Flojet Macerator Pump

[Redterpos3]

My birthday present just arrived, the flojet macerator pump from camping world.:W I couldn't tell when I purchased how far it could pump, but someone said 100 feet (they may not have been talking about this one?), the directions say 50 foot with a 3/4" diameter hose. I'm going to be pumping from my driveway down a slight slope to my sewer cleanout, probably around 100 feet away. Is this a problem? Or will the downslope help everything "move"?

[mhardin]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
.... when you disconnect everything in that 120 Line will run back downhill and out at pump connection.

I hadn't thought of that. Good point!

I go to some poorly designed campgrounds where the sewer connection is uphill. I've been thinking of getting a pump, it would be a very short run, maybe 20', but this gives me something else to think about. I would have to manually lift the hose to get the final drain. That's not a deal killer by any means, just something else to plan for.

[Old-Biscuit]

"I would have about 120 feet and it would be uphill about 5-6 feet."

Gonna be like pushing rope.....
RV macerator pump will overheat and when you disconnect everything in that 120 Line will run back downhill and out at pump connection.

[720Deere]

If you can lay the line with constant fall from one end to the other, there should be no freezing issues. Mine falls directly into the septic tank and drains completely by gravity. If you have some dips in the line, you could push a pig (plug made of sponge or fabric) through the line with compressed air to purge it for the winter.

The distance and head that you describe should work fine with the pump.

[upsnake]

Ok not to bring up too old of a topic. 😉
But I am starting to give some thought to burying a line and using a macerator pump.

I would have about 120 feet and it would be uphill about 5-6 feet.

For the people that buried their line what about freezing issues?
Did you go below the frost line? Do you blow the the line out with compressed air?

I live in MI, so freezing is certainly something that would have to be dealt with.

Thanks 🙂

[Redterpos3]

mlts22 wrote:
I use a poop battery, which is a spare deep cycle battery that sits around and is trickle charged, then brought out for use. This way, the macerator pump is independent of the charger, and 20-40 amps needed to start and run the pump are easily available.

It worked very well to use jumpers to tap into the trailer battery, my jumpers are long enough, and the extensions I crimped onto the pump leads were easy to clamp onto. I placed a piece of plywood under all the connections, everything is portable as well. I was actually amazed at how well it worked. I am not mechanical/electrical at all, and this did work!! :C For a short term fix this worked nicely. Now my rig is winterized and I'm not heating it anymore. This is my first winter, hopefully all will be well!

[mlts22]

I use a poop battery, which is a spare deep cycle battery that sits around and is trickle charged, then brought out for use. This way, the macerator pump is independent of the charger, and 20-40 amps needed to start and run the pump are easily available.

[720Deere]

eHoefler wrote:

Redterpos3 wrote:

720Deere wrote:
A heavy duty battery charger will power it just fine too. You can crimp terminal ends on your wires so you have something to get a bite on with the jumper cables, but honestly if you are close enough to the battery to use jumpers, just add more heavy gauge wire to the pump leads so you don't have to deal with jumper cables.

Ah, I've got one of those!! I'll start with that, and look into the heavy gauge leads also. Do I need to put an inline fuse when using the battery charger?

No it won't. I started out that way and found that it had a severe voltage drop and the pump ran slow and way to hot. I wound up using a 30 power supply I had on the shelf. The pump ran faster and did not overheat with out any voltage drop.

I think you missed the HEAVY DUTY part. I have run my pump with my 60 amp charger/200 amp booster and it runs the pump fine with no voltage drop. A 20 amp or smaller charger will not work. The 20 amp setting on my big charger allows the volts to drop to just over 11 volts. Sorry I didn't post more detail originally.

[eHoefler]

Redterpos3 wrote:

720Deere wrote:
A heavy duty battery charger will power it just fine too. You can crimp terminal ends on your wires so you have something to get a bite on with the jumper cables, but honestly if you are close enough to the battery to use jumpers, just add more heavy gauge wire to the pump leads so you don't have to deal with jumper cables.

Ah, I've got one of those!! I'll start with that, and look into the heavy gauge leads also. Do I need to put an inline fuse when using the battery charger?

No it won't. I started out that way and found that it had a severe voltage drop and the pump ran slow and way to hot. I wound up using a 30 power supply I had on the shelf. The pump ran faster and did not overheat with out any voltage drop.

[Bucky_Badger]

Redterpos3 wrote:
Success! Today I gathered everything I needed, clamped onto the leads on the pump little connectors for the battery clamps to attach to. Hooked everything up, the pump worked, and everything got pumped to my sewer clean out a bit over 100' away downhill. I can still see some water in my black tank, but most did get dumped, and I was able to wash everything out pretty well. Thanks for all your help!!

I'd be sure to flush it out good. as slow as a pump is, things are left behind.

[Redterpos3]

Success! Today I gathered everything I needed, clamped onto the leads on the pump little connectors for the battery clamps to attach to. Hooked everything up, the pump worked, and everything got pumped to my sewer clean out a bit over 100' away downhill. I can still see some water in my black tank, but most did get dumped, and I was able to wash everything out pretty well. Thanks for all your help!!

[BassinDmax]

Redterpos3 wrote:
Ok, I've looked at the unit and looks like I need to make a number of connections, and get some kind of "power source," to connect to. How do I do this? What do others use for this connection?

I took some 6 gauge wire and Anderson Connectors and made a 12' cable that I plug into the trailer batteries or truck batteries to power the unit. I use the unit to drain at home. I have 75' of 3/4" hose with about a 3 foot rise in elevation. Flojet works great.

[mhardin]

Redterpos3 wrote:
.....Do I need to put an inline fuse when using the battery charger?

Always fuse between the power source and the load.

Mike

[Redterpos3]

720Deere wrote:
A heavy duty battery charger will power it just fine too. You can crimp terminal ends on your wires so you have something to get a bite on with the jumper cables, but honestly if you are close enough to the battery to use jumpers, just add more heavy gauge wire to the pump leads so you don't have to deal with jumper cables.

Ah, I've got one of those!! I'll start with that, and look into the heavy gauge leads also. Do I need to put an inline fuse when using the battery charger?

[720Deere]

A heavy duty battery charger will power it just fine too. You can crimp terminal ends on your wires so you have something to get a bite on with the jumper cables, but honestly if you are close enough to the battery to use jumpers, just add more heavy gauge wire to the pump leads so you don't have to deal with jumper cables.