Manual Head Performance

[Play Dough]

I have a Jabsco manual head. I have never been in a situation where I needed to depend of the head to handle "solid" waste. I plan on some extended cruising in the next couple years where that may become a necessity. Do these units flush solid waste or will I need to install a different system to handle ALL my needs. The current system is the manual head that draws sea water and directly discharges to the waste tank through probably 10' of vinyl waste hose. There is no macerator in the system.

 

[boatbum]

How solid will your waste be?

 

[Radioactive]

I will make the assumption that the solid waste you are referring to is something that you ate first...

--

A marine head is designed to flush human waste products. All human waste products.

Having said that, if all you have been using it for is removal of human liquid waste, then you may be having issues with holding tank odors. ( if using enzymatic holding tank treatments ).

As far as "special considerations", I suspect that you are not currently flushing through enough liquid volume either with every flush, or at least after every trip, to keep waste material from resting in the waste line between the head and the holding tank. This is a recommended procedure, as it will delay the inevitable hose permeation issue.

So, my recommendation is that you use the head as intended, for both liquid and solid human waste, and to periodically flush enough "clean water" volume through the system to move all waste products completely to the holding tank.

---

Peggy Hall wrote a book, "Get Rid of Boat Odors ..." that you might find useful.

 

[Play Dough]

I was trying to be discreat with the post. Yes I'm referring to normal human waste. I believe we have been flushing adequate water through the system. At least we have been following the recommendations as stated in the Jabsco manual. There is currently no issues with odors. I was just trying to get an idea of if the manual systems worked well or if I needed to investigate a macerated system of some sort.

 

[Nancy]

We have the same head and it works pretty well. Occasionally, pumping doesn't remove anything from the bowl. If we wait a few minutes and try again, it works fine. My theory is that the contents of the bowl sometimes need to absorb water.

This head and boat were new to us this year, and we replaced the entire pump assembly. It was only a few dollars more than a rebuild kit and a lot simpler to install.

 

[Radioactive]

I haven't looked at a Jabsco manual in a while, but while they may give instructions on how to get the head to "clear" the waste from the head itself, the manual would have no way of anticipating how long ( or short ) the waste line going from the head to the holding tank is. That would be installation specific. So, while you may be following the Jabsco manual instructions, it would be a good plan to, from time to time, flush a "large" quantity of clear water down the system. I'd guess a gallon or maybe two should work fine. You know your system, so you be the judge.

But, back to the original question: No, you really do not need to do anything special. The engineering of a marine head anticipates usage for the full range of normal usage, and for most situations, it should work fine, without modifications.

 

[Play Dough]

OK. Sounds like I have what I need. Thanks for the info and the advice.

 

[rawidman]

There are a lot of potential openings for "potty humor" here, but I'll be serious. I have the least expensive Jabsco manual head on my boat and use it on a regular basis for liquid and solid waste and used toilet tissue with absolutely no issues. Use "marine" tiolet tissue or buy the cheap Scotts brand single ply tissue at a grocery or box store.

 

[JVM225]

I have the same setup on my boat and although we try to avoid solid waste, sometimes it can't be avoided. The head handles it effortlessly when called upon.
One other trick that I've learned to really cut down on odors is to only use fresh water in the head. Mine draws water from a seacock, but I don't use that feature. I opt instead to squirt fresh water in to the bowel from the handheld shower. It really makes a difference. I found that it wasn't so much the treated human waste that caused the odor as much as it was the water I was pulling in through the seacock.