Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: George Nauman on October 01, 2022, 09:47:34 am
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Good morning - can’t find any posts related to this (at least my searches aren’t bringing anything up). Neither holding tank will drain through the macerator system. I know there is a clog somewhere, and the tanks drain using the 3” hose, but when I try to drain using the macerator nothing comes out of either tank. I can hear the autodrain valves opening and closing, so the problem doesn’t appear to be there. The macerator is spinning, so I don’t think it’s in the macerator itself. Any thoughts/suggestions? We’re out on the road, so my resources are somewhat limited. TIA.
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Are your tanks clean now? Meaning have you flushed and drained thru your 3” line? Once flushed I think I’d start by removing the macerator. It’s very easy. See if the entry to the macerator itself is plugged. It’s not a very large opening to the blades so a clog could be there. If that’s not clogged my next step would be to have the valves open to the tanks and using a hose with a jet nozzle back washing from where you pulled the macerator. I won’t be surprised if you find the clog is at the opening of the macerator. There’s a choke point there from the 3” inside pipe diameter down to the opening to the blades. Although extremely doubtful it could be in the hose ,if you don’t find the clog in the other two areas jet out the hose from the macerator. I can’t imagine it being clogged after the macerator. I’m just throwing out possibilities even if remote.
Removing the macerator only requires a Phillips and a flat head screw driver if my memory serves me. Doesn't always serve me anything any more but in any event not many tools are needed
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Hi George,
I never heard anyone have your problem.
Being that you have a 2014, I think you have the same macerator as our 2007. If so, it looks like this.
Pay no attention to what is shown broken in the two pictures.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/7710/16941697809_74213e98a9_z.jpg)
Note the opening. I wonder if there is a large blockage right here.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/7657/16507739783_ac9fab8d13_z.jpg)
Based on the description of your problem, try this. Fill your gray tank with fresh HOT water along with a good amount of soapy dish water to create a penetrating slippery solution to loosen whatever is blocking the macerator input area. Close the black tank valve and open the gray water tank valve but keep the 3" gravity drain capped so the hot soapy solution can soak the inlet of the macerator.
Of coarse there is no guarrantee it will work but surely worth trying.
Another thought would be to run the macerator backwards by switching the two wires. I don't recall how easy it is to access those two terminals while everything is fully assembled. You might need a bucket of water to draw from. I never tried this one either...it's all theoretical.
One thing I do know is that the pump will not get damaged if run backwards. I know because I initially wired my replacement macerator backwards by following the colors of the wires.
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Thanks guys. I think I’ll try Ron’s method first - seems to me like it might be less messy. Plus I have a habit of taking things apart and not getting them back together again 🙄. Luckily we are moving tomorrow to a campground with full hookups, and will be there for a couple of days. I will keep you posted.
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2o2
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Ron’s pic shows exactly what I was referring to. From 3” down to that small choke point opening.
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Here is another idea running the pump backwards. If you have a drill handy, attach a flat blade screw driver bit on it and run the pump backwards that way as shown here.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/8702/16987667689_99a9304134_z.jpg)
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Ron, I guess it’s worth a try but if the plug is at the choke point it’s not going to do anything. My understanding is the pump runs. If it spins it’s not clogged at the impeller. Do you think maybe running backwards will create a back pressure?
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Do you think maybe running backwards will create a back pressure?
Good question. I imagine you have a fair chance of it. Be sure to place your macerator hose in water to provide hydro-force to pop out what we assume is a blockage there at the macerator.
Pressurizing the macerator hose with city water is yet another thought. Just make sure it doesn't expand to the point of getting damaged. If only you could keep it in its collapsed state for increased back-pressure.
Keep in-mind I am throwing crazy ideas out here to consider.....nothing I say has been field tested.
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Ron, sounds like a hard approach. One nut, two screws, slide the macerator out, dumping in a bucket. If the blockage is right there it’s done, bolt it back up. If it’s not your now open to flush with a hose that 2-3 feet from the macerator to the three inch dump that’s working. He knows it’s not beyond that as it’s working to that point. As far as the hose goes, easy to check, just run a garden hose thrust it with pressure. No need to run the pump at all. Leave it off or run, open valve to black tank. Prob going to be messy but it’s all your own anyway. Nothing to worry about.
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There is one other possibility I can think of. The impeller could be stripped. The pump would still run with no discharge. My original macerator had all the impeller blades gone but one when I changed it out. Could be it stripped and shaft is spinning with out turning the impeller?
Just a possibility if no blockage is found.
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Ah yes.....
Maybe it lost all its rubber flapper impellers. I had a few missing when replacing my macerator. But in my case, the failure was caused from the motor siezing up from one of the 4 bolts corroding so badly that it broke and jambed up the macerator blade. When I took the macerator apart, I also noticed a few impeller rubber flappers missing.
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I am asking out of ignorance because I have never had a macerator problem but if part of the blades are missing don't they make a heck of racket when the pump motor is turned on??
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I am asking out of ignorance because I have never had a macerator problem but if part of the blades are missing don't they make a heck of racket when the pump motor is turned on??
I did not notice a change in the sound of the pump with a rubber impeller blade or two missing.
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Done working. When mine went south I had one and a half blades left if I recall. The blades are not metal and they are flexed pretty snug against the inside of the housing. If there was a difference in sound I wasn’t aware of it. Quite possibly because it probably didn’t lose blades all at once so any change in noise level wouldn’t be noticed if any.
Mine got to where it took a huge amount of time to empty and very slow and wouldn’t pump up a grade. In this case if it has stripped from the shaft the motor spins and nothing gets thru. If all the blades are gone I would have expected there to be some gravity discharge. How much, no clue.
Ron and I are throwing out wild guesses based on the only area left it can be is the last couple of feet to the macerator. I’ve had mine apart several times. Changing out valves and most recently removing the thermal switch from a macerator that has run dry protection. It’s a pretty simple set up and only a few possibilities based on what info we were given.
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Anxious to know what the issue was.
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Me too. I guess I have no life. Lol
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Has to be something in the hose. Ironically, I just replaced my impeller about 2 weeks ago. What a difference. I have no idea how it worked previously since all the rubber blades were gone and literally disintegrated. Anyway, on the edge of my seat with anticipation. 😂
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I think if it were me having a problem like originally described I would probably do the following:
1. My PC has a cover on the big hose dump port and on that cover is a regular garden hose connection with a cap.
2. I would take one of my old (I have a couple of used ones I keep for various uses) washing machine hoses (they have female hose couplers on both ends) and attach to that dump port at the hose connection, leaving the cover in place.
3. I would then hook up my garden hose to the free end of the washer hose. I would also have my standard 40 pound rv hose regulator hooked up to the garden hose.
4. I would make sure both the black and grey tank valves were closed and I would turn on the 40 psi fresh water hose, forcing a back pressure into the macerator pump which would already be turned on and see what came out, if anything.
5. If nothing came out, I would know the problem was probably in the pump or right at the pump.
6. If she no go, I would disassemble the pump. I am reluctant to mess with my pump because I have had lots of problems with the way PC mounted it and I have pretty successfully remounted it to better align with the rigid pvc from the tanks. Essentially, road vibrations would cause the bayonet to pop a leg and I would have to replace it as I recall. I modified it soon after I got it ten years ago last month and it is storage now so I can't recall in detail just what all I did to elevate the problem.
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Holly crap … that’s a lot of work. You must charge by the hour. LOL
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I suspect the whole process would take less than ten minutes. Hooking up a short hose, hooking up a garden hose to it and turning on the macerator to see what happens? Seems simple to me.
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Slight topic detour - our bayonets cracked not long after purchase. The repair shop we took it to was aware of a problem with faulty parts, contacted the manufacturer and it was repaired free of charge. No problems since. It was not associated with the way it was installed.
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Slight topic detour - our bayonets cracked not long after purchase. The repair shop we took it to was aware of a problem with faulty parts, contacted the manufacturer and it was repaired free of charge. No problems since. It was not associated with the way it was installed.
Was that a manufacturing issue around 2013 when your PC was new?.....Just trying to put a timeline on the window of poor manufacturing of 3" sewer components with bayonettes.
The bayonette breakage was most likely caused through the use of an inferior formula of plastic which could have affected every 3" sewer component with and without bayonettes. It simply shows up first in the highly stressed bayonettes. Maybe as age and vibration continues, other failures within the sewer system may occur.
I assume the parts were imported from China.......enough said about that.
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I’m guessing we’re talking about Thetford part #70405. That part has always been a weak design. I’ve never been able to find an alternative. If you wait till summer it’ll cost you $55-105 if you can find one. Buy it in the off season and it’s usually in the mid $30s. I bought an extra after one of the tabs broke on a horrific road in Texas.
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Done working. Took me that long just to read the process
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Our PC was picked up May 1, 2013. I don't know the time frame for faulty parts. We were just lucky the shop we took it to knew about it and bounced it back to the manufacturer.
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Hi all - sorry for the radio silence, busy driving home. Good ideas to try, once I can find a little help. Back problem makes it difficult to get down there to work on it. I’ll try to con one of the kids into helping (maybe if I don’t tell them what it is… ;) ). It’s being winterized and stored today, but maybe I can get it some nice day yet this fall and play around with it. Thanks again for all the ideas.
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I wish I was closer, I’d do it for you.