Macerator Toilet Troubleshooting

Macerator toilets are fast becoming the first choice for canal and river boaters and are reliable, but when they go wrong, they tend to go very wrong with a lot of mess…

Common problems and how to fix them

• The toilet is noisy and doesn’t flush properly.
• This is usually because someone has put something on them that they shouldn’t. Remember that only light (2-ply) or specially made to disintegrate (like Thetford makes) toilet paper can go down and be fine for long term use(!) If you put heavy toilet paper that is advertised as extra soft and extra Coarse will be fine for a while, but can cause problems with a sticking check valve, bends in the pump line, or even venting the tank if it is too full. To fix a blockage due to the use of such products, you will need to disassemble the macerator or hire a professional. Keep in mind that opening a macerator is quite handy, requires torx security screw bits, and will void your warranty if it’s new. The best things to check first without voiding your warranty are the vents and check valve. The check valve is usually a 90 degree rubber elbow that functions as the plumbing connection at the back of the toilet. You can remove the jubilee clips and remove it (with a bucket under it, maybe a big one is needed depending on your tank and pipe design!) to inspect it. They are a very simple design, just make sure there is nothing in there that will force it open or close.
• Toilet works fine but slowly refills (slightly but does not overflow)
• It is probably a check valve failure. On some ships, the pipe may go up before crossing and down into a tank. If the check valve is slightly stuck, the volume of debris in the vertical section of the pipe will leak into the container.
• The toilet doesn’t do anything at all when I try to flush.
• Complete failure without something obvious happening is pretty rare, so check the simple things first. Check loom fuses and connections and remove flush panel plate if you have one to check for wire damage or moisture ingress. If you have a non-electronic push button that is mounted on the toilet, the tube on the back may have come loose. These buttons have a small tube on the back that connects to a pressure sensor on the main dash and are common on mains powered toilets. They force air through the tubing like a syringe, so if someone has been too harsh with it, the tubing may have come out and need to be put back. You may be able to see around the side to do this depending on your installation.
• Another potential problem may be that your capacitor has failed and needs to be replaced. They are connected to the main board and are quite large cylinders, about 8 cm long.
• The toilet flushes slowly.
• Sometimes your pipe work can be to blame. A macerator must have piping connected that does NOT have 90 degree bends and must not reduce in size later before reaching the tank. If you have a particularly small pipe outlet, calcium may be building up. Get 5 liters of standard white vinegar and flush a pint down the toilet with each flush for a couple of days to dissolve it. It’s amazing how quickly this can happen even on new boats that fill their tanks with water in certain areas.
• the toilet has overflowed
• Typically this would only happen if the toilet’s macerator pump has broken or the tank is full and has been flushed over and over again to try and get it clean. until at least you have turned off the water supply. These toilets are nothing like the ones at home that can sometimes clean themselves if the water level increases the pressure. Plus, they don’t have any sensors that let you know they’re broken. They usually just have thermal overload and fuses to protect the pump itself and nothing to think about the state of your head if the toilet overflows. So isolate the water supply – you should have a stopcock right next to the toilet, and if not, you should turn off the main pump and drain the header tanks at the tap. You can now try to flush again as the toilet will not be able to add more water to the bowl and cause it to overflow. a heard of.
• There is pressure build up, I don’t think the tank is venting
• Find the tank breather and rerod it as it may have gotten dirty. Usually this would be quite unusual, but on larger boats you may have a large carbon odor filter. The vetus, for example, have a 1.5-inch hose inlet and outlet with a casing about 5 inches wide that unscrews at the top. If this breather filter has been seriously flooded from a tank being overfilled, it may have water in it or it may be caked on unmentibles. Locate and clean it and you will probably need to buy a new filter element for it.
• If you have a complex piping installation, for example, the option to pump out the side, or an integral in-tank pump that can discharge to either side, you should check the stopcocks that control which side the flow is pushed to, as which you may not want. both closed.