HeadMistress
Well-Known Member
Re: Macerators
Graham wrote (in a thread far far away): "The Jabsco instructions dictate the location of their macerator to be on the outlet of the holding tank. Would it not be better to locate it on the outlet of the toilet so that all solids, whether they go to sea or to holding tank, are reduced to a mush?"
I appreciate that evacuating a toilet would require the macerator to run at the same time as the toilet is pumped (although the macerator might have enough suck to open the toilet non-return valve there is still the need to suck in flushing water), but would not this be kinder to the sea when pumping overboard and help the bacteriological action when the holding tank is used?
Nope...a good theory, though.
A macerator pump moves 12 gal/minute...you can't pump a toilet fast to enough to keep up with it, which would result in a lot of fried impellers in the macerator pump. Pumping a bit, then running the macerator for just a few seconds would risk a back up AND a fried impeller. If the macerator has enough pull to evacuate the bowl without pumping, it'll also pull all the rubber bits in the toilet pump out of whack.
Pureeing solid waste doesn't make it any more environmentally friendly...the bacteria count is the same...pureeing it just spreads it out over a wider area faster, which makes it LESS "friendly" to the waters around your boat. Solid waste is 75% water to begin with...going thorugh the joker valve in the toilet (assuming the joker valve is replaced often enough for the slit to remain a slit instead of a gaping hole) breaks it up enough that it dissolves very quickly in the sea or the tank--which really makes a macerator pump unnecessary for tank dumping either...and besides, unless you have a lower digestive tract problem, 90% of your flushes are only urine anyway, which doesn't need pureeing. But you'd still have the macerator in the way to deal with EVERY time you used the head.
So while it's an interesting idea--and not the first time I've heard it, either...it's just not a workable one. And you'd be just as well off--even better off--with a good quality manual diaphragm pump that can also double as an emergency bilge pump to dump your tank at sea.
(Why is this showing up as new thread instead of attaching to the "macerator" thread???)
Graham wrote (in a thread far far away): "The Jabsco instructions dictate the location of their macerator to be on the outlet of the holding tank. Would it not be better to locate it on the outlet of the toilet so that all solids, whether they go to sea or to holding tank, are reduced to a mush?"
I appreciate that evacuating a toilet would require the macerator to run at the same time as the toilet is pumped (although the macerator might have enough suck to open the toilet non-return valve there is still the need to suck in flushing water), but would not this be kinder to the sea when pumping overboard and help the bacteriological action when the holding tank is used?
Nope...a good theory, though.
A macerator pump moves 12 gal/minute...you can't pump a toilet fast to enough to keep up with it, which would result in a lot of fried impellers in the macerator pump. Pumping a bit, then running the macerator for just a few seconds would risk a back up AND a fried impeller. If the macerator has enough pull to evacuate the bowl without pumping, it'll also pull all the rubber bits in the toilet pump out of whack.
Pureeing solid waste doesn't make it any more environmentally friendly...the bacteria count is the same...pureeing it just spreads it out over a wider area faster, which makes it LESS "friendly" to the waters around your boat. Solid waste is 75% water to begin with...going thorugh the joker valve in the toilet (assuming the joker valve is replaced often enough for the slit to remain a slit instead of a gaping hole) breaks it up enough that it dissolves very quickly in the sea or the tank--which really makes a macerator pump unnecessary for tank dumping either...and besides, unless you have a lower digestive tract problem, 90% of your flushes are only urine anyway, which doesn't need pureeing. But you'd still have the macerator in the way to deal with EVERY time you used the head.
So while it's an interesting idea--and not the first time I've heard it, either...it's just not a workable one. And you'd be just as well off--even better off--with a good quality manual diaphragm pump that can also double as an emergency bilge pump to dump your tank at sea.
(Why is this showing up as new thread instead of attaching to the "macerator" thread???)
