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Old 11-02-2020, 06:13 PM   #81
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Same here.

Three issues.

One by a guest who put paper towel down the loo. Asked if they had and they said no so I plunged with no luck. After they went for a walk I open the ball and reached in - and voila!

Water leak when people leaned forward to wipe on the bowl. That was a loose band holding the two parts together and needs the drill to tighten. EZPZ when we realized.

Last one, a hose came off just after the vacuum tank. That was an easy fix, but a hell of a mess! However having had three exploding kids that sort of stuff doesn't actually bother me much!
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Old 11-02-2020, 07:41 PM   #82
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City: Gig Harbor
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heap View Post

Now I have to put my geek hat on. Some people seem to be perfectly happy with their VF, others have had continual problems. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground or consistent reason for failure. Why is that? What are the differences in:
- Construction?
- Installation?
- Operational use?
- Maintenance practices, or lack thereof?
- Hacks and secrets?
- Luck?
- Number of candles lit at Catholic Churches?
Sounds like the VF was installed properly in your boat since issues were minimal and self induced.

The frequency of use or lack of use can contribute to issues. If infrequent use, run some water through it once in a while. I pour the contents of the dehumidifier water collection tank into the toilet up to the rim and hold the pedal down until the water is pumped completely out of the bowl couple times a month during off season.

Also when pumping out, pour water down the toilet and flush it through. VF users don't flush enough water during use in order to extend time between pump out. If you are pumping out the holding tank frequently, use more water to flush by lifting the pedal to add water.

Frequent use like livaboard may cause parts to wear faster. Maybe.

Once a year or two depending on how much use, I do a through cleaning. I pour uncloric acid into the bowl with pump off, water switched off, pedal held down until it will not accept more liquid. Turn the pump on for one or two seconds to get the acid into the pump. Top up the acid to the rim with pedal down. Leave it overnight.

Next day, turn the water back on and flush the toilet several times to pump all the acid into the holding tank and to flush the innards with fresh water. Leave the acid in the holding tank for a couple days before you pump out and the acid will clean the tank.

The uncloric will clean the calcium and other yutz from the bowl, holes under toilet bowl rim, hoses or pipe to vacuum generator, vacuum generator tank, pump housing, bellows and the duckbills. The uncloric acid will not harm any metal, rubber or plastic in the VF.

I do the above cleaning prior to disassembling any toilet system. The innards will be sparkling clean and no odor.

The uncloric acid is available from Marine Sanitation in Seattle. It comes as a powder in a small plastic jar so shipping is minimal. Each jar is mixed with a gallon of water. Order more than you need, unless you can calculate the amount required to fill toilet, hoses and VG. The acid is around $8 per jar.

My VF system is now 20 years old. I do the uncloric acid flush every one to three years, depending on usage, replace duckbills every 5 years (the ones I take out look serviceable). At 10 years, I replace duckbills, bowl seal. At 20 years, I replace bowl seal, ball, shaft, cartridge and water valve on the toilet. Also the duckbills and bellows on the VG.

Less than $250 for parts and it will be like a brand new system.

If Sandpiper had two toilets instead of one, I would wait until the system started to misbehave before replacing parts. The uncloric flush really does a good job at keeping things flowing well. I would carry some spares.

Leaking duckbills are usually debris caught in the opening that will eventually dislodge itself. Persistent leaking may be calcium build up in the duckbill which the uncloric acid will dissolve.

Out of all the service calls we went on and all the VG's serviced, less than 5 were bad or worn out duckbills. Duckbills can last a long time. I've seen duck bills last 15 years or more on clients systems.

Most of the issues were caused by misuse - too much toilet paper/solids, and foreign objects. And poor installation - too long a hose run, tight bends or kinked hose, hose running through engine compartment and the heat collapsing hose, "Y" valves, inadequate holding tank vents, inadequate wiring and two toilets on one VG.
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Old 11-03-2020, 06:50 AM   #83
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City: Essington, PA.
Vessel Name: Nepidae
Vessel Model: Albin 43 Sundeck
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Vacuflush Toilet

While this isn't an answer to your question I would ask if 1 person's measurement is IO and another is OD?

Also, if you are building the system out you can use PVC or normal septic grade plastic pipe for long runs, connecting hose to ends for connection purposes.

Might make the connecting easier and with pipe, no smells to worry about.

Good luck.
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Old 11-03-2020, 10:07 AM   #84
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We did all new VF installations using white PVC DWV (Drain/Waste/Vent) pipe and long sweep elbows.

And sooth hose cuffs for pipe to hose connections.
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Old 02-01-2021, 06:59 PM   #85
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Just to put a period on the end of my contributions to this sometimes contentious (part of that is my fault) thread, I want to say that I finally have my head working perfectly. The nagging, difficult to diagnose issue turned out to be some sort of invisible leak in the funnel below the toilet. The other things (duckbills, pedal gasket, etc.) also failed, but the funnel was the one that we struggled to find.


As a recap, after lots of trouble shooting and parts changing, my head was still only holding pressure for 3 1/2 minutes, so I took the vacuum generator unit to Environmental Marine. They put it on the bench, tested everything and found that it was holding pressure. Since they had helped me replace literally everything else in the system in the last year or so, they felt the issue had to be the funnel, so I bought a kit from them and replaced it. They were right, it now holds pressure indefinitely, (hallelujah!).


As per their request, I took the old funnel in to them to check out. They held it up to a light but found no visible leaks of any kind. They said they have seen this two other times in 25 years.


I'm just glad my head is finally working correctly. It's been 8 years.


Thanks for all of the useful suggestions from the forum.
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