Vacuflush

We just changed all duck bills on both pumps. Sea Ray was not kind in the placement of the pumps, especially our guess head. We hired a friends 14 yr old son to to get the guest pump out. He's about 6 ft tall and weighs about 100 lbs. They ideal boat mechanic would be 5ft tall, 100 lbs with 3 arms and as strong as a horse. We also just replaced the hose that runs from Master head in the front of the boat to the holding tank, all the way at the rear, 30plus feet of hose. At least the hose was in a pvc pipe, so it was fairly easy to snake thru. Sea Ray customer service was awesome with providing a diagram of the system. Called in the morning, they emailed the info in a couple of hours. Kudos to them.
 
don't mean to hijack, Mine just starts running all the time it builds vacuum but the only way i shut it is by the breaker????. I installed a new pump and bowl does hold the water. i guess I have a leak some where?
 
So far I have good news and great news. The good news is that the duck bill are accessible if I need to change them. The great news is by changing the seal in the guest head, the problem seems to be fixed. Going on over a half hour without the pump coming on.
 
saverio, you might have a bad pressure sensor switch. it senses the amount of vacume in the vacume chamber. It is located under your setee. locate the large pvc cylinder--it will have a switch at the end of it. build up vacume-fiddle with or disconnect switch and listen for leak.
 
I could never understand Sealand mindset on using such a small duckbill valve on the older Sea rays. I mean come on!!!!! After a big juicy steak?
 
mjmason1 said:
So far I have good news and great news. The good news is that the duck bill are accessible if I need to change them. The great news is by changing the seal in the guest head, the problem seems to be fixed. Going on over a half hour without the pump coming on.
Click to expand...

And thats why I always go the bowl seal first,
 
Sublimetime said:
saverio, you might have a bad pressure sensor switch. it senses the amount of vacume in the vacume chamber. It is located under your setee. locate the large pvc cylinder--it will have a switch at the end of it. build up vacume-fiddle with or disconnect switch and listen for leak.
Click to expand...

The pressure sensor switch has a cores thread and a big fat O-Ring on it, mine backed off once and caused cycling of the pump I just tightened it back up and it was fine. I too have replaced duck bills more often that bowl seal.

Dave
 
How often do the duckbill valves need to be replaced? How often do the bowl seals need to be replaced? This is our first boat with a vacuflush and I'm unsure about the maintenance required. I'm fairly sure the previous owner didn't use the head much if at all. (galley not used on our boat, master berth never slept in - odd previous owner!)
 
sandydlc said:
How often do the duckbill valves need to be replaced? How often do the bowl seals need to be replaced? This is our first boat with a vacuflush and I'm unsure about the maintenance required. I'm fairly sure the previous owner didn't use the head much if at all. (galley not used on our boat, master berth never slept in - odd previous owner!)
Click to expand...

Replace them when the pump keeps running. The bowl seal replace when the water won't stay in.
 
My duckbills are 5 years old and still working just fine, but I bought a 4-pak this winter and will be replacing before splashing in a few weeks. This will be the best time to do this as the tank was pumped out and double flushed before haul out last October. I am also entertaining the notion of changing my original 20 Gal. tank to 36-40 Gal. tank. Just need to find one that will fit at a fraction of a boat buck. Any recommendations?
 
sandydlc said:
How often do the duckbill valves need to be replaced? How often do the bowl seals need to be replaced? This is our first boat with a vacuflush and I'm unsure about the maintenance required. I'm fairly sure the previous owner didn't use the head much if at all. (galley not used on our boat, master berth never slept in - odd previous owner!)
Click to expand...
Washing the toilet, keeping the bowl seal clean from 'stuff' and mineral buildup I think helps. I'll probably jinx myself now but so far I've not had to replace either the seal or duckbills.
 
We replaced the bowl seal kit two years ago. It was bad. We remove the bowl every few years, put it on the table and give it a good scrubbing to stay ahead of the inevitable and potential problems. The biggest problem that we experience is mineral build up from the marina's water supply. We also get this in our FW pump strainer.
 
The other piece of advice I will give is, Flush 5 to 10 Gals of warm soapy water throughout the system before removing any hoses. Don't ask how I know!!
 
Ditto for me too Woody! Always thought I've been lucky, but I do keep it clean and always make sure water is always in the bowl...

Kevin
 
mjmason1 said:
The other piece of advice I will give is, Flush 5 to 10 Gals of warm soapy water throughout the system before removing any hoses. Don't ask how I know!!
Click to expand...

For this reason I have a guy - actually he's known throughout Seattle as "Dave the Head Guy" who will be doing any maintenance on our head. No thanks. I get my hands dirty with many things - anything related to the head, no thank you. Cleaned enough diapers/puke/vomit in my life of raising 3 children to want to do a job like this. Saving money be damned.
 
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