Vaccum leak source discovered

[CJ Martin]

I'm on a roll this weekend.

Our Vaccuflush head has had an intermittent vaccum leak. It started late last year, seemed gone at the start of this year only to return in the last couple of weeks. Water was staying in the bowl, so I figured the ducbills needed changing and I picked up a set.

Went to the boat on Friday afternoon intent on doing the dirty job. First I wanted to check all connections, so I turned the pump on and - nothing. The system had held a vaccum for most of the week. WTF?

It was fine all weekend, until today. I went down to the boat to scope out a water leak repair I need to do (see the Raw Water Leak discoved thread) and for some reason I turned on the head. The pump started right up, no vaccum now. In the head I was able to hear a slight hiss. Water was still in the bowl (as usual) so I decided to check the lower bolts. Managed to break the lower trim cover in the process...yes I am on a roll.

The front two bolts were snug, so I went to check the aft outboard one and the stud came off in my hand. Swell. Now I know why the head is leaking - only 3 of the 4 bolts are holding it down.

Looks like I will have to remove the toilet from the head to get what's left of the old bolt out. THAT should be a fun job...

-CJ

 

[fwebster]

Goahed and replace the seal ring while you are into it......pats are cheap, labor's easy and free and you are already filthy from the process. It would sure beat a do-over in about August because your inlaws expect to use every facet of your "yacht".

Can you tell I've been there and have the shirt!

 

[boatmailster]

Are you talking about bolts holding toilet bowl to floor? there is no gasket or any pressure there, those are only mounting bolts. When you remove plastic cover from base of toilet, you will see metal collar - that piece holds two pieces of toilet together and there is seal between them.

 

[CJ Martin]

Are you talking about bolts holding toilet bowl to floor? there is no gasket or any pressure there, those are only mounting bolts. When you remove plastic cover from base of toilet, you will see metal collar - that piece holds two pieces of toilet together and there is seal between them.

Are you sure? The manual shows a gasket. My understanding is that if the metal collar is leaking, water won't be retained in the bowl.

Frank - that's exactly what I had planned to do. :thumbsup:

-CJ

 

[boatmailster]

it "sucks" air from bottom side of seal
top of that seal keep water
collar is only to keep parts together, it is shaped to "squeeze" all parts together

 

[CJ Martin]

it "sucks" air from bottom side of seal
top of that seal keep water
collar is only to keep parts together, it is shaped to "squeeze" all parts together

Well the model 1006 does have a bottom flange seal gasket, confirmed that with my parts guy. Other models may not have this gasket, but mine does.

-CJ

 

[CJ Martin]

Update: The leak is history. :smt038

Turned out to be a lot easier than I thought, and not nearly as messy either.

Turns out Sea Ray uses an adaptor ring that the T- bolts go through. The ring is then screwed down into the floor. Lots of caulk, really good stuff that took a while to get cleaned up.

The new flange gasket comes with t-bolts, so I had everything I needed. Unbolted the remaining three bolts and was able to pull the toilet up and move it out of the way. Of course before I did this I flushed the wter out and secured the power to the head and fresh water pump. The old gasket was shot. The adaptor ring screws were buried in caulk but came up ok after cleaning the heads. The ring itself was sitting in a nice bed of caulk.

I removed the old caulk and replaced the broken T-bolt. Then a new bed of caulk, screwed the ring down, and put the new gasket on. Here's where I screwed up - I forgot to coat the gasket with dish soap. Oh well, seemed to seal ok. Then the toilet wad placed bad on the studs and bolted down.

I got a set of racheting swivel head wrenches last Father's day and they really made getting the back nuts off and on a piece of cake.

Sat on the boat for a couple of hours after that and she held a vacuum the entire time. :thumbsup:

-CJ

 

[Skip]

CJ,
Great post and thanks for sharing this. Now--onto the Duck Valves. I need to order a set for the 420 to keep on board, and get the cliff notes on executing that replacement. but that is a new thread.....

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