New Head

[lakewash]

Presently I have a manual head that I am considering replacing with either
an electric or vacu-flush head.
I would appreciate any experience people have had with different brands and types.
Thanks

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Why?

Presently I have a manual head that I am considering replacing with either an electric or vacu-flush head.

Why do you want to "upgrade" (notice quotes) to an electric toilet? How do you use your boat...mostly weekends around the islands or are you thinking of spending a lot of time out of sight of land? Who's mostly aboard...your family or landlubber guests?

I'm not suggesting that an electric toilet is a bad idea...for many owners it's a GREAT idea...but not necessarily the best choice for everyone. And this is a conversation we haven't had in a while, so it should be useful to others.

 

[lakewash]

In the past have had some plugged lines, which weren't fun. So many people you take out just don't understand marine heads. I'm leaning towards the vacu-flush head. Has anyone had any experience with them? Good or Bad?
Thanks

Why do you want to "upgrade" (notice quotes) to an electric toilet? How do you use your boat...mostly weekends around the islands or are you thinking of spending a lot of time out of sight of land? Who's mostly aboard...your family or landlubber guests?

I'm not suggesting that an electric toilet is a bad idea...for many owners it's a GREAT idea...but not necessarily the best choice for everyone. And this is a conversation we haven't had in a while, so it should be useful to others.

 

[Steve Dion]

I am thinking if you have had plugged lines in the past, something like the electric toilet with a macerator would help in that area.

We had two incidents where some visitors have "tried" to dispose of "baby/butt" wipes down our SeaEra. The macerator would NOT grind them. All of the other components that were originall in the toilet were gone except the wipe. Long nose pliers made the extraction easy (no mess, no fuss).

 

[lakewash]

Thanks for the input. The plugged lines in the past were on another boat.

I am thinking if you have had plugged lines in the past, something like the electric toilet with a macerator would help in that area.

We had two incidents where some visitors have "tried" to dispose of "baby/butt" wipes down our SeaEra. The macerator would NOT grind them. All of the other components that were originall in the toilet were gone except the wipe. Long nose pliers made the extraction easy (no mess, no fuss).

 

[Steve Dion]

The SeaEra has been a great addition to our boat. I think we end up saving water (filling black water tank) with each pump compared to the old manual head.

Our unit has the "raw water" flush rather than fresh water which makes more noise, but I did not want to use fresh water from the tank.

 

[Guest]

Heads

Our 1991 P42 came equipped with two electric raw water flushing toilets. A bit noisy, but only during flushing. We've owned Belle-Vie since 2002 and sailed her thousands of miles. Each season we cruise for two months at a time all in PNW waters. These original toilets (Jabsco I think) always work, never clog and do a splendid job for which they were designed. I'll check the amp meter the next time to confirm this, but our model seems to draw closer to ten amps while flushing. Each flush is maybe six seconds max.

But then our nine year old granddaughter guest for a two week cruise, who was accustomed to using wet wipes, even when we talked to her about the proper use of the toilets, refused to break her habits, until the verbal alarms went off, did she decide to change. The macerating head motor did finally chew the material enough to send it on its way to the holding tank so that the skipper avoided tearing the system apart.

We've had manual heads before and they work for the most part. But just like the out houses, they worked just fine until the flusher came along. I really like the reliability of our electric system.

Terry Cox

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

In the past have had some plugged lines, which weren't fun.

An electric toilet won't solve that problem...'cuz it's the result of flushing things that shouldn't have been flushed.

So many people you take out just don't understand marine heads.Thanks

Without any instruction from you, they aren't gonna understand an electric toilet any better. So if you're trying to solve THAT problem by replacing the toilet, you'll only be exchanging one set of problems for another set.

I'm leaning towards the vacu-flush head. Has anyone had any experience with them? Good or Bad?Thanks

Once upon a time, the VacuFlush was the only game in town if you wanted a toilet that used fresh water and didn't need 1-3 gal/flush and drew less than 50 amps. But those days have been over since the early 90s. Today every major toilet mfr offers several models that have all the advantages of a VacuFlush and more for a fraction of the price....and without components scattered all over the bilges.

Check out the Raritan SeaEra Raritan Sea Era or if you really want to go upscale for a very reasonable price, the Raritan Marine Elegance Raritan Elegance toilet with optonal 4 choice flush button.

Btw...I had VacuFlush on my last 2 boats and was a dealer for nearly 10 years. If I were looking at used boat on which they wiere already installed, I'd be ok with that...but I would never spend my own money to "upgrade" to V/Flush again.