Vacuflush Problem- need ideas

[bobk]

I'm fixing all the little BS things that occurred over the trip north. The Vacuflush pump for the master head became weak suddenly during the trip. Last winter I did an R/R job on the bowl seals etc. and replaced the duck bills and all was good for several months. Suddenly we got poor vacuum with symptoms of a leak. We shut that one down for the duration and now checked things out. Duckbills are good, and clean. The pump motor runs strong, no clogs in either direction. So I replaced the bellows, a real sh*&&y job. No joy, the issue persists. The suction on the end of the pump is not as good as the others. Any ideas where to go next? The housing and O-rings all are good as far as I can tell.

Bobk

 

[Pascal]

Check for partial blockage between the pump and the holding tank. I had a similar issue on the master head for a while where sometimes it woudlnt build enough vac to shut down. After I configured the head and master replacing the hose to the located pump and vac twnk, I finally decided to bite the bullet and replace the hose from the pump to the bow mounted tank. Working great now. There was some build up in the hose and the back pressure caused the pump to struggle. If your hoses are original, time to replace. Even with fresh water there is a lot of build after years and years of use

 

[bobk]

Pascal, thanks. I'm not getting a good vacuum even when I disconnect the output side of the pump. All three pumps are manifolded at their exit and run through a single hose to the waste tank.

Bobk

 

[Pascal]

Make sure the DB don't get twisted when you tighten up the fittings. I always put some liquid soap on the DB flanges so the fittings slides on the flanges

 

[Timeout]

You may also have a leak in the hose from the head to the vacuum pump or those hose clamps not sealing at the connections. Not sure what hose you have, but sometimes that white stuff will get a crack in it. I had that problem once.

 

[bobk]

Found the leak(s). I borrowed a Vacuflush vacuum gauge and started to trace back on the system. While the vacuum felt weak at the pump, it was normal. Tracing back to the aft head, we had a massive leak between the toilet base and the vacuum tank. It turned out the hose connecting the tailpiece of the toilet was massively distorted and had a crack. ALSO, and probably the biggest of the leaks was a crack in the tailpiece. This is glued in place and could not be replaced without replacing the lower assembly. I used epoxy putty to make a repair and reassembled and all is good. Hooking up the hoses under the floor for this toilet was a two hour ordeal. But all is good now,

Bobk