mobocracy
Active Member
I had a ton of problems with my Vacuflush head last year. I wound up doing a "total" pump rebuild, which was duckbills plus a new bellows assembly and it worked like champ. Until I discovered the pump out hose was permeated (no pumpout occuring...) and overflowed the tank. I fixed that with a new pumpout hose (bitch of a job, tho) and felt like I was good.
Mid-season this year we began to lose vacuum again and I replaced just the duckbills. This solved the problem for a couple of weeks, but now we're back to zero whoosh at the toilet and a vacuum pump that seems to want to run continuously.
I was surprised when I pulled out the duckbills this year how crusty they were from urea crystallization after only a year. My guess is this is a function of low water consumption the Vacuflush system is basically designed for, and began flushing with a little added water in the hopes I'd dilute and rinse the path better.
Now I'm wondering if we don't have some kind of bellows problem again -- the one I pulled out last year was cracked and obviously contributing to the problem. Although since it was my first year with the boat, I don't know if those bellows were 2 or 10 years old.
In the back of my mind I'm also thinking I probably will ultimately need to replace the head->pump hose, since it probably has some permeation problems too. Although I tell myself if it was bad enough to totally ruin suction, duckbills or bellows replacement wouldn't have worked before. I hate the thought of this project, though as that hose routing looks like a truly awful job.
I figure I'll spring for another rebuild kit with new bellows, too, and see if it returns the system to normal. If not, then maybe it's time to grit my teeth and tackle the other hose.
Mid-season this year we began to lose vacuum again and I replaced just the duckbills. This solved the problem for a couple of weeks, but now we're back to zero whoosh at the toilet and a vacuum pump that seems to want to run continuously.
I was surprised when I pulled out the duckbills this year how crusty they were from urea crystallization after only a year. My guess is this is a function of low water consumption the Vacuflush system is basically designed for, and began flushing with a little added water in the hopes I'd dilute and rinse the path better.
Now I'm wondering if we don't have some kind of bellows problem again -- the one I pulled out last year was cracked and obviously contributing to the problem. Although since it was my first year with the boat, I don't know if those bellows were 2 or 10 years old.
In the back of my mind I'm also thinking I probably will ultimately need to replace the head->pump hose, since it probably has some permeation problems too. Although I tell myself if it was bad enough to totally ruin suction, duckbills or bellows replacement wouldn't have worked before. I hate the thought of this project, though as that hose routing looks like a truly awful job.
I figure I'll spring for another rebuild kit with new bellows, too, and see if it returns the system to normal. If not, then maybe it's time to grit my teeth and tackle the other hose.