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Old 19-01-2025, 00:14   #1
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Jabsco with unusual switch set up

My boat came with an electric jabsco toilet, model 37010-3092. It is plumbed to use raw water and has a diverting valve to direct the contents overboard or to a holding tank.

It has two rocker switches, one that simply flushes while also pumping in raw water. The other below it pumps out only or pumps in water only. These switches are the same as on a Johnson silent electric toilet.

I had thought this model jabsco is designed to pump in and out at the same time, not separately. It appears to have only the one motor, and I am worried that dry pumping (however that has been achieved in this installation) may damage one or the other impeller.

Have I misunderstood something?
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Old 19-01-2025, 01:14   #2
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Supplemtentary information. Turns out there’s a second pump a johnston SPX connected to the toilet. Still trying to fathom how the set up works.
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Old 19-01-2025, 07:19   #3
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

It's an optional upgraded switch that allows you to just bring in water ahead of use (which you should do ahead of solid waste), dry flush(no water added...not recommended for solid waste or tp) or "full flush" (simultaneous water in, bowl contents out). It provides better control of the amount of flush water used, which helps to conserve holding tank space.


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Old 19-01-2025, 11:46   #4
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Thank you.
Holding tank is 35 litres, so conserving makes sense.
Do you know if the upgrade usually includes removing the pump-in impeller from the jabsco? Otherwise it would be spinning dry on the pump out only, which would fry the impeller. Perhaps as it’s not in use this is ignored?
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Old 19-01-2025, 12:53   #5
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

"Dry" if water has been added to the bowl ahead of use--which would be impossible if you remove the intake impeller--won't do any harm. Impellers can survive running dry fir a few seconds. In fact, they have to run dry for the time it takes for the pump to prime after the boat has been sitting for a day or longer. Impellers wear even they never run dry, so should be replaced at least every year or two as part of spring recommissioning. And it's good idea to run clean fresh water through the toilet to rinse the sea water minerals and salt out of it before the boat will sit longer than overnight.


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Old 19-01-2025, 13:38   #6
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Thanks once again. I have a lot to learn about the care and maintenance of my plumbing. I bought “Get Rid of Boat Odours” yesterday and began cleaning and investigating. Give me another year or so and I may have mastered the basics. :-)
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Old 20-01-2025, 08:13   #7
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

It's definitely not rocket science, just at least a nodding acquaintance with some basic laws of physics. And I can be available via email or even voice..I have WhatsApp...if you have questions.


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Old 20-01-2025, 14:48   #8
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Quote:
Originally Posted by peghall View Post
It's definitely not rocket science, just at least a nodding acquaintance with some basic laws of physics. And I can be available via email or even voice..I have WhatsApp...if you have questions.


--Peggie
That’s remarkably generous of you. I will start with your book, and seek to trouble you only if i get truly get truly stuck. My next step is to get rid of a clogged breather filter, which shows signs of a past overflow and i think is no longer working. Then more cleaning, and some more cleaning after that! Meantime I will learn new habits for putting fresh water in the toilet bowl when leaving my boat, and which approach to use with my various flushing options. Regards BLTN
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Old 20-01-2025, 15:58   #9
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Get rid of the vent filter altogether. They actually help to create the very problem they're sold to solve and they're "toast" immediately if they get wet. See page 48 in my book for the explanation

As for leaving fresh water in the bowl..You'll find an interesting alternative in "Simple Cure for Sea Water Intake Odor" on page 52

(page numbers in the US version should be the same in the AU version)


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Old 20-01-2025, 17:23   #10
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

I do indeed plan to get rid of the vent filter, as I’d picked that up from your book. Just need to get a length of hose and a connector to bridge the resulting gap. Job for later this month as I am about to leave my boat for week or two.

Will consider plumbing intake to basin drain once I have sorted out my more immediate problems with aftermath of vent blockage.

Cheers BLTN
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Old 21-01-2025, 08:36   #11
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

I suggest you buy a length of vent hose long enough for the entire vent line...and that you also replace the "vent" thru-hull with an open bulkhead fitting that will allow the tank to breathe and allow you to prevent vent blockages by putting a hose nozzle against it to back flush the vent line on a regular basis. Anything trying to set up housekeeping in it will be washed into the tank.


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Old 21-01-2025, 18:54   #12
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Currently breather is plumbed to anchor locker. I suspect I can keep that arrangement, as it is easy to access with a hose.

From the tank end, the breather hose is 16mm (~5/8") reinforced water hose for most of the run and then is coupled into a short piece of white, spiral reinforced sanitation hose (19mm 3/4") to the filter and from the filter to the actual vent.

Could replace entire run with either 16mm reinforced water hose or 19mm sanitation hose, with a 16mm to 19mm adapter at the tank end. Sanitation hose doesn't seem to come in 16mm. While I note some say 1 inch is better, in the end air flow is constrained by narrowest point, which is whatever the inside diameter of the 16mm vent fitting on the tank is.

Rest of the waste plumbing (as opposed to flushing water plumbing) is in 38mm (1.5 inch) sanitation hose. with an anti-syphon loop in the overboard line.

I don't know if the waste plumbing has been permeated (still need to do the rag in hot water test). There is a type of 38mm sanitation hose that is sold here as impermeable, guaranteed for 5 years, "...tube is made out of a special butyl rubber compound, this avoids odour spread and algae formation which is the cause of flora bacteria growth". Any experience of that? I know the answer is to have aerobic bacteria, so no odour in the first place, but is it worth, as insurance, also having impermeable hose? It costs a tidy $AU 85 / metre ($US53, Euro 51 and GBP 43) , and I'd need maybe 5 or 6 metres, but if it really works...

Also any recommendations on tank sender units? I don't have a gauge currently so it's guess work as to how full the tank is.
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Old 22-01-2025, 10:44   #13
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Re: Jabsco with unusual switch set up

Currently breather is plumbed to anchor locker. I suspect I can keep that arrangement, as it is easy to access with a hose.

The vent line needs to be able to breathe (exchange the gasses in the tank with fresh air) which it cannot do inside the the anchor locker...it needs to exit to the outside of the boat, so a thru-hull needs to be installed...it can be in the hull inside the anchor locker. Get rid of the vent filter...they prevent the tank from breathing enough to keep the tank contents aerobic, which is essential to odor prevention..plus they only last about a year and are "toast" immediately if they get wet (tank overflow).

The expensive sanitation hose is worth the price. Vetus butyl top of the line sanitation hose is permeation resistant.

As for a tank level monitor...I don't know what brands are available in OZ, but you want one that uses sensors that are applied to the outside of the tank ( any material except metal), so can never clog.

--Peggie
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