Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

Leonard wrote:
Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

I have an electric Lavac head, where the electric pump is actually 4
feet "downstream" of the head. It can be setup with a manual pump in
series, which would be handy since the electric tends to suffer from
minor clogs. I don't have room to do it, but I can swap out the pump
in about 10 minutes, or even do strip down and clean in about 20
minutes total, so its not a big deal.

Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!

On Sat, 06 May 2006 09:33:23 -0400, Jeff wrote:

Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!

My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

For someone just five feet tall, she seems consumed by the notion that
Lavacs are the one marine head you can "flush a pair of jeans down".
Personally....

R.

It depends on the head. Some have manual pumps that are connected to a
motor. Disconnect the motor and stick in the handle and you have a manual
head.

rhys wrote:


My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

Your wife does know that they can be installed on other boats, doesn't she?

rhys wrote:
On Sat, 06 May 2006 09:33:23 -0400, Jeff wrote:


Although I'm generally pleased with the Lavac, I hesitate to recommend
it to people that are really looking for something as close as
possible to a home toilet. Most guests are baffled by its operation,
and prefer to hold it until they get ashore!


My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

For someone just five feet tall, she seems consumed by the notion that
Lavacs are the one marine head you can "flush a pair of jeans down".
Personally....

R.

Sorry, Lavacs are not that powerful. The pump is simply a Henderson
Mk V bilge pump. The manual version can pass small debris and waste
fairly well, but the electric can get its flapper clogged by a small
bit of solid waste; I end up stripping our down once a year (a 20
minute task). The difference is that you can give a mighty yank on
the manual, while the electric just chugs along at a modest pace.

There is one electric vacuum head that can pass a t-shirt, but I think
it requires fresh water; Peggie probably knows which one it is.

On Sat, 06 May 2006 15:54:03 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

rhys wrote:


My wife and I are going to sail test a steel cruiser shortly and her
rationale for wanting this particular boat as a
liveaboard/passagemaker was the presence of a new manual Lavac.

Your wife does know that they can be installed on other boats, doesn't she?

Yes, but I wanted to avoid describing a Lavac head as "icing on the
new cruiser cake", a simile I suspect even Peggie H. would avoid.

R

Thanks for the insite. My wife decided we need a Jabsco "Quiet Flush"
in the master cabin. We will also install a Raritan "PH-II
Electric/Manual" in the guest head.

I can't find any conversion system for the Jabsco, but the downstream
idea should work fine.

Thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the insite. My wife decided we need a Jabsco "Quiet Flush"
in the master cabin. We will also install a Raritan "PH-II
Electric/Manual" in the guest head.

I can't find any conversion system for the Jabsco, but the downstream
idea should work fine.

Thanks again for the info.

Leonard wrote:

Can anyone tell me if you can manually flush an electric head when the
power is out?

Only if the toilet is actually a manual toilet to which a motor has been
added. Macerating electric toilets and others that were designed
specifically to be electric toilets cannot be flushed manually.

However, I've always been baffled by the big concern over whether an
electric toilet can be flushed in the event of a power failure...'cuz if
that should happen, so whether you can flush a toilet will be the LEAST
of your worries...you'll also lose all your electronics and engine...but
at least you'll still be able to use a bucket if you can't flush the
toilet.

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304