Heads not flushing

[itsonlymoney]

Hi
My Jabasco manual toilet circa 99 did not flush at the weekend. The handle moved but there appeared to be no friction. I took it to bits and looked at the seels which seemed ok. After pumping the handle like hell it suddenly started to work. Do I need a service kit or is there a trick I should know about ie. someone said to put some baby oil down the pan every now and then too lubricate the seels. I am willing to do this but it does seem a terrible waste of baby oil and not my normal usage /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Ian

 

[jfm]

Dunno about your specific problem but service kits are orderable from www.jabscoshop.co.uk

 

[LittleShip]

If it upsets you too much to use baby oil /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif try a drop of cooking oil /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Solitaire]

Ian, this happens to mine on occasions. You need to take the top part of the unit off - where the handle is. The two flaps underneath which open and close can get stuck and they just need releasing. You can buy the top seal unit on its own. I've not found the use of cooking oil or baby oil helps on that particular part. There is no need to take the whole pump unit apart.

 

[HeadMistress]

Does the toilet no longer bring in any flush water, or no longer pump out bowl contents...or both?

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Peggy could be right on the contents of the bowl. Is it a big one? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Marsupial]

Solitare is right, this happens quite a lot. There is a "valve" a piece of rubber with a brass weight riveted to it that gets stuck. Repacing it is not hard but I found that the selftapping screws that hold the pump head on didnt unscrew they sheared off the plastic of the pump body.

Inspection revealled that the body had been modified so that self tappers could be used to hold the top on but the hexagonal indents were still in the underside of the pump body moulding to accept the captive nuts the self tappers replaced.

I drilled out the pump body so bolts would go right through and refitted the head with good old fashioned stainless nuts and bolts - IMHO a much better job.(M3X50mm (I think but cannot be sure))

As for lubrication of any sort once a season I remove the piston and grease it with silicon grease, the operation is much smoother after that.

corr Christmas is over, new year has begun and here we are talking about heads - yes things are getting back to normal!

Cheers


David

 

[itsonlymoney]

Thanks Jfm
Yes it does littleship
Thanks solitaire
It was not pumping in or out headmistress
Yes it is big flying dutchman
Indeed they are Marcupial

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[HeadMistress]

That rubber thingy with a weighted tongue is called a flapper valve...it has essentially the same function as a joker valve. That one has more to do with water coming in than pushing waste out. My guess is, either the seals and o-rings have become too worn to get a good seal against the cylinder wall...or some bit of trash or sea life is caught in the pump that's keeping it from priming as it should.

If the toilet is more than 3 or 4 years old, I'd either rebuild it (replace all the rubber bits--seals, o-rings, gaskets, valves)...or better yet, replace the pump assembly. Jabsco manual toilets, especially those made in the last 5-6 years, are definitely on the flimsy side, so the hardware isn't all that durable...and if your luck is anything like mine, something that isn't in the kit will break shortly after you've rebuilt it. A whole new pump assembly is only about 40% more than the rebuild kit.

Or...bite the bullet and replace the whole thing with a more durable toilet.

 

[Renegade_Master]

Re: Headmistress

Hi Headmistress, I have an electric conversion to the head on My Sealine F36.
what has been a problem is that when one returns from a trip with the boat planing when one turns the knob to flush and pump in more water simultaniously, (clockwise I believe) as apposed to just emptying the bowl, the water takes for ever to come through.

What we have been doing is "priming" the bowl by filling it up with water from the tap, this has resulted in the water finally appearing as the bowl empties.

However yesterday no amount of water in the bowl would result in water coming back just lots of noise? Any ideas.

 

[HeadMistress]

Re: Headmistress

I'm guessing from your description of how it's supposed to work that your toilet is the Jabsco 29200 series conversion? It also sounds like your toilet intake thru-hull may be forward, which puts it out of the water when the boat is on plane...so using the toilet while underway would cause the intake impeller to run dry. However, whether the toilet is used underway or not, traveling with the intake thru-hull out of the water will also cause the toilet to lose prime.

Just pouring water into the bowl wouldn't help it prime because nothing that goes into the bowl is recirculated through the intake...if it did, waste would too.

So I suspect that dry friction heat has finally "fried" your intake impeller--worn the edges to the point where the pump can no longer prime. The immediate cure is a new intake impeller...however, it's just gonna keep happening till the reason the pump loses prime while traveling on plane is corrected. Depending on what's required, that can be more expensive than replacing the toilet with one designed to use pressurized flush water.