I AM SO MAD AT MY HILLBILLY FATHER! Clogged toilet, HELP

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Feb 26, 2004
22,982
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Don't know why it took me so long

to think of this:

In addition to the "Don't flush anything you haven't eaten" signs

How about this:

"A Clogged Head Will Cost You $300!!!"

or whatever price you think adequate to replace the head, decide whether or not to add labor, yours or the yard's.

That oughta get their attention.
 
Mar 7, 2005
53
HR 40 Chesapeake Bay
"If you clog the head I will stand in the door to hand you tools and guide you through unclogging it."

Works wonders.
 
Oct 2, 2007
131
- - Millville, NJ
Unless you're a trumpet or trombone player, and are using the plunger's head for a mute, a toilet plunger has no place on a boat. NEVER use a plunger on a marine toilet, particularly a manual toilet. It won't clear it, and it may wreck the valves inside the toilet.

First step, bail as much water and "other stuff" as you can out of the toilet bowl from above. When you get down to where it is just water remaining, a cheap turkey baster from a dollar store will aid in getting the bowl empty. Next, break the connection at the rear, where the large discharge hose connects (remove the fitting with the hose attached), and clean out that area. Fair chance that it's simply a plugged-up joker valve. Then remove the discharge hose from the fitting and re-attach the fitting (and joker valve). Replace the original discharge hose with a shorter replacement, leading to a bucket. Flush the toilet. It should clear out in fairly short order. When clear water is coming out of it at the proper rate when you flush it, the toilet itself has been cleared. Then as Peggie noted, a plumber's snake through the discharge hose should be able to dislodge anything else that may be clogging it between the toilet and the tank. Don't run the snake through the toilet; run it through the discharge hose after it's been disconnected from the toilet. Finally, reconnect the discharge hose to the toilet and you should be good to go.

Electric macerating toilets are somewhat more difficult to unclog (depending on the particular make and model), but I'm guessing that this is a manual toilet.
 
Mar 7, 2005
53
HR 40 Chesapeake Bay
Electric macerating toilets are somewhat more difficult to unclog (depending on the particular make and model), but I'm guessing that this is a manual toilet.
Can you elaborate on this? My experience with a Jabsco Quiet Flush II is that at least that electric toilet (while not exactly quiet *grin*) is very difficult to clog in the first place and when it does is very very simple to clear.
 
Oct 2, 2007
131
- - Millville, NJ
Depends where the clog is - if it is fibrous material, wrapped around the cutter blade and the discharge impeller, they're not very easy to clear out. The most common things that'll clog them are foreign objects that shouldn't have been put down the toilet to begin with: paper towels, especially the wet-strength paper towels, handy-wipes, and feminine hygiene products - they'll have you talking to yourself, trying to clear them out. I even know of a case where a condom was flushed down the toilet, and really messed things up - kind of like wrapping a rubber band around the moving parts and jamming everything up. No kidding, it actually caused a divorce. The wife's "night out with the girls" every week, turned out to be a night out, but not with the girls. The husband didn't use condoms, but lo and behold, there it was inside the marine toilet, jamming it up! Normal human waste and standard toilet paper won't usually clog the toilet - it's the "other stuff" that causes problems.
 
Mar 7, 2005
53
HR 40 Chesapeake Bay
Interesting. Thanks.

One of my clogs was a Clorox wipe, not quite as fibrous as a handi-wipe but close. On the Jabsco Quiet Flush II there are four bolts that hold the macerator/pump into the base of the toilet. Pull the pump, unwrap the clog, bolt it back together. Done in five minutes. I was impressed.
 

luvitt

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Oct 30, 2008
297
na na na
sorry about the hillbilly comment. i was just so mad at the time, i guess i wasnt thinking. i didnt realize "hillbilly" was an offensive word. i shouldnt have ranted about my dad like that, even though he did a rude thing.

anyway, i fixed it. but, now i have a slight leak. guess i gotta tear it apart and replace a seal or something. it is a manual head that has been coverted to electric.

I know this is gross, but i left the head alone for a week and didnt return. i figured it might dissolve. I guess it did dissolve, bc it flushed right down when i got back.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Brobins, I feel your pain. I had the pumpout boat come today, but it could not pump the completely full tank. At 0200 last Saturday I found a paper floating in the bowl. A crewmember spoke up that if there was "only" one floating, there was still 4 or 5 she had flushed thru. 4 or 5 not biodegradeable "medicinal" applicator papers were now apparently clogging the outlet of the tank. I can't take the port off the holding tank because it's full. I'll have to take the boat to a dockside pumpout and try to pump out through the vent, I guess.
ALL'S WELL, THEN BROBINS ! I reverse-flushed via the deck fitting (which caused some discharge through the vent). That must have pushed the wipes away from the drain. A pumpout cleaned out the tank plus a bunch of extra water. Inpection inside the tank revealed nothing left behind.
 
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