Commercial macerator or homemade from garbage disposer

[mikestock]

I am looking to get a macerator and looking for recommendations.

One reason I am looking at a homemade is that it, to me, would be handier to have a 120 vac model than to have one wired to my batteries, located on the other side of my coach. I also expect to get a little more power from a 1/3 hp ac motor than from the 12 vdc motor.

The actual total cost of the homemade would be a little cheaper, but not significantly. Storage space required would not be a factor for me.

I am leaning toward the homemade model, at this point. It is claimed that it would pump waste 100 feet with about a 7-foot lift in elevation through a 3/4" hose. That is much more than I ever expect to need.

Primarily, the reason for the macerator is to allow me park my motorhome backward at one of my favorite spots, with the windshield facing a river. I need to pump about 35 feet to accomplish this.

[mikestock]

The Badger is not a pump, for sure, but the centrifugal force will, by my test, lift the water about 5' through a 3/4" hose which is about 35' long. I think it could be pumped higher but I was holding the blue tank as high as I could, comfortably, while holding the hose in place. The volume pumped seemed not to change when lifting the liquid compared to level flow.

[Dtank]

deltabravo wrote:
A macerator is typically a poop grinder and pump all in one unit. Garbage disposal is a grinder and that is all.

But the OP knows Rube Goldberg - and - he might save a buck or two..:R

.

[mikestock]

I finally got a chance to use my new homemade unit in a live situation. I can truly say that I made the right decision. I chose to purchase a new Badger 1/3 HP disposer, mainly because I wanted to minimize the size and weight. It is perfectly adequate for my use, and it is very fast. I will probably never need to pump over 30' and that is when I park opposite from the normal direction in our favorite spot. We like to have the front windshield facing the riverside for a better view. The other use is when we need to use a portable tank for black water disposal. Using the big sewer hose for black water waste to the tank can be a disaster, as I have learned the hard way.

[Perigee32]

Bump. First time poster on this forum. This will be rather lengthy, apologies in advance.

I’ve kept up with this thread, and on other forums, for some time as I desired an alternative to dumping and lugging up a short rise, a 32-gallon poo-cart every other week. I’ve also reviewed the Youtube videos from other who made the plunge and built the project. With some trepidation I purchased all the items I thought I needed and I completed my DYI disposal macerator today. I am thrilled to report it does in fact empty a black tank, uphill (2-ft lift) for 50 feet using 5/8” pieced-together garden hose. Yes, 5/8”. Let me explain further.

I purchased the Badger 500 from Home Depot (HD) new as I, and not any of my friends have a disposable disposal. I went with Badger because that’s seems to be what many others how completed this project have used who bought new. I chose the 1/2 hp model (Model 500) because I have several runs (for visiting family members and their rigs at different locations around the property), with the longest run being 85 feet, again with a 2 foot lift, to the clean out. The model 500 claims to have stainless impellers/grinders vs the model 5, though it cost $20 more, but more importantly it was all HD had in that line. I was to impatient to wait for an Amazon shipment as I needed the actual drain to be completed today. BTW, Amazon has the Badger 5 for $88 today.

Prior to doing the actual black water dump I made all my disposal connections and performed a test run/pump/dump of straight fresh water, running a hose into the top of the disposal and the water came out the end of a 100 foot 5/8” hose, with a 3-foot lift! I tested longer and higher than my needs. I figured if it could not do that task with clean fresh water then I could return the disposal and not feel bad as “it did didn’t work for my application”. Though once I put poo through it, I owned it. Anyway the test succeeded.

So why 5/8” hose? Because I didn’t own any 3/4” at the time, and I have plenty of 5/8” garden hose. Again I thought if it can move through 5/8” then 3/4” (purchased later) would be an easier and less restrictive “pump out”. Once the test run of 100 feet with fresh water was successful, I decide to cobble together some old broke 5/8” hose pieces (three to be exact) to make the initial 50 foot black water run (I did not want to ruin my 100’ foot hose, or any other, for a 50’ run, and I was planning on purchasing some 3/4” hose if the initial test was successful). I also might mention that two of the connectors in my patched 50 foot 5/8” hose reduced the diameter slightly in those two places, and I thought that might be a issue, but it was not.

The pump out was not fast but it was complete. I turned off the pump a few times to keep the cycle time down (approx 3-4 minutes per cycle was my estimate). All in all it was much faster than emptying into a poo cart 2-3 times (that includes a tank rinse), not to mention hauling the cart back and forth 2-3 times with it full.

My new macerator will live in a 5 gallon bucket (with a lid) and stored in a shed when not needed. I don’t plan on traveling with it (yet), and my RV is under a covered storage at another location.

I spent quite a bit more than I thought I would. I estimated $120 when I first began researching. Total (with new (today) 100’ x 3/4” hose from Harbor Freight) is $195. The pump was the most expensive purchase and I I could have gone cheaper on the pump but thought if I did, and it did not work, would it have been the brand of pump, or the rise, or the hose, or what? I am glad I chose the1/2 hp, but really do not know if I really need the extra hp. Anyway, now if the new motor should ever quit everything in my build would be easily transferable to a different disposal (higher or lower hp). Only the pump would be new. Hopefully that will not happen for many-many years.

I also purchased a portable GFCI outlet due to the 120vac electrical motor and water being so close together, with some of my outside outlets (on the old house) are not GFCI protected.

Good luck! It worked for me.

[cooldavidt]

2oldmen- u need bigger wires! ??

[mikestock]

Just to update: I went with a new Badger 1/3 Hp disposer and bought the conversion kit on eBay. I'm sure I could have done it all a little cheaper if I considered my time and travel to be worth $0. Assembly took about 45 minutes. Most of the time spent trying to fish out one of the power wires from inside the bottom of the disposer. I tested it out in the shower just to be sure it ran. Ordered a remote RF power switch. Already have a 35'X3/4" "dirty use" hose. Should be good to go. Looking forward to trying it out.

[2oldman]

mikestock wrote:
d, I don't want to have to wire the 12 vdc from the opposite side of the coach when I have a 120 vac GFCI outlet next to the wet bay.

Macerators take a lot of juice, so I use a smaller (garden) 12v battery for that purpose. Real short wires. I can't run it for much more than a few minutes before the wires have to cool down.

As for the "solids", they are mostly soup after sitting in the tank.

[mikestock]

You do have to keep them clean, and since your going to be pumping shower water through them, they will get hair in them that will have to be cleaned out.

Unfortunately, I don't have much hair left to shed. My wife sheds very little and only washes her hair every few days. Hair is not the problem it once was. I'll address that issue as I come to it.

NRSLIFR wrote:
you need to get the full cooperation of any females in your group. Their products will kill a poop grinder pretty quick. I doubt a garbage disposer would like them either.

She has already learned that lesson, living on a septic tank system. Everything that says "Septic Tank Safe" is probably lying.

[NRALIFR]

No problem. I enjoy fabricating things myself, and I respect the skills of others who do.

I actually used to have a 12v Flowjet macerator, and it worked fine for 3-4 years. It eventually quit though, and I thought the price was too high to consider replacing it. You do have to keep them clean, and since your going to be pumping shower water through them, they will get hair in them that will have to be cleaned out. They have to be taken apart to clean them.

I will warn you though, if you end up using the 12v macerator, you need to get the full cooperation of any females in your group. Their products will kill a poop grinder pretty quick. I doubt a garbage disposer would like them either.

Tinker on, buddy. Show us what you build!

:):)

[mikestock]

I appreciate all the input. After reading all the posts it, as usual, comes down to who is speaking from logic and experience and who is just speaking. I may try making one on-the-cheap with a used disposer and see if it works. I'm in no rush and if it doesn't work well I won't have too much invested.

I guess I'm just a born tinkerer and this kind of non-traditional project that is up my alley. If for some reason I don't like it I'll go with an over-the-counter, traditional model. As said, I don't want to have to wire the 12 vdc from the opposite side of the coach when I have a 120 vac GFCI outlet next to the wet bay.

[time2roll]

NRALIFR wrote:
I think at this point, it is incumbent on the naysayers to prove their claim that a garbage disposal cannot be used to pump sewage uphill.

Do what you will. Even knowing a disposer would work perfectly OK I would still get the macerator designed for the purpose.
I am not naysaying anything, just not my style.

[shastagary]

the people that say it won't work have never seen one in action. i and others at my seasonal site have been using home made garbage disposal macerators for 5 years and they work very well.
i have 75' of 3/4" garden hose to the dump station and i dump weakly during the 7 months of the year i live there.
there are utube videos of people using and making them and one guy on utube is making and selling kits on ebay to convert garbage disposals if they did not work why would he waste his time making kits to sell? and would not every one he has sold to send negative feedback about them.
my homemade one works great and makes it a quick job dumping my tanks.

[GDS-3950BH]

NRALIFR wrote:
Thanks. That makes five now.

I think at this point, it is incumbent on the naysayers to prove their claim that a garbage disposal cannot be used to pump sewage uphill. I’ve never used one like that, but I’ve replaced several, and played with a few enough to know that the water doesn’t just “fall” out of the disposer thanks to gravity. It’s under pressure.

Otherwise, I trust that said naysayers humility will at least allow an admission that their claims should be afforded the same credentials as they afford other interweb based claims; they don’t mean squat. Possibly even less than that.

Diddly squat.



:):)

Diddly squat, and whoopdeedoo.

Perhaps you can explain why by IPC, when your drain exits a wall the invert needs to be below the weir elevation of the trap exiting a disposer? Typical forum nonsense, and you have more BS than a cow pasture.

Done with this mental masturbation, happy new year

[NRALIFR]

Thanks. That makes five now.

I think at this point, it is incumbent on the naysayers to prove their claim that a garbage disposal cannot be used to pump sewage uphill. I’ve never used one like that, but I’ve replaced several, and played with a few enough to know that the water doesn’t just “fall” out of the disposer thanks to gravity. It’s under pressure.

Otherwise, I trust that said naysayers humility will at least allow an admission that their claims should be afforded the same credentials as they afford other interweb based claims; they don’t mean squat. Possibly even less than that.

Diddly squat.

:):)