Wilcox - Crittenden head pump not working on Catalina 30

[pharcyde]

Greetings!

I am experiencing trouble with the head in my 1984 Catalina 30. The brand is Wilcox - Crittenden. When the switch is on either "Pump Dry" or "Flush", there is no pressure when pumping the handle up and down. Water is not pulled in to the toilet or pumped into the holding tank. The pump itself is very easy to pull and push. I made sure the seacock is in the open position to pull water in. It actually worked before but all of of a sudden it just stopped. I had a guest use the toilet and he might have flushed a paper tissue down there. I confronted him about it and he said "no". Hoping he didn't but I'm fearing he did. I've scoured the Internet but I can't seem to find instructions in troubleshooting. Perhaps someone out there may have some knowledge in this.

Thanks for any help!

Michael

 

[Joe]

Try holding the lever in the desired position for a few seconds before you start pumping. You can still find rebuild kit for the WC "headmate"..... but most owners, myself included, eventrually replaced the entire unit.... The WC head mate was the cheapest MSD available at the time.... very very common unit. You need to look a little harder for service info.... Google " wilcox-critenden head mate service manual" ..... never mind, I already did it for you.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Either take it apart or buy a new one. Raritan PHII or PHC are replacements, but you can buy the LBA and use your old bowl. They stopped making your head three years ago.

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3797.0.html

 

[pharcyde]

Thanks everyone. I'll post updates as I resolve this issue.

 

[foolproof]

I tried to reseal mine over the weekend, but it leaked tons worse after I did the work...water seemed to shoot out of the selector valve body for no apparent reason. I think that it was so old that it had spider cracks in it and would never seal up again. I have a Jabsco on the way to replace it with.

 

[pharcyde]

Hi all, I found this write up on the joker valve. This may help other's experiencing the same issue I'm having.

-Michael

JOKER VALVE 101By Vic Willman, Tech Services ManagerRaritan Engineering

Most people think that the only thing the joker valve does is acts as a
check valve to stop back flow from returning to the toilet or odor from
the tank from escaping through the toilet. But that's not a joker
valve's most important function...in fact, the joker valve is THE single
most important replaceable part in a manual toilet.

Here’s how the discharge half of the pump works: On the upstroke of the
piston, a vacuum is created in the area beneath the piston. This causes
the joker valve to close tightly, and the flapper valve beneath the pump
to open, allowing some of the contents of the toilet bowl to be drawn
into the bottom half of the pump. Then, on the down stroke of the
piston, the flapper valve is slammed shut, and the effluent is forced
out of the bottom of the pump, through the joker valve, and off down the
line. But when the joker valve becomes worn and/or there's a buildup of
sea water minerals on it, it can no longer seal tightly on the upstroke
of the piston...less vacuum is generated when you pump it. And as it
becomes more worn less and less vacuum, till finally the bowl contents
simply move up and down a bit, but don't go anywhere. Sometimes the
flapper valve needs to be replaced too, which is why toilets should also
be rebuilt at least every 5-6 years as PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE.

You prob'ly won't notice the loss of efficiency at first because it's so
gradual...same as we don't see that we've gotten a little older than we
were yesterday when we look in the mirror each morning. But I guarantee
you that if it's been 4 years since you replaced the joker valve, you
need to pump the toilet at least 50% more times to move the bowl
contents to the tank..if you can even get 'em all the way there any more.

 

[pharcyde]

Just wanted to give an status update for those that may run in to this problem.

Using this diagram I was able to disassemble the pump housing from the waste arm. The cause of the problem was not the joker valve. The problem was the white plastic piston assembly was not bolted to the piston rod. It had come off completely. After cleaning everything off I bolted the piston assembly to the piston rod reassembled everything back to its original state. Opened the seacock valve and everything worked just fine. The only issue now is there is water spraying out of the piston rod handle where the packing nut and washer when pumping. I'm guessing the seal has been compromised and just need a new washer. Included are images of exactly what I'm talking about.

Thanks for everyone's help!

-Michael

 

[foolproof]

The water spraying out of the rod is due to the gasket and/or packing having gone bad. I recently tried to reseal mine, and the kit included a new washer and some packing material. If you decide to reseal the whole unit, you need to look the pump body over VERY closely. Mine leaked like a sieve after i installed the kit! Apparantly, the plastic pump body had stress cracks in it that I hadn't noticed before. When I tried to snug the screws, the thing leaked like crazy.

I have since received a new Jabsco head, and hope to have better luck with it!

 

[Stu Jackson]

Nice job. Good detective work. Loosen the nut on the shaft, find some packing material, insert it, replace the nut and you should be good for another couple of years. Then you can buy a Raritan, why go backwards to a Jabsco?

 

[foolproof]

I bought the Jabsco because it was only $150. The seal kit alone for the Crittendon was $75. As inexpensive as it is, I can replace the Jabsco twice for what a budget Raritan costs! The Jabsco looks OK to me...looks better than the Crit that it's replacing. If I were made of money I would definitely buy a $1500 electric toilet. Of course, I probably wouldn't have a 30' boat on a lake in Missouri either!!

 

[rbmcintire]

Does anybody know if the Raritan PHII fits well or whether the PHC (compact version) is recommended? I'm going to try a Wilcox joker valve this weekend, (cuz it's cheap and we're getting backfeed from the holding tank) but if the whole thing blows up in my face, I don't think I'm going to keep messing with it.

 

[Stu Jackson]

rb, if you go to the "store" here and find the Raritan PHII (search helps) IIRC there's a link to Raritan's website or go there directly and they have the dimensions. I fit a PHII where our WC was before in the link I provided earlier (I'll go check to see if I did).

PS Yes, see Reply #3. Measure once, drop in new head twice???