 decades.

[peghall]

The fresh water versions of most toilets are usually LESS expensive than the sea water version.

Unfortunately sea water toilets cannot be safely connected to fresh water plumbing because they don't have the necessary safeguards installed to prevent sea water and/or e-coli contamination of the fresh water. Plus, sea water toilets are designed to PULL flush water through 'em...flush water is PUSHED through toilets designed to use pressurized flush water, which can knock seals, o-rings etc out of alignment.

why not have a Y valve for inlet allowing choice of fresh flush or salt for times when fresh may be at a premium?

It's possible...in fact Raritan offers it...they call it the "sea fresh system." But it's not that simple for several reasons: 1. Sea water requires a remote intake pump to pull the water in...pressurized flush water only requires a solenoid valve to open and close a line filled with water that's under pressure. 2. Vented loops required in sea water inlets (solenoid controlled air valve required in some models, but not all), but not in fresh water versions...3. protection from sea water contamination of fresh water required...4. electrical circuitry designed to know whether to open the solenoid valve or turn on the intake pump.

[charliehows]

Not sure what you mean by " .....wait a while before it can handle toilet paper".[/QUOTE]

The paper takes a short while to absorb sufficient water to soften up in the bowl - considering the size of the macerator and the exit hole to outlet pipe I'm not surprised it's easy to choke - it's only choked once and when I fixed it the plastic housing around the macerator had been forced out of its groove and had turned away from the exit, and paper had got stuck behind the rubber valve in the exit jamming it shut. Fortunately i always flush before adding the paper so fixing the damn thing wasnt quite so unpleasant as it could have been.There are no issues with the intake.

[peghall]

It sounds like your problem isn't the toilet, it's the toilet paper...if it's not the cheap stuff that practically dissolves in your hand if it gets wet, you're using the wrong kind.

And, adding water to the bowl with a cup is a good idea no matter what the make or quality of the toilet, 'cuz that cuts way down on the amount water needed to rinse the bowl and move the contents to the tank or the thru-hull. But from your description of what's happening, it's even more important that you do that because your toilet doesn't seem powerful enough to flush solids and/or TP without more water. THAT could be a function of low voltage to the toilet rather than poor quality of the toilet itself. Low voltage can be due to inadequate wire size for the distance from the battery (always determined by the round-trip distance, btw), a weak battery, or putting it on a circuit already "occupied" by something else--even just cabin lights-- that can pull power away from the toilet if on at the same time instead of running a new circuit to its own breaker, corroded or otherwise bad connection...so check it all. TMC toilets are barely worth what you pay for 'em, but that should mostly only apply to durability/reliability lifespan (very short), not to performance right out of the box.

[cat man do]

Have to say, never had any real TP problems with my TMC before
Wife always bought the softer more expensive breeds, but it never had much of an issue chopping through it all.
Sometimes it was worth doing a 2 stage flush

TMC toilets are barely worth what you pay for 'em, but that should mostly only apply to durability/reliability lifespan (very short)

I am not selling them or any product so have no vested interest, but as an end user can say I had mine for 5 years (while I owned that vessel) with no issue during that time frame.
My wife thought it was the best couple of hundred dollars spent on the boat.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by peghall

TMC toilets are barely worth what you pay for 'em, but that should mostly only apply to durability/reliability lifespan (very short), not to performance right out of the box.

What do you call very short? We had one for 5 years on our old boat and it was fine. We knew people with much more expensive toilets who had plenty of problems.

[peghall]

I'd call 5 years a very short lifespan...a top quality toilet should provide 10-15 years of trouble free service with just minimal maintenance (but not -0- maintenance!). And TMC isn't the only cheap toilet out there...it's just the one with lowest price tag. It makes no pretense of being top quality.

Most electric toilets will provide decent service for a few years if they're installed correctly, aren't abused (guests are the worst offenders), and are at least minimally maintained.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by peghall

I'd call 5 years a very short lifespan

Neither of us said they were at the end of their lifespan, that is an assumption that you have made.
I know of several on others vessels that are in their 10th year plus of service and, if they ever did have a problem, I reckon you could just dump them and buy a new one for possibly less than the cost of repairs to a more expensive brand.

[ohopekat]

I have two TMC electrics aboard they seem to do a good job but to me very noisy.
Whenever I leave the cat for more than a day or two, I always turn of the salt water intakes then flush with fresh water and leave full of fresh water an have had no troubles and no smells

[mattock]

Hi, Not sure how these TMC 12v loos work, but ours seems to be pulling the flushed waste water back through somehow. So it takes a couple -3 of flushes to get it clean.
Its going into a lectrasan, then out.

Questions:
Has anyone had this and does this sound like a servicekit would sort it?
Would back pressure (full lectrasan for example) cause this?

Any other thoughts.

Agree that at $42 for a service kit, I would probably just go for a new crapper for $299, but not if I end up with the same issue.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by peghall

I'd call 5 years a very short lifespan...a top quality toilet should provide 10-15 years of trouble free service with just minimal maintenance (but not -0- maintenance!). And TMC isn't the only cheap toilet out there...it's just the one with lowest price tag. It makes no pretense of being top quality.

I did say it was fine after 5 years. Then we sold the boat. But even if it did only last 5 years, (with NO maintainance) at $200, versus
10 or even 15 years from a toilet costing several times more....

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by mattock

Hi, Not sure how these TMC 12v loos work, but ours seems to be pulling the flushed waste water back through somehow. So it takes a couple -3 of flushes to get it clean.
Its going into a lectrasan, then out.

Questions:
Has anyone had this and does this sound like a servicekit would sort it?
Would back pressure (full lectrasan for example) cause this?

Any other thoughts.

Agree that at $42 for a service kit, I would probably just go for a new crapper for $299, but not if I end up with the same issue.

Sounds like your intake is too close to your outlet. We get that sometimes when the boat is lying to the wind, and the tide is flowing slowly from behind us. The inlet is ahead of the outlet, so when the water is running "backwards" we sometimes "recycle" a bit.

[mattock]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't think so, as it has done it when under way. Only had weekends aboard so far (new boat - to us) will keep a track of it. I just wondered if there was a valve that could be letting it back through.

[HopCar]

Mattock, If your toilet is the one I think it is, it is a copy of the Jabsco electric toilet. One of the problems with the Jabsco is that the inlet pump and the macerator discharge pump are just separated by a seal. If the seal fails, the inlet pump can suck black water from the discharge side and pump it back to the bowl. Maybe that's your problem.

[44'cruisingcat]

Or maybe the intake skin fitting is behind the outlet?