Thinking about swapping Jabsco Electric Conversion Pump too a manual pump YES / NO ?

[Al B]

On second electric conversion pump
One that came with boat , motor went bad , blowing fuses , every turn of dial
Found new returned conversion pump with bowl on ebay , Seller is a
marine surplus buying inventory not knowing history , I paid $ 150 bucks ,
Since purchase this unit has burned a number of fins off impellers, leaking,
water not circulating , most recent issue was small pieces of waste
returning from under bowl lip were water fills bowl ,
I have taken this pump off & on so many times , I can do it blind folded
When bench tested home everything seems too work , when on bowl
works but leaks , water does not remain in bowl ,
Never purchased rebuilding kit since it was new and gaskets looked fine,
Making along story short I am done , Not eager too spend $ 400 - 550 on another pump ,
Considering going too manual Jabsco pump , WILL I BE SORRY?
Sometimes less is better , at least it will be new , hold water ,
not allow holding tank YUCK smell in bathroom , except a lot of pumping
Electric pump cuts waste into small pieces into holding tank , When I pump out waste at pump out will non cut up waste clog lines or should make no difference
One last attempt paying the 75 bucks for a re- furbishing kit with new
gaskets, impellers , switch , since motor is good or get the manual pump

thanks as usual

[Emmalina]

Not a very clear post ! If you are referring to the Jabsco Macerator pump on the electric toilet. If the bowl holds no water you have a leak or no vented loop installed. Losing bits of your impeller implies running it dry as the pump out uses a centrifugal pump! The o-ring is very important and difficult to locate properly. Use Vaseline to hold in place . If you go to manual there will be little or no maceration ! Have fun.

[Pete7]

ALB, our manual Jabsco pump started failing after a decade so rather than faff around with a rebuild kit I replaced the whole pump for only a bit more, £65 from memory. Its simple and just works. However, I insist on 20 pumps each time to clear the exit hose completely. Whilst the pump was off I checked the hose, a very small amount of "concretion" had built up inside the pipe but only about 1mm thick. We must be doing something right and intend to continue.

If lots of manual pumping means a new chart plotter this winter, that's okay with me because those electric pumps are really expensive.

Pete

[peghall]

Before I jump into this I need to know WHICH Jabsco toilet conversion you have. I suspect it may be this one Jabsco 29200 Electric Toilet Conversion Kit If I'm wrong can you tell us the model #? If not, a photo of everything but the bowl (all bowls look alike) will help us ID it.



--Peggie

[Al B]

Hi Peggy
Its the 29200
Don't know if I am missing gaskets ? Do you have a diagram ?
As my thread indicated many issues ,
motor is working . I have spare plastic parts from old unit ,
Felt installing a manual was best for now this way bowl can be used
Purchased a new Jabsco at West Marine as a back up ,
Amazon has the rebuilding kit, 2 new impellers , gaskets, o rings, switch ,
Other day I had too change bottom impeller fins
were chopped up , Only 1 fin remained ?
2 white gaskets shown in kit are not on my pump ??
Since motor works , I am thinking I am missing gaskets or other small parts
Electric chopped up waste , manual lots of pumping hoping it all goes
down, Will it come out at pump out ??
Manual pump cost $ 138 , Amazon 40 bucks cheaper , new electric
kit $ 75 , As I am responding too this forum , I am thinking ,
buy the kit still cheaper then the manual , one last try ??
thanks

[peghall]

Even Jabsco admits that the 29200 is poor excuse for an electric toilet because it clogs too easily, draws twice the amperage of any other contemporary electric macerating toilet and the pump isn't nearly powerful enough. So I suspect you may be throwing good money after bad to spend any money on it. But you don't have to settle for a Jabsco manual either. EVerything Jabsco makes that's sold in the US is now made in Mexico with materials and components sourced from China and other Asian sources.

The Raritan PH SuperFlush Raritan PH SuperFlush is the top-rated manual toilet and is available as a "conversion" (everything but bowl seat and lid, so you get to re-use yours)...and the mounting bolt pattern matches Jabsco manual. This retailer has it for $270 Hopkins Carter Raritan PH Super Flush Conversion Kit #P103 Keep it lubricated, replace the joker valve annually and put a rebuild kit in it every 5-6 years and it'll give you at least 20 years of reliable trouble-free service.

Or you can spend upwards of $400 for even the most basic decent quality macerating electric toilet conversion.

That's my $ .02 worth, but it's your boat and your money.

--Peggie

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Al B

On second electric conversion pump
One that came with boat , motor went bad , blowing fuses , every turn of dial
Found new returned conversion pump with bowl on ebay , Seller is a
marine surplus buying inventory not knowing history , I paid $ 150 bucks ,
Since purchase this unit has burned a number of fins off impellers, leaking,
water not circulating , most recent issue was small pieces of waste
returning from under bowl lip were water fills bowl ,
I have taken this pump off & on so many times , I can do it blind folded
When bench tested home everything seems too work , when on bowl
works but leaks , water does not remain in bowl ,
Never purchased rebuilding kit since it was new and gaskets looked fine,
Making along story short I am done , Not eager too spend $ 400 - 550 on another pump ,
Considering going too manual Jabsco pump , WILL I BE SORRY?
Sometimes less is better , at least it will be new , hold water ,
not allow holding tank YUCK smell in bathroom , except a lot of pumping
Electric pump cuts waste into small pieces into holding tank , When I pump out waste at pump out will non cut up waste clog lines or should make no difference
One last attempt paying the 75 bucks for a re- furbishing kit with new
gaskets, impellers , switch , since motor is good or get the manual pump

thanks as usual

I have some decades of experience with all of these toilets -- manual Jabscos, manual Raritans, Crittendon, electric Jabsco like yours, electric Raritan Sea Era. I've used VacuFlush on one friend's boat I spent a lot of time on.



Short answer to your question -- YES, you will regret going to the manual Jabsco. This is a poor excuse for a toilet whose only positive attribute is that it is so cheap that you can keep two or three complete spares on board and just pop it off and swap it out complete in case of any problem. But they work badly -- no leverage on the pump, awkward to pump, easy to clog. A clog in one of these ruined two whole days of my Greenland trip last summer


I have about 10 years of experience with three of the Jabsco electric conversions like yours. I had a maddening priming problem with the second one which I was never able to diagnose, which went away when I moved the pump to a different toilet, but in general they have given good service. They don't clog, at least I've never had a clog. The motor is heavy and powerful (and incredibly noisy). They can rust out in different places and the lower bolts can seize, so if you try another on of these, be sure to treat everything well with Boeshield and a good anti-seize compound.



I changed one of my toilets out for a Raritan Sea Era, and regretted it. This is a flimsy Chinese toy with incredibly light weight and flimsy parts, which can fly apart if something gets a little out of alignment. Notorious problem with these is the rigid impeller wheel coming into contact with the pump housing and disintegrating (when these parts flex in use). I've never had a serious clog with this one, but it is subject to superficial clogs at the macerator which are annoying. The pump is far less powerful than the Jabsco, and besides that, there is no way to separately control discharge and water intake, so you can't dry the bowl out afterwards like you can with the Jabsco, nor can you reduce the water level in case for some reason the discharge is momentarily slow. I don't like this toilet and personally cannot recommend it.


The old Raritan manual pump I started my cruising life with was brilliant and bulletproof. The arm has leverage so much easier to pump than the Jabsco. If you're going to go manual, then this would be the one to go for.



However, electric toilets have huge advantages. I wouldn't want a manual one, myself. Electric toilets macerate everything before it hits your pipes; surely that is much safer and greatly reduces the risk of a clog down in your pipes. With an electric toilet, it is much easier to flush enough water through the pipes. Electric for me, personally, just I haven't yet found the ideal toilet. I didn't like the VacuFlush much either. I've heard good things about the really expensive Raritan one, but have no experience so can't comment.


If I were you, before even thinking about what toilet to buy next, I would check your piping and make sure there are no restrictions causing the toilet to run dry or work too hard. If you haven't replaced it in less than 10 years, I would just replace all the piping, and sea cocks while you're at it. I would guess that something like this killed your last toilet.

[michaelchadd]

Is the plumbing any different when changing from an electric marine toilet to a manual marine toilet ?? Can I just attach the existing hoses from the electric toilet to the new manual toilet??

[kayakerChuck]

I winterized my Jabsco electric head conversion 29200 with faulty antifreeze. It froze and broke everything that can break in the motor/pump unit.

I never had it clog, but I'm very tired of gaskets that only last about one year, then go bad at the worst possible time. And waking up the whole boat with every flush was not great.
The manual version was a never ending headache, too, but with different headaches.

I'm currently installing an Airhead. We'll see how that works...

[Bowdrie]

Posting this "tongue-in-cheek".
If you get a Raritan Crown it will use lots of electrical power and make noise like Niagra Falls.
But it just might grind-up and pass a whole cow.
On a more serious note, the Tecma units do pretty well.

[michaelchadd]

Planning to remove old electric Jabsco toilet and replace with a new manual Jabsco toilet
Question? Will the plumbing remain the same? Can I just hook up the same hoses to the new manual toilet?

[boatpoker]

Poop, urine, salt water & electricity mmmh?

My first boat more than 30yrs ago had an electric head. That was gone the first season.

Manuals are easy to maintain and rebuild every 5-7yrs (full time onboard) it only takes an hour.

I would never go back to electric after seeing a couple of thousand problematic rusty electrical messes. Your mileage may vary

[Na Mara]

After repeated failures of both electric toilets that I could not fix myself I junked the both of them and switched them out with Jabasco twist and lock manual ones. Easy to fix and no drain on power or fresh water are my three big desiderata for toilets. Electric toilets are neither of the former and are often not even the latter.

The twist and lock feature is important if you have a gravity emptied blackwater tank. Without the twist and lock, when the tank gets full (which it will rapidly do if you are pumping the lines clear as you should), the level of waste will be over the level of the pump out from the toilet in the tank. The line then back fills to the bowl. The only thing stopping effluent flowing back into the bowl at this point is the aptly named joker valve. This is the single worst piece of design in the yachting world. It is meant to be a one way valve. It isn't. With the twist and lock you have a backup to the joker to prevent slow backflow, without it you will regularly face black water in the toilet bowl if you use the holding tanks to any extent. With the twist and lock any regularly used toilet will be fine even with the holding tank close to full.

Regular service of the manual Jabascos is key to a happy life, but they are so simple and easy to completely strip down and repair that this is an idiot proof task that takes less than half an hour per toilet. Joker valves need changing every 6 weeks or so (don't believe the manual on this, carry lots of them as spares and treat them like service materials).

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Na Mara

Joker valves need changing every 6 week or so (dont beleive the manual on this, carry lots of them as spares and treat them like service materials).

Over 30yrs and I've only replaced one joker valve. Once a year I remove it and soak it overnight in vinegar, wash of the crust and reinstall. Perhaps your diet is different

[Na Mara]

Originally Posted by michaelchadd

Planning to remove old electric Jabsco toilet and replace with a new manual Jabsco toilet
Question? Will the plumbing remain the same? Can I just hook up the same hoses to the new manual toilet?

Yes the plumbing and mounts are identical depending on the model.