Manual Head vs electric

[jamrocksailing]

Hi,

We currently have a manual pump head and looking to change it to an electric. For us its fine as a family, its really if we have friends on the yacht, just easier for them.

Be good to hear some pros and cons for both before we make the final decision.

Look forward to the responses.

[a64pilot]

Manual is easier to repair, likely less expensive, doesn’t use electricity, people will argue that an electric head doesn’t use much, but not much adds up over time.
I ended up with a Raritan macerating head with the smart flush control, from a difficult to mess it up perspective the smart flush is the way to go, push a button and it runs it’s program

[rslifkin]

A good manual head is simple, but the macerating electric units are even simpler. A basic pump to feed water in, and an impeller with a macerator blade on the front to pull things out and push it through the joker valve. Not a lot of complication or failure / clog points there.

[sailorboy1]

I replaced my basic manual Jabsco head 7 months ago with a fresh water Raritan elegance head (about $950). So far it has been great and maintenance free. My manual head was costing $200/year to maintain, which was as much as new one.

Pluses
-nicer more comfortable
-fresh water = less odor and scale
-can use regular TP, even the nice stuff and it just chews it up and flushes it away, even the flushable wipes
-easy to use

Minuses
-more $$ up front
-uses fresh water (I would say about 15 gal/wk for the 2 of us)
-uses power (if that is a problem you have other issues, but that is how I knew my batteries were dying)

7 months in and we feel it was a good upgrade

[Doubleplay]

Stay away from freshwater electric head unless you have a water maker and want to save couple thousand dollars. Fresh water usage adds up specially when you have guests who have no idea and it's an another thing to draw on the batteries.

[JPA Cate]

I actually would stay manual, especially for guests. It is that guests are prone to want to flush oddments that boat owners know better than to flush. It is why some of us have the you plug it up, you un-plug it rule, and the nothing that hasn't been through your digestive and excretory systems, except toilet paper rule, too. I'm thinking that the more different the toilet is from a household facility, the better the guests will do with it, because its unfamiliarity will help them to be careful. Have fun writing your instructions for them, and post them very easy to see in the head.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

and here I just posted we use maybe 15 gal/wk with our freshwater head

in fact when we were in Bahamas were found that a 50 gal tank only lasted 6 days instead of the 7 days we used to get back in the manual head days

But you know what you do when you have a fresh water flush head and you get low on fresh water and need to conserve? You get a bucket of seawater and pour it into the bowl and flush it.

[rslifkin]

Ann has a good point on making people pay attention to what they put in there. However, the good electric heads are a lot more tolerant of what goes in them, being that it all gets chopped up. The rule of thumb I follow for mine is basically: it'll process anything that came out of a human plus however much toilet paper you needed afterward. Anything else goes in the trash. So far, I haven't found a human capable of clogging the thing (which could not be said for its manual predecessor).

[Tillsbury]

I replaced a manual jabsco with the jabsco quiet flush. Freshwater version. Would never go back. As well as being so much simpler in components it’s utterly different for guests or visitors. And remember that small children have no hope of using a manual system if you have those on board ever.

I was going to keep one manual head, but this one is so much more reliable and easier than the manual that I’ll be changing my master cabin head too.

[Chayal]

We have an electric head in our Columbia. It’s an Spx Johnson and it works quiet well. This has the built in macerator. The only thing we regret is not buying the bigger size.

I have a manual jabsco on our samson. We prefer the manual just because of the power consumption.

Personal preference. They’re both easy to service. It does seem like it’s easier to get parts for the manual jabsco though.

In the event of a power loss though... the manual one will still work.

[flyingfin]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

A good manual head is simple, but the macerating electric units are even simpler.

Hmmmm,.......... motors, electrical connections, switches, battery supplied power cables - all operating in a wet marine environment, and most buried in the bilge. Tell me again where the simpler stuff is?

[Lost Horizons]

Raritan Elegance is one of the best modern conveniences one can have on a boat. It is like going from an ice box to a refrigeration. I did not notice any power consumption increase vs a manual Jabsco on the previous boat, which is to be expected since the motor runs only about a minute or two a day, but the water use increase was noticeable (Jabsco was a raw water model). It has to be a watermakers’ manufacturers conspiracy.

[CassidyNZ]

In all the years I have had a blocked manual toilet on the boat just once. That was when a guest ignored the instructions and used a wad of toilet paper comprising about ten squares and it couldn’t pass through the skin fitting. Transferring the end of the pipe to a bucket in the bilge without much mess was quite easy.

I’ve also had an electric toilet (delivery boat) block for the same reason. The difference was that the macerator at the base of the toilet had to be stripped to clear the blockage resulting in the whole heads/shower floor being covered in a brown, foul-smelling coat. As nobody else on the boat was able to even approach the head, it was mine to fix and clean.

The boat owner told me afterwards that she had long before banned the use of toilet paper through the toilets due to continual blocking and insisted that paper be deposited in a small bin in the heads. I can’t think of a process more unhygienic on a boat. Won’t allow it on my boat.

I’ll stick to my manual toilets.

[mvweebles]

I purchased a Groco Model K almost 25 years ago. If had hundreds of people on my boat for fireworks, day trips, etc. Every trip starts with a lesson, and usually one or two refresher during the day. I chose manual because I have one head on my boat.

The Groco K is more or less to the venerable WC Skipper. An expensive and lauded head.

I hate it. Tired of raw water. Tired of rebuilding it.

Go with the Elegance or a Tecma.

Peter

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My manual head was costing $200/year to maintain, which was as much as new one.

I routinely replace the O-rings every year (maybe $5) and maybe every 2 years I replace the joker valve ($20?). You must have been buying the Jabsco service kit every year?

Or maybe you don’t have Jabsco.