My 1st Hatt - 1984 52C

[JuiceClark]

Get yourself a very skinny 16 year old want to be mechanic to get in there. I used to do this on my old cars when I was young and broke. When pushing the flush button have someone tap or smack a hammer on the motor. See if that might kick it over.

I had my daughter press the button, listened to the solenoid click and the motor didn't make a peep. It doesn't even hum a little or feel like it's doing anything when you touch it.

It can't be getting any power at all or it would surely do something?? I'm holding hope I'm missing a switch somewhere or a wiring problem. Both motors too dead to even vibrate...what are the odds??

 

[MadHatter53]

Have you checked the voltage of your house batteries?

 

[JuiceClark]

Have you checked the voltage of your house batteries?

Yep, all charged up with my Charles 9000 battery cooker. So, that's not it. I thought maybe a weak connection point too...but I cleaned 'em all up.
I even checked the juice at the switches and they're good. I'll rest my back another day and start poking around with my battery meter.



I was going to get to the subject of the batteries later - all TWENTY of them. Yes, 20. 8 for port/house, another 8 for stbd and ?, 2 12v for all the electronics and another two in the bow for the windlass. It's an interesting ol gal.
Yeah, I'll get to all that later.

 

[SEVEN]

I spoke to a buddy of mine who is an electrical engineer. He also owns and operates a 53’ Hatteras himself. He told me that even though the solenoid clicks does not mean it’s actually engaging. If the two contacts inside the solenoid do not touch it will not run the motor. You might check that to see if there’s any power coming out of the solenoid once you push the button. If that’s the case that’s an easy and very inexpensive switch. He also mentioned try starting the generator to verify you have enough power on those batteries. Those batteries also run his head system.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Juice, are those Slane vents? If so, don't get rid of them. They aren't made any more and they are the best thing out there.

 

[jim rosenthal]

The generator is powered by a 5.9 Cummins? How many kW is THAT set? Wow.

 

[whoover]

Get a meter on that solenoid and see if its even letting power through. Make a pair of long jumpers with alligator clips on the ends and connect the meter. You can then monitor the meter while you are pressing the switch. I agree with RAC that there is a breaker off somewhere, the low amperage control side is live but the high amperage power to the motor is off. You could always jumper the solenoid with heavy gauge wire like car jumper cables.

Walt Hoover

 

[jason.erbecker]

Juice, are those Slane vents? If so, don't get rid of them. They aren't made any more and they are the best thing out there.

The Slane vents are still being made/available. Broadus Rose at Lookout Boat Window Frames bought the molds. He is making me a vent for my 46C right now. A nice gentlemen with a good reputation. His number is 252-499-9152.

 

[jmooney]

You can turn the head pumps with needle nose vise grips were you can see the shaft . A small movement might get them working. Most likely you will have to re replace them with rebuilds from either Raz or GalleyMaid . I would think if they sat since 2014 , every part of the pumps will need attention. Rebuilt pumps will give several years service. If the pumps are in good condition and they don’t want to turn much , the hoses are clogged. Replacing the hoses is the best course of action , and then try to keep them clean.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Raz gives good service, but shipping those lumps of iron to and fro gets expensive. A good auto electric shop can do, and has done for me, the job locally. And once the motors are done, as Rusty said, the pump end rebuilds are easy. But never, never don't buy new pump seals while you have the units out. And having a chisel handy is often a good idea. Some of the dried grunge can make pretty good riprap.

As always, it's best to find the very best technical minds to handle the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8W6qyDL9Y

 

[JuiceClark]

I think Cap'n Clarkson might be onto something - must be missing a switch somewhere or a loose wire. Those motors (at least one of em) would make a noise or something if they were getting power.

I'll crawl around in the bilge tonight with my meter. In the meantime, in the office I'm reading the manual and it says there's "toilet system switch in its respective head."



A second switch for the pump?? Where!? Or does that just mean the button I press to flush while the panel switch in the ER is on?

 

[JuiceClark]

Juice, are those Slane vents? If so, don't get rid of them. They aren't made any more and they are the best thing out there.

Peeked pre-sunrise this morning when I couldn't see that well, but I could not see a name or branding mark anywhere on them. The seller said "I might have gotten those from Sam's..." So, that was my assumption but, I don't know.

I'll be buying thousands of $$s of stuff from Sam's over the next year. So, I figured I'd work something out if I refuse the major surgery of installing them.

 

[JuiceClark]

Ah, I see. So, the panel used to have a separate pull switch to turn on the toilet pump...back when it had a foot pedal flush or something. Now, it has the push button in that spot.

I'll just have to follow the wires tonight and figure it out.
I sure appreciate everybody's input.

 

[jim rosenthal]

The Slane vents are still being made/available. Broadus Rose at Lookout Boat Window Frames bought the molds. He is making me a vent for my 46C right now. A nice gentlemen with a good reputation. His number is 252-499-9152.

Didn't know that, and thanks for posting. Good news. They are very well made and do a great job.

 

[jmooney]

The picture of the manual you are using is for vacuflush heads . The head pumps you pictured is GalleyMaid .

 

[MadHatter53]

I think I have all my books here so I’ll go thru them after dinner. My breakers for the heads are in the port ER and another dc panel in stbd ER for electronics etc. you have a lot of batteries so I assume they are 4V, I have 4 for each side and one 12v for gen and a few step down converters to run every thing else 12v.

 

[MadHatter53]

I looked thru my galleymaid manual and it’s really not much. It does show a 2A fuse on the battery neg wire at the solenoid. I would chase down the volts with a meter or test light.

 

[kelpy]

It appears that two cylinders have fallen off of your 5.9 Cummins powered genset!!

 

[JuiceClark]

The picture of the manual you are using is for vacuflush heads . The head pumps you pictured is GalleyMaid .

I looked thru my galleymaid manual and it’s really not much. It does show a 2A fuse on the battery neg wire at the solenoid. I would chase down the volts with a meter or test light.

Dear Lord - I guess I didn't even stop to realize those things aren't original. They look so original!

Thanks to everyone for your input. This is one with no shortcuts. I'll just have to start on one end with the tester and work my way back. It's a mystery!

I was mostly concerned that, since that BOTH won't show any life, there might be some float shut-off in the tank or some other safety mechanism keeping them from running. We shall see......

 

[JuiceClark]

Today's happy lesson: If the 20kw genny turns over easily but won't run, check to see if the oil pressure switch is stuck.

I checked everything possibly possible, for two hours, before I checked that!


As for the heads, they're just fused. I had the wife press the button while I smacked the pump (and everything) with a hammer. The only thing that happened was a small line of smoke started coming from a screw on top of the motor.
So, I'm not going to mess with it. The only decision to make is whether to get two rebuilt pump/motor set-ups from Raz, or just buy new toilets with pumps for not that much more money.