jabsco toilet

[chrisarvor]

i have a jabsco manual pump toilet 10 months old and the pump is becoming very stiff .
is ther away of lubricating the pump in situ or does it does to be stripped. any help?

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[davidwf]

Try a drop of vegetable oil in the bowl. It works wonders.

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[Benbow]

pump vegetable oil through at regular intervals.

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[Close hauled]

Try drinking senapod oil at regular intervals.

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[HeadMistress]

That's doing it the hard way...'cuz any lubricant thin enough to be poured down the toilet just washes out again in a few flushes, so you're fighting a never-ending battle of continually pouring oil into the toilet to keep it flushing smoothly. And waiting till it starts to get stiff and squeak to add oil only causes seals, o-rings and gaskets to wear out much faster.

All new toilet pumps leave the factory slathered with thick teflon grease, which though water soluble, is VERY slow to dissolve and the reason why new toilets rarely if ever need any lubrication for at least a season, sometimes two, depending on how often the boat is used. It's only a 15 minute job once a year to replace it, and if done as PREVENTIVE maintenance, will extend the life of the seals etc by years:

Buy a tube of teflon grease...available from most auto parts stores and/or swimming pool supply stores. Remove the top of the pump...depending on the age of the toilet, that may require removing 6 screws, or only a hex nut. Put a HEALTHY squirt of the grease into the pump...pump a few times to spread it all over the inside of the cylinder...repeat...replace the top. You're done till next year.

That same grease is also recommended to lubricate y-valves and seacocks, btw.

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[boatmike]

Totally agree yet again Peggie! The rest of you listen to this girl she really is an expert on the subject. Veggie oil only adds to the problem by acting as a diluting agent for the teflon grease washing it away even sooner....
I re-lubricate every year and never have a squeak!
Mike

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[SlowlyButSurely]

Peggie,

I don't doubt that your teflon grease works very well but it's an awful lot of work when the vegetable oil solution is so easy and works so well. It doesn't have to be vegetable oil, olive oil or butter or anything else that comes to hand works just as well. Just bung a teaspoonfull down every so often and it keeps the thing working fine.

If you are on a drying mooring and inadvertantly pump the toilet when the tide is out you will find that mud is extremely effective at removing all trace of grease from the pump. You don't want to have to strip the pump every time this happens, believe me!

Our Jabsco toilet is now 16 years old and still going strong.



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[steve28]

I just put a squirt of washing up liquid in and two pumps later and the stiffness and squeakes are gone and it lasts for about 4 weeks !

steve

Ps. It smells good too

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[Birdseye]

Just do what you're told or the Headmistress will come and chastise you! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[HeadMistress]

Nah...If someone would rather take a "Sisyphus-ian" approach to head lubrication (Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to spend eternity pushing a rock uphill) instead instead of spending 10 minutes once a year to do it, it's ok with me.

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[Benbow]

I would not dare take-on Peggy over heads maintenance , but I am surprised by that advice. I know of a boat with 2 Jabsco heads which is at sea from March to October with 18 people on board 6 days out of 7. This means the heads are in almost continual use. The only maintenance they get during the season is a weekly dose of vinegar and oil. Peggy, do you think that for such heavy use, an annual dose of Teflon grease would substitute for the oil treatment? or would it need replacing regularly? I guess it would still need vinegar to prevent build-up of Ca salts, so we may as well fling some oil down at the same time ?



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[HeadMistress]

While annual--or at most semi-annual--lubing with teflon grease should be adequate for most people, any boat in constant use for 6 months with 18 people is hardly typical!

The average adult uses the head (or the lee rail) 5x/day...that would mean a couple living aboard full time (not going ashore to work 5 days a week) would flush one toilet no more than about 70x/week...18 people aboard continuously would flush the two toilets a combined 90x/DAY. Which means those toilets get more use in a week than most get in a year....the equivilant amount of use in those 6 months to 4 1/2 years of use by a full-time liveaboard couple.

So it's obvious that only an annual lubrication isn't enough on that boat...but it's unlikely that any weekly dose of oil actually lasts more than day with that much use either...it should be done daily to provide any protection against seal and o-ring wear. A monthly does of Teflon grease WOULD be adequate, however--and prob'ly cost less. But since they almost certainly replace the toilets every year anyway--their choice of toilets that are cheaper to replace than maintain tells me that...so how often or how well they're kept lubricated is moot ...all that matters is that they provide 6 months of trouble-free use.

However, for the other 99.9999% of people who own boats with manual toilets and don't want to replace them every year or two, an annual dose of teflon grease should be more than adequate to keep the head pumping smoothly. Since that's what's in every pump when it leaves the factory, the the best test of how long it should last is, how long after a new toilet is installed does it take for it start to show signs of needing lubrication.

The vinegar is totally different issue. It's purpose isn't to protect the toilet from wear, but only to prevent buildup in the hoses. A weekly cupful should be enough any circumstances to accomplish that...however, if it's not, it should be added more often.

I would not put the oil and vinegar down at the same time. One will only wash the other out.

(Nice try, btw <g>)

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[Metabarca]

How long before someone suggests putting a thousand island dressing down the heads instead of just a humble vinaigrette? Perhaps adding mustard would help make the oil and vinegar combine and also discourage any barnacles on the outlet!

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>

 

[bigmart]

I happen to know that Jabsco supply toilets to 3 boats that get the 6 months 18-24 people service. They have been doing this for a number of years to test out how good/durable their product is. They don't get the vinegar/oil service either. From my experience, of this, I would happily replace my heads with the Jabsco product when the time comes. Their price versus quality is excellent.

Martin

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[mikesharp]

Re: removing the pump top

While agreeing with the use of Teflon grease, the removal of the pump top on a regular basis exposes the real problem with the Jabsco toilet ie the use of self tapping screws in fairly soft plastic as a fastening method. We are in the "more use in a week than most boats in a year" category and we have most pumps failing for this reason than any other.

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[slavkod]

I am thinking to upgrade to electrical flushing. Any experince with this? Will the problem stay the same?

Slavko

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[andyball]

Re: removing the pump top

Agreed.....I fitted two new pump bodys for a friend last year because of this & the screw holes on the new ones were undersized, casuing the screws supplied to bind so much that one of the little plastic posts broke off- Jabsco replaced foc, but still a pain.

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[LadyInBed]

Re: self tappers

I noted this problem with the self tappers, so drilled through and replaced them with s/s nuts and long bolts.

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[HeadMistress]

Electric toilets

Electric toilets (except for a few on which the motor only replaces the pump handle on a manual toilet) don't require any lubrication, slavkod. The motors are sealed, so the only "moving parts" in them are the impellers (intake and discharge) and macerator blade. As long as the toilet is never run dry (without any flush water passing through), the only maintenance required is replacement of the parts in the rebuild kit every 5-6 years.

Btw...where are the Jabsco toilets sold in the UK made? Are they imported from the US, or made somewhere in Europe or the UK?

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[Robin]

Thank you for your advice, ours came with our boat 2 years ago and just started sticking, we hadn't had a Jabsco before. I just got back from the boat and it took only 10 minutes to dismantle and grease it with teflon grease as suggested, though we have the version with a nut which I guess makes it easier.

Where are you based in the USA?

Thanks again

Robin

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