toilet flush

[DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont]

I'm working out how to fit a macerator to a manual jabsco toilet. As far as I can tell macerators only have one outlet - for the sewage. So my query is how do I get the river water [i]into[/i] the bowl to flush it? Currently the hand pump does it but I want it to be electric. Do I have to buy another pump and wire it in? Are there macerators with a clean output as well as the main one, someone told me there are? Perhaps I could get the macerator to suck in the river water upon power up by making the seat lid an airtight seal.

David

[DBA Forum (B) - Colin Stone]

David,

Post by DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont
Perhaps I could get the macerator to suck in the river water upon power up by making the seat lid an airtight seal.

That might work if the macerator has enough suction. Effectively what a Blakes Lavac does.

My BL has a Whale manual bilge pump and sucks from a small 6ltr toilet cistern mounted behind bowl which is supplied from the pressurised cold water system. So suction height is almost zero.

Colin Stone
KEI
Sent via BlackBerry® BIS

[DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont]

Do most people flush their barge toilets with drinking water then? That would be quite easy - just install a push tap, but I want to use river water so as to save drinking water.

I've been looking at pond pumps with an inline option, they seem good value though I would prefer 12V not 240. With 240 I'll need to wire in a 12V switch and solenoid for safety (it is next to the shower). I need to check the capacity but I guess 3000l/hour flow rate would do a good flush, looks like about £25 new.

David

[DBA Forum (B) - Chris Williamson]

David



I use a whale gulper to flush with river water, activated with a 12v push switch.



The draw back, other than sometimes committing fry into a grim death, is that in shallows one can draw up rather anoxic water from above the mud. What I suspect is the change of pH due to human pee, can then release a small dose of hydrogen sulphide on occasion.



It's never harmed me, but one can end up with the blame for creating some pretty pervasive gut odours when visiting the heads.






Chris
D. B. Orca




-------- Original message --------
Forum (B) - David Beaumont'
Date:19/08/2014 1:07 AM (GMT+00:00)
subscribers
flush






Do most people flush their barge toilets with drinking water then? That would be quite easy - just install a push tap, but I want to use river water so as to save drinking water.




I've been looking at pond pumps with an inline option, they seem good value though I would prefer 12V not 240. With 240 I'll need to wire in a 12V switch and solenoid for safety (it is next to the shower). I need to check the capacity but I guess 3000l/hour flow rate would do a good flush, looks like about £25 new.



David

[DBA Forum (B) - Colin Stone]

Post by DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont
Do most people flush their barge toilets with drinking water then

Well, I do with fresh water. With 6 tonnes water capacity, it is not really an issue and we're generally able to top up frequently if we want to from locks etc. Plus avoids smelly canal and river water.
I do recycle basin water.

Colin Stone
KEI

Sent via BlackBerry® BIS

[DBA Forum (B) - Peter Cawson]

I asked some while ago about using canal water to flush toilets and got the impression most used tank water. Certainly my boat uses tank water, but I'm much less concerned with the small quantity used compared with what does out of the sink and washbasins. Visitors used to cleaning teeth under running water or doing washing up with the tap on full blast is the big problem and nagging (reminding) them becomes tiresome. What the loos use is insignificant with my electric macerator toilets.

Colin - what do you use your recycled basin water for and where do you store it?

Peter

[DBA Forum (B) - Colin Stone]

Peter,

With the Blakes Lavac I pump out the bowl, and then just use hand wash water from basin to rinse bowl and refill.

Colin Stone
KEI
Sent via BlackBerry® BIS

[DBA Forum (B) - Pete. Milne]

We use canal water and never notice any unusual smells from it. We have a Flojet pump, with pressure tank & switch, connected to the control valve on an Vetus WCS toilet with built-in macerator (expensive but came with the boat; I wouldn't buy one!)

A winter neighbour uses a standard domestic toilet with cistern and a domestic macerator, which seems the simplest possible arrangement. It just works (whether the water is fresh or from the canal).

Pete

[DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont]

[quote="Chris Williamson" post=57142]
I use a whale gulper to flush with river water, activated with a 12v push switch.
[/quote]
Thanks Chris is that the standard gulper (840 l/hour) or the high flow one (1500 l/hour)? I worried that that might not be enough flow to flush, compared to a cistern emptying. Are you happy with the rate?

David

[DBA Forum (B) - Chris Williamson]

Yes, David, the standard gulper. I tend to fill the bowl half way, then pump it out (manually) into the tank, then pump a small flush again just to rinse bowl. SP given my method, the rate is just dandy.



I guess if you had 2 press switches, 1 each for the flush and macerator, you can control what each one does.






Chris
D. B. Orca




-------- Original message --------
Forum (B) - David Beaumont'
Date:19/08/2014 2:37 PM (GMT+00:00)
subscribers
flush






[quote='Chris Williamson' post=57142]

I use a whale gulper to flush with river water, activated with a 12v push switch.


[/quote]

Thanks Chris is that the standard gulper (840 l/hour) or the high flow one (1500 l/hour)? I worried that that might not be enough flow to flush, compared to a cistern emptying. Are you happy with the rate?



David

[DBA Forum (B) - David Beaumont]

The macerator operates automatically apparently, when the level changes. So I would just need one switch - to flush. It would operate very similarly to a house toilet. In fact my latest thinking is just fitting a small house toilet but dispensing with the cistern, rather than modifying my Jabsco. Alternatively I could hide the cistern and fill it slowly with river water but that seems an extra complication.

David

[DBA Forum (B) - Nigel Crompton]

[quote="David Beaumont" post=57189] the cistern and fill it slowly with river water but that seems an extra complication.
David[/quote]

I have std domestic toilet, cistern filled either by fresh water system or river water via a pump. Works well in daily use.

The cistern doesn't have a seperate 'over the side' overflow; it overflows into the toilet bowl. There have been occasions when the float switch that operates the river-water pump has stuck (now rectified) causing water to be continuously pumped into the bowl only for the macerator to return it to the river. It's not ideal, but we can hear all our pumps when they're running ...