How much water does an electric head typically consume ?

[Brann-]

Hi,

Unfortunately, all vendors I've checked only mention the electrical consumption.

I imagine the water used varies with the model you use and for how long you keep flushing, but I'm just looking for a ballpark estimate (or a comparison with a manual toilet)

Thanks!

[Steadman Uhlich]

The electric head I used seemed to simply have a motor that pumped in the same amount that a manual lever would. Hold the button and it makes more cycles of the pump mechanism..

I did not notice any more or less water entering the bowl with each cycle. Seemed the same as a manual pump head.

Of course this was just an observation of one head, and not measured or scientific. I don't recall the brand of head, but it was one of the major brands.

Hope that helps.

[Captsteve53]

Depends on the brand (diaphragm or impeller) but around 1 gallon per minute to around 1.5 GPM, as a comparison your fresh water vessel/ galley type pump will deliver around 2.8 -3.5 GPM

[sailorboy1]

I was shopping heads the other on the raitan site and all of them gave the water use in the specs

[Mirage35]

Amount of water used by our Vacu-flush depends largely on how much you decide to pump in before flushing, but note that it likely takes more water to work effectively than a manual pump model.

First approximation: we seem to be filling the holding tank at a rate of about 10 liters per person per day. Second approximation: I would guess that about half of that is the water used for flushing.

[Panacea2183]

Originally Posted by Brann-

Hi,

Unfortunately, all vendors I've checked only mention the electrical consumption.

I imagine the water used varies with the model you use and for how long you keep flushing, but I'm just looking for a ballpark estimate (or a comparison with a manual toilet)

Thanks!

I have 2 electric heads, both have a rocker switch, one side fills with however much water you want the other evacuates the bowl. An older boat I had only had one button filled and flushed at the same time, used ALOT of water.
One thing I like about the electric heads is the built in macerator. It reduces clogs to the tank and makes pump out easier.
Whichever system you have including manual heads, be sure to flush enough fresh water down to the holding tank or you will end up with sewage standing in the line = smell

[peghall]

It depends on the toilet. Average is about 2 liters. If it's a toilet with just a push button flush, it'll bring in water and discharge it along with bowl contents for as long as you keep your finger on the flush button. If the toilet is one that isn't designed to bring in water ahead of use and hold it, adding a pint or two with a cup from the sink ahead of solids will reduce the amount needed to rinse the bowl afterward.

Most of the high end all china "thrones" designed to use pressurized fresher offer a choice of flush options: single button...rocker switch with 3 choices: bring water in and hold it, "dry" (discharge only) or combo. Raritan offers one that has 4 choices, two of which are "light" flush for urine and little TP only and "full" flush for use when needed. These aren't available for sea water toilets.

Flush water consumption also depends on two factors: 1, distance from the toilet to the tank and/or thru-hull and the routing of the discharge line...and 2. how powerful the pump in the toilet is. Basic sea water macerating electric toilets and manual toilets can only move bowl contents about 6' in the amount of time anyone will leave their finger on the flush button (or pump a manual toilet)...The Raritan Marine Elegance and the Tecma have pumps that can shoot bowl contents 30' or even further.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[SecondBase]

Peg has spoken.

It sounds like you might be in the design stage. If so I recommend you buy her book [emoji432] out on Amazon.

[Corsair 2]

Mine definitely uses more water than a manual jabsco. It seems to require at least 3 flushes to really clear, so the spec in the operator's manual is not really accurate.

[Clivevon]

Hi, I'm guessing this all refers to an electric loo using fresh water? Never used one of those. Why would you want one? My boat has two loos, both using sea water. One is a manual Lavac kept as manual just in case electrics fail, the other is electric - Jabsco I think - about 17 years old. Have replaced motor and seals once. The switch operates two pumps - one in, one out - with a rocker action so only one works at a time. I used to have a combined push button but never liked how that worked. I do like to pump plenty of water each flush to make sure its all out of the pipe. System works fine for me. Only problem is the smell from bacteria build up in the pipe when flushing the loo first time after the boat hasnt been used for a while but after several immediate flushes that goes away so havent got around to doing anything more about it. I do notice that you can get a whirlpool effect in the bowl so things dont always flush immediately - will then need multiple flushes. No limit on flushing water usage you see - to be fair, we dont need a holding tank with our marina hopping style of cruising in our area. fitting a decent size holding tank would not be easy - well it would mean giving up storage space we've got used to having... Might then look into vacuum flushing maybe.

[Alita49DS]

I assume that the concern relates to filling a holding tank. Anyone with a boat, axiomatically something that floats, who uses anything other than the water surrounding it to flush the heads must have some very odd ideas as to the efficient use of resources.

As to how much the heads fill the holding tank, if that is the issue, the answer is how long is a piece of string. Depends on how long one holds the button that either flushes and evacuates through the macerator or the other button that is fill the bowl as against evacuate. No different from manual heads where how much water depends on how many times one pumps the handle.

Personally, I think that the important thing is to, proportionately, push enough water through to clear the pipes. Therefore more for solids than for liquids. That applies to both electric and manual heads.

So, a question without an answer.

[mikedefieslife]

I've got a Dometic Masterflush.

It has the rocker switch to empty or fill the bowel. Dry flush does't really get rid of the waste, in this case urine. When you add water to the bowl again there is still some urine there, so you always need to use some water.

Their website claims 1.2l.

I probably drink about 3l a day or more, which results in a lot of flushing.

[doublewide]

The manufacturer cannot tell you how much water it takes to flush because that is a function of the volume of your hose between the head and the tank. You need to flush with enough volume to clear completely the head and the hose all the way to the holding tank. Otherwise you will get a smelly head.

we have 2 fresh water flush heads and we like them mostly because avoiding salt water in the system is a key to avoiding odors. They don't use more or less water than a salt water system.

Having said that, we rarely use potable water to flush. The boys pee off the taffrail so that helps cut down on flushes. And when we do use the head, we usually use gray water to flush. We collect rain water off the Bimini, save hand-washing water and dish water; you get the picture. And we pour the water into the head through the big hole where the toilet seat is while we hold down the macerator button. Boy, does that flush it well! Much better than using the house pump to slowly fill the bowl with potable water. You get a great flush using our system.

Further to eliminate smell, we recommend using a bait tank aerator to pump fresh air into the top of the holding tank to prevent growth of anaerobic bacteria in the sewage, and we use a homemade holding tank vent scrubber made with PVC plumbing parts from the home store, packed with granulated activated charcoal.