No more Vacuflush

[Terry Wilkinson]

Just finished removing troublesome Vacuflush system, couldn’t fine vacuum leak, so instead of spending more time and money I purchased Marine Elegance as suggested here on many threads.

Installation was fairly easy, used their template for mounting and drilling holes, would have drilled the 2” hole a little larger to help position toilet for final mounting. Electrical was a little detailed but easy enough with their instructions.

Marine Elegance works great and this was a big upgrade. Only thing I would have done different would be to order the taller unit, I’m 6’ and standard is a little low but not a big problem.

 

[HeadMistress]

"Standard" is actually meant to sit on a riser...tall to sit on a flat floor. If there's enough slack in your flush water intake and toilet discharge lines, it shouldn't be too hard to build a "shelf" for it to sit on. Check the specs to see how high it needs to be to put the lip of the seat at "household" height.



--Peggie

 

[catalinajack]

Just finished removing troublesome Vacuflush system, couldn’t fine vacuum leak, so instead of spending more time and money I purchased Marine Elegance as suggested here on many threads.



Installation was fairly easy, used their template for mounting and drilling holes, would have drilled the 2” hole a little larger to help position toilet for final mounting. Electrical was a little detailed but easy enough with their instructions.



Marine Elegance works great and this was a big upgrade. Only thing I would have done different would be to order the taller unit, I’m 6’ and standard is a little low but not a big problem.

Smart man.

 

[catalinajack]

Smart man. If ever I buy another boat, if there is a Vacuflush aboard, out it goes and in goes a Marine Elegance, first upgrade above all others, no doubt./QUOTE]

 

[Comodave]

Smart man. If ever I buy another boat, if there is a Vacuflush aboard, out it goes and in goes a Marine Elegance, first upgrade above all others, no doubt./QUOTE]

I have done that on 2 boats. Put a ME in 2 others. Love them.

 

[Delta Riverat]

"Standard" is actually meant to sit on a riser...tall to sit on a flat floor. If there's enough slack in your flush water intake and toilet discharge lines, it shouldn't be too hard to build a "shelf" for it to sit on. Check the specs to see how high it needs to be to put the lip of the seat at "household" height.--Peggie

Yes indeed.

My 2 standards are on 5 inch risers and the height is perfect. Both fitted for fresh water flush and both fitted with bidet inserts.

All the comforts of home -

 

[DDW]

Even the "tall" is too short for normal sized people. I put mine on a 2" tall riser and it is about right.

 

[rslifkin]

For determining height, I just measured our toilets at home (height from floor to seat), adjusted down slightly for comfort, and then built a new base for the boat head. I think I ended up at somewhere around 16" from floor to seat. Neither of us is particularly tall, and I have a relatively long torso (and short legs) and we both find it comfortable. Someone with really long legs may want another inch or 2.

 

[HeadMistress]

You got close...standard household height is 15" from floor to front edge of the seat.


--Peggie

 

[rslifkin]

You got close...standard household height is 15" from floor to front edge of the seat.


--Peggie

Just re-checked to make sure I'm not losing my mind. We ended up at 15 3/4" on the boat. 16" is the height the original Raritan PHEII heads were mounted at. I think our house toilets measured in at 17" (they're comfort height toilets).

 

[The Brockerts]

I have done that on 2 boats. Put a ME in 2 others. Love them.

No way, 3 Vacuflushes onboard and love them. Nothing like moving Sxxx at 7 feet per second...LOL

The Brockerts

 

[Comodave]

No way, 3 Vacuflushes onboard and love them. Nothing like moving Sxxx at 7 feet per second...LOL

The Brockerts

Well, you have 3 times as good a chance of vacuum leaks…

 

[Iggy]

I had a vac-u-flush on my last boat. Too many working parts to deal with. Now I just have the macerator. One moving part other than the water valve/solenoid.

 

[catalinajack]

No way, 3 Vacuflushes onboard and love them. Nothing like moving Sxxx at 7 feet per second...LOL



The Brockerts

It is only a matter of time before you come to hate your vacuflush units.

 

[tiltrider1]

The day will come when this forum is full of frozen macerater motors and blown sanitation lines.

There is no free lunch. Sh!t happens, learn to deal with it.

 

[Comodave]

The day will come when this forum is full of frozen macerater motors and blown sanitation lines.

There is no free lunch. Sh!t happens, learn to deal with it.

The difference is that with a macerating head if the macerator freezes up it is a simple thing to diagnose and pretty easy to fix, if a bit disgusting. When sanitation hoses go bad that is fairly obvious and it is a straight forward fix, again a bit disgusting. Basically simple to diagnose. Not so much with the various vacuum leaks on a Vacuflush head. If they were easy to diagnose then there wouldn’t be so many threads here on how to figure out the problems. And not to mention the price of the parts for a Vacuflush head.

 

[rslifkin]

That's the thing with Vacuflush. They work really well. Except for when they don't. Macerating electric heads are about the simplest thing you can get in terms of number of parts that can fail, at least short of a composter or a bucket.

 

[Mako]

I’d vote the simplest head is an RV head dropping directly into the holding tank below it.

 

[Bacchus]

I’d vote the simplest head is an RV head dropping directly into the holding tank below it.

You are 100% correct IF YOUR TANK IS DIRECTLY UNDER THE HEAD.
Not many boats have that arrangement. Of my 3 boats NONE were even close.
.

 

[Don L]

I have had a Marine Elegance head the last 3 years of full time 2 person on the boat. Just a note that if you have one you should have a maintenance kit plus an impeller on the boat. And when you replace the joker valves don't be thinking that you shouldn't replace the pump seal that comes in kit at the at the same time.