Time for the first pump out.....Oh boy

[Wayward Sun]

First year with the boat, so I've never had the pleasure of pumping it out. I need all the advise I can get on how this procedure works. Please provide all the details that is needed. Please include any steps I could do during this pump out that would make it easier to winterize this portion of the boat, or actually what I could do as part of the pump out that would go ahead and winterize this part of the boat. It hasn't been used much, but I do know of one "floaty"
I have the vacuum style toilet with a "Y" valve. Picture included. Thanks everyone.

 

[Golfman25]

Looks like you have a discharge option, so I assume you mean an actual pump out. I have a much simpler system and this is what I do. Go to fuel dock. Hand attendant $10 and say “I need a pump out.”

it’s actually pretty easy, had to do it myself a few times. There is a fitting that screws into the discharge on the deck. The pump out hose connects to that fitting. Turn on pump out and let it suck. Open up, rinse with water and repeat. It’s a crappy job.

 

[bbwhitejr]

As Golfman indicated, very simple. Remove the cap from the discharge fitting, hook up pump out hose to the fitting, and turn on the pumpout pump. Most have a clear section of pipe so you can see when the flow stops and you are done.

To save yourself grief down the road, purchase some Zall NoFlex Digestor and treat your tank with it. Follow the directions on the bottle.

Bennett

 

[Wayward Sun]

As Golfman indicated, very simple. Remove the cap from the discharge fitting, hook up pump out hose to the fitting, and turn on the pumpout pump. Most have a clear section of pipe so you can see when the flow stops and you are done.

To save yourself grief down the road, purchase some Zall NoFlex Digestor and treat your tank with it. Follow the directions on the bottle.

Bennett

Thank you. Do I need to do anything with the switch in the head (see picture) ? Turn on the macerator? I'm assuming I would only use that if I was out away from the shore and pumping overboard ?

 

[BirchyBoy]

You guys are fancy! Our RV has a gravity fed drain and you better make sure the gate valve is closed before you take the cap off.

 

[yobub]

In your picture, there is a gray Jabsco handle that either directs the flow of waste from the tank up to the waste deck fitting or out of the boat into the water. You want that set so that the waste from the tank flows to the deck fitting. Right now it looks like it is set in between the two options. You can even see that the grey handle has a little lock hole so that it can be locked in place so that waste can't "accidentally" be pumped overboard since that is illegal if you are close to shore or in any inland waters.

It looks like if you turn that handle counter-clockwise, it will be in the position so waste can flow to the deck pump-out fitting, but without seeing where that hose flows to, I can't be sure. One hose will flow up to the deck, the other will flow through a macerator to grind up your waste and then to a seacock or through-hull to flow overboard into the water.

Your setup is a little different than mine, but my guess is if you turn the key to the "discharge" position, that will pump the waste into the water. You don't want that.

 

[Golfman25]

In your picture, there is a gray Jabsco handle that either directs the flow of waste from the tank up to the waste deck fitting or out of the boat into the water. You want that set so that the waste from the tank flows to the deck fitting. Right now it looks like it is set in between the two options. You can even see that the grey handle has a little lock hole so that it can be locked in place so that waste can't "accidentally" be pumped overboard since that is illegal if you are close to shore or in any inland waters.

It looks like if you turn that handle counter-clockwise, it will be in the position so waste can flow to the deck pump-out fitting, but without seeing where that hose flows to, I can't be sure. One hose will flow up to the deck, the other will flow through a macerator to grind up your waste and then to a seacock or through-hull to flow overboard into the water.

Your setup is a little different than mine, but my guess is if you turn the key to the "discharge" position, that will pump the waste into the water. You don't want that.

Doesn't he need to have that valve "locked out" so he can't go overboard?

 

[ttmott]

It sure looks like someone has made some "enhancements" to your system.
Looks like they added a macerator centrifugal pump rather than a standard Vacuflush discharge pump; the Vacuflush bellows pump can be run dry.
For a pumpout position that Y valve to the deck pumpout port.
Remove the cap from the deck port and hold the marina's pumpout vacuum hose on the port and watch until no more fluid is coming out. That is all there is to it.
I always try to flow a bunch of water down the heads before a pumpout so anything in the system can move to the tank.
One important thing to check is the Tank Saver check valve so you don't take the chance of collapsing the tank.

@Golfman25 - the lockout (wire tie or some other means to denote discharge valve is closed) should be on the thru-hull seacock.

 

[Wayward Sun]

In your picture, there is a gray Jabsco handle that either directs the flow of waste from the tank up to the waste deck fitting or out of the boat into the water. You want that set so that the waste from the tank flows to the deck fitting. Right now it looks like it is set in between the two options. You can even see that the grey handle has a little lock hole so that it can be locked in place so that waste can't "accidentally" be pumped overboard since that is illegal if you are close to shore or in any inland waters.

It looks like if you turn that handle counter-clockwise, it will be in the position so waste can flow to the deck pump-out fitting, but without seeing where that hose flows to, I can't be sure. One hose will flow up to the deck, the other will flow through a macerator to grind up your waste and then to a seacock or through-hull to flow overboard into the water.

Your setup is a little different than mine, but my guess is if you turn the key to the "discharge" position, that will pump the waste into the water. You don't want that.

yobub - you are spot on. I took that picture of the jabsco handle back in April and yes it was in an in-between state. I have it in the correct position now, so it will pump out to the "deck fitting". I was able to pump it out this morning with no problems. thank you for this explanation! I think I understand now how these units work together. We really didn't use the head that much this season as we are trailering because of a lack of slips in our area. So very little came out. AS far as operating the vacuflush head here's what I'm doing:

1. turn on water pump at the helm
2. Turn on the switch in the electrical panel (12v area) marked "Head system"
3. Turn on the key in the vanity to "on" - NOT DISCHARGE
4. lift foot pump for 3 seconds to add water to toilet bowl
5. Do your business
6. Push down on foot pedal to empty bowl of waste
7. listen for vacuflush to finish - it usually stops after 15 seconds. I believe this tells me that the "duck bills" are working.
8. Turn switch back off on vanity

I have a couple of questions about this.

1. Am I'm doing this correctly?
2. I'm assuming that turning on the key on the vanity is putting power to vacuflush system because if I don't turn it on it doesn't do it thing after you flush where it's doing it's "sucking". If I leave that switch off it's basically acts like a camper where it's working off gravity. It is bad if someone flushes and the switch is not turn on and the vacuflush doesn't engage when someone pushes the pedal down?
3. Sorry this is kind of gross, but how does solid waste go through that system with those little slits in the duck bills? Wouldn't it get caught. Is this what the macerator is for - to chop that up before it gets pumped to the holding tank before getting pumped out? Or it it for chopping it up before getting discharged overboard - if I was far enough away from the shore?
4. If I put that switch in the discharge position the macerator would come on - correct?

Thanks so much!

 

[ttmott]

I'm becoming an expert in these systems. Right now, I'm replacing all of the hoses in the system (http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/sanitation-system-updates-and-maintenance.110492/). Regardless, a couple of things -

• Let plenty of water flow down the system after a flush so the vacuum pump has a chance to move any solids through it and to the holding tank. Solids collecting and staying in the hoses and vacuum generator is not good. Trust me on this.
• Use only marine/RV Toilet paper for these systems.
• Once a month and after each pump out put a couple tablespoons of NoFlex Digester or make you up some of Carter's Poopy Powder and use that.

 

[yobub]

yobub - you are spot on. I took that picture of the jabsco handle back in April and yes it was in an in-between state. I have it in the correct position now, so it will pump out to the "deck fitting". I was able to pump it out this morning with no problems. thank you for this explanation! I think I understand now how these units work together. We really didn't use the head that much this season as we are trailering because of a lack of slips in our area. So very little came out. AS far as operating the vacuflush head here's what I'm doing:

1. turn on water pump at the helm
2. Turn on the switch in the electrical panel (12v area) marked "Head system"
3. Turn on the key in the vanity to "on" - NOT DISCHARGE
4. lift foot pump for 3 seconds to add water to toilet bowl
5. Do your business
6. Push down on foot pedal to empty bowl of waste
7. listen for vacuflush to finish - it usually stops after 15 seconds. I believe this tells me that the "duck bills" are working.
8. Turn switch back off on vanity

I have a couple of questions about this.

1. Am I'm doing this correctly?
2. I'm assuming that turning on the key on the vanity is putting power to vacuflush system because if I don't turn it on it doesn't do it thing after you flush where it's doing it's "sucking". If I leave that switch off it's basically acts like a camper where it's working off gravity. It is bad if someone flushes and the switch is not turn on and the vacuflush doesn't engage when someone pushes the pedal down?
3. Sorry this is kind of gross, but how does solid waste go through that system with those little slits in the duck bills? Wouldn't it get caught. Is this what the macerator is for - to chop that up before it gets pumped to the holding tank before getting pumped out? Or it it for chopping it up before getting discharged overboard - if I was far enough away from the shore?
4. If I put that switch in the discharge position the macerator would come on - correct?

Thanks so much!

I leave the head(s) powered on whenever we are on the boat. Others may follow a different approach. Like @ttmott said, be sure to allow enough water to flow to move the waste all the way to the talk. On our boat the heads are primarily for "liquids", and we only use the head for "solids" in case of emergency, but even with liquids, I hold the flush pedal down for a slow count of 3-4 seconds to try to move the flush through to the tank. You definitely don't want something sitting in the lines. You don't want to flush without the vacflush powered - there isn't any gravity at work here.

The vacflush will pull the solids through the duckbills, but you see how small the openings are. We always tell people to do their business, flush, use a little toilet paper, flush, a little more toilet paper, flush, as many times as a needs. I don't care if someone flushes 10 times with a little paper each time, as long as a big wad of toilet paper doesn't go through and get stuck. The other advantage of this approach is that if the paper does somehow clog, most of the solid has already made its way into the talk.

Regarding #4 about the macerator, that should run and dump overboard with the key in the discharge position. My boat has a switch, but it is the same concept.