pros & cons of waste pumps with macerators

wa8yxm wrote:
Macerator pumps use a 3/4" to 1" hose (can use smaller) mine is a portable so it uses a 50' 3/4" BLACK rubber garden hose (Why black, well if you can't figure that out...)

Uh Oh, now I'm in trouble :E ... mine is an orangish / reddish kinda colour ... what does THAT mean?! :W



BUT, I do have a grey coloured grey water hose! :B



Phew, that saved the day! :p

I will discuss 3 systems
Sewer Solution (I recommend against)
3" stinky Slinkey (Regular 3" waste hose...I use often)
Macerator pumps (I use sometimes)>


The sewer solution is a macerator pump, but water powered, Water, clean, fresh, drinkable, water is becoming more and more scarce. This product wastes that resource, I Drink a lot of water. Thus I'm against simply sticking a fresh water hose in the sewer and running it.. Other than that it's not a bad system.

3" hose: This think dumps my tanks (36 gallons) in about 1 minute, True it's a bit bulky and if you don't have a good one there are all sorts of possible issues (I have some very good ones) like holes, or ends coming off, but hey, "Stuff Happens".. Seriously other than occasional replacement you get a good hose (Rhino flex or better) and you are not going to have problems. But it has limits.

It wont' pump up hill, and well much more than 20 feet is an issue.

Macerator pumps use a 3/4" to 1" hose (can use smaller) mine is a portable so it uses a 50' 3/4" BLACK rubber garden hose (Why black, well if you can't figure that out...)

It pump;s UP hill
It pumps up to 75' (I have a 2nd hose)

The hose is easy to coil up and stow
The thing takes about 6 minutes per tank however,, Long time

But runs on nice clean plentiful Electricity.

The only "issue" is that since it is only used "occasionally" the impellers stick to the housing and I have to manually free them before connecting.. now this sounds hard so I'll give you the procedure

Take any flat tool. Mending bar, Straight screwdriver, Quarter

Turn the thing upside down

insert tool in slot and twist,, Clockwise as I recall.

That's it (Wow was that easy)

Big Katuna wrote:
I push the hose up under the exit hole. Its not that messy assuming you have a black tank rinser and or flush with gray water.

I was thinking about pushing the hose farther than just into the bowl. If you push the hose down farther, does that mean the black water bypasses the clean water in the bowl, or does it still get up there but maybe isn't as concentrated?

I have a Sewer Solution and now that I know how the macerator works in a toilet, I'm thinking the Sewer Solution could also be used in a toilet. Plus, I could test it with fresh water before making the black water (or even gray water) commitment.

Thanks for the photo, aridon--that really helps.

SoundGuy wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Glad I took Toilet 101 in college.

Same course we all took? - on hands & knees, barfing in the porcelain pony? :W

hopefully I made it that far!

2oldman wrote:
Glad I took Toilet 101 in college.

Same course we all took? - on hands & knees, barfing in the porcelain pony? :W

Glad I took Toilet 101 in college.

Its called gravity. When you flush a toilet, gravity pulls the water into the bowl then down through the trap into the pipes where it flows downhill. Water will not flow uphill.

I push the hose up under the exit hole. Its not that messy assuming you have a black tank rinser and or flush with gray water.

Its all gravity. Put water in the bowl and water goes out the hole in the bottom and up over the trap that is holding it in. All you are doing is adding enough force to push the water in the trap out and over down the drain. You can't over flow a toilet unless there is an obstruction or you fill it so fast that it can't cope with the volume. Something a macerator wouldn't do and if it did you could switch it off.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/eakes-production/assets/13593/original.jpg


These pumps are great in a pinch when you have to dump up hill or in a residential situation where you have to use a drain or toilet to dump your waste. Work wonderfully.

Assuming you use a lot of water. These things need a lot of water to work properly and the smaller the line you are dumping from, the more water you need to get it to work without solids building up in the tank.

I've never dumped a bucket of water in a toilet. And I've been fulltiming for 13 years so I haven't even been around a residential toilet in forever.

So you just put the hose like on the edge of the toilet bowl and the contents flow out of the hose onto the top of the water that's in there? That sounds messy.

And how exactly do toilets "self-flush"? I honestly have no clue.

Rice wrote:

ctilsie242 wrote:
However, if I'm extending a garden hose to dump on a toilet, being able to pump uphill is quite useful.

Can you explain exactly how to use a macerator to dump into a toilet? Where does the end of the hose go? Not just into the bowl, because that would overflow, right?

Toilets don't over flow usually, haven't you ever dumped a bucket of water in a toilet? I do question dumping at a rate the mascerator puts out if a toilet could keep up