Tecma Toilets Water Usage

[nvespa]

Does anyone know the water usage of a Tecma electric toilet (circa 2004) and how it compares to other similar, current toilets, such as the Raritan Marine Elegance, new Tecma Silent Plus 2G, and Dometic Masterflush?

Norfolk dealer suggests the Vacuflush 4800 series to get the most bang for the buck and extend the time between pumpouts. Not sure I want to go that route, so I'd like to see if new electric macerator toilets would use less water than my existing units.

Main reason for looking to change toilet, though, is to get an elongated bowl for more comfort. Fewer pumpouts would be a bonus.

Thanks!

Nick

 

[Comodave]

I don’t like the Vacuflush heads. Eventually they will leak vacuum. And finding the leaks can be a PITA and expensive if you are throwing parts at it trying to fix it. Also they use more water than you think.

IMO the best head on the market is the Raritan Marine Elegance. With the 4 way flush panel, optional, you can select how much water you are going to use for the flush. You can select, regular flush that is 3 fills and 3 flushes, small flush which is 1 fill and 1 flush, fill only and flush only without any water. And you can program the length of each fill if you want more water or less water during the fills. One of the really nice things is that you can use either 1” or 1.5” discharge hoses. Our boat had a really long discharge hose. I just threw out the leaking Vacuflush head that came with the boat and put in a ME. I used 1” discharge hose. It is 36’ long so with the 1” hose it takes about 1.5 gallons to fill the hose. That length of 1.5” hose will hold 3.3 gallons. So it will take much less water to flush the discharge hose clear. Therefore it will save holding tank capacity. I used the old 1.5” discharge hose to run the new 1” hose inside of it. Worked like a charm. We ran 36’ of hose in less than an hour. Lots of wire pulling lubricant…

You can get a Bluetooth control panel so you don’t have to run a control cable to it from the main circuit board.

With the ME everything except the main circuit board is contained in the head itself. No vacuum pump, no vacuum tank. It saves you room and complexity in the boat. I have put ME heads in our last 3 boats and never had to work on any of them. I took out 2 Vacuflush heads in those boats.

The ME comes in 12 volt or 24 volt. I put a 24 volt one in our current boat and used the bow thruster batteries to power it since they are close to the head.

Also the ME is a lot cheaper than a Vacuflush.

 

[HeadMistress]

I'm a huge fan of the Raritan Marine Elegance--which, btw, is the top rated macerating toilet--but not the 4 option Smart Flush panel for a couple of reasons: 1. It uses a circuit board which needs computer parts like semiconductors. Another supply chain mess like the one that kept the icemaker in my in fridge offline for two months waiting for a semiconductor and you'll be using buckets of water to flush the toilet! (Granted, circuit board problems are VERY rare, but "anything that can go wrong...") 2. That the "normal" flush option fills and flushes the toilet 3 times, filling up a holding tank a lot faster than necessary. How many landlubber guests would NOT think that "normal" is always the button to push?

So I recommend the 3 option "Momentary Flush" instead. It lets the user bring water in and hold it (which should always be done ahead of solids), "dry" flush, and simultaneously bring in water and flush. User controls the amount of water in and how long to flush...and all without a circuit board.

Just my own $.02 worth....

(As for the blue tooth option...someone who has the tech skills could drive his dock neighbor nuts flushing his toilet at random hours.)

--Peggie

 

[jimdavi]

I have a later model 2019 tecma silence plus 2g and it’s great. I can adjust the flow per flush at the back of the control panel. There is an adjustment screw. I’m set at about .4/flush.

 

[HeadMistress]

Assuming you have just a single flush button, upgrading it to a 3 option flush, will allow you to bring in water--as much or as little as you think is needed for a particular flush--and hold it in the bowl, "dry" flush , and the same simultaneous water in, bowl contents out that a single button provides. Nothing to set, water flow for each flush is controlled by how long you depress the "water in" or simultaneous in-out button.

Jabsco makes one and so does Raritan, however Raritan's "momentary flush" can only be used on toilets designed to use pressurized fresh water.

--Peggie

 

[nvespa]

Thanks, all. We have a two button panel, currently. Looking like I'll stay away from the Vacuflush system and look to an elongated bowl toilet.

Would it be worth considering a Purasan MSD? Our home port is in Norfolk, so no issues with NDZ at this time.

Thanks!

 

[crowleykirk]

Nordaven uses Raritan Marine Elegance

I'm researching heads as well for our new Helmsmen build. I'm leaning on one composting toilet. We will have two heads.

If you go to the Nordhaven website you can research every single product they put in their vessels. My thinking is these are top of the line and if Nordhaven is using it it's probably been vetted to a high degree. At least that is my thinking.

 

[twistedtree]

I am much less enamored with Techma toilets than I once was. On long discharge runs, the venting in the toilet that is supposed to admit air behind the flush water is completely inadequate. When you flush, it pulls air through the trap water and gurgles post-flush. Techma was useless trying to fix it. And I had a control panel fail within the warranty period, and support was among the worst I have ever encountered. Their tech support phone line is manned for 2hrs per day - that's it. And email support takes multiple days to get a reply, and they just say to go to a dealer. But unless you bought from that dealer, they want nothing to do with you, so with a factory installed toilet, nobody wants to help. It's unlikely I would buy anything from them again.


I have no first hand experience with them, but I would look into Raritan as another option for a macerating toilet.


Perhaps others can chime in about Raritan experience?

 

[fgarriso]

We had Raritan Marine Elegance. We were not very happy with them. They didn't always flush very well. The controller on the treatment tank had faults quite often. I guess they all have their problems.

 

[crowleykirk]

Yeah, the Taritan is what will go in our Helmsmen build. Or whatever we want. Since there are two heads we are seriously considering one composting toilet. I'm going to order one soon for home so we can use it and check it. Sounds weird in such a nice vessel but if it gives us less headaches maybe it's worth it. I'd still have all the necessary plumbing installed and still have one "marine" head.
Does anyone have a better solution or recommendation as to what marine head is actually a good one? I suppose they are come with their issues.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Our current boat came with one macerator and one manual toilet. PO said he wanted a toilet he could trust so he put in the manual one. It's the one we have the most trouble with.

 

[fgarriso]

I guess they are better than a bucket over the side.

 

[twistedtree]

After venting (no pun intended) about Techma, I should say that when the toilets work, which is most of the time, they are excellent. But if you have a problem, service is abysmal.

 

[mvweebles]

I'm researching heads as well for our new Helmsmen build. I'm leaning on one composting toilet. We will have two heads.

Perhaps the most controversial decision I made when refitting Weebles was to go with a compost head (single head boat, went with Natures Head). There is a considerable acceptance period when getting used to using it, but having used it full time for a while, I'd do it again. There is one phrase you will never hear aboard Weebles: "OMG!! The head is broken!!!"

You have to be honest about what problem you're trying to solve. For us, I spent 25 years of scattered rebuilding and parts-replacement of our previous head system and finally decided I wanted out. Mission accomplished.

The limitations of a compost head:

1. The Ick Factor. Many people are not comfortable with the concept.

2. Does not scale well - 2-3 people full time is about max, though I've heard of a family of 6 using one. Can't imagine how that would work. The issue is the solids' tank that would require changing way too often.

The combination of these two have two important implications. First, resale value. I normally don't care, but given you're looking at a new build and significant cost, I would recommend having Helmsman do all the prep for a Marine Elegance head, including wiring, capped thru-hull, space for holding tank, etc. so a future owner can easily revert to traditional marine head.

Second, guests. When we finally get to Florida, we'll have day trips with several guests aboard. Guests have a hard enough time with Marine heads let alone a composter.

For me, I would definitely go the route of a compost head in the master stateroom, and a Marine Elegance in the day-head space.

In closing I'll reiterate that I know the concept is really bizarre to many, but after a short time, it's just normal to use. Different, but normal. Something to get used to.

Peter

 

[crowleykirk]

Thank you Peter

Hi Peter, thank you for your detailed post. That is exactly what Van said at Helmsmen. Have everything plumbed and keep the day head as a normal marine head.

I think what we are going to do is purchase a composting toilet for home. We have room in our master bath. Be a good backup toilet as where we live we can lose power and water. Small town in the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Hence why we need another boat. Having issues with altitude but that's another story.

For us a boat is cheaper than a condo near the water and much more fun. We are experienced boaters and once upon a time I was a certified tech on yachts. So mechanically I'll do all of our service work unless it gets to ugly and heavy.

I see Nordhaven's use Tecma fresh water flush only 24 volt systems on their vessels. But have read they have issues as well.

I suppose just like anything with moving parts there is going to be problems. So great to chat with you folks here, lots of experience and sharing.

Thank you,
Kirk

 

[HeadMistress]

I am much less enamored with Techma toilets than I once was.

That's prob'ly because Tecma hasn't been the game-changing Italian toilet it was when they introduced in the '90s.Thetford has been building it ever since they acquired the US rights to it about 10 years ago



--Peggie

 

[Woodstock]

We removed our two VacuFlush systems 18 months ago and replaced them with Marine elegance. We've been on board for about 4 months over the past year and our average days on board between pump outs has increased by about 50% so these are a big improvement!

 

[Comodave]

We removed our two VacuFlush systems 18 months ago and replaced them with Marine elegance. We've been on board for about 4 months over the past year and our average days on board between pump outs has increased by about 50% so these are a big improvement!

Agree 100%. With our ME heads we use less water than with the Vacuflush. And with the 1” discharge hose it takes way less water to flush the discharge hose clean.

 

[Bud]

My Techma/ Thetford toilets have a water volume adjustment on the back side of the control panel

Bud

 

[Comodave]

I can modify all the flush settings on my ME head too. I never have because the default settings seem ok.

 

[Henk]

Since I bought my Pontus in November 2021 I have had nothing but problems with the Dometic vacuum generator and with the toilets. That's why I started searching the forum here to see if others are having issues with this. Thanks mainly to Commodave, I have realized that I have to throw everything out: the 2 toilets and the vacuum flush generator.
After a little research it turns out that the Raritan ME toilets cost €1,850 ± $2,015 in Europe and are not in stock. Jabsco and Tecma are readily available and can be purchased for half this price. Is it that the Raritan ME toilets are so much better than Jabsco or Tecma or is this only because they have to be imported into Europe?

 

[Delfin]

After venting (no pun intended) about Techma, I should say that when the toilets work, which is most of the time, they are excellent. But if you have a problem, service is abysmal.

Ours has worked without issue for 15 years.

 

[Comodave]

Since I bought my Pontus in November 2021 I have had nothing but problems with the Dometic vacuum generator and with the toilets. That's why I started searching the forum here to see if others are having issues with this. Thanks mainly to Commodave, I have realized that I have to throw everything out: the 2 toilets and the vacuum flush generator.
After a little research it turns out that the Raritan ME toilets cost €1,850 ± $2,015 in Europe and are not in stock. Jabsco and Tecma are readily available and can be purchased for half this price. Is it that the Raritan ME toilets are so much better than Jabsco or Tecma or is this only because they have to be imported into Europe?

I think I spent about $1K for our current one. It has the Bluetooth for communication between the head and the control board so all you need is power to the flush panel. Not sure how much extra the Bluetooth was but it was worth it. Too bad for you guys in Europe. I wouldn’t have guessed it cost that much more there.

 

[guy with a boat]

We’ve had Tecma toilets in our boat that have been flawless for 6 years. I haven’t had to seek tech support so no personal experience there. I have never used a Raritan ME but these Tecmas are the best boat toilets I have encountered.
Vacuflushes are a bad memory.