Macerator pump systems

Macerators have their place........when you need to 'pump' uphill, when you need to 'pump' long distance, when you need to 'pump' into a waste tote in the back of your truck, when you need to 'pump'..well you get the idea.

Gravity thru a 3" sewer hose works great..unless you need to 'pump'

I have a portable Flojet.....use it at two places. When visiting Sister..have to pump 75' up a 2' incline and at a friends place where I have to pump 100' to the cleanouts. Otherwise it's in its case.
Priceless when I need to pump...otherwise it's just extra weight and taking up space

One trick I do with a macerator pump to get the solids out of the black tank:

Once you have gotten the black tank empty, turn the pump off, pull the grey valve, let the water in the grey water tank backflush the black tank. Then wait until it evens out, close the grey valve, run the pump until the black tank is empty. Do this one more time, then empty the grey tank completely. I've found this gets almost any remaining stuff out without requiring additional water.

I can’t give a firsthand opinion because I never found the need for one so have never owned one…
but for what it’s worth, I know others that do… they can be a messy maintenance item, are slow to drain and need power to operate…
some swear by them and I have heard others swearing at them…
since gravity has worked great for 40 or so years I have never saw the value in them, but have no doubt others do…
I think a lot of people have them and don't normally use them...
good luck with your decision

I started out with a macerator. I liked it OK, but it is slower and tedious to use. And when it is really hot outside, you may need to let the unit cool off half way through.

It's in the front storage area of my 5th. Haven't used it in two years. Regular drainage is so much faster and therefore more thorough. But if you need to drain uphill . . . it can't be beat.

I bought a portable macerator pump at West Marine. As expensive as boat items are, they actually where lower cost than a RV supply store for a macerator pump.. I already had a 12 volt relay on my water pump, and would unplug my water pump to plug in the macerator pump, and control it with the fresh water pump control. I would use about 50' of clear plastic 1" ID tubing. The larger tubing, the quicker you can dump.

If you consider 1/4" diameter as a value of 1, then 1/2" diameter has a value of 4, 3/4" diameter has a value of 9, while 1" diameter has a value of 16. So 1" diameter has as much free space inside it as 16 each 1/4" diameter tubes or 4 each 1/2" hoses. 1"diameter is almost twice as large as a 3/4" diameter tube.

I used to live in a place where the dump station was uphill from my parking spot by about 5' height and 40' length. The pump worked great. However it will drain the 40 gallon tank in about 5 minutes, pretty slow compared to dumping with a 4" diameter regular dump hose, so much of the black stuff can get left behind, and I would recommend dumping with extra water into the black tank, or dumping into a regular dump station or with the 4" hose every once in a while to really clean out the tank with a fast flow of water out of the black tank.

Fred.

If you get a permanent one, ask for one with a grey water bypass. This does two things -- first, if you are on FHU including sewer, you can have shower water run out without filling up the grey tank (keep the black tank closed, of course), and if the pump does fail, you have a good chance of being able to dump the black tank as well until you can get it fixed.

A portable one, I'd recommend a clear plastic sleeve. This allows you to see when to cut it off, as well as is another detachment point, as the ears of the portable macerator pumps are fragile, so the fewer cycles made on those, the better.

Are you looking at a permanently installed unit or one of the portable ones you just attach to the bayonet mount?

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