I know there are many postings on Vacuflush systems but the Sailvac is a very different configuration. It is a 'one piece' compact until that in my boat (Oceanis 41) is very hard to reach.
I wanted to point out to boaters that the manufacturer has 'upgraded' the design from the original by adding a ball valve to the top of the outbound hose. Once this fix was applied by my dealer the system worked flawlessly never losing vacuum until a week ago. If you do not have this valve I suggest you speak to your dealer - Dometic sent out a service bulletin on this.
Now here is my new issue - the vacuum pump was working flawlessly until one morning when after flushing the pump did its job but then started running again every 30 seconds after shutting off. I flushed more water through and it then ran less often maybe every 2 minutes. After flushing more water and pumping out several times it ran every seven minutes. Now a week later it runs every 30 minutes or so. We cleaned the bowl seal, tighten hose clamps, screws and bolts wherever we could. I also sprayed Pam on the bowl seal per Dometic's instruction manual - NOTE there is no instruction manual for the Sailvac 5200 - just a generic 'sailvac' manual which is not very useful.
Symptoms:
I could hear a hissing noise at the pedal and a gurgle of water from the tank down the intake hose. There was no loss of water in the bowl.
I called the Dometic/Vacuflush support line who suggested it is the seal in the bowl but I was not certain this was the case. I then called Marine Sanitation the Sailvac dealer in Seattle and they were very helpful. Based on our joint diagnosis it is most likely a duck valve in the pump assembly. The dealer believes the duck valves are the issue based on his experience - they tend to go first - not the bowl seal.
Per his diagnosis a leak anywhere upstream could manifest itself lower down the system. That is to say just because you see or hear an issue at the bowl does not mean that is the location of the leak. The dealer said a bowl seal issue unlikely - he suggested that 90% of the time it is the duck valves.
I ordered the replacement 1 1/2" duck valves (set of 2) and a new bowl seal from Marine Sanitation which I will install this week. I also asked what he thought we needed for spares with a sailvac 5200 - he suggested duckvalves, bowl seal and a rebuild kit for the pump (which consists of a few gaskets and screws).
I replaced the bowl seal as it was the easiest job to perform but I did not see any improvement. Before tackling the duckbill valves I called Dometic again to see if they had any other ideas.
I spoke to different support person who told me the hissing in the foot pedal was a result of a seal failure in the pedal mechanism. They had a batch of problem units exhibiting the same issue and they are shipping me a new base assembly at no charge.
I wanted to point out to boaters that the manufacturer has 'upgraded' the design from the original by adding a ball valve to the top of the outbound hose. Once this fix was applied by my dealer the system worked flawlessly never losing vacuum until a week ago. If you do not have this valve I suggest you speak to your dealer - Dometic sent out a service bulletin on this.
Now here is my new issue - the vacuum pump was working flawlessly until one morning when after flushing the pump did its job but then started running again every 30 seconds after shutting off. I flushed more water through and it then ran less often maybe every 2 minutes. After flushing more water and pumping out several times it ran every seven minutes. Now a week later it runs every 30 minutes or so. We cleaned the bowl seal, tighten hose clamps, screws and bolts wherever we could. I also sprayed Pam on the bowl seal per Dometic's instruction manual - NOTE there is no instruction manual for the Sailvac 5200 - just a generic 'sailvac' manual which is not very useful.
Symptoms:
I could hear a hissing noise at the pedal and a gurgle of water from the tank down the intake hose. There was no loss of water in the bowl.
I called the Dometic/Vacuflush support line who suggested it is the seal in the bowl but I was not certain this was the case. I then called Marine Sanitation the Sailvac dealer in Seattle and they were very helpful. Based on our joint diagnosis it is most likely a duck valve in the pump assembly. The dealer believes the duck valves are the issue based on his experience - they tend to go first - not the bowl seal.
Per his diagnosis a leak anywhere upstream could manifest itself lower down the system. That is to say just because you see or hear an issue at the bowl does not mean that is the location of the leak. The dealer said a bowl seal issue unlikely - he suggested that 90% of the time it is the duck valves.
I ordered the replacement 1 1/2" duck valves (set of 2) and a new bowl seal from Marine Sanitation which I will install this week. I also asked what he thought we needed for spares with a sailvac 5200 - he suggested duckvalves, bowl seal and a rebuild kit for the pump (which consists of a few gaskets and screws).
I replaced the bowl seal as it was the easiest job to perform but I did not see any improvement. Before tackling the duckbill valves I called Dometic again to see if they had any other ideas.
I spoke to different support person who told me the hissing in the foot pedal was a result of a seal failure in the pedal mechanism. They had a batch of problem units exhibiting the same issue and they are shipping me a new base assembly at no charge.
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