Toilets

Hurricane

Hurricane

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Nov 2005
Messages
9,856
Location
Sant Carles de la Ràpita
Visit site
I'm getting a bit fed up with the reliability of the Sealand Vac Toilets.
We have had them for nearly 10 years and they have always been the source of problems.
Also, our Vac Generators have been installed in inaccessible positions.
We have managed to keep them working well but it is hard work.

But I am thinking of changing all our vac toilets to electric ones.


So, I wonder if anyone has changed Vac toilets for quiet flush electric units.
And does anyone have experience of using both vac and electric.
How easy is it to maintain/fix electric ones?
What manufacturer would be the best.

Toilets are on our list when we visit SIBS next month.

Any comments would be helpful
 
Hurricane said:
I'm getting a bit fed up with the reliability of the Sealand Vac Toilets.
We have had them for nearly 10 years and they have always been the source of problems.
Also, our Vac Generators have been installed in inaccessible positions.
We have managed to keep them working well but it is hard work.

But I am thinking of changing all our vac toilets to electric ones.


So, I wonder if anyone has changed Vac toilets for quiet flush electric units.
And does anyone have experience of using both vac and electric.
How easy is it to maintain/fix electric ones?
What manufacturer would be the best.

Toilets are on our list when we visit SIBS next month.

Any comments would be helpful
Click to expand...

In my view electric ones are a real pain , I've never had any issues with vac toilets on the Fairline I had .
JFM is the expert on this .
 
We have had various make loos over previous boats, from Vacuflush and electric including the current boat's Tecmas which are in a different league when it comes to operating as a loo, they are simply the best we've had and 3 yrs on from getting the ( used not new) boat I haven't had to don the rubber gauntlets once so am a complete fan of that make, they are also relatively unobtrusive compared to anything before.

I have a feeling there might even be a newer improved version selling under a different brand now.

Andy
 
I've had Vacuflush on my first Sq58 - never again.

The only ones to buy imho are Tecma (with the big pump/motor, ie the silence plus and similar ones) or Planus. I've had a dozen+ Tecmas; never any problem and I've never used the spares I carry. I firmly spec them over whatever the boatbuilder would choose. All Italian originally, and bought by Thetford some years ago. Planus is a new firm founded by Tecma's old management and make a fairly similar product with a few claimed improvements. I don't know first hand (Planus weren't available when I last specced WCs on a boat in 2013) but would guess they are v good too, because the team that designed Tecma really know their stuff. Whatever you do, don't get Jabsco, sanimarin and all of those

With Tecma, order the soft close lid option and be sure to spec 2-button control (not the one button alternative)
 
Just trashed the dreadful vacuflush for tecma. Very good but I would not describe them as silent. I got them
From coastal rides as that was the fastest way to get them ( bidet model I wanted was on 6 week order. ). Bidet bit however is useless !
 
jfm said:
I've had Vacuflush on my first Sq58 - never again.

The only ones to buy imho are Tecma (with the big pump/motor, ie the silence plus and similar ones) or Planus. I've had a dozen+ Tecmas; never any problem and I've never used the spares I carry. I firmly spec them over whatever the boatbuilder would choose. All Italian originally, and bought by Thetford some years ago. Planus is a new firm founded by Tecma's old management and make a fairly similar product with a few claimed improvements. I don't know first hand (Planus weren't available when I last specced WCs on a boat in 2013) but would guess they are v good too, because the team that designed Tecma really know their stuff. Whatever you do, don't get Jabsco, sanimarin and all of those

With Tecma, order the soft close lid option and be sure to spec 2-button control (not the one button alternative)
Click to expand...

Thanks JFM

Thats what I needed know.
I have a gut feeling (not a pun!) that ditching the Vac toilets is the way to go.
Your comments seem to confirm this.
We are going to SIBS next month so we will have a look at the different offerings.
I've done some googling and Planus do seem to be a good replacement but I have always had Tecma in the back of my mind.

Does anyone know how you get to these electric toilets for maintenance/installation?
The pump/mascerators are fitted within the unit and the pipework goes out through the floor.
How would you remove the toilet pan to get to the pump/mascerator?
Having all the parts that can go wrong, accessible seems to be a real step forward.
I just can't work out how you would get to the parts to fix them - or even to initially install them.
 
jrudge said:
Nothing clever ! Yes there is slack in the pipes.
Click to expand...

OK - thats what I feared.
Our current installation has fixed pipes supplying the water - I guess I will need to make them more flexible.
I would also use butyl rubber pipes for the waste - I've changed most of my existing system to butyl rubber - unfortunately, these pipes are quite rigid.
There is less than 150mm between the floor level of our toilets and the inlets on the holding tank.
So, if I have to leave slack under the floor, it will end up having toilet waste "pooling" within the pipe - something I wanted to avoid.
I was hoping that there would be a neat solution to access the mascerators of these new electric toilets.
 
few Q re tecmas:

what size is the waste pipe? would the 19mm ID (iirc) used on normal el. toilets work?
would these tecmas work with seawater flush as well?
how much quieter than the typical el. toilet are they? Can I flush at 8AM when all the others are fast asleep, or do I have to go and make their coffees afterwards?

cheers

V.
 
vas said:
few Q re tecmas:

what size is the waste pipe? would the 19mm ID (iirc) used on normal el. toilets work?
would these tecmas work with seawater flush as well?
how much quieter than the typical el. toilet are they? Can I flush at 8AM when all the others are fast asleep, or do I have to go and make their coffees afterwards?

cheers

V.
Click to expand...

I've been assuming that the pipes will be 38mm ID like the ones that the Vac system uses.
 
vas said:
few Q re tecmas:
...
would these tecmas work with seawater flush as well
...
Click to expand...

I can answer this one, yes they do, mine has changeover valves in the flush supply, either seawater or fresh, and the fresh can be shut off completely eg for maintenance. On my boat (a retro fit) both heads draw from the same water tank but that was an installation convenience.
 
Yup, 38mm waste

Yup seawater flush is ok by Tecma, but I would never do it so seems academic to me. You'd need a pump to pressurise the seawater flush water feed, urgh.

And yup, as JR says you undo 4 screws holding the ceramic pan to the floor, then lift it up, to get access to the works. You therefore need slack or flex in the pipes. Not a huge amount, but some. Mine work fine with butyl waste pipes with some slack, and hep2O flushwater pipes that are bendy enough - ie you can bend them and disconnect; you don't actually need slack length in the hep2O even though it is nice to have.

I totally wouldn't worry about a sag in a butyl waste pipe (that held flush water almost permanently). It just doesn't cause a problem and there are other things to worry about imho.

I always fit plastic ball valves 38mm in the waste, close to the WC, to make the removal job a bit nicer.

Tecma are not super quiet but they are much quieter than say jabsco "quiet flush". This doesn't bother me but if it is a problem then look at Planus - they might be quieter.

The tecma has a big DC motor that draws 35 amps at 24v, but of course for a very short time only. You might need to beef up your circuit breakers as the vacuflush vac units probably only draw 6 amps or so. You might want also to make sure the tecmas are earthed onto the main battery busbar and not at an intermediate busbar that electronics are connected to. Otherwise the electronics will see a volt or 2 on their negative for a micro second when the tecma flush motors form a dead short at start up.
 
Last edited:
Hurricane said:
I'm getting a bit fed up with the reliability of the Sealand Vac Toilets.
We have had them for nearly 10 years and they have always been the source of problems.
Also, our Vac Generators have been installed in inaccessible positions.
We have managed to keep them working well but it is hard work.

But I am thinking of changing all our vac toilets to electric ones.


So, I wonder if anyone has changed Vac toilets for quiet flush electric units.
And does anyone have experience of using both vac and electric.
How easy is it to maintain/fix electric ones?
What manufacturer would be the best.

Toilets are on our list when we visit SIBS next month.

Any comments would be helpful
Click to expand...


I have Planus toilets on my Princess and they have been no problems at all and are quiet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top