Vented loop in head - 28TE

[Nancy]

I presume the Jabsco manual toilet on our boat is the original. There is no vented loop in the system.

When we bought the boat, it was equipped with a macerator pump and a holding tank. We removed the macerator pump and re-plumbed directly into the holding tank, which is in the bilge below the helm seat.

Water source is raw water.

I think (hope? ) that the toilet discharge elbow is always above the top of the holding tank.

With the pump lever in the open (left) position, water exits the bowl as it's pumped in, which is not very desirable for certain usages. I think a vented loop would help keep some water in the bowl without filling the bowl using a cup filled at the sink.

Should there be a vented loop in the discharge line? How are other 28TE's set up?

[jms02050]

Hi Nancy. For the discharge line... I've got a y valve from the head that allows discharge to the holding tank (no vented loop) or direct discharge overboard (with a vented loop). The overboard discharge should have one to prevent back siphoning. I don't see a risk of back siphoning from the holding tank since it's all above the waterline. Overfilling would obviously lead to issues, back a loop shouldn't be required.

For the intake line... I do not have a vented loop in the raw water intake line. I don't think Albin put one in the raw water intake line because the entry point to the head's pump will always be above the water line - so siphoning shouldn't be a risk. That's just my best guess. As a counterpoint, I had a sailboat with a loop in the intake line - this was because when heeled over both the head and the intake line were both below the waterline so the loop had to be there to prevent backfilling of the head.

My setup is also original and matches one of the drawings in the 28TE manual on this site. I also have the Jabsco manual head and when I dry flush (pump til dry) I always have a small amount of water remaining. I think this is by design to prevent odors from the tank from entering the lav. I usually just end my wknd by pouring some freshwater in, dry pumping (keeping the lever to the right), and finish by adding another cup of freshwater to the head. This helps with the odor issues inherent with raw water...

[Nancy]

Thanks Jim. We're in freshwater, so even though the head has a raw water intake, we don't have the odor problem generally associated with saltwater. And we have no hose or holding tank odors having installed new hose and tank a couple of years ago. That was a welcome upgrade.

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Raritan PHC head. The Jabsco pump is too finicky and operates well only intermittently. We've already replaced it twice. I'm done. Happy spring, Nancy Lee.