Heads

[northern]

Last winter I replaced the duck bill valves in both heads. Not that fun. I never looked at the overboard pump. If any one is rebuilding their head pumps look at the overboard one. It took about 10 minutes to get it to work this spring before it would pump. Now I have another S job in the fall.
Is it worth the effort to replace the bellows and motor or should I just wait until they fails.

 

[electricaldoctor]

If it ever gets to that point, just bite the bullet & replace the complete unit. At least all the parts will be the same age and not failing one at a time and constantly giving you grief.

 

[fwebster]

The pump is virtually the same as the head pump, so there are no secrets to a rebuild so it is an easy pump to fix.
I think to will find debris in the bellows chamber or in duckbill valves. If the motor doesn't rotate, it is likely because the bellows got jammed with debris and froze in place. You will probably be able to clean up the belows and its chamber and replace the dicckbill valves. If the motor still won't rotate, you will need to replace it as well.

Most people just assume the bellows should be replaced, but they are a very robust design and seldom fail. The motor is the same.....unless it has been left on and burned up because it couldn't rotate. Ususally a good cleaning and some grease and the motor frees up and a set of duckbills is all that is needed. Duckbills are $25/pair, but bellows kit and motor are about $250. So I'd take it apart and clean and examine the motor and bellows for cracks before I assumed the bellows was bad.

I have only had to work on my waste pump a couple of times in the 20+ years I've owned my boat. Sea Ray put the one on the 450DA in a difficult place to work on, so I prefer to remove it from the boat........2 hose clamps; 4 screws.....and if you installed a valve ahead of the pump, you can service it on a table or bench which turns a painful 2 hour job into about 30 minutes. I cleaned the olding tanks as well as possible, pumped a lot of fresh water thru the dockside pump out then closed the valve leading out oif the tank. Close the thru hull or waste seacock, then remove the hose from the inlet side of the wate pump and install a PVC ball valve right ahead of the waste pump. This allows you to work on the pump in a reasonably waste free environment without having to clean the holding tanks and head system....just close the valve and remove the pump from the boat or work on it in place if you can get to it.

 

[electricaldoctor]

Several years ago, I was having difficulty with our waste pump. Besides being original to our 1988 boat, the bellows was cracked and the bilge was getting quite messy and smelly to say the very least. The duckbill valves were badly deformed and the only thing that was still serviceable was the pump motor. The pump assembly is tucked way back in the corner of our 390 and I only wanted to go in there once, so I tore it out and replaced it with a new unit because there was no guarantee how long that old motor was going to last. Once I added up the cost of parts and availability, I opted to go new and be done with it. I haven't been back in there for ten years now and that is a good thing.

While I was in there, I removed the piping for the overboard macerator pump and replumbed the waste tank accordingly. The macerator pump was toast, so I tossed it and used the through hull valve to set up a wash down pump.