A Simple Head Repair you may not know of

[Vincentc]

The aft cabin head stopped up one of our boat rides last week with four women aboard. Thankfully we had a functioning fwd head. The malfunctioning head is a Raritan Atlantes which has all working parts covered and nothing visible, much less accessible. There was no owners manual aboard so I left things alone. Back at the vacation house the Raritan web site gave me the manual and it advised to reverse the power to the head which will cause the pump to run in reverse and clear the blockage. The wires to the head were spliced in the engine room and I did not have the tools and parts to reverse them and put them back together. Today I went down to the boat with the needed tools and parts, cut the 8 ga wires and installed ring terminals and a terminal block.

Reversing the wires did just what the manual said and the head pumps out just fine. I had no idea the repair could be so simple (once the wiring was accessible).

I thought this might be of value to those of you with this model head. It might be worth while to check your wiring leading to the head to see if there is readily available means to reverse the wiring, particularly if you only have one head.

Regards

 

[SportFishCruising]

We need pics.... not of the head or the repair... but of the 4 women

 

[jim rosenthal]

Not likely. Vincent, who is a gentleman, will probably decline.

 

[Vincentc]

Re pictures,
I am proud of my wife and three daughters and would be happy to post pictures. I thought it was kind of like home movies.

 

[Capt Paul]

Or you could at least just pick four other random women.

 

[34Hatt]

Good tip Thanks

When you say not functioning what was it exactly run but not flush or locked up?

 

[Vincentc]

It was apparently stopped up as it would not pump out. The macerator pump was running but no out flow. There was inflow and a resulting urgent distress call from one of my daughters.

 

[34Hatt]

It was apparently stopped up as it would not pump out. The macerator pump was running but no out flow. There was inflow and a resulting urgent distress call from one of my daughters.

Got it

Thanks

 

[ralexa6808]

Thanks Vincent,

Appreciate the information -That's one more tool in my toolbox I will remember.

Ralexa6808

 

[Boatnut]

The Atlantis head comes with an allen type wrench which allows you to manually turn the macerator to clear it out. Pretty easy to use, and worth having on board. Don't ask me how I know. LOL

 

[Avenger]

Would it be worth the effort to put a DPDT switch in line to reverse polarity?

Just be sure to put it in a safe place so it doesn't turn the head into a bidet.