Flojet macerator: is it reliable? Maintenance issues?

Mine works fine. I don't use it that often, but it's really handy for pumping waste water into a blue boy in the truck bed.

The only issue I had was powering it. It takes a lot of amps which heats up wires, so I cut off the wires real short and clip them to a garden battery.

I bought on in 2008 to use at Sister place....pumping 75' with a 2' rise
I ran 12VDC to dump line area and just plug it in
3/4" garden hoses
50 gals black...roughly 10 minutes then I shut it down for 5 minutes then pump 70 gals of grey for another 10 minutes then flush while running with clean water

Have used it over the years at numerous places....but Sisters is the longest distance

Once a year I disassembly the head and clean impeller and chopper plate ...usually hair
Impeller is nitrile (synthetic rubber)
Chopper plate metal


Haven't had any real issues in the 12 yrs I have owned/used it

Good info, O.B.

Wondering....is "Sister place" - your Sister's place, a nun, or a place you have in Sisters Oregon ??

:@

Thanks for the info!!

Old Biscuit, is that disassembly job easy or difficult? (Sometimes, manufacturers intentionally make it hard for the consumer to take a device apart, probably to discourage the users from fouling up the works with improper techniques.)

Also, is the yearly maintenance "messy" (if you know what I mean)? Or does proper rinsing at the end of each use solve that problem?

Earlier this year I was parked about 50' from a dump and bought a FloJet unit. Connected it to a fairly standard 5/8" hose and pumped away. We have huge holding tanks so it took quite some time to do the dump as they recommend only running for 15 minutes non-stop. We used that every 2 weeks for about 2 months. We later that year we were in Vegas for a couple of months and did the same thing. We have never had an issue and have only cleaned any visible residue in the grinding chamber after disconnecting. Dumping the grey after the black leaves it pretty clean when the dump is complete.

I used mine once a week for 3 months this past summer.

I have a portable (Which by the way I no longer have a use for. but that's a topic for elsewhere) over the 15 years I've used it. It always got the job done when I needed it. NOW understand I prefer the 3" stinky Slinky (Got one of those brand new as well) The ONLY problems I had with it are mostly SUE problems (SUE is "Stupid User Error")

1: on the portable there is a fuse in the bottom of the handle. .Yup. did not know it was there. Took me a while to discover it.

Two. the motor shaft extends all the way out what I call the "Bottom" of the motor (Pump is the top part) and there is a slot. If you have not used it for a few days take a flat tool. Like a quarter or a washer. And give the shaft a "Twist" in the direction suggested by the outlet. The impeller may (otherwise) stick, which is Why I had to find the fuse.

Once I figured out the "Twist the shaft" long long time no problems..

OH feed it well.. I ran 10Ga wire from teh fuse panel about 5 feet to a compartment where I terminated with Anderson power Poles (40 amp size) and plugged the Macerator line in there... Why Anderson Power poles.. I use a lot of them on my Radio gear and have 10Ga Extension cables and so on. So I had them. Are they better than other options? Very good question. but for me yes. Due to the fact I have a lot of stuff that pluggs into that port.

We have the Flojet Macerator and use it about every couple of dumps, especially if the line at the treatment plants are long. We have stand alone power source to hook it to and run the hose to our cleanout. It works great. It takes longer of course that dumping with the large sewer hose, but it sure is convenient to do it at home.

If you can get the complete cooperation of any and all females who may be in your group who need to use female products, they can be reliable enough. If not, all it takes is one and you have a mess on your hands.

Imagine the macerator stalling out with the majority of the “stuff” still in the black tank. You can close the gate valve, but then what?

Yeah, I had one several years back.

:):)

More great tips -- thanks! I especially like the idea of giving the impeller a little twist before each use. I wonder how I am going to remember to do that each time. A checklist will help -- I have a lot of those for a variety of situations.

But then, of course, there is the problem of remembering to check the checklist.