Problem with the electric marine head.

[daviddiscenza]

I need to start out saying that I do not have any documentation on the current toilet. The previous owner left no manual. In addition, I can find nothing on the head that identified that manufacturer or the model of the head. I have no idea how old the head is. As my boat is 32 years old, I suspect it's not original equipment. Lastly, I pumped out the holding tank so it's empty.

Now the problem: the motor on the head will run for 15 - 20 seconds and then stop. It will not start again for a few minutes. I'm guessing there's some circuit to prevent overheating the motor. THe bowl is not emptying. To get the bowl to empty, I need to shut off the raw water feed. I can hear water flowing into the holding tank.

I'm looking for suggestions on where to start troubling shooting this problem. Thanks to all who reply.

[meridian28]

Post a picture please

[RaymondR]

Those things tend to use rubber impeller type pumps which sort of load shed rather than stall the motor and 20-30 seconds sounds like too short a period for a thermal overload to function. Sounds more like something which is engineered into the system as part of the normal flushing program.

[hellosailor]

If there is a thermal fuse cutting out, it could be as simple as thirty year old wiring being corroded. Wiring corrodes, resistance goes up, voltage goes down, the motor tries to pull more current to compensate, the thermal protection kicks in and shuts it down.

Put a voltmeter right on the motor contacts. What does it read when the motor is not in use? What does it go down to when the motor IS used?

Running a new, fully tinned, adequate gauge wire from the distribution panel may be all it needs. With corrosion protection on all contacts. You can also test that by simply running some heavy wire (even jumper cables) from the panel or using a 12v "jumper box" from the car, to see if the head just wants more power.

[Mike Banks]

My guess is there is something clogging the pump, and the most likely culprit is something cotton or fibre based that should never have been disposed of in a marine head.

So--My advice to you is to shut the sea-cocks, close the y-valve to the holding tank, then get a bucket or two, rubber gloves, face mask, sponges disinfectant and and cleaning fluid, and undo the hoses to the pedestal and lift it up and take it plus its pump (usually bolts to the base on which bowl is mounted) above decks where it can be placed on a tarp and dismantled. Whatever it is will be wrapped around the macerator blades and jamming fully or partially the rubber impeller behind them.

OR you could spend a couple of hundred bucks and replace it with a TMC. Not the best head on the market, but close enough to it, and excellent value for money. I never used anything else. At that price one can afford to replace them entirely for the cost of a pump kit for some other brands.

[daviddiscenza]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

My guess is there is something clogging the pump, and the most likely culprit is something cotton or fibre based that should never have been disposed of in a marine head.

So--My advice to you is to shut the sea-cocks, close the y-valve to the holding tank, then get a bucket or two, rubber gloves, face mask, sponges disinfectant and and cleaning fluid, and undo the hoses to the pedestal and lift it up and take it plus its pump (usually bolts to the base on which bowl is mounted) above decks where it can be placed on a tarp and dismantled. Whatever it is will be wrapped around the macerator blades and jamming fully or partially the rubber impeller behind them.

OR you could spend a couple of hundred bucks and replace it with a TMC. Not the best head on the market, but close enough to it, and excellent value for money. I never used anything else. At that price one can afford to replace them entirely for the cost of a pump kit for some other brands.

Mike,
Thanks for the suggestion. I need to look at prices and do some measuring before I decide what I'm going to do. I'm not familiar with TMC.

[daviddiscenza]

A follow up to my post. Turns out the head is a Jabsco head. I would have known this if I had bothered to look at the flush button. Anyway, Mike Banks was on the right track. We've been using a product to reduce head oder that gets toss into the head and flushed. It comes in little plastic packets that are supposed to dissolve, releasing the contents. Well, brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you that they don't dissolve at all.

When I pulled the pump off the head, the macerator was completely bound up with the remains of the plastic packets. I had to remove the macerator to get all the plastic out of the pump assembly. While I had the head disassembled, I took the opportunity the replace the waste hose and flush out the head to make certain that the raw water would flow freefly. It was also a good opportunity to clean the base where the head sits as it's tough getting behind and under the head when it's in place.

So, there were two lessons learned by this exercise. #1 Don't use those plastic pods for freshening the holding tank. Despite the claim of the manufacturer, they do not dissolve in water and will only jam up the pump. #2 There's nothing like tearning something apart and putting it back together to really understand how it works. Diagrams and photos don't do it for me. I need to see how it's put together and works.


Thanks to all who took the time to reply to my original post.

[ranger58sb]

Jabsco #37010? At least diagrams/parts list are on the Xylem website... good for some.

FWIW, KO and NoFlex are both decent holding tank treatments... if you need one...

-Chris

[hellosailor]

I wonder if part of that problem is because the plastic is normally broken down by the bacteria and gasses in the holding tank, as opposed to the "cleaner" environment of the macerator itself. Combined with the buildup on the macerator?

I know, who would think to see if the box said "Safe for use in macerators"....

[a64pilot]

I think they are actually a form of gelatin, not plastic.
I think I know which ones he was using as I used to and have a bunch on board.
Laundry soap packets are they same, they do dissolve, just didn’t get a chance to I guess in your situation?

[peghall]

If you'll post a picture of it so I can identify the model, I can send you a link to the owners manual.


(for some reason my signature didn't show up, so I've copy/pasted my email signature.)


--Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein
--------
© 2018 by Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "The NEW Get Rid of Boat Odors -
A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Bo...dp/1892399784/

[daviddiscenza]

Originally Posted by peghall

If you'll post a picture of it so I can identify the model, I can send you a link to the owners manual.


(for some reason my signature didn't show up, so I've copy/pasted my email signature.)


--Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein
--------
[emoji767] 2018 by Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "The NEW Get Rid of Boat Odors -
A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Bo...dp/1892399784/

Peg.
I have a picture of the base and a picture of the model number/serial number of the motor. Is that enough information?

[daviddiscenza]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Jabsco #37010? At least diagrams/parts list are on the Xylem website... good for some.

FWIW, KO and NoFlex are both decent holding tank treatments... if you need one...

-Chris

Chris,
Thanks for the information on KO and NoFlex. I'll look into them.

[daviddiscenza]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

I wonder if part of that problem is because the plastic is normally broken down by the bacteria and gasses in the holding tank, as opposed to the "cleaner" environment of the macerator itself. Combined with the buildup on the macerator?

I know, who would think to see if the box said "Safe for use in macerators"....

Hellosailor,
I'm on the upper part of the Chesepeake Bay. The water there is brackish and a primordial soup of microscropic (and some not so microscopic) stuff and I draw raw water for the head. This stuff should have disolved if it was meant to. It didn't.

[daviddiscenza]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think they are actually a form of gelatin, not plastic.
I think I know which ones he was using as I used to and have a bunch on board.
Laundry soap packets are they same, they do dissolve, just didn’t get a chance to I guess in your situation?

a64pilot,

I'm not convinced that they were meant to disolve. I tossed out the remainder and so don't have the package any more. I'll be certain to carefully read the instructions of whatever I look to replace this item to see if it says anything about macerators.