Noisy New Raritan PHC

[DavidMac]

We just replaced our old Groco HF with a new Raritan manual PHC toilet. It works great, but the pump makes what I can only describe as a barking or croaking (like a frog) noise. The noise is present in both dry and wet flush, but worse in dry flush. Our old Groco sometimes used to make a similar noise and we could make it go away for awhile by running a little head lube through the toilet. I cannot find anything in the Raritan manual about using head lube. There is some mention of Superlube, but that appears to be a grease like substance that should be smeared inside of the pump cylinder.

Before I start pouring head lube into our new toilet or take the pump off to grease it with Super lube, is it normal for PHC to make such noise? If not, what is the appropriate method to make the noise go away? Is a little liquid headlube OK? Or is the Superlube grease a better alternative? Or should I return the whole thing to Raritan?

If it makes any difference, the PHC is hooked up to an Electroscan and all of the sanitation hose is new.

 

[woodster]

put a little super lube on the pump shaft and also take out the four bolts that hold the pump and spread super lube grease in there very liberally i might add i did this and the noise is not there you can also put a spoon of mineral oil on the bowl with flush water and pump it through

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

That noise is definitely an indication that the pump needs lubrication. If you bought it new, it should have come with enough SuperLube grease in it to last at least a season. To remedy that situation, buy a TUBE (not the spray or the liquid, the TUBE!) of SuperLube (available from Ace Hardware)...Take the pump off the base...stick the tube nozzle well into it and give it a healthy squirt. Put the pump back on the base--being careful not to OVERtighten the bolts, just "snug" them...pump a couple of times to spread the grease all over the inside the pump CYLINDER (the pump shaft doesn't need lubrication ..the seals and o-rings ON the pump shaft are what rubs against the pump cylinder wall). You're good to go for a season. Repeat every spring as part of your spring recommissioning.

 

[DavidMac]

Thank you Woodster and Peggy Hall, Yes, we bought it new from Defender. No idea why it does not have enough lube in it, but I will do the Super Lube thing to the pump and hope that takes care of it. It otherwise seems like a good unit.