Lectra/San ? for Vic

ronbo1

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
RO Number
21769
Messages
105
I've been using my Lectra/San for 5 years and am pleased with it's performance. I follow the muriatic acid treatment schedule. However, when it comes to winterizing, sucking out the tank with a hand pump is a bit distasteful. Can't the 'pink' stuff antifreeze be flushed in and remain in the tank until Spring? Of course remembering that power must never be applied to the electrode plate until the tank is thoroughly flushed and filled with saline water?
 
ronbo 1, if you cycle LectraSan several times so that there is nothing but sea water in unit you should not have to contend with anything nasty. No need to let unit go thru treatment cycle as long as you are just purging unit. Either just keep pressing flush button until it stops flushing then hit reset & repeat. I may do this 10-12 times. Pumping out is not distasteful at all.
 
There are two issues with using the pink anti-freeze in a Lectra/San:

1) If it accidently gets turned on while the anti-freeze is inside it, a chemical reaction can occur between any residual chlorine in the system and the glycol in the anti-freeze, causing a lot of heat to be generated in a short period of time, possibly ruining the unit.

2) The anti-freeze, over time, will attack the coating on the electrodes inside the unit, shortening their life.

The info in the Owner's Manual about not putting anti-freeze in the system isn't put there to make things difficult for you; it's to make the unit last as long as possible.
 
Vic,

No argument with what you are saying, but winterizing a Lectrosan by pumping is distasteful to say the least.

The designers should develop a system/method to winterize relatively easily.

Seems like a real opportunity for innovation. Is Raritan up to the task?
 
bkap, did you read my post above? What's distasteful about pumping seawater ?
 
Bob,

Yes. But my unit doesn't just flush thru. It goes thru a treatment cycle. I don't know how to bypass that.

Also the first year I had it, I did cycle it about 12 times. Still was distasteful. We have not used it for solid waste since.
 
When I winterize my LectraSan, I turn off the unit and flush lots of water through the system. I then take a small pump and siphon out all water from the unit. I then add some concentrated salt-water solution to protect from freezing any water left in the LectraSan. Very easy and not distasteful at all.
 
If it is wired so that pressing the button to start the Lectra/San also flushes an electric head, it becomes a little difficult to flush an electric toilet without also starting up the Lectra/San - if you have an EC model. You need to pop one end of each of the 3 fuses at the top of it, then press the button.

But if you have the newer MC model, and they're wired together for "one touch" operation, you can simply press the "R" button and the "Push to Flush" button (both at the same time), and only the electric toilet will flush - the Lectra/San MC won't start up.

If you have a manual head, simply pump the head without turning on the Lectra/San.
 
Hey Vic just to make sure I understand you, on my purasan I can flush the toilet as long as I want without activating the purasan cycle and no harm will be done. I am asking because I'm not sure if the guys I hired for winterizing this year put the pink stuff in. Also would be handy insofar as clearing out "solids" when preparing to winterize. Thanks.
 
Thanks Vic. I have the EC unit. How many flushes will get it thru the system?
 
Bob J,
I've been winterizing my Lectra/San for 5 years now and prior to decommissioning have used the muriatic treatment after which requires flushing the unit with 15 gallons of water (all done with power off). You would think all fecal matter would be gone but enough remains to be 'distasteful'. There's got to be a better way than the little hand pump filling jugs with sewage (though I guess it is better than dealing with cranky pumpout stations on a regular basis).
 
Shayne, yes you are correct - as long is it is liquids only. Don't try pumping solids (including toilet paper) through without running the Purasan unit, or you'll clog it up. There are restricted passages inside, and if the material inside it hasn't been macerated, it will clog over time.
 
ronbo, not 100% sure which unit I have but I'm leaning toward the EC. Whichever unit it is; I press flush button & hold until it stops flushing. I then press reset which stops treatment process. I repeat until I feel sure all nasties have left unit. I then pump sea water out of unit for winterizing.
 
Bob, you've got a Lectra/San MC; series EC didn't have a Reset button. Series EC had a white panel with a single yellow button right in the middle of it. The MC series was the last of the Lectra/Sans, manufactured between 1997 and 2005. In the fall of 2005, the electro-scan came out.
 
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