Thetford RV Sanicon Model 62-5800 Macerator

[al.m]

I have a Thetford RV Sanicon Model 62-5800 Macerator that recently started taking a long time to empty our holding tanks. It has a Shurflo 3200 series macerator pump. I found that the impeller in the pump was the problem. The macerator is almost two years old and not used on a regular basis. I have never run the unit dry. Nothing but water, toilet paper and human waste have been put into my holding tanks

I am wondering if this is a common failure such that I should keep a spare part on hand for the future.

I have attached a picture of the impeller.

Al

http://www.irv2.com/forums/attachmen...1&d=1277028570

[bdpreece]

Ya got one intact blade one semi intact and the rest are toast. I would guess you had something extra in the tank that should not have been there. If I were to order the part I would order 2. Bet it will happen again sooner or later. We just got our coach with the Sanicon system so will wait and see what happens with ours. Since it came with the coach I will probably use it but I would not have ordered it. I never have had to dump uphill so no real reason to have one.

[al.m]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdpreece Ya got one intact blade one semi intact and the rest are toast. I would guess you had something extra in the tank that should not have been there. If I were to order the part I would order 2. Bet it will happen again sooner or later. We just got our coach with the Sanicon system so will wait and see what happens with ours. Since it came with the coach I will probably use it but I would not have ordered it. I never have had to dump uphill so no real reason to have one.

I guess that it's possible that there was some remaining debris from when the holes were cut in the tank when the coach was built. But, since we had used the coach for a couple of years before installing the macerator it seems that it should have been gone.

Since my original post I have been reading about peoples experience with the type of macerator pumps that are in our systems. Most of the experience seems to come from the marine community where the macerators are used for sewerage and fish boxes. Impeller replacement seems to be a common repair. Common impeller life times that people discuss are 1 ½ - 3 years. I do wish that I had ordered two impellers. Some people take them apart for cleaning and repair on an annual basis. It seems that they also clog up with hair. There was a lot of hair wound up in the macerator blades on mine.


The amazing thing is that with the two partially functioning blades the macerator was still pumping through about 100’ of hose and uphill about 10 feet, albeit slowly.

Pumping through only the 10’ hose that comes with the system it pumped quite well with the destroyed impeller. So, depending on useage, having four missing blades may only be a minor degradation!

Al