www.iFourWinns.com

...don't flush it down the vacu-flush". What B.S. My 4 year old ate cherries and swallowed the pits and I had to take the whole vacu-flush system out to get to both sets of duck bill valves. I was going to take a picture of the cherry pits propping open the valves but I figured I should just post a picture of the culprit instead. I forgave her this time and it really wasn't hard to fix to tell you the truth (a little nasty though). What have you all encountered with respect to the downside of the vacu-flush system (not limited to food)? Anything else to be wary of eating or doing to it? I now find the duck bill valves having trouble sealing themselves after this violation so how often should I change them out?

Cherry pit eating monster.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

With a face like that you have to have a hard time being mad.

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

I had a sealing problem with my vacu-flush last year. I was advised it was the duckbill valve. $300 later it wasn't the duckbill valve. Then it was a poor seal on the toilet base. Wasn't that either. Now somewhere in the system there is a leak which causes the pump to continuously cycle. So the drill now is press the flush button, wait till it cycles, use the head, wait till it cycles and then turn the flush button off.

Fleet Admiral Kearney has the same problem and uses the same process.

Hope you find the leak!

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2006 348 Vista
"some days you're the bug and some days you're the windshield"

The Portapotti on our boat is very basic. Very. It seems to work . W've always wanted a "proper" toilet. ( we do have 3 in our house, in case anyone's wondering about sanitary arrangements in the UK ! I think my American cousins from Atlanta, GA were a bit surprised when they stayed at my/ their Grandparents farm in Wales in the early 1970's; outside chemical toilet !). I've got to ask though, what is the point of a vacuflush/ manual flush toilet if you can't flush things down it ? That seems a pretty basic design requirement.

Graham

As an aside though, as a student for a Summer job I used to work on the sea ferries between the UK and Ireland s in the 1970s.They had vacuum flush toilets. some people didn't understand they couldn't flush beer cans down them. No comment ! Nor about some people's understanding that the decks were not toilets !

Graham

This is what we have been having to do as well when the pump won't cycle off. I am beginning to wonder if it is the new head deoderant that we purchased? It does seems stronger than the deoderant that we normally use and it might be having an effect on the rubber seals.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

You would think so but they are tempermental when it comes to solid objects or the dreaded tampon. I was just Googling "marine head" and read that "To keep the gaskets and the valves of the pumps functioning smoothly during your bareboat charter, simply pour in about a quarter of a cup of vegetable (cooking) oil into the bowl of the marine toilet once daily and flush it through the system." I think I wil try this to counter the harsh head deoderant that I just started using.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Same here....flip the switch, do your business, flush, turn the switch off

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'01 Vista 298

Heh. More like Senior Ship's Engineer some days...

Yeah, I think the bowl seals on ours are shot. I just haven't felt like making the time to deal with it. If/when I do my plan it to replace all the seals and possibly also the shaft (if it's one of the plastic kind). Better to get it all done at once than go through it again.

Meanwhile it's 'only run the pump when flushing'.

I had not considered the potential issue of swallowed cherry pits. Ugh. Can't really guard against that. I'm all for being 'up front' with guests about using the toilet, but I couldn't see getting into discussion what they've been eating. Yeesh, that would be awkward.

Of course cherries, being red, are verboten on our 348. My cabin carpet seems to be a magnet for anything with red coloring. Thus it's entirely forbidden on the boat. Yes, I now check bags. If they're cute they get a TSA approved pat down too.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

It is about 7:00 p.m. eastern time and around 1:00 p.m. today I poured a cup or so of vegeatable oil in the toilet and have yet to have it not cycle off due to leakage. So far so good. We have flushed the toilet probably 10 times since putting the oil in and it has always cycled off. Maybe we need to eat more fried foods.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

LOL!!! You people are hilarious!

I know this is a really old one, but I dont know anything about the vacuflush system or how it works. I have this on the boat we just purchased and honestly dont really know how it works. I get that you need the water pump on and to turn on the switch. I thought it would instantly take waste down, but it doenst really. Based on comments here, should I be leaving my switch on for a second or two before I open the flush valve? Should this switch stay on all the time while we are on the water and then it just shuts itself off when it cycles?

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2006 Vista 278
First Boat:
2005 Sundowner 205
Columbus, OH

Yea, basically, the system builds vacuum pressure with the switch on, to a set point, then shuts off, when you flush the toilet, the vacuum sucks the contents into the system, and the pump should cycle on again, to rebuild pressure. If your system has a leak somewhere in a seal or such, then the pump may never stop (if said leak is big enough), or it will cycle on and off without it being flushed. I'm glad you brought this thread up though, because I believe my system has recently developed a small leak, and cycles occasionally, so I'm going to give that vegetable oil idea a shot to temporarily fix it!

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2004 Four Winns 328 Vista
1997 Larson Cabrio 290 - sold
1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 248 - sold

That makes sense! Does it also chop and send it all the way to the holding tank? I just dont know how much water to send in after it leaves the toilet.

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2006 Vista 278
First Boat:
2005 Sundowner 205
Columbus, OH

Yes, the macerator pump chops up the waste and then will send it to the holding tank but keep pushing down on the foot lever for around 10 seconds each time you flush to make sure you move everything down to the macerator. Also, if you haven't used your vacu-flush system in a while, pour about a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in the bowl to lube things up. You might want to invest in a small plunger because they tend to get clogged every now and then.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY