Raritan Elegence toilet

At present I have the Raritan elegance head using fresh water from the water tanks. Model 220 HF , I have found out that I use a lot of fresh water and am thinking of if it can be done use sea water. I know I need a pump if it can be done, If so what extra parts would I need to use raw water and then be able to switch over to fresh water.. Thanks for your thoughts

KEVMAR said:

I have found out that I use a lot of fresh water...

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Have you programmed the Raritan unit to use less water?

If so, are you flushing more than you need to?

-Chris

Kevmar what controller do you have?

Raritan does support using the Elegance with a seawater pump. In general, try to make sure your waste lines self-drain as well as possible. The less it takes to get all of the waste out of the lines into the tank, the smaller a flush you can use (fresh or raw water). For fresh water the smaller flush saves water, for both it saves on holding tank capacity.

After having a fresh water flush (Raritan) I would not want to go back to salt water unless absolutely necessary. My 2 cents

I'd have to agree with Charlie. No salt water. You'll possibly end up with funky smells after a day or three.

Another vote for the ME with fresh water only!

Another anti-raw water flush vote. Smelly! I have Raritan SeaEra fresh water flush toilets and I noticed in the owners manual that they can be set up to flush either fresh or raw water by toggling a switch if extra plumbing and hardware is installed. Whether your heads can be so modified you'd have to discuss with Raritan, which has about the best customer service you'll find anywhere. Ask for Greg Morales.

I have a push button control to do the flushing. I just would like the option if im in the ocean to be able to use the raw water and to pump it overboard

KEVMAR said:

I have a push button control to do the flushing. I just would like the option if im in the ocean to be able to use the raw water and to pump it overboard

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It can be done- just time, materials, and money!

http://raritaneng.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/L471vv0915seafresh.pdf

You will need to add the pump for the sea water and the smart flush control. Call Raritan to get the part numbers. You will start to get the smell from dead organisms in the sea water intake hose unless you use the sea water option every day.

I have found that many liveaboards, myself included, and longer term cruisers don't really have an issue with saltwater smell unless the water they are pulling in is pretty odiferous.


This is the assumprion that the toilets are flushed every day or two.


When leaving the boat, the bowls are pumped dry and a tad of fresh water added.


Yes sometimes when returning to a closed up, hot boat there is a bit of odor, but the boat also smells from a lot of other sources too. Within hours, all back to normal.



Heck, just one morning with bacon and the odor lasts longer...I like the smell better, but at some point it needs to go...

Ever thought of adding additional freshwater tank? If you have room it might be easier and maybe about the same $$$ as upgrading the head.

Kevmar,
I am going to take a shot in the dark here. I am guessing that the main problems are how fast your holding tank fills and how much freshwater you use for flushing??
I too am in the camp of staying with freshwater flushes. Having had boats with both (salt and fresh), I can say that any stagnant saltwater will smell after sitting (in the line or bowl) for just a few days. You might already be doing this, but if it's yellow let it mellow and only flush when the bowl is getting somewhat full. Add a deodorant to the bowl after each "pee" to combat any urine smell. I use CP marine toilet cleaner mixed with water for this purpose (works well and good for the tank too). Also, any TP used for urination is put into a garbage can with a lid. Flush a 1/2 bowl of freshwater just before bedtime to "clean out the system". In this way, the holding tank lasts much longer as does the freshwater supply.
Just a thought.

If you in the ocean >3 miles, just pump out the holding tank. Taking a ME to saltwater flush is going backwards to me. You are taking a $700 head and turning it into a $900 head to do the job of a $300 head.

It should be pretty easy to set it up to flush either raw water or fresh water. Flush with raw water most of the time and switch to fresh every once in a while. Almost as good as constant fresh water flush, but not quite.

Call Mac at Raritan’s Fort Lauderdale office and tell him what you want to do. Say hi to him for me. I haven’t talked to him since I retired.

Once it is set up for both, you can use the salt water routinely, then switch to fresh for a couple of flushes before you leave the boat. As long as you are using it several times a day, the salt water won't stink. As long as it's flushed through with fresh before you leave it, it won't stink either (well, no more than usual).

I recently purchased the Raritan Elegance system with the optional controller. My motivation for wanting to go with fresh water was not the smell but rather the salt build up in the hoses. Every couple of years I end up pulling all the hoses and literally banging the salt out of them. Not a nice job and never at a convenient time. I to am concerned with water usage when off dock so I set up a switch over using the raw water wash down pump to supply water when I am off dock. The optional controller is actually set up too work ether way (fresh/salt) having a connection to turn the raw water pump on. My raw water pump has a pressure switch so I simply turn it on and let the pressure switch do the rest.


I am in the process of refinishing the entire head the flush is only part of the project so I have not proved out any of this as yet but spring is coming.

Has anyone replaced a PHII with the ME? What is the difference in footprint? Looking to swap ours out.

ex-sailor said:

Has anyone replaced a PHII with the ME? What is the difference in footprint? Looking to swap ours out.

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Not quite the same, but I swapped a PHEII with a Sea Era (basically the cheaper version of the Marine Elegance) last year. Footprint is similar, but for my install I ended up with the base unit rotated 90* from how the PHEII orients (so the Sea Era base runs front to back). I used the conversion kit, so the PHEII bowl and seat get re-used. I'll probably buy the full kit when I do the other one though, as the new bowl / seat assembly is soft close, my 1980s versions are not.

The SeaEra is a fine toilet, but NOT a cheaper version of the Marine Elegance...The motor, pump and macerator are completely different.

I think you can get an idea of the difference in them--and how the ME's footprint differs from the PHII--by reading the specs in their promo sheets:

Raritan Marine_Elegance Promo.pdf

Raritan SeaEra Promo Sheet sea water version

Seaera_QC-promo.pdf fresh water version


--Peggie

Interesting. I was under the impression that the ME was basically a beefed up Sea Era (without the integral intake pump) from a mechanical perspective and then put into a nicer form factor.

If the ME is an even better toilet, then I'd be scared to stand too close when flushing! The Sea Era already does a great job of inhaling anything a human can put out. Certainly worlds better than the old PHEII, which never seemed to do well with any kind of solids.

We just replaced a sea water flush Jabsco macerator head with a Marine Elegance with the Smart Flush panel. This is the second boat we have put one in and love them. When you order one you have to be careful as most places list the one with the angled back instead of the straight back. The angled back is more for sailboats that don’t have a vertical bulkhead that the head is going against.