Raritan Water Treatment Kit

[Bob V]

I installed a new Raritan head to replace my Jabsco and while I was at it I also installed the Water Treatment Kit that was recommended. It seems like a pretty simple thing to install. The special t-valve that connects to the bottle of concentrate even has an arrow that tells to which way to orient it in the flushing water line.

I put the bottle of concentrate above the waterline at first because that seemed to be the safest place for it. Everything seemed to work great until I noticed a couple of days after I installed it that all of the concentrate siphoned out of the bottle while the head was not being used. I then moved it down almost to the water line and it siphoned out until the water level in the bottle matched the water level outside of the hull. I then installed it below the water line and closed the intake valve. When I checked on it a short time later it had siphoned the water out of the toilet bowl which was not large enough to contain it. It made my bilge smell nice.

Since this device seems to work much like a water level the results seem pretty predictable. I am thinking about installing a valve in the line to the bottle of concentrate and leaving it closed most of the time but there must be a better way. Any ideas what's going wrong?

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Siphon check valve isn't working

The Raritan Toilet Water Kit should have come with a siphon check valve that prevents the problems you're having. Either it's missing or, not installed correctly, or it's not working. If you can't figure out which is it from reading the instructions again, give Raritan a call.

I wouldn't have installed the kit in the first place. It had a purpose in the days when toilet waste was flushed directly overboard--it "sanitized" the flush a bit. But now that all waste has to be held or treated, it's not necessary any more. Pluse, the active ingredient in Raritan Concentrate is quaternary ammonium compound, a nasty chemical that's anything BUT "green" and is therefore incompatible with non-chemical tank products such as Raritan K.O., Odorlos etc. If you're gonna use anything in the reservoir, use Raritan C.P. instead.

 

[Bob V]

Peggy, we must be talking about a different kit

The kit I have is the "Water treatment kit". It is intended to go on the intake or flushing water line. All it consists of is a t-valve that has an arrow which shows you which side to point towards the toilet and a 1/2 gallon bottle to fill with a solution of RC (raritan concentrate). They talk about how it will treat your flushing water as it enters the boat. Other than the length of small tubing to connect to the bottle there were no other parts in the box nor were any other parts referred to in the clear instructions.

Other than the problem that I mentioned it worked as claimed by adding a small amount of Raritan Concentrate to the flushing water. The flushing water smelled great and there was a small amount of suds when you flushed in the wet setting.

Are we talking about too different kits?

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Re: Peggy, we must be talking about a different kit

I'm sure we're talking about the same kit--the one at the bottom of this page on the Raritan site http://www.raritaneng.com/store/page8.html

 

[Bob V]

Thanks for clearing that up

That's the kit alright. Is the check valve to which you refer inside of the t-fitting? Using KO instead of RC is no problem and sounds like a good idea. The goal of installing this kit (for me) was to get rid of the annoying smell when you flush after not using the head for a few days. That smell used to go away by just flushing a few times to fill the intake with fresh flushing water. After a year of flushing with the old cheap hoses that did not work as well anymore because the hoses held the odor pretty effectively. I have changed out all of those hoses to the white ones so perhaps that was all I needed to do here.

I do not want to be flushing a toxic product into the sea although I usually use a pumpout station. Will the KO keep the stuff from growing and dying in the intake line during periods of inactivity as Raritan claims the RC will. I suspect the RC contains some type of biocide to help prevent this.

 

[Bob V]

I found part of the answer

the t-fitting is also a check valve. It may not be working properly. I do know that the arrow that is labeled "to toilet" is pointing the right way.

One last question - should the bottle be installed below the water line and the check valve prevent back siphoning to that lower postion? It seems that for the treatment solution to get to the bowl that if the bottle is above the water line the solution will eventually siphon downhill.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Re: Thanks for clearing that up

Use Raritan C.P. instead of K.O.

I wish we'd talked before you bought the TWK, 'cuz there's a much simpler solution to sea water intake odor problems that's permanent and costs less than $10:

Tee the head intake line into the head sink drain line. To rinse all the sea water out of the system before the boat will sit, close the sink drain seacock, fill the sink with fresh water...flush the toilet. Because the seacock is closed, the toilet will pull the water from the sink. Add a cupful of distilled white vinegar to the water in the sink to prevent sea water mineral buildup in the system.

This not only solves the intake odor problem, but also eliminates a thru-hull (the head intake thru-hull)...or frees it up to use for a washdown pump.

 

[Bob V]

We did talk before Peggy

Thanks for recommending the PHC. It works great. I just thought this little investment was taking it all one step further and it was (of course) recommended by Raritan.

I really like your idea about the sink drain option and it is not too late for that. I have made other investments that have nt paid off so well and sometimes you just have to cut your losses and make a different plan. Anybody want to buy my Water treatment kit (barely used) and some WAMU stock?

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Re: We did talk before Peggy

I have a few of those myself. I'd hang on the WaMu stock though...it'll prob'ly recover.

 

[Heade Master]

Toilet Water Kit

On the Raritan Toilet Water KIt (p/n # TWK), the reservoir bottle must be mounted at the same level, or lower than, the white inline adapter where it draws the liquid into the raw water line. If the bottle is mounted higher than the adapter, yes, the contents of the bottle will siphon out and will go overboard.

 

[Bob V]

Thanks for the info

does it matter where the T-adapter and bottle are relative to water line of the boat?

 

[Head Master]

Toilet Water Kit

From an operational standpoint, no. But for safety's sake, I'd prefer to see them above the waterline.