Spare head won’t drain

TRG

Member
Jul 20, 2022
60
Vancouver, WA
Boat Info
2000 SeaRay 400 sedan bridge
2011 Mastercraft X45 (for sale)
Engines
(2) CAT 3126 diesels
Spare head will not drain. When flushed water goes in but won’t drain. The master works fine and I hear pump kick on when flushed. The spare head I don’t think the pump is kicking on. It’s to full to test now. Do these run on separate pumps or just one pump. Anything I should look fore. Hopefully an easy fix.
 
I have two vacuflush heads with two pumps but only one circuit breaker switch on the panel. I have used a plunger 2x in my head in 20 years. Turn your freshwater pump(s) off and then give it the plunger.
 
Separate pumps with separate vacuum generators that then pump the waste to one black water holding tank. Both pumps operate from the single switch on the dc control panel marked “head system”.
So if the master is working, the second head’s toilet is “on” but maybe wiring (was it working before? I know it’s a new to you boat, assumed it passed survey?) or it’s just clogged up. Try the plunger, we had to do that once after guests visited. The plunger can work.
For future reference, the vacuum generators and pumps are under the inside bunk in the second stateroom. Good luck
 
Also, when you get a chance, it can help people help you if you add in your boat info the year and power package of your boat. There are some significant changes over the model run of the 400DB.
 
I tried plunging with the hatch at the bottom of the bowl open with no luck. The waste pluming is full of water when the hatch at the bottom of the bowl opens so there is nowhere for the water to drain too. In the main head when flushed the plumbing line is empty when flushed. I looked under the wood panel in the spare stateroom bed but just see lines, no pump or vacuum. Not sure if it was working before as we have had the boat only a few days. The survey states it was operational. Wondering if the pluming pipe was empty and then my family used a few times before everything backed up to the bowl. At least it’s all liquid, I make them go to the dock heads for #2’s.
 
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I tried plunging with the hatch at the bottom of the bowl open with no luck. The waste pluming is full of water when the hatch at the bottom of the bowl opens so there is nowhere for the water to drain too. In the main head when flushed the plumbing line is empty when flushed. I looked under the wood panel in the spare stateroom bed but just see lines, no pump or vacuum. Not sure if it was working before as we have had the boat only a few days. The survey states it was operational. Wondering if the pluming pipe was empty and then my family used a few times before everything backed up to the bowl. At least it’s all liquid, I make them go to the dock heads for #2’s.
Assuming you have confirmed that your vacuum pump breaker is on and working, you may have a clog in your waste line from this head. You'll have to find where it connects to the vacuum pump and remove to see if the water will flow out. Be ready with a bucket or shop vac when you remove the hose. In the past i had similar occurance and there was a clog. I was able to clear by putting a shop vac on the end of the waste line and a hose to introduce pressure from the toilet side.
 
TRG - Do some quick research you you can see how the vacu flush system operates. There is a vacuum that is generated and it literally sucks the waste out of the head system. If the head system has a blockage that the vacuum cannot pull through, you will get the backup you are seeing. Try the plunger. Another option is a wet dry vac and suck it out through the toilet to see is you can grab the clog. I cut the end off of one of my vac hoses so it would make the turn in the toilet. If you cannot get it out with the plunger (usually works) you will want to vac out as much as you can so that when you take it apart at the vacuflush system you have less mess in your boat. Good Luck.
As a side note, many of us on here use NoFlex Digest in our heads. I just started using this year and it seems to be working well. It claims to clean and lubricate your system.
 
Yes breaker switch is on. I get no pump noise when flushing. Wondering if pump or vacuum could have tripped and may have a reset on the units? Not sure if I am looking in the right direction of the problem or wishfully thinking.
 
My aft head vacuum unit is in my engine room next to my water heater. The forward head unit is in the floor in the salon/galley area.
 
When you flush the one that is working, can you hear the pump cycling? When you flush the one that is not working, do you hear the pump cycling? I have 2-heads and 2-separate vacuum pumps along with 2-separate breakers-one labeled "Master" and one labeled "Guest." Do you have red/green lights in the each head? Red means not to flush, green meaning OK to flush.....this is not that hard.

Bennett
 
If you have separate pumps and when you flush the one that it clogged and doesn't not make any noise, this may be so if the system already has a vacuum established and there is a hard blockage it cannot pull through. That blockage is taking the place of the toilet ball value - creating a seal. If you think you have lost pump power, start testing the power at the vacuum pressure switch. If you have power going to that switch and coming out of it, you either already have that vacuum established or the switch is bad. ($$$) Might even just be dirty or loose contacts. Another troubleshoot is to jump (FUSED) power from the battery to the vacuum pump and see if it runs. If so this would point to already established vacuum or a switch problem, if the switch has power coming in. That switch is adjustable, I was advised once by Dometic not to adjust the switch, it is set to a certain pressure. A few things to ponder and try.

If you have one tank and one pump that is servicing both heads, and the other one works fine, you have a blockage.
 
Found the issue earlier today. There is a power disconnect installed at the aft side of the twin bed near the door in the s 2nd stateroom. Guessing it is not original equipment. Both pumps are located under the galley and accessed under a hatch at the same twin bed. Guessing someone bumped it when checking out the boat. When it’s pushed in it kills the power to the guest head pump. For some reason they decided not to install one on the master pump.
 

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Glad you got that sorted out. That shut off switch was definitely added by someone at some point. Not original equipment. They wanted to be able to turn off the second head for some reason.
 
Glad you got that sorted out. That shut off switch was definitely added by someone at some point. Not original equipment. They wanted to be able to turn off the second head for some reason.
Probably because of cycling and it was easier to put a switch on it then solve the cycling issue.
 
I’m going to have to see if I can reverse the switch or just change it out. It is set so when pushed in it is off and when pulled out it is on. Obviously made it easy to get walked into and pushed so it was shut off.
 
I’m going to have to see if I can reverse the switch or just change it out. It is set so when pushed in it is off and when pulled out it is on. Obviously made it easy to get walked into and pushed so it was shut off.

I would vote for just take it out. If the pump is cycling, that is a solvable problem. No real reason to have that.
 

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