Macerators?????

[Brians first rv]

Love my macerator! Fast, easy. Grey water after black rinses just fine.

[Palms]

I would love mine even more if it could be repaired. It’s a good thing it will gravity dump and there’s always the slinky back up.

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Palms

I would love mine even more if it could be repaired. It’s a good thing it will gravity dump and there’s always the slinky back up.

Why can't it be repaired?

[Palms]

Called 3 authorized repair centers within within two hours of me in Florida and none could accommodate. Booked for undetermined amount of time (bring it here and we’ll work on it when we can. Scheduling shop space 5 weeks out), mobile location (won’t travel to me or allow me to go there as strictly mobile w/bricks and mortar) and no reply (after several attempts). Tried two other local RV repair shops and fully booked for months while I suspect they’re looking for other/bigger jobs than fixing a macerator. Jayco sent me diagrams of electrical drawings as don’t think it’s jammed but, even though handy, not quite to that level of troubleshooting. Will be traveling for 5 weeks starting next month, with 2 stays of over a week, and will try to get a mobile service serving the area. I think it’s electrical.

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by BanjoBob

Looking for opinions on macerators from those that have them. My main 2 concerns are:

1. I've read some people saying that the hose they use always smells.

2. I have heard of some clogs, which sounds like a real mess to me.

My Precept has a macerator and it works OK and I have never had any smells. But I have had two hoses now start leaking and spewing sewage through the pin holes. The last time this happened I switched to the bypass with the conventional sewage hose and I think I like it better. For one thing, I attached a clear duct segment in the conventional line so I can see when the black water tank is running clear. I have not figured out yet how to get that visibility with the macerator.

Some nice things about the macerator is that it pumps fast and is easy to stretch to the park sewage receptacle.

Still... I am thinking about replacing the leaking hose with a new on the macerator (good RV resale feature) but just using the bypass conventional hose from now on.

I have a question, though, to the community out there. What happens if I just stop using the macerator? Does it get a lot of waste build up inside? Also, someone said the hoses get leaks from scrapping on rough edges in the hose storage compartment. Is this true?

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by hikerjohn7

My Precept has a macerator and it works OK and I have never had any smells. But I have had two hoses now start leaking and spewing sewage through the pin holes. The last time this happened I switched to the bypass with the conventional sewage hose and I think I like it better. For one thing, I attached a clear duct segment in the conventional line so I can see when the black water tank is running clear. I have not figured out yet how to get that visibility with the macerator.

Some nice things about the macerator is that it pumps fast and is easy to stretch to the park sewage receptacle.

Still... I am thinking about replacing the leaking hose with a new on the macerator (good RV resale feature) but just using the bypass conventional hose from now on.

I have a question, though, to the community out there. What happens if I just stop using the macerator? Does it get a lot of waste build up inside? Also, someone said the hoses get leaks from scrapping on rough edges in the hose storage compartment. Is this true?

If you're not going to use it then I would close the valve right before it to prevent any buildup. I have used mine 24/7 for two years and never had a hose leak.

[DRE]

Originally Posted by hikerjohn7

My Precept has a macerator and it works OK and I have never had any smells. But I have had two hoses now start leaking and spewing sewage through the pin holes. The last time this happened I switched to the bypass with the conventional sewage hose and I think I like it better. For one thing, I attached a clear duct segment in the conventional line so I can see when the black water tank is running clear. I have not figured out yet how to get that visibility with the macerator.

Some nice things about the macerator is that it pumps fast and is easy to stretch to the park sewage receptacle.

Still... I am thinking about replacing the leaking hose with a new on the macerator (good RV resale feature) but just using the bypass conventional hose from now on.

I have a question, though, to the community out there. What happens if I just stop using the macerator? Does it get a lot of waste build up inside? Also, someone said the hoses get leaks from scrapping on rough edges in the hose storage compartment. Is this true?

When my sanicon was installed, they used self tapping sheet metal screws pointing up into the storage box. I replaced them with round head bolts with lock washers and nuts. I also put a sleeve over the hose to protect it and contain any leaks if they were to happen. If you have sanicon you can get sleeve from the vendor

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

If you're not going to use it then I would close the valve right before it to prevent any buildup. I have used mine 24/7 for two years and never had a hose leak.

Thanks for the tip on the valve.

I now suspect my two failed hoses might be from the sharp edges in the hose storage hatch door when I drag the hose out. I found a blog on it.

[DJB0451]

I am having the same issue on our 2016 35s. Did you ever get yours corrected, if so, what was the cause.

[rkymntsno]

Originally Posted by AKRUEBBE

If you're not going to use it then I would close the valve right before it to prevent any buildup. I have used mine 24/7 for two years and never had a hose leak.

X2. I don't leave it out in the sun like the stinky slinky. I bring it out only to dump then put it up. Less sun damage to the hose.

[DRE]

Originally Posted by rkymntsno

X2. I don't leave it out in the sun like the stinky slinky. I bring it out only to dump then put it up. Less sun damage to the hose.

Get the hose with the sleeve on it.

[kirkelli]

the FlowJet does come in handy. One time last summer my coach became the popular potty spot for visiting friends while dry camping near Bishop. The Porta Potty a 100' away was disgusting, no one would use it. At the end of the weekend when everyone left my black tank was near full, i still had another week to go. So i snuck out around 10p.m. and emptied by Black Tank into the Porta Potty,. I just figured, if they kept it clean, the muck would be there anyway,. It probably wont be the last tie I sneak out for this trick.

[Cincinnati Kid]

We are now into our 3rd year of camping, so- still rookies. We have only used the Sanicon, never hooked up a stinky slinky. (We have a brand new slinky in the back bumper for emergencies.)

We have had no problems with ours. Empties a tank in a minute or so. It is reliable and no smells after it's flushed out until clear water.

The only thing wrong is that it will not gravity drain the gray tanks, so I have to pump them out every day. The factory said I can reroute the hose so that it doesn't form a trap, and it should flow through the pump, but I haven't done that yet.

We did get the sleeve for the hose, so we're not worrying about scraping on the ground.

We don't worry about uphill dumping, and our home dump station is about 50' away. No problem at all.

Another thing about stinky hoses- I would never want sewer hoses in any bay that shares air with our trailer. Our Sanicon has a separate steel box so that's not an issue.

[kirkelli]

On my macerators gray water barely dribbles when Macerator is not running. The Macerator acts as pump as well, that's one of the benefits using them on long runs and on slight inclines. Let it run just as you do when you empty the black tank. Just dont lit it run long (over 30 seconds) when pump is dry.. that tends to damage the motor

[pc35]

Hi Banjobob, we have the sanicon macerator syltem and we like it realy. no smell or clog . when we finish dumping we lift the macerator hose starting from the trailer toward the dump opening.and we did that twice and three times to make sure that no waste still inside the hose. the only small inconvenient, is the macerator hose is a bit short,so if the sewer dump on your site,is way back,it could be hard to reach,and also the compartment to store the hose it's very small so we have to work a bit to get the hose back in.

[Cincinnati Kid]

Well, I've already posted about how well the macerator works for us. Easy, clean, and it pumps uphill, we don't need to build bridges.
But since the first post.....
We were at a full hookup site. We were getting ready to leave after 3 days, and I was emptying our tanks. I'm on the business side of the trailer gleefully pumping away. Everything seems fine......... until I walked around the trailer and discovered a flood of sewage at the bottom of our steps. And then the smell hits, and follows me all the way back to the office where I reported the issue.
Unbeknownst to me, the park is set up with tanks underground shared by at least two trailers, and the tanks need to be pumped out periodically. I guess they didn't get around to pumping it, or my neighbor had a leak or something. So anyway as Im pumping into the (full) underground tank, sewage is blasting out of the cleanout on our camp side. The guy came and pumped it out, but we had to work around the mess to connect the trailer and get the heck out of there. Pulled out of our spot to dry land, changed my shoes and threw them in the bed of the truck to be bleached later, sanitized my hands again just in case.
Lesson Learned. I will be watching both sides of the trailer from now on.

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by Cincinnati Kid

We were at a full hookup site. We were getting ready to leave after 3 days, and I was emptying our tanks. I'm on the business side of the trailer gleefully pumping away. Everything seems fine......... until I walked around the trailer and discovered a flood of sewage at the bottom of our steps. And then the smell hits, and follows me all the way back to the office where I reported the issue. Unbeknownst to me, the park is set up with tanks underground shared by at least two trailers, and the tanks need to be pumped out periodically. I guess they didn't get around to pumping it, or my neighbor had a leak or something. So anyway as Im pumping into the (full) underground tank, sewage is blasting out of the cleanout on our camp side. The guy came and pumped it out, but we had to work around the mess to connect the trailer and get the heck out of there. Pulled out of our spot to dry land, changed my shoes and threw them in the bed of the truck to be bleached later, sanitized my hands again just in case.
Lesson Learned. I will be watching both sides of the trailer from now on.

Wow, I never seen a setup like that before. Stayed at 83 different campgrounds over the last 3 1/2 years and never had a problem like that.......knock on wood