Hi all,
I have a 2001
boat with a Sealand / Dometic vacuflush
toilet system. I am not
liveaboard, but the
toilet gets weekly/fortnightly use.
Recently, the vacuum
pump was cycling on and off; usually giving the toilet another flush with more
water would stop the vacuum
pump.
I decided to change out the 4 duckbill valves. I did that without much fuss and reassembled the pump and it is now not holding its vacuum, shutting down for ~30 seconds then restarting.
So I replaced the vacuum pump bellows and 2 'O' rings on the pump body, as well as the 2 rubber
seals under the toilet bowl. I have also tightened all hose connections at the tank end and silicone sealed the hose going from the toilet into the vacuum tank. I pulled the duckbills and reinstalled them - couldn't see any distortion. I used silicone grease on all threads and O Rings when re-assembling.
The toilet bowl is not losing
water.
However, I have not
solved the problem - the vacuum pump is still starting and stopping frequently (~30 seconds before it restarts).
I put in an isolating switch on the vacuum pump and can now control the situation manually. The toilet flushes normally when the vacuum tank has vacuum.
I have put a stethascope onto the toilet-to-tank hose and it seems to be silent. However, there seems to be lots of air/liquid
noise across the pump inlet/body/outlet.
Any pearls of wisdom out there? It appears to be a vacuum leak around the pump / vacuum tank. And yes, I have read the manual and done what is suggested there.
Ash