Home made macerator
Has anyone here built one using a garbage disposal unit? Does it work? Will they pump 50'? Thanks
Forum Discussion
I made one last year. I had a TT parked on a piece of property I own (the lot has water and power but no sewer) and getting the trailer on/off the lot required backing up a long, steep driveway that is quite narrow, so I was using a blue boy tank for the black water, but loading the full blue boy into the bed of the pickup was a pain. The nearest dump station is about 10 minutes down a major highway so towing the blue boy was not an option.
When I was checking out prices for the Flojet 12 volt macerator (here in Canada the dealers want $350) I came across Steampunk's site and I got the idea. I picked up a brand new garbage disposal unit for $10 at a garage sale and modified it as per steampunk. I had to do a bit of grinding with a dremel tool to fit the 3" fittings, but it was pretty easy. Unfortunately, it would not pump with more than a 1 foot head, so I bought a water pump on sale at home depot and connected it to the outlet of the garbage disposal.
It worked great, about a 5 foot rise up into the blue boy in the box of the truck through a 5/8 hose, about 40 feet. I picked up a second blue boy so I have enough capacity to empty the black tank, plus about 5 gallons to flush out the empty black tank and another 5 gallons from the grey tank to clean out the whole system. Emptying the blue boys from the box of the truck is fast and easy with a 10 foot 3" hose.
I was a bit worried that the pump would not be able to handle the slurry that comes out of the macerator, but it worked really well. This is the pump I bought: HD pump
When I was checking out prices for the Flojet 12 volt macerator (here in Canada the dealers want $350) I came across Steampunk's site and I got the idea. I picked up a brand new garbage disposal unit for $10 at a garage sale and modified it as per steampunk. I had to do a bit of grinding with a dremel tool to fit the 3" fittings, but it was pretty easy. Unfortunately, it would not pump with more than a 1 foot head, so I bought a water pump on sale at home depot and connected it to the outlet of the garbage disposal.
It worked great, about a 5 foot rise up into the blue boy in the box of the truck through a 5/8 hose, about 40 feet. I picked up a second blue boy so I have enough capacity to empty the black tank, plus about 5 gallons to flush out the empty black tank and another 5 gallons from the grey tank to clean out the whole system. Emptying the blue boys from the box of the truck is fast and easy with a 10 foot 3" hose.
I was a bit worried that the pump would not be able to handle the slurry that comes out of the macerator, but it worked really well. This is the pump I bought: HD pump
