2008 B43 Foward Head Macerator

[James Taylor]

We are now on our 3rd macerator in the forward head in our 5 year old B43. The original Jabsco unit was installed by Beneteau, the second Jabsco unit was installed by St Augustine Marine in 2012. The 3rd Jabsco macerator was installed recently by me.

It is important to note that the macerator for the salon head is original .

The long bolts holding the macerator head to the motor body failed (broke) on both previous macerators. Jabsco macerators are known to fail in this manner but, not this quickly. I decided to pull the unit out and see what was going on. First observation, the macerator shares a small wooden board with an electrical junction box. I removed the junction box and to my horror saw that St Augustine Marine had done a very, very sloppy install. The pump was not mounted flush and two of the 4 screws were only partially installed and angled. Terrible!

Removed the pump and mounted new pump, this is when I found the real culprit. The way Beneteau positioned the pump on the board leaves the macerator head lying against the waste line (the line from the bottom of the tank to the deck pump out opening). The deck waste tank line is very stiff and will not move enough to allow the macerator to flush mount without a lot of excessive pressure being left on macerator head. (waste line on hull, macerator head on waste line. Maceratorwill  not flush mount on support board. All this equals excessive pressure and excessive vibration)The tank waste line lays on the hull. Thus, premature failure of head and bolts through vibration and extreme pressure

The answer is to simply reposition the macerator rearward a few inches so the macerator head is clear of the waste line. I am quite sure this will solve the issue. After installing macerartor I reinstalled junction box (had to be repositioned also, no problem).

The tech at St Augustine Marine did not remove the junction box and he tried to reinstall using same position as Beneteau but, if he had removed the box he would have seen the real issue, maybe, maybe not?. It is much easier doing this job with the junction box out of the way.

James

[clayton curtis]

Dear James,

Do you have any pictures you can post to make the problem/solution clearer?

Thanks!
Clay

[James Taylor]

Hi Clayton

This photo is of the macerator in it's new location 3-4 inches rearward (to stern) of its previous position. If the macerator were in the original position it would be hard against the deck waste line and the macerator head would be laying on the waste line hard plus the mount screws would not be able to screw in flush to properly support the macerator..The deck waste line has very little flexibility and is hard against the hull.

I placed the waterproof junction box below the macerator but their is room to place it above the macerator if you prefer.

.

[James Taylor]

The macerator is also now located lower on the board than originally mounted. Did all this to keep the macerator head off the tank deck waste line.

[Fred McNeil]

James,

We have the same year and model and have yet to replace the macerator, so it definitely does last and probably will be problem free when your done. We did plumb the fresh water line to the head which has made life much better. Never could get the smell out of the foreward head until we did that. In case your interested, we dedicated the aft water tank to fresh water to both heads so we don't have to be concerned over cross contamination of our water system. Works great.

 

Fred

 

[James Taylor]

Thanks for the support Fred. I'm pretty sure we are good to go now.

We have used fresh water to flush our heads since purchasing the boat new so I fully get your point on lack of water smells. I completed the modification using the toilet manufacturers (Jabsco of course) recommendation and equipment for fresh water conversion. Ours is plumed to use water from either tank using an electric valve that opens to allow pressurized fresh water to flow into the toilet bowl when the  bowl fill button is depressed . I also installed a back flow preventer, in-line, for each toilet, as required by toilet manufactuer,to ensure no bowl water is capable of contaminating our fresh water reservoirs.Each toilet has an electric valve and back flow preventer 

[Mike Brown]

With tips from James I just replaced the macerator in our forward head. Unfortunately it appears as though the pick up tube in the tank has come loose or off. I'll have the tank emptied and thoroughly flushed before I open the inspection port but curious if anyone else has experienced any issues with the tank?
Mike

[Mike Brown]

Emptied the holding tank and removed the inspection port. Note the port was rather difficult to remove. Had to gently run a blade around the perimeter of the port before I could use a hammer and blunt ratchet extension to loosen it. After removing the port I found what I suspected a loose pick up tube. Whoever installed it didn't glue it and it worked itself loose. There was also a compression fitting a few inches down from the top of the tube that was loose. The best I could do was to push the tubing back up into the fitting at the top of the tank. Unfortunately there didn't appear to be any way to apply glue. You can imagine the conditions inside the tank that made any thought of attempting it a no go. With any luck it will stay put.
Mike