Macerator reliability

[DrMack]

2017 Winnebago View 24J

We are considering whether to permanently install a macerator or using a portable kit. In my research however, I'm finding many, many reports of poor reliability for virtually all brands. If we put in a permanent installation and the thing fails to function, we're left with a full black tank and no way to dump except by dismantling the system. Not a good scenario. At least a portable unit simply attaches to the standard bayonet fitting on the coach's dump outlet so if it goes belly up we can always use our standard stinky slinky gravity fed setup to get the job done.

So I'm reaching out to anyone on this forum who has any experience with these things either as a permanent installation or the portable rigs. I'd also be interested in any brand recommendations or warnings.

What I've learned so far is that the motors are the weak link. They're 12VDC with a very limited duty cycle, often too short for a single dump without a cool-down period between cycles to empty a single tank. These motors also have a reputation for operating just a handful of times before they fail completely. Another common complaint is leakage.

The only reason we're even considering this is to have the option of dumping into our home's lateral cleanout when we return from long travel days back to base. We like to boondock and there are no conveniently located dump sites near our home which is within Dallas city limits. We built a carport wide enough for our Jeep, RV and my wife's Miata in the back of our house which has an alley entrance and put in a 30A circuit on the side of the garage so it's a very convenient setup for us. The nearest sewer access though is in the front of the house about 100 ft away.

Here are some of the rigs we have researched:

Best Macerator Pumps

[ThomB]

In 2017 when we decided to full-time we installed a Thetford Box Mount (since discontunued) into our 2010 32K. It's now 4 years later and it's never given us an issue. Yes, I've had to clean out the gray water bypass hole as it does get clogged, but we watch what goes down the drains and have have really no issues with the macerator part at all. We carry a set of hoses in case we need them but I've never used them. I wouldn't hesitate to install another.
I had my mom and her husband get one in their 5th wheel that sits on their property. That one was more of a portable unit that is installed outside a compartment, but because they don't move the camper have pretty much set it up so it's a permanent install.
I have never experienced any reason to have to shut down the pump over heating or any reason and can clean both tanks easily without issue. I will even turn it on and off when cleaning out the black tank with the wash. (fill the tank a bit, rinse and repeat)

[DavidM]

I have used macerator pumps on boats for 20 years. These are some of the same pumps shown in the Best Macerator Pumps link. In 20 years of regular use, sometimes once a week (don't tell!) only one has failed, the Jabsco. I think it failed due to something jamming the impeller and leaving power hooked up in a stalled condition caused it to fail.

Some can also fail by running them dry for an extended period.

The one that worked the best and has a great reputation in the boating industry is the Sealand diaphragm pump. It has an entirely different pumping mechanism- a rubber diaphragm that is driven by a motor. It can self prime as a result of the diaphragm and can be run dry for an extensive period.

But for your application which sounds like pumping over an extended distance to a home clean out port, I think I would use one with an RV waste connection that twists on like the Flojet. If you don't have room to connect it directly to the waste valve you hook up a short length of Rhino hose and hook up the pump to that.

David

[Ontario Don]

Hi - We have a '21 View that we regularly dump using a portable macerator. Our previous motor homes had a permanently installed pump, and we became used to the "No mess No fuss" philosophy when dumping. So, a macerator mod was the first one I did when we took delivery of our View a year ago.


In the previous 14 years of using systems installed permanently in our other motor homes, we had only one failure - corrosion inside the pump at the connection terminals resulted in a bad contact and the pump failed to operate. It was a big deal ... some of the OEMs that install them permanently don't take a pump failure into account when designing the dump configuration of their plumbing runs. We had to use the cleanout port and cobble together a dumping solution while trying to find someone who could troubleshoot the problem. We ended up having a lot of mess and a lot of fuss on the way back home. But having noted that lone failure, in 14 years of use our previous pumps handled the duty cycles associated with tank dumping just fine. No issues with overheating at all - the marine industry has been using these forever. Also, our previous pumps, and our current pump, have not leaked.



So this time, a portable system made perfect sense to us. As ThomB has indicated, carrying around a standard 3" hose is good insurance for the unlikely event of a pump failure. It is nice to have the capability for normal dumping should something unusual happen to the macerator.



I found a 12V supply near the wet bay, and installed a couple of cigarette lighter sockets on the electrical side of that locker to power the pump. One of the sockets is inline with a wireless switch to make things easy, and the other socket is just a hot 12V in case the wireless switch packs it in one day at the dump station. I keep all of the kit in a bin I pull out of the nearby locker, and find the setup takes only slightly longer than using the systems that were permanently installed in our previous coaches. I too run the system when flushing out the black tank and find that gets things nice and clean.


Our pump is a:


Remco 9911-02-12 #2



and has been working flawlessly now for a year. There is no indication of a thermal problem after dumping our two 41 gallon tanks, and also using it for rinsing out the black tank.



I've got some info elsewhere on the mod I did; let me know if you want more details. I would not hesitate at all to go the portable route again - it works very well.


Good luck on your project.



Cheers,

[creativepart]

Back in 2015 we bought a Thetford Sani-Con Twist-On Macerator Pump. It's like the portable unit but it was intended for permanent installation.

We used it for 2-years and really liked it. We never had any problems other than a pin hole leak in the hose in year two. It was slow to dump but on a smaller RV your tanks are smaller, too.

When we got our new Class A I installed it in my Adventurer in 2017 - but it wasn't a great fit. I used it once after installing it and decided to go back to the 3" gravity dump.

I have it sitting in my garage and I keep it just in case I need to pump out at home - but in 4 years that's never happened.

The thing that really messes up these pumps is when "someone" puts something in the toilet they shouldn't - any non-toilet paper paper product. Wipes and etc can be a serious threat to this kind of pump.

When I removed the Macerator I bought the most rugged and hassle free dump hose I could find and that's worked well. I doubt it would be convenient on a smaller Class C - too bulky.

Here was my setup in the Class A:

[1237dmctlc]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Back in 2015 we bought a Thetford Sani-Con Twist-On Macerator Pump. It's like the portable unit but it was intended for permanent installation.

We used it for 2-years and really liked it. We never had any problems other than a pin hole leak in the hose in year two. It was slow to dump but on a smaller RV your tanks are smaller, too.

When we got our new Class A I installed it in my Adventurer in 2017 - but it wasn't a great fit. I used it once after installing it and decided to go back to the 3" gravity dump.

I have it sitting in my garage and I keep it just in case I need to pump out at home - but in 4 years that's never happened.

The thing that really messes up these pumps is when "someone" puts something in the toilet they shouldn't - any non-toilet paper paper product. Wipes and etc can be a serious threat to this kind of pump.

When I removed the Macerator I bought the most rugged and hassle free dump hose I could find and that's worked well. I doubt it would be convenient on a smaller Class C - too bulky.

Here was my setup in the Class A:

I've been toying with installing something like you did but I'm uncertain whether it, too, would be a good fit. It seems at many of the CGs we stayed at during our 2 plus month trip back to NE and back to Florida had not the best sewer hookups. In the end I had to many times I had to lift the 3" sewer hose over and over to completely drain the tanks. Thinking a Macerator can pump uphill so it would be a lot easier. My only concern is it breaking while emptying the tanks and having to disconnect it with waste still in the line even after shutting the valve. I've looked at the reviews on them and none seem to have the best of reviews, JMO. In the end its the same concern as the OP.

[ThomB]

Originally Posted by 1237dmctlc

My only concern is it breaking while emptying the tanks and having to disconnect it with waste still in the line even after shutting the valve. I've looked at the reviews on them and none seem to have the best of reviews, JMO. In the end its the same concern as the OP.

Our Thetford has been rock solid for 4 years with no issues while running. The only maintenance I've done is cleaning out the gray water bypass every once in a while. If it ever broke I'd have replaced with their newer model which was faster and took up less space in the plumbing/electrical compartment.

[Morich]

I have a used Flojet pump kit for sale, so take that into account when reading this! I might be trying to sell you something!
What we have found on the Flojet is that they are a pretty good item---but they need some attention to keep them running as the motor is not a really strong one and the "liquid" they pump tends to be a bit thick, if you get what I mean.

One way to deal with this is to do a bit of extra to help the motor on startups. What often makes a motor fail is the starting current can be really extreme if the motor has a hard time starting due to being stuck!

So when we use one, we rinse that thick gunk out as well as possible with clear water and then add a bit of lube like Wd-40 while it is stored. When I next pull it out to use again, it may have been several months and that lets anything left inside dry and crusty, making it hard for the motor to start. I find it a good practice to give the motor a better chance by breaking that crusty gunk loose by hand before trying to start it with the electrical power.

There is a rubber plug in the end which can be pulled off to expose a screwdriver slot in the end of the shaft which makes it easy to turn it first to see it moves easy and THEN plug it in!

[JoyceJam]

Yes - I would like more details please. I have a 2021 View 24D.

Thank you,

Joyce

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Morich

I have a used Flojet pump kit for sale, so take that into account when reading this! I might be trying to sell you something!
What we have found on the Flojet is that they are a pretty good item---but they need some attention to keep them running as the motor is not a really strong one and the "liquid" they pump tends to be a bit thick, if you get what I mean.

One way to deal with this is to do a bit of extra to help the motor on startups. What often makes a motor fail is the starting current can be really extreme if the motor has a hard time starting due to being stuck!

So when we use one, we rinse that thick gunk out as well as possible with clear water and then add a bit of lube like Wd-40 while it is stored. When I next pull it out to use again, it may have been several months and that lets anything left inside dry and crusty, making it hard for the motor to start. I find it a good practice to give the motor a better chance by breaking that crusty gunk loose by hand before trying to start it with the electrical power.

There is a rubber plug in the end which can be pulled off to expose a screwdriver slot in the end of the shaft which makes it easy to turn it first to see it moves easy and THEN plug it in!

I had the same problem on my boat. Not all macerators are as user friendly when it comes to turning the shaft manually so make sure you get one that does.

[sundog964]

We have had our flojet for over a year. Use it every time we get home. I wired a separate 20 amp breaker in the compartment ahead of the wet bay. It is quite easy to hook up and pump uphill 6 feet to the sewer clean out near our garage. There aren’t any free or easy dumps near our house. It is more work, but also allows me to have a bunch of other cleaning and maintenance tasks going at the same time.

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by Morich

There is a rubber plug in the end which can be pulled off to expose a screwdriver slot in the end of the shaft which makes it easy to turn it first to see it moves easy and THEN plug it in!

I absolutely agree! I have a flojet and if I don't do this screwdriver trick it will always pop a fuse. So I got into the habit of pulling off the plug and give the shaft a half turn with a screwdriver. It doesn't take much and so far it has worked every time!

Rather than run the flojet through a garden hose, my tip is to get some "1-inch pond tubing". It's bigger diameter, is more flexible than garden hose, and is meant to be buried so I imagine it'll last a long time.

[Shbv]

The dealership says the macerator will be too low to the ground. Any advice on how anyone installed one in a winnie view or navion would be appreciated.
Jess

[Shbv]

Originally Posted by JoyceJam

Yes - I would like more details please. I have a 2021 View 24D.

Thank you,

Joyce

Joyce can you send me any details you received. I have the same model.
Jess

[tinglett]

Here's a photo of my setup with a micro-minnie. The macerator is very low to the ground as my rig was at the lowest height setting at the time of the photo, and it happens to be backed up where the ground is sloping slightly uphill. I bet the tank outlet is 8" or so off the ground here.

That's a Camco Dual Flush Pro gate valve between the elbow and Flojet. I also have a cheap pvc valve on the outlet side. I found these two valves invaluable in case of trouble. I don't use the rinser feature of the gate valve since I have a backflush water inlet already.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by Shbv

The dealership says the macerator will be too low to the ground. Any advice on how anyone installed one in a winnie view or navion would be appreciated.
Jess

If you are speaking of a full time install, I'm not sure I would go that way as it would hang out big time. But for the normal use, the pump has the correct fitting built on the end to snap directly on the big drain pipe of the RV and I can't imagine an RV that it would not work.

What can add extra length to the basic pump and "could" make it hard to fit, is when we want more "extra"! Things like if we like to see the color, etc of the stuff we are draing, we may want a clear section. Adding an extra valve? More length and maybe conveneient but not required?
Much of what we RV folks consider "needed" is personal choice! For my use, I found the clear section was good but that was all I added. I wanted to see all the big stuff was gone, shut off the pump and opened the valve on the water to let water flow into the tank to fill it like half way before I turned that water supply off and the pump to drain again as a second flush. In my case, I did not worry the need for any other added cutoffs as I just lifted the pump and hose that went to the house drain and "chased" the water into the drain before opening any of the pump connections.

One of the bigger things to keep in mind is how we all experience things like what's in the drain! Most women may be better suited as they change diapers!
But I've already had the worst of the worst that can come out of a sewer, so just grit my teeth and wash real quick!
Put off eating finger food for a few days?