Jabsco Head Pump Stiff

The twist and lock pump handle has a recess in its underside to fit the nut which is on the top of the pump. You press the handle down hard onto the nut and turn it at you would a spanner, it unscrews. Clever design and saves messing about.
 
The twist and lock pump handle has a recess in its underside to fit the nut which is on the top of the pump. You press the handle down hard onto the nut and turn it at you would a spanner, it unscrews. Clever design and saves messing about.

Although the downside is that heavy-handed guests who have not listened closely to my "toilet briefing" sometimes unscrew the top when they over-enthusiastically twist the blue handle! :(

Richard
 
When we were long distance sailing we used th Jabsco loo multiple times a day, whenever it became a bit stiff we put vegetable oil in. As said you can use silicone grease but you have to take the head of the pump off and take the pump out to get the grease in. I did it once and didn't bother again, vegetable oil is easier. If you do take the pump out be very careful putting the screws back to avoid a crossed thread, If you do that you will need a new cylinder and head.

You don't need to undo all those screws. The flats on top take a spanner that unscrews the plunger. Living aboard we remove the plunger every 10 days and coat plunger shaft with white grease. Also put a plug of grease on top of plunger in recess. Remarkable difference. Periodically I also put boiling water into the Loo and flush it through. This removes and hard great buildup before a regrease.
 
Having changed the joker you may do well to check for calcium build up in the pipe & ( if you have one) inlet of the holding tank
One other point is to clean the valve assembly at the top of the pump handle. Calcium may be stopping the switch working properly so jamming the valve. A complete service kit, as opposed to just the joker, is not expensive
 
Issues with these loos are something we see a lot of at the yard.
Stiff pumps, cracked housing due to the pump being stiff and the plastic degrades quite fast.
You can spend £40 on a service kit and still have issues.
So we now replace with new almost every time as the price of a new loo is under £100.
When you factor in kit/part costs and man hours to repair/service its a no brainer.
 
We've kept a spare pump on the boat for years. Service the one that is taken out of use (new parts etc for not much money) and shove it in a cupboard for that little emergency, should it arise.
 
Issues with these loos are something we see a lot of at the yard.
Stiff pumps, cracked housing due to the pump being stiff and the plastic degrades quite fast.
You can spend £40 on a service kit and still have issues.
So we now replace with new almost every time as the price of a new loo is under £100.
When you factor in kit/part costs and man hours to repair/service its a no brainer.


Cannot help thinking that sounds like a bit of lazy "garage" mentality
ie. Do not bother to see what the problem is & sort it
just bung a new one in & get it out of the workshop
It is ok because the customer is paying

Oh & if i want a new loo you will supply & fit for £ 100-00 ??????
 
Cannot help thinking that sounds like a bit of lazy "garage" mentality
ie. Do not bother to see what the problem is & sort it
just bung a new one in & get it out of the workshop
It is ok because the customer is paying

Oh & if i want a new loo you will supply & fit for £ 100-00 ??????

I think you've missed the point that was being made. Given the cost of labour plus parts versus the cost of a new pump or new head plus lots less time, it works out cheaper for the customer to have a new pump or new head than to atempt repair. Not lazy, simply cost effective.
 
I think you've missed the point that was being made. Given the cost of labour plus parts versus the cost of a new pump or new head plus lots less time, it works out cheaper for the customer to have a new pump or new head than to atempt repair. Not lazy, simply cost effective.

Practical boat ownership has moved on - for the worse.
 
I think you've missed the point that was being made.

I think the point was understood but questioned. The last point Daydream believer made was to question whether an entire new loo (retail cost over £100) could be supplied fitted for £100. I suspect though that javelin was talking only about replacing the pump (£60 retail). It doesn't take long to fit a service kit to a Jabsco pump once you know what you're doing: the fiddly bit is always reconnecting the hoses which you'd need to do with a new pump, but add in labour at full rate and I understand that the difference new vs complete service kit added wouldn't be much.

However:
1. Environmental cost isn't being considered. I'm aware that the majority of forumites (and presumably javelin's company) don't share my opinions on this but chucking a perfectly good lump of plastic in landfill is not for me
2. How often do you need a whole service kit? If you're a company which deals with a lot of loo pumps it's surely feasible to have trays of the relevant individual parts and replace only those which need replacing, generally at a cost of not much more than a tenner.

I understand that it's an effective model from the business's point of view but I have some sympathy with what Daydream believer is saying.
 
My first answer was probably a little flippant.
When I said "lots", thinking on it we've worked on 9 or 10 this year and roughly half these were the manual jabsco type.
The rest were electric which tend to have poor electrical contacts somewhere or really old ones that have seen better days.
Replacement is always in consultation with the client and then only after weve had a look first.
The main issue with full replacement is getting access to the four mounting bolts/nuts which can be hard on some installations. A heat gun takes care of removing the inlet/outlet pipes in a jiffy again given reasonable access.
From memory at least half the Jabsco loos I've seen this year had issues with the top plastic pump housing rather than just the with seals.
Yup a new pump is around £48 to us plus £30 ish to fit.
Ask the client to choose the above or spend another £20 for a new one instead, the result invariably is to fit a new one.

Daydream, yes for you I'd fit a new loo for £100
Lanka, if it was perfectly good it would not get chucked away.
Not much call for second hand loos but I can think of four or five at the yard that have been kept just in case......
 
I changed both my Jabscos complete for twist and lock versions at £100-odd each. I put the two old pissoirs on ebay and got £40-odd for one and £20-odd for the other.

This could be a stupid question but how to you wrap up a toilet to send it and how much does it cost?

I've had a couple of vacuflush toilets sitting in a shed for 5 years because wrapping them securely would seem to involve an enormous quantity of bubble wrap.
 
This could be a stupid question but how to you wrap up a toilet to send it and how much does it cost?

I've had a couple of vacuflush toilets sitting in a shed for 5 years because wrapping them securely would seem to involve an enormous quantity of bubble wrap.

Errrrr .... you just specify "Collection only" in the eBay advert. It's one of the choices on the eBay website. If that option didn't exist I reckon that selling a boat on eBay would be a trifle problematic. :)

Richard
 
Errrrr .... you just specify "Collection only" in the eBay advert.

Fair enough. I had thought that received wisdom was that that was effectively the "DO NOT BID ON THIS ITEM" button (Boats, cars, horses etc. obviously excepted) but your experience seems to indicate otherwise. Methinks it's time to give the shed's owner a bit of shed space back...
 
Never had any problems shifting stuff on 'collection only' terms, ranging from cars and motorbikes through dive tanks to dinghies. When selling the somewhat smaller but still difficult to transport stuff I usually put a bit in the description saying I'm prepared to hand goods over to a courier at the buyers option, but they have to make all the arrangements and the courier must be prepared to accept an unpackaged item.
 
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