Galley Maid Heads and Electro Scan question

[wsdemmer]

I swear this is my last project! I want to add the treatment units to my Hatt that has GM heads. I contacted Raritan and they said that the GM might produce too much water for the LS units to work properly. When installing the LS units how did you hook up the treatment cycle to the 32v system? I thought about changing out the whole system but realized that they have been working pretty well but the smell and pumping out is getting old and the wife is not happy. I figured that installing the treatment systems (have part of one that I bought here in the classifieds that I should not have ;long story but can still use part of the system) will put an end to the smell and the regular pumping out of the system. I just finished installing a jabsco macerator pump to pump out the holding tank offshore when I need to as a back up when in areas that I cannot use the LS units. How hard was the install? Did you use the combo line to tie in two toilets? Any helpful hints or caveats?

 

[MikeP]

The electro scan should work fine for the GM heads. I had the earlier version - Lectra San until last season when I removed it due to an issue with leaks. The leaks were NOT caused by lectra san per se. However, you need to know that the GM head pumps will deliver enough volume and pressure to fracture the lectra san (impressively so!) if you accidentally flush the head with the 'san's output hose turned off.

That's a function of how you set it up. If you have it routed directly into the holding tank, there is no need for there to be any sort of valve in the 'san's output.

My experience is that it will do exactly as you want - eliminate odors because it is treating the waste with chlorine before it goes into the tank. GM makes a waste treatment system that does the same thing but it's much bigger and more involved plumbing wise however, it does not use any electrical power at all. I had two of those and one lectra san. The GMs were on the master and guest head, the san was on the forward head.

FWIW, since any of the waste treatment systems simply add chlorine to the waste, either by making it using salt water/electric current or by using liquid or tablets, you can do the same thing by adding clorox occasionally when flushing the heads or by adding clorox directly into the holding tank through the pumpout fittings.

We did not combine toilets into a single 'san so I cannot comment on that. I would follow whatever Raritan's recommendations are re that. I seem to recall there was something about the distance from san to head as far as the feasibility of doing that.

We were without the 'san for last season and there was no issue with holding tank odor. I added maybe 2 oz of chlorine to the head a couple of times a week while on board/using that head.

ALSO, note that the lectro's require salt water of a certain salinity to work properly. They won't in places like most of the Chesapeake bay and much of Long Island Sound without a separate salt feeder.

OOPS - forgot...You will need to add a new circuit breaker in the elec panel for the san. I don't remember the amperage at 32V but it will need it's own circuit.

 

[wsdemmer]

Thanks for the reply Mike. Do you still have the treatment units on board? I saw in another thread that you were thinking about changing your system out again? I would like to modify/change only once. Do you agree with keeping the GM's and adding the electro scan?

 

[MikeP]

I am perfectly happy with the oem GM heads as far as function is concerned. But I know other folks disagree. They have never caused me any trouble at all and work well. My only complaint about them is they are noisy. They also use a lot of water compared to modern heads but since they use RW, there is no impact re boat water usage. We have never had any odor issues with them - I assume it's because of the treatment systems though that's just an assumption.

Adding the electro scan is, IMO, fine - our 'san was installed by the PO and worked perfectly for 15 years. It was my error that caused the problem when I de winterized the head, forgot to open the discharge valve, and flushed the head. I did, as noted earlier, have to add the salt feeder for reliable chlorine production in LI sound/Ches bay.

Raritan also makes a model that adds chlorine using tabs or liquid - I don't recall. That unit might be a good choice if you are in an area where the water has a lower salt content or you don't want to use the elec power required for the electro-scan. It works like the GM waste treatment systems though the Raritan is much more compact.

One thing that occurs to me re GM pump flow and the Electro scan that Raritan may have been referring to when they mentioned water flow... If the 'san has a long run of hose from it's output to the holding tank, it would tend to create more resistance to the flow out of the 'San and perhaps there would be enough pressure from the pump to damage the case/top. Our installation had maybe 4 ft of hose from the san to the manifold to go overboard or into the tank. Possibly long lengths or lots of curves could create a problem.