jabsco flush problem

[tommyh]

When i use the wet flush there is a lot of pressure and its hard to flush however, when i switch to dry flush it flushes very easy.
The system has always worked great with no leaks or smells.
Any ideas on this?
Thanks

[Sailmonkey]

Do you have a strainer on your seawater inlet?

If not I suspect you've got a fish or some other such debris stuck in your seawater inlet, either @ the thruhull, or the check valve in the pump.


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[nigel1]

Is the inlet valve open? Might have been inadvertently closed.

If safe to do so, remove inlet hose from pump and try and back flush the hose out through the inlet valve.

[peghall]

Sounds like you have problem that's very common in Jabsco manual toilets--a failed wet/dry cam. The wet/dry "valve" is actually just a little "gate" (the cam) that the lever swings to block or unblock the flow of incoming flush water. Due to either a tooling or mfr'g flaw, it hangs up...creating back pressure that feels like pumping against a clog or blocked tank vent, except it only happens in one mode--usually the wet mode.

The cure: replace the wet/dry cam assembly. Jabsco often sends out a new one for no charge...but then you have to take the pump apart to replace it, which can be a PITA and really messy because you can't flush water through the pump to clean it out before you take it apart.

So my advice: just replace the pump instead. It's prob'ly overdue for a rebuild or at least a joker valve --and besides, modern Jabsco toilets have fairly short lifespan--they're purposely made to be "disposable" like everything else today. A service kit costs almost as much as a pump, which doesn't cost that much anyway...HopCar will give you a good price...and swapping it out only requires removing and replacing the 4 bolts that hold the pump on the base and two hoses, which beats the socks off taking the pump apart!

[um saudade]

Peg beat me to this answer and I believe she is correct in diagnosis. But my take would be to go ahead and play.Figure out how it works and you may find there is a simple fix.If nothing else, the next time the head does not work correctly you will have a far better idea as to why and what to do when you don’t have a vendor around the corner.
Worst case condition you give up and go buy a new valve, best case condition you fixed it for a song and learned something in the process.
Marine Goop works wonderfully on getting older gaskets that have shrunk and hardened to seal again. Use less torque, less chance of breaking the old plastic.

[tommyh]

Its a fresh water flush so there should be no inlet problem,
sounds like the cam thing or "valve" is the problem. How could it be the joker when it seems to work fine in dry mode?

[peghall]

Originally Posted by tommyh

Its a fresh water flush so there should be no inlet problem,
sounds like the cam thing or "valve" is the problem. How could it be the joker when it seems to work fine in dry mode?

A) Jabsco doesn't make a manual toilet designed to use fresh water...and neither is their 29200 "conversion" that replaces only the manual pump. If your toilet isn't a manual toilet or that particular "conversion" it would have been useful if you'd bothered to mention it. But if your toilet IS either of those (or any other model not specifically designed to use onboard pressurized fresh water) and is plumbed into the fresh water system on your boat, it should not be...and every toilet mfr warns against it in their installation instructions because it exposes the potable water supply to e-coli contamination. However, no matter what the SOURCE of your flush water, if your toilet has a wet/dry capability, it has a wet/cry cam assembly.

B. You're having a problem with the flush water INTAKE...the joker valve is in the pump DISCHARGE fitting. At least you're one of the few who doesn't think that replacing the joker valve is the answer to every marine toilet problem. However, my even mentioning it as probably-needed additional maintenance/repair that costs money in an effort to convince you that replacing the pump makes more sense than repairing it only succeeded in muddying your water.

[tommyh]

The new pump took care of the problem.
$85.00 way eaiser than a rebuild.
Thanks all