The problem is that the salt in the sea water used to flush the toilet reacts with the urea in urine and creates those calcium buildups. Flush about a pint of vinegar once a month through your heads very slowly (one stroke on the pump every 4-5 minutes to let the vinegar attack and dissolve the calcium). If you let it get away from you, you can also use 10% muriatic acid. After doing both use about a gallon of fresh water from your shower hose to rinse the system out. you already seem to know to also use vegetable oil once a month to keep things lubed up and prevent the claim from sticking.
I recommend to close the sea wather intake seacock before begining this maintenance. Once I forgot it and the it was very deficult to pump seawather into the toilet. I also recommend to set handle to pump seawather (left position) before dismounting or mounting the upper pump unit.
Very clear instruction which gives me confidence to have a look at my Jabsco next time I'm on my new-to-me boat. It's working fine, but pulling the syphon out will enable me to assess the calcium situation.
Hi Mate. Hope you are all well. Top Tips: Cover the outside of the plunger piston with vaseline to help stop the build-up of calcium. Same with the outside of the joker valve. Those self tappers, rotate the screw anticlockwise first until you hear a little click. Then do them up as they will be back in the same thread they originally cut. Hope this helps. Sail Safe Guys, Ant, Cid & the pooch crew.
Cheers Ant.. will take that onboard.. especially the Vaseline. Although I clean the calcium from the poo pipe in the next episode and a title like ‘putting Vaseline in my poo pipe’ might not bring in the YT audience I’m after.. there again, subs are subs!
Great video, thank you! I’m about to get into my recently purchased precious’ TMC head to work out why nothing works, so this has been great background for this complete newbie….
With so much calcium your big worry is that the hoses will also be cruddy, which is a different magnitude of effort to replace. Simple remedy - the kids aren’t pumping the toilet enough to get shut of the deposits! Also a smear of silicone grease or Vaseline everywhere on re-assembly smooths and seals much better. After that, frequently smearing the piston seal o-ring with silicone grease is a 2 minute job and keeps the pumping operation silky smooth. The easier it is, the more likely the kids are to flush more!
Yes, and that’s exactly what I had to do a few weeks down the line.. clean the poo pipes! See the next exciting maintenance video when things just keep getting more grim 😕
One thing we drummed into our kids to help with calcium build up is pump until the pipes are clear. Our pipes are approx 2m and you need 7 pumps per metre.. so 14 pumps minimum!
Generally helpful, so thanks. A couple of issues there though. He mentioned that the self-tapping screws were vulnerable to stripping the plastic if over tightened, however, it is wise to point out that tightening the screws in opposing order is a good idea to get an evenly seated seal and avoid further leaks. Finally, I really hope he thoroughly hosed down the pontoon after scraping off the residue from his toilet to it, or some unsuspecting soul could subsequently transfer bits onto their boat.
Yes the pontoon had a good spray down afterwards although I did thoroughly flush through with fresh water before taking the toilet apart so the residue was nearly all calcium that came from the sea in the first place so I was just returning it to its rightful owner!
Also, never use olive oil. It produces bad bacteria in the holding tank. If anything, use mineral oil. Best would be to grease the cylinder bore every three months.
Best video out there, very clear. After constant problems over the years, and many replacement parts, I finally installed a new pump. Result: No out flow - diver came, now ok when flushed from a bucket of water. BUT no water comes in. Eventually I bought yet another top valve and spring. Fitted nicely. Still no water comes in. Sea cock correct. Fitting correct.... Any ideas?
Vinegar is great to remove the "calcium deposits", but I don't know if vinegar attacks the rubber valves. Maybe a test using replaced valves is a good idea, or checking chemical compatibility tables.
There's a £30 difference in cost on eBay between the service kit and a complete Jabsco genuine replacement pump mechanism. Definitely not worth the labour cost or hassle to service.
Yes I think there’s some cynical pricing structure going in there with Jabsco. I’d agree with you if a lot of things failed at the same time or you’re doing a major overhaul but when you’re travelling off grid you don’t really want to carry loads of extra pumps just in case a lip seal or joker valve fails.. which are small parts and easy to swap out.
Yes but a service kit is £48 on ebay and the pump is £88 (but the rrp is £94) so the £40 difference is only £8 short of another kit! These pumps can be repaired/serviced in under an hour and it's good to only use what is needed from the kit and keep the rest as spares.
Great video. However, as a plumber you should wear disposable gloves when working on the drains. It is calcium, but also contains bacteria from pee and poop. Any cuts on your hands and you risk an infection.
Great video thanks. I've got the same toilet and there are 2 screws on the top cover of the piston assembly which go through plastic sort of inserts which turn with the screw on the underside of the cover. Are they supposed to do that or should I fix those two bits with glue so they don't turn with the 2 screws? Not sure if it is contributing to a leak on the top cover. I haven't tested it yet but I've replaced the rubber valve on the top under the plunger handle.
@@MothershipMaintenance Thanks for replying. I ended up having to buy a new pump assembly as when I looked again it would not make an airtight seal. All good now
It is easier if you need to change all the component parts but that is rarely the case. It would be a bit of a waste to change the entire assembly for the sake of one (much cheaper) joker valve or diaphragm. But Jabsco do seem to have a cynical pricing policy where the service kit is only marginally cheaper than the entire assembly.
Good video, educational, showing the various components in the Jabsco toilet pump. I have a new one on my head, and a spare stashed away. I also have a couple of flapper valves and joker valves. If I can't fix it with one or both of those (or if it's crudded up really bad) I just swap out with a new one. At $100 for new, it's about the cheapest replacement part on a boat. The old one I took out to replace, showed the joker valve was bad, so I cleaned it well, put a new joker valve in it and it's also a spare. I have read in several tutorials, not to use vinegar because the type acid in it stiffens rubber and other soft synthetics. CLR has different acids, propanoic acid (strong) and gluconic acid (mildly acidic and added as a surfactant). If you use CLR, it's better to do multiple cleanings if required, letting it set for only a few minutes, each cycle. Flush with lots of water, then repeat. This will keep the lines and fittings clean while not damaging soft synthetics in the pump. It's also more environmentally friendly than hydrochloric (muriatic) acid.
I think hydrochloric (muriatic) acid is fine as long as you allow it to dissolve fully and not use too much. I used it recently to clear the interior of the water heater. I've also worked out the optimum flush for the length of pipes.. turns out it was 14 pumps on your forward heads! Since doing that we've had far fewer clogging incidents.
Hey Woody, Do you think this is just normal calcium build up or are the kids not flushing enough to clear the urine from the toilet and pipes? I've seen other cruisers recommend a spray bottle with a vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice mix. The lemon juice is supposed to help with the smell, but there's no real covering up the smell of vinegar. I've been giving the heads about a dozen pumps from the bottle after each use. That said I'm a weekend sailor so my heads isn't getting the use yours are and I haven't got into servicing mine yet, so I'm not sure how effective the vinegar & olive oil is.
Yeh, we have a flushing issue onboard with kids not flushing enough and we do treat the calcium fairly regularly but it’s no substitute for a good pipe bashing!
OMG! Why go through all this when you can replace the whole pump for just a few dollars more than the full rebuild kit (unless you like wasting time & playing in sewage).
It's true, it's a lot less hassle to swap out the entire pump but often it's just a simple choker valve replacement. Until you start stripping it down you don't know exactly what needs doing. If you swapped out an entire pump every time you get a small problem, costs could soon add up and you'd be throwing out a lot of perfectly good gear. Carrying small parts for all your gear is a lot more efficient than carrying entire replacement items which is another issue when sailing long term off grid as storage space is at a premium.
I’ve heard differing opinions on that.. some say use Vaseline - and some say it eats the seals. Be good to have an objective expert clarify that point!
Thanks for letting me know Tom.. I’ll look into it. It may be I’ve let a card lapse on the account but wifi is so slow here in the Galapagos I can’t do any online banking :/
