Head Help

We were on the boat last week and the electric head would not pump enough water to properly flush. At first is didn't pump hardly any water. Cleaned the rim of the bowl and some water would flow but no very much. Put a cup of two of water into the bowl and it would flush when needed. Not sure what type of head it is. Could not find a name or model number anywhere. New to having a head on my boat so I'm not sure how to proceed. Looking for where to start. Here are a few pictures.

Thanks for the help.

It's a late model Raritan Crown. If it's still set up for raw water flush, the problem could be failure or malfunction of the impeller on the raw water suction pump (at the back of the motor). Might be stuck and not spinning when the motor turns. Also, if the head is indeed a sea water flush, there might be a build up of deposits inside the rim. I solved this by removing the bowl and soaking it in a tub of white vinegar for a couple of days. I guess any of the lime remover products would also work (and more quickly). After the deposits soften, flush the rim with high pressure fresh water. Could also be blockage in the intake through hull or hoses.

I converted both heads on our boat to fresh water flush...removed the raw water pumps, hooked up the intake water hoses to fresh water system via a Jabsco solenoid/vaccum breaker valve (after soaking and cleaning the inside passages of the bowls). Quiet, low power consumption, super pumping action without the drag from the raw water impeller.

The fact that it flushes OK with water added to the bowl says the black water side is OK. By the way, the Raritan web site has excellent trouble shooting info.

skidgear said:

It's a late model Raritan Crown. If it's still set up for raw water flush, I converted both heads on our boat to fresh water flush...removed the raw water pumps, hooked up the intake water hoses to fresh water system via a Jabsco solenoid/vaccum breaker valve (after soaking and cleaning

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Skidgear

Good points, but in your case are you not boating in fresh water?

PuppyR, I had a head like that in my boat when I bought it. I could have sworn it was a Jabsco. It was so loud, we called it the meat grinder. It didn't last long on my watch before it was replaced with a Jabsco QuietFlush.

If you remove the centerline screws front and back, the bottom shell comes off exposing the pump and hose connections. You might have a blocked intake hose or a blocked strainer, if installed. If you can remove the water intake hose, you should be able to force water or air backwards through the line to exit through the throughhull. If that's clear, you might have an impeller issue. Most of those old pumps can be rebuilt, but I have no experience with rebuilding this model. Or for about $500, you can replace the whole head with a newer, quieter, more water efficient model.

Sunchaser,

Yes, but the water has a high calcium/lime content, so clogging of the small holes in the rim and even in hoses is still an issue. Also a weed problem with intakes in some areas. But the primary reasons to ditch the raw water pump were noise, reliability, and power consumption. The impeller on those older heads "suck" in every sense of the word, which is why the manufacturers switched to diaphragm units on newer designs. Those old Crown heads are great units minus the raw water noise maker/pump.

PuppyR, Skidgear is correct, it is a Raritan Crown toilet. The problem may be as simple as a blocked intake or it could be problems in the pump.

There have been three versions of the Crown. Mac McCoy at Raritan in Ft. Lauderdale can help you with figuring out the problem.
“Mac” McCoy
Service Manager
macm@raritaneng.com

If the fix involves re-building the pump, it might be time to think about up grading to the new Raritan Marine Elegance toilet.

HopCar said:

PuppyR, Skidgear is correct, it is a Raritan Crown toilet.

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Thanks for clarifying that...I stand corrected!

If you have not serviced the unit in a long time it might be best to rebuild it or get a rebuilt exchange unit.

http://www.depcopump.com/datasheets/raritan/Crown_Head_Owners_Manual.pdf

Yes Raritan Crownhead. I have 3 on board. Awesome toilets. I took the bowls home soaked in muratic acid and water to clean the bowls. The fwd cabin head will not draw water. Rebuilt pump blew air back through intake hose. Flushing fine when water is pored in the bowl but bad suction I guess. Would like to see how you fix yours so I can mine.

Sort of sounds like the rebuilt one was running backwards. If that's possible.

No everything put back together like it was taken apart. No electrical was disassembled

Thanks for all the input. I ordered gaskets and impeller kit last night and hope to get the bowl soaking this weekend. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. I now have the Raritan site bookmarked!

PuppyR said:

Thanks for all the input. I ordered gaskets and impeller kit last night and hope to get the bowl soaking this weekend. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. I now have the Raritan site bookmarked!

Click to expand...

What means "get the bowl soaking" ? Remove and submerse? Or...?

-Chris

ranger42c said:

What means "get the bowl soaking" ? Remove and submerse? Or...?

-Chris

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I take it to mean that the toilet bowl needs to be removed from it's mounted location,turned upside down,placed in a tub of the solution,and allow the rim of the bowl to soak.That should loosen and hopefully dissolve any mineral build up in the holes around the inside of the bowl rim.

Ben2go is correct. Was suggested that I soak the bowl in white vinegar for a few days to remove any mineral build up.

Thanks Pup (and Ben).

I asked because coincidentally we've just started (I think) having some inlet flow issues on our freshwater electric head... and one possible cause would be build-up at the inlet (or somewhere between the solenoid/anti-siphon break and the inlet spud) and the small holes around the underside of the rim. I've probed all those small holes (HD zip tie), don't seem to have any build-up. And of course this is a freshwater system, so build-up would be more like lime or iron, maybe; not so much sea critters.

I suspect it's actually the solenoid, sometimes working, sometimes not completely opening the inlet valve. It's relatively new though (Nov 2012), so I'm still thinking about it... before I start disconnecting hoses...

-Chris

ranger42c said:

Thanks Pup (and Ben).

I asked because coincidentally we've just started (I think) having some inlet flow issues on our freshwater electric head... and one possible cause would be build-up at the inlet (or somewhere between the solenoid/anti-siphon break and the inlet spud) and the small holes around the underside of the rim. I've probed all those small holes (HD zip tie), don't seem to have any build-up. And of course this is a freshwater system, so build-up would be more like lime or iron, maybe; not so much sea critters.

I suspect it's actually the solenoid, sometimes working, sometimes not completely opening the inlet valve. It's relatively new though (Nov 2012), so I'm still thinking about it... before I start disconnecting hoses...

-Chris

Click to expand...

PuppyR said:

Ben2go is correct. Was suggested that I soak the bowl in white vinegar for a few days to remove any mineral build up.

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You can of course soak it if you can find a tub big enough for it. But if you cant just turn the bowl up side down and pour in the vinegar or acid and it will sit in the rim and clean out the passages. Just pour some more in every so often and scrub the rim once in a while. If you use a stronger acid than vinegar it only takes about 20 minutes or so to clean out the passages in most case I've found.

Last weekend I worked on the head and found the problem. Two of the threaded sections that the inlet pump bolts attach to had corroded so the pump was moving when operated. Bottom line, decided to replace the lower unit. New one arrives tomorrow. Will install it this weekend. Soaking the bowl in vinegar worked great. There was some sediment that I was able to flush out so the system should work great with new lower unit,