445 Problems

Hi,

The problem is the black water tank. after some years it becomes clogged with the solids and only liquids find their way out. After a while everything becomes completely blocked.

The solution is obvious but messy .

1) clean the breather opening and remove the filter and throw it away.
2) from the deck fitting fill up the tank with hot water and special detergent and let it stay for some hours - with the tank sea cock closed. Empty it according to local rules. Repeat until water comes out clean.
3) flush the toilet with hot water several times to clean the toilet-to-tank hose.

To avoid this sort of problems the above procedure to be repeated every 2-3 months depending on use.



Edited by panos - 17 June 2011 at 20:25

This is an issue for your dealer to sort on a new boat. Unlikely as two toilets are involved, but check to see that the pump valve casing is properly bedded on the gasket at the top and also at bottom of the pump cylinder. On an earlier boat,I had an issue where a small crack developed beside one of the the valve casing screw holes (due to over tightening) resulting in air in the system. It would work so long as water was in the whole system, but after a while air would bleed back and it would stop. Also worth checking the joint by the joker valve for the same problem. They must have an air leak somewhere. The toilet units are very simple and there is little else to go wrong. Always worth carrying an overhaul kit just in case though! Maybe the inlet pipe to the holding tank is too long and gets clogged at the top. This would not be a problem with just water. However the back pressure would usually be too great to pump against if it was blocked. Good luck,

hi,

Its funny to talk about these things.
One point to remember is that the heads pump transforms everything to a paste, so it is not very possible that the small distance between tank input pipe and tank top to be a problem.
I suspect that the ventilation is blocked. Almost everybody had this problem and removed the vent opening filter - there is nothing to filter anyway, just air. This filter gets easily blocked the first time you overfill the tank. If the vent opening is blocked then there is pressure buildup in the tank and the sh*t and black water can return to the head.
If the heads never worked properly then of course there might be a construction fault probably in the tanks.
Good luck.

PS: Never let the contents of the tanks to stay longer than 2-3 days. We have a procedure to clean the tanks weekly with hot water and special detergent, but this is not easy everywhere.

Hi,
I had Jabsco manual toilets in my previous boat for more than ten years without any problem and I do not believe there is the root of the problem there.
Also there is no need for a vented loop since the vented black water tank which is inline with the toilet discharge circuit acts as a vented loop. Anyway with the tank discharge always closed (as it should be) there is no danger of sea water syphoning in the toilet.

Edited by panos - 20 June 2011 at 16:33

Many thanks for your help. I took off the filters and will try without. It looks promising as they where dirty. I will inform about the result -- many thanks again.