TECMA Nano or PLANUS Artic short...

vas

vas

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hello all,

looks like I've had enough with my Johnson/Jabsco type el. toilets on MiToS and I'll get the one on the main heads used by all the others replaced.
Currently (and throughout the summer) slightly blocked, will deal nicely with #1, and v.v.soft #2. Anything else, just forget it.

Anyway I'll dismantle and try to clean it, but tbh the noise it makes when used by someone and I'm half asleep scares me sh1tless (it's less than 2m from my headrest...) and p1sses me off big time!

pedestal is a bit on the small side, but had a look and I'm pretty sure I can alter as in add/chop a bit around it and make a small footprint toilet fit. I can also remove the pedestal floor and only leave the frame or whatever I want, so I can get a short version that has bits of it hanging under the toilet.

I'm currently running 19mm ID (or thereabouts) from the toilet to the black water tank with no diverter valve, means I have to replace that with 39mm pipe, no problems there, should be fairly straightforward and easy - plenty of space under the heads floor to the tank.

JFM and others in here are v.happy with their TECMAs, after a bit of a struggle managed to find dims and it looks like the Nano almost fits.
on the same sort of size, seems that Planus Artic short is a probably slightly better fit, will check tomorrow the printouts of the footprint I managed to get online.

Now, on the Q side.
Who's the main dealer of TECMA??? Seems that Thetford are, am I right? https://www.thetfordmarine.com/us/about-thetford-marine/offices/
Thought they were Italian and was expecting a proper site by someone there (like tecma.com / eu/ it whatever), doesn't seem to be the case!
Should I expect a slightly lower price for the Planus compared to TECMA?
BTW, found their site planus.biz which has all the models and dims, tecma is a bit of struggle and can only get stuff from a 40odd page PDF, drawings are too small there.
Does that difference (if any) reflects on quality?

Having serious problems finding real prices for them and being a fairly heavy item, looks like I have to source locally which maybe a showstopper if they want to charge me a grand for a toilet... So wanted to have prices for these two from UK or IT to compare. Where can I get prices online for 24V versions? Couldn't find on ebay if that's of any help

cheers

V.
 
V, I can't help you directly with your questions, aside from confirming that my long Tecma experience has been pretty good.
I retrofitted 2 of their units to my old boat back in 2001, and they are both still working as in day one.
My current boat has 3 of them, OEM fitted back in 2004, and the same is true. All these 5 units were/are 24V, btw.

The only minor defect that affects them is in the electrovalve for opening/closing the fresh water flow from the onboard circuit, which does get stuck, occasionally.
This usually happens after a long period of lack of use, and most of the times it's just a matter of hitting the thing a bit with a rubber hammer.
Only in one occasion, when this trick didn't work, I had to remove the whole valve and clean it inside.
But I've yet to replace one, so far.

Fwiw, I heard that Planus stuff is equally good if not even better (particularly, more silent), but I have no 1st hand experience on it.

That said, I'm afraid I have no idea about where to source these things and what the current prices are like.
But if you would find an IT contact and you think it could help to give them a call and ask anything using the same language, feel free to ask!
 
thanks P.

got a couple of companies in GR that are the dealers for them, so will call on Tue (holiday tomorrow down here)
finding prices in UK/IT seems to be a bit of a problem atm, we'll see!

V.
 
I don’t think there is any significant quality or functional difference between tecma 2g and planus. Both are miles better than the competition and I’d never spec anything else. Both are a bit quieter than tecma 1g. My brother has both on his boat so easy comparison.

Uk price is about gbp 800 and French price about e900 the last time I checked.

I have a nearly new tecma 1g short, 24v, with the smaller bowl (it’s the elegance not elegance plus) which you can have for free but shipping is probably impossible. I can try to find out. It’s in antibes and I have the original tecma box with lots of polystyrene. Long story why I have it - usual merry go round of boat spare/repairs/swap outs when only a €2c part is needed etc etc :D
 
jfm said:
I don’t think there is any significant quality or functional difference between tecma 2g and planus. Both are miles better than the competition and I’d never spec anything else. Both are a bit quieter than tecma 1g. My brother has both on his boat so easy comparison.

Uk price is about gbp 800 and French price about e900 the last time I checked.

I have a nearly new tecma 1g short, 24v, with the smaller bowl (it’s the elegance not elegance plus) which you can have for free but shipping is probably impossible. I can try to find out. It’s in antibes and I have the original tecma box with lots of polystyrene. Long story why I have it - usual merry go round of boat spare/repairs/swap outs when only a €2c part is needed etc etc :D
Click to expand...

thanks J!

if the 1g is the same size as 2g (which I guess it is!) then it's going to be a struggle to fit in the main heads. Should fit in the master which is not really used a lot and when done it's by us to, so I'm awake and not scared by the noise :rolleyes:
if you do find out, would be interested, if it was in the UK, it would be much easier for me with the freight co I used to ship the stabs down here. Can ask if they can pick things up from SOF though...

Anyway, seems that the nano is the smallest they do now and should fit easily in the main heads. Not seen a 24V version of it though, will ask on Tue.

cheers

V.
 
We replaced our awful Vac units with Planus 2 years ago.
They have worked faultlessly.
I believe that the designers at Planus used to work at Tecma so that is why they are the same.
The only problem that I have had has been the toilet seat coming loose but that might have been me not making sure they were tight when we installed them.

I bought mine from Aquamarine
Try this link https://www.aquamaremarine.com/uk/planus/
or this https://www.aquamaremarine.com/uk/water/planus-marine-toilets/
Prices on the above link.
I'm not sure which version we bought and they seem to have changed the design since.

Aquamarine are based in Turnchapel (Plymouth) next to PMYS (Princess)
They supply Princess and I expect they also supply the other UK boar builders.

Princess have a specual arrangement with them - all the components, pump, water valve and control box are built into the toilet.
When I looked at it, it seemed to me that would be a nightmare to maintain so we (with DJEFABS help) fitted the valves and control boxes in bilges away from the toilet.
It took a little longer - I uprated the cables as well to make sure I didn't overload them.
 
thanks M,

tbh was expecting them to be a tad cheaper...
I'll have to see what prices I'm quoted for them down here as it's not an easy item to ship around!
Built in IT, shipped to UK and then sold to GR sounds like costs would add up a fair bit.

cheers

V.
 
thanks J, I always search them out but forgot this time!

just emailed them, this is the extra low one with the internals hanging under the pedestal, exactly what i'd need, but I guess difficult to fit in normal installations where you don't know what's underneath, or there's not enough space to play...
don't see a lid though, I hope it's not 200quid from tecma :ambivalence:

cheers

V.
 
The bit fit under the wc they don’t go below the floor ( well on mine anyway !)

I notice it says includes fittings. You need to get 100% clear what is included. Valves controller etc as above I didn’t get the controller. No problem just tell me !

They shipped to Mallorca for me
 
J.,

Re toilet sizes, they are the normal (circa 400mm high) and the short (circa 300mm).
Generally unless you're 2m+ you wouldn't want to fit a normal height one on a 120mm pedestal like mine...
Now the short ones are again two types:
The shallow bowl with all bits fitting within that height
And the normal depth bowl where things don't fit so they need some space underneath...

Nano is the most recent and tight version and won't need cutting the pedestal. The coastal rides one seems and older version, don't mind that but have to check what's missing.

Cheers

V
 
reviving the thread,

just received my Tecma elegance short
[pic from their site]

it came as advertised from CR, porcelain + rubber/macerator underneath.
No cover, no solenoid, no dash/control thing which is okay except for the cover...
I'll try to get the cover anyway.

Now, the Q bit (there's always a Q somewhere...) :D

the idea is that:
A. you press the one button, water fills the bowl to a certain level
B. you do your thing :rolleyes:
C. you press the other button the macerator does it's thing bowl empties.

Now, obviously on C you get a bit of A action as in more fresh water comes in, right?

Can someone confirm that I've got that right?

Reason I'm asking is that I've got a few more arduinos gathering dust, and I don't want to have any more overflows in my blackwater tank.
So thinking of setting the control process through a small board with two SolidStateRelays one doing the freshwater solenoid, the other doing the macerator.
Just need to organise the process.
Obviously that's going to be hooked up the NMEA2000 bus and wont operate the thing if blackwater tank is full ?

cheers

V.

PS. see if this gets posted and if the post comes up on top of the post list...
 
vas said:
Can someone confirm that I've got that right?
Click to expand...
100% Confirmed.

Actually, I use the thing in a slightly different way, whenever the boat is moored.
The very simple difference is that we move step "A" at the end, rather than at the beginning.
The idea is that leaving a bit of fresh water at the bottom permanently is better on two counts:
1) reduces the risk of bad smells;
2) keeps any rubber bits and seals inside constantly wet, avoiding hardening/cracks.

But don't ask me to which extent this is better than the usual A/B/C procedure, that leaves the bowl constantly dry.
My own "B/C/A" sequence is only based on my personal train of thoughts, and obviously I never made any scientific comparison between the two alternatives.
But after 20+ years of Tecmas with zero defects (and counting, touch wood!), all I can say is that it worked for me. (y)
 
thanks P and M

P, you are aware there's a non-return valve after the macerator, do you?
actually I'm happy to do the B C A or the A B C

another Q is:
does the button for macerate/clean/empty/whatever needs to be depressed:
1. for as long as you want it to operate, or
2. is it a single push of the button and the thing does a bit of macerating together with a bit of solenoid dropping fresh water and then solenoid closes and the macerator/pump keeps on going so that it empties the bowl?

thinking how to organise the process in my code and what/how many buttons do I press.
For the price of the control box and two button touch screen display I could get a 4in touch screen and present level of fresh water and level of black water tank as well as the buttons to do the toilety things and have a lot of change in the kitty for the second Tecma/Planus...

Ah, and another one, since I don't really like painted wood for a seat cover, (or wood for that mater!) is it best to get a toilet seat from polyester, or from thermosetting plastic?

cheers

V.
 
Both buttons definitely work as per your "2" description.

No special suggestion for the cover, but the OEM Tecmas (which I believe, though I'm not 100% sure, are made of lacquered wood) are imho excellent.
All 3 in my current 2004 boat are still in great conditions, as well as the 2 in my previous boat, which I installed around 2000/2001.
 
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