VACUFLUSH NIGHT-SWITCH?

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Sailboattraitor

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I was touring some boats at a yacht broker's dock and walked into a head. The toilet was a vacuflush with a foot pedal flush. On the wall next to the toilet was a switch marked "Night." I casually asked about the purpose of that switch. I was told that if the switch was turned on at night, then when the vacuflush was used by a guest at night, the toilet would make very little flushing noise which might disturb the sleep of the others onboard. How does this set-up work? Thanks in advance for any answers.
 
It turns off the vacuum pump. You get one stored vacuum pump and limited liquid drain down without vacuum for tp
 
Sounds like a potential nightmare (no pun intended) if you have multiple flushes at night.
 
Pee is no problem because water flushes and the sealing valve closes. It works fine.
 
Sounds like a Hatteras. We have them on both heads. If you do not have a vacuum built up in the system, yes, it can be an issue and it does not matter if it is pee or poo. With no vacuum it will burble and potentially make a mess.
Yes, you can flush once, but I think the switch is more useful when you have a marginal seal on the bowl valve. While ours are recently rebuilt we normally turn off the pumps until we use the head. Upon going in we turn on the pump do our business and then turn it off when it completes the cycle. This way we don't have to worry about the pump cycling due to a minor vacuum leak should it occur.
 
All I can say is that mine will drain until the lines fill . I think they are supposed to be installed so that there isno upslope.
 
I ve seen them on sea rays and marquis where the night switch is in the same switch row as the light. Stupid set up as people often hit all three switches when leaving the head so the system doesn't recharge.

Those vac pumps are pretty quiet and make very little noise compared to the actually flush, I don't see the point. Flushing liquid only without vacuum will kinda work, except for some splashing from the air buble release under the ball valve. But if anyone uses the head with solids wit no vacuum things may get stuck at the bottom of the head since it takes vacuum for stuff be broken down.
 
I agree with Pascal!
Who cares if the pump cycle keeps you awake if the flush woke you in the first place!

My vacuflush units work fine, so I can't justify replacing them BUT, the Raritan Marine Elegance I had in my last boat were much better toilets. Quieter flush and cleaner flush. I think it used as little water also, maybe less, definitely not more.
 
quote:
Originally posted by praetorian

I agree with Pascal!
Who cares if the pump cycle keeps you awake if the flush woke you in the first place!

My vacuflush units work fine, so I can't justify replacing them BUT, the Raritan Marine Elegance I had in my last boat were much better toilets. Quieter flush and cleaner flush. I think it used as little water also, maybe less, definitely not more.

Click to expand...
I agree with both Pascal and you on the "VF Night switch". It's in my opinion the switch is often used by many to cover up VF system problems.
I'm a huge fan of the Raritan ME head. I had a new VF system and replaced it after 1 season with the Raritan ME. It's an excellent head and I have had -0- problems with it. I got one of the original ME heads that came from the 1st production run.
Bill
 
You guys make it sound difficult. Switch off the pump, flush to release vacuum then when next you flush a little water will run with the pee with little noise.
 
I guess it depends on the boat and how close the pumps are to where someone is sleeping. All three pumps on my boat are fairly removed from where people sleep. Even then so I see no need, they don't take long to cycle. These VFs have been the most reliable and maintenance free toilets I have ever owned, on land or sea, and we lived aboard full time 5 1/2 years with lots of guests, and Ann is still pretty cavalier about flushing them exactly right. Once I remediated an improper installation on one of them, I have had to do virtually zero to any of them.
 
On our boat, the night switch eliminates the static [established] vacuum AND the recharge,
so, there is neither flush noise (the loudest), nor recharge --
drainage is all by gravity until switched back in AM.
Great for us old guys who need to pee once or twice (or three times?) at night --
Wife loves it -- I don't wake her up at night
(Ladies' necessary use of small am't tp with nocturnal use not a problem.)
Does require switching back for anything more substantial deposited.
Ours has worked flawlessly for 10yrs (frequent cruising use and 4 winters as full-time liveaboads).
I was initially skeptical too, but it's a nice consideration!
 
quote:
Originally posted by JHS3750

On our boat, the night switch eliminates the static [established] vacuum AND the recharge,
so, there is neither flush noise (the loudest), nor recharge --
drainage is all by gravity until switched back in AM.
Great for us old guys who need to pee once or twice (or three times?) at night --
Wife loves it -- I don't wake her up at night
(Ladies' necessary use of small am't tp with nocturnal use not a problem.)
Does require switching back for anything more substantial deposited.
Ours has worked flawlessly for 10yrs (frequent cruising use and 4 winters as full-time liveaboads).
I was initially skeptical too, but it's a nice consideration!

Click to expand...


Exactly! It may not be necessary for everybody but it's a great option to have in many cases.
 
I had one on the Viking. We did not use it when on the boat except once when we were away and the duck bills needed replacement. Funny how these things happen when you are away. Anyway, used to turn it off when I left the boat for the week.
 
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