I have a WC headmate potty that just this season has developed a problem. It takes a long time to pump water from my through hull. I have checked the thru hull and it is not clogged. I need to pump rapidly at least 20 or 30 times to get water into the bowl. 30 seconds later it still seems to be pumping water but the longer I wait, the longer it takes to get water back into the bowl again. The HM was new last season but my boatyard winterised it without my request. I am trying to figure out if they did something. I have also noticed that there is rust and a little seepage on the front 2 of the 4 screws that connect the outlet pipe(horizontal piece with the duck valve) to the pump. I have tried tightening these screws but they don't move. Any ideas? I hate to replace the head again after only 1 year. If I do need to replace, what is a better head that will roughly fit the same pumbing arrangement? Tim R.
- Status
Rust ain't good...
The Headmate is a decent toilet...you shouldn't have to replace it after only one year. You're gonna have to open up the pump to see what condition the rubber parts are in. If it was left in the "dry" mode for the winter, it's a good bet that the flapper valve is distorted...which is why it won't bring any water without a lot of pumping. The toilet may require a complete rebuild kit. I also have a strong suspicion that the yard may have used automotive antifreeze instead of the non/toxic "pink stuff"...which is not only murder on the rubber parts in a toilet, but also may account for the rust. Unfortunately it's a bit late in the season to question the yard or expect the yard to do anything about it anyway...you should have raised the issue when you first started noticing a problem in the spring. Or...if you've poured bleach down the toilet, you have no one to blame but yourself...'cuz bleach is highly destructive to rubber AND corrosive (which would account for the rust). Household chemical toilet bowl cleaners, pine oil cleaners, Lysol and other "antibacterial" cleaners are almost as destructive to marine toilets as bleach. Try to back those screws out instead of tightening 'em...your problem may be that you've OVERtightened the screws and puckered the gasket, which will cause it to leak. However, once you can get it to pump water, stick the intake hose in some water to which you've added some red food coloring...if the pump housing has a hairline crack (which I suspect), you'll see red around the crack.
The Headmate is a decent toilet...you shouldn't have to replace it after only one year. You're gonna have to open up the pump to see what condition the rubber parts are in. If it was left in the "dry" mode for the winter, it's a good bet that the flapper valve is distorted...which is why it won't bring any water without a lot of pumping. The toilet may require a complete rebuild kit. I also have a strong suspicion that the yard may have used automotive antifreeze instead of the non/toxic "pink stuff"...which is not only murder on the rubber parts in a toilet, but also may account for the rust. Unfortunately it's a bit late in the season to question the yard or expect the yard to do anything about it anyway...you should have raised the issue when you first started noticing a problem in the spring. Or...if you've poured bleach down the toilet, you have no one to blame but yourself...'cuz bleach is highly destructive to rubber AND corrosive (which would account for the rust). Household chemical toilet bowl cleaners, pine oil cleaners, Lysol and other "antibacterial" cleaners are almost as destructive to marine toilets as bleach. Try to back those screws out instead of tightening 'em...your problem may be that you've OVERtightened the screws and puckered the gasket, which will cause it to leak. However, once you can get it to pump water, stick the intake hose in some water to which you've added some red food coloring...if the pump housing has a hairline crack (which I suspect), you'll see red around the crack.
Pink stuff
The yard is very reputible and I was not even thinking of trying to pursue them. They did use the pink RV type antifreeze. I have never used bleach in any of the plunmbing except as stated in your book Peggy. As for the screws, I was not able to tighten them. They were as is from the factory. I will try taking them apart next week. What do you mean by dry mode? With the valve left in the down position? I really cannot remember how it was when I did my spring commisioning. Tim R.
The yard is very reputible and I was not even thinking of trying to pursue them. They did use the pink RV type antifreeze. I have never used bleach in any of the plunmbing except as stated in your book Peggy. As for the screws, I was not able to tighten them. They were as is from the factory. I will try taking them apart next week. What do you mean by dry mode? With the valve left in the down position? I really cannot remember how it was when I did my spring commisioning. Tim R.
Update
Just got off the phone with WC. It turns out that the headmate has a 2 year warrantee. They said if I can identify the offending part, they will ship me one for free. After describing the symptoms they think it may have a crack in the cylinder assembly. Tim R.
Just got off the phone with WC. It turns out that the headmate has a 2 year warrantee. They said if I can identify the offending part, they will ship me one for free. After describing the symptoms they think it may have a crack in the cylinder assembly. Tim R.
- Status