vacu flush not drawing a vacuum

I suggest a large serving of Kashi high fiber cereal to keep things lubbed up :grin:

I have not used the head much, more now that my 4 year old is 4 years old, and does not know what "hold it" means. Last year she was not using the toilet much. We dont overnight, and are in the water alot so we have had not grown accustomed to a onboard toilet. So I do not have a good preventative maintenance program in place. I will get some of the Sealand products to supplement the Kashi
 
Not to resurrect a smelly old post, but could one of the elite duckbill t-shirt wearing captains post the step by step instructions to replace these things? Gary, do you think the valves required for my 420DA are the same required for your 480DB? If, so how many and what type valves should I order? Mine are working fine, but I don't want a mid season failure with no spares or DIY knowledge aboard...

thanks
Skip
 
There is only one size duck bill valve for vacuflush. Even the pump out macerator uses the same valves. Your boat is the same age as mine (going on 5th season) and if they are the originals, I would replace them on your terms and not when they fail. It's time.... You are so LUCKY not to have had to deal with "objects" stuck in them so far.

Just flush a big bowl of water with some laundry detergent in it, let it sit for 30 mintues... a few more fresh water flushes and it's not that bad of job. I assume you have the all-in-one vacuum tank and pump like me (times 2). It's a little different than the instructions that came with it so I'll tell you what I do.

The tools you'll need are a small (jewelers?) phillipes screw driver, an adjustable pipe pliers, some paper towels, 4 duck bill valves, and a regular flat head screw driver (this is per head). MAKE SURE THE HEAD IS TURNED OFF AND THE WATER.

There is a plastic cover on top that covers up the bellows pump and that has 2 small phillipes head screws. Take those out and remove the plastic cover.

The first set of duck bill valves are easy and you have to loosen the sewage line hose clamps and then loosen the plastic pipe fitting that the hose was connected to (use the adjustable pipe pliers). There are 2 duck bill valves in that fitting (two sections of pipe). Pull them out and replace them and reinstall. Do NOT overtighten these fittings as it will damage the valves.

The next set of valves is between the bellows pump and the vacuum tank. This is where mine deviates from the instructions. I have a threaded 2" section that first must be loosened from the vacuum tank and then I use the pipe pliers to remove from the bellows/pump. To do this however, you have to remove/loosen the bolts from the bellows pump base that are attached to the vacuum tank and slide the bellows/pump out a little. When you look at it, you'll know what I mean... it's very easy. Anyway, the duck bill valves are on each end of the threaded section. Replace, and reinstall. Do not over tighten.

Put the plastic cover back on top of the system with the jewelers screwdriver (I'm not sure why that cheap-o cover is there... but... I put it back)

This all sounds complicated but it is really a 10-15 minute job if done on your terms and not when there is backed up sewage in the system. If there is backed up sewage, allocate 15 minutes for the job, 15 minutes to vomit, and 1 hour to vacuum up and clean the bilge (along with more vomit).

When I'm done, I have spray it off with a little soap and fresh water. I then put a little WD-40 type of spray (I use a teflon spray) on the bellows pump hardware and seal it up. That gets rid of the sqweeky pump noise.

I would also replace the duck bill valves on the macerator while you are at it. Just remember those pipe fittings are threaded in reverse. Not sure if you have or use that being up the bay though. The good news is that the macerator and the main vacuum tanks all have the same parts so if something fails, you can always scavange from the macerator or vise a versa if it is an emergency.

A few other lessons...

1. I wear latex gloves.
2. If you flick the used duck bill valve away from you after you pull it out, it will bounce off the engine and come back and hit you directly in the mouth.... juice and all.
 
Last edited:
That's a great write-up Gary, thanks. After 10 years of zero maintenance I decided to replace the valves (and seals and bellows) in my unit and your post provided a needed boost of courage to forge on with it.

I did not use bleach because I use Odorloss, and bleach in the holding tank would hamper its effectiveness. I flushed alot of water along with some Raritan CP thru and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of nastiness encountered. However, I did find a buildup of very hard 'stuff' inside the valve fittings. Wire brushes and mineral spirits would not touch it. It was literally like concrete and had to be chiseled out. Maybe that's a good reason not to wait 10 years.
 
MLauman, do you think the build up was calcium? If so, vinegar will dissolve it. You can test it by putting some vinegar on the build up, or putting some of the build up in vinegar. If you get bubbles, it's calcium and the vinegar will eat it down to nothing -- given enough vinegar and a bit of time.
 
How often should the valves be changed? And what wears them out, time or actual usage? Mine are now 3 years old but with minimal usage. I think I'm going to change them at the end of the season. Thanks for the instructions Gary - I printed them and put them into the file...

CSR needs to offer a T-Shirt on the apparel page... something like "...Have you changed your Duck Bill Valves lately?.." or "Warning: This Shirt was worn while changing Duck Bill Valves." :smt043
 
AndersonAcres said:
MLauman, do you think the build up was calcium? If so, vinegar will dissolve it. You can test it by putting some vinegar on the build up, or putting some of the build up in vinegar. If you get bubbles, it's calcium and the vinegar will eat it down to nothing -- given enough vinegar and a bit of time.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm not sure exactly what it was - but I think I know what it started out as! I can't think of a nicer way to say this, but my theory is to liken it to dog turds in the yard that turn white after a while - and become like little rocks. I wish I had known about the vinegar possibility yesterday when I was scraping and chiseling that stuff out, but its too late now. It's all back together.
 
reading this thread almost made me vomit in my mouth. Just reading the words "duck bill" instantly brings back the smell like it was an hour ago. Thanks, now it's time for some lunch. :lol:
 
Bottom Line said:
This thread is better than the comedy channel.... :grin: :grin: :grin:
Click to expand...

I have to second that!l

I never knew what a duckbill was.. and certainly never imgained it being so entertaining! I'm glad I finally read this thread.. for several reasons! :grin:
 
Sometimes you just have to laugh about SH**!
Very informative thread. I hope I can use a plunger. My boat has 70 hours and one season on it. The duck bills should still be ok but the toilet clogged up.
 
Now that I have had one apart, I don't see where there would be any problem with using a plunger on a vacuflush. You might need to add water to the bowl to help push thru culprit thru. It's worth a try.
 
Success, The plunger worked. Actually when I plunged the suction on the toilet was still pretty strong, and the plunger stick came off the plunger. Then when I went hunting to insert the stick back in the plunger, I went down the main hole, (drain) and then SWISH! everything was cleared up.
 
I wish my problem was all this easy - I am still stumped as to what's happening... Someitmes mine works - but more than none it doesn't. I have 2 heads - the one is perfect. The other one - not so. I have checked the line - i am almost positive it's clean. Have tried plunging - not gotten anywhere. Someimtes it flushs fine - but more than none - I go to flush - and there is no "suction" the water just kind of drains - but fresh water comes in faster than the other water drains.....

Could this still be a duck bill problem?? If that was so - wouldn't my other head have the problem as well? I realize that one has a seperate vacuum tank - but once it goes to that one - the other one has to suck it over to that side....so ???
 
Are you sure you have only one pump and duckbill valves and two vacuum tanks? What kind of boat do you have?
 
Gary -
420 Dancer.
It's got 1 main holding tank with a vacuum pump thing on it. Then on the port side - it has a small little pump unit - which is where the master head goes to - then from there it pumps it over to the main unit.
 
I'm not sure which of your heads does not empty right but...

The pump on your holding tank is the system that goes to your guest head and the seperate remote one goes to your master head. They do not piggy back on each other and are seperate systems and dump directly in the holding tank without talking to each other. If your guest head is the problem, replace the duckbill valves on the unit on the main holding tank. If your master is the problem, replace the ones on the remote tank on your port side. See my post earlier here on how to do it... it applies to your boat as well.
 
Gary -
It is on the guest head (which dumps (ha ha) right into the main tank...). The master goes to the mini - then the main..

OK - so you think it's the duck bills on that... Hmm - sounds like a fun project tonight :) I was trying to figure out how to get to them - I think I figured it out though - there appears to be 2 little screws on the top of the unit (no room to get to of-course) then I think I can get to it all from that??

Will try that tommorow before people come - would be great to get this solved...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,228
Messages
1,428,958
Members
61,120
Latest member
jingenio
Back
Top