Macerator toilet question

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by HavingABlast

I wasn't able to add it as a production special on our 2015 Ventana, but since we were taking delivery at the factory (CPU), I was told that I could add it as a post production item during my week in Nappanee. I purchased the Sanicon online and shipped it along with few other post production install items to Newmar. Had them all installed during our orientation week. Congratulations on your new Ventana.

I assume the post production one is one of the units that just has a hose hook to the normal dump fitting. Have you ever been in a situation where the sanicon failed/messed up and you had to disconnect with a hose full of waste? That's what worries me about the add on versions.

[lostinfla]

Originally Posted by tnedator

Ok, now I'm going to have to see if that can be added as a special on a Ventana. It's only an option on the DS and higher.

I added ours after purchase. It simply twists on the discharge tube. I extended the output hose to line up with the rubber seal for the fw hose. Bonus is that I can see when the tank is clean during flushout.
Edit... no matter how I take a picture, it always uploads sideways... sorry.

[HavingABlast]

Originally Posted by tnedator

I assume the post production one is one of the units that just has a hose hook to the normal dump fitting. Have you ever been in a situation where the sanicon failed/messed up and you had to disconnect with a hose full of waste? That's what worries me about the add on versions.

Thankfully, no. I haven't experienced a failure. But yes, you are correct. I have the box model. It attaches like a normal hose hook.

***CAUTION***:

I can tell you from experience that you DO NOT want to turn on the pump without first taking the cap off of the nozzle before placing said nozzle in the dump hole. What happens is the discharge hose quickly balloons to twice (or more) its diameter, and you pray that it does not rupture as you dive face first towards the off button, which in my case is in very close proximity to said ballooning hose. For me, after my heart rate returned to nominal, I found that there is no way to relieve the pressure in the hose without unscrewing the cap (Sh*t does not roll uphill). So I pointed the nozzle over the dump hole and unscrewed the cap...which promptly rocketed down the hole. Crisis averted!

I called Sanicon to order a replacement cap. They wanted some outrageous price. I instead went to a Home Depot and purchased four 3/4" (I think) threaded PVC caps. I have one in service, and three as backups should I ever repeat my shi*ty performance.

Almost a year after telling this story to my neighbor at the 2016 NKK Rally in Pueblo, I got a call. My neighbor had done the same thing and couldn't quite remember the solution. No doubt they were l still laughing so hard when I told my story the first time that they missed the solution. I passed along the info again.

I've since contacted customer service at Sanicon and requested that the engineer a way to manually reverse the pump, thus pushing the "stuff" back up stream. The person that I talked to had no interest in my suggestion.

[Dutch Star Don]

I've been using the SaniCon system for 14 years now. It came standard equipment on my 2005 Diplomat. The older version on my Diplomat malfunctioned ONE time for a total of ONE malfunction in 14 years. It got plugged because someone (wife) put a moist towelette in the toilet. The towelettes are too tough for the impeller.

I closed the black and grey valves, stuck a bucket under the wet bay floor opening and slowly removed the SaniCon bayonet fitting at the coach discharge. The fluid in the SaniCon hose (about a quart) drained into the bucket. I pulled the nose off the SaniCon unit, removed the towel, and was back in action.

Okay.......so you got the one horror story. So let's talk about the SaniCon. The people who typically Poo Poo the unit, pun intended, have never used one or have not used one enough to realize what a GREAT system they are. I could NEVER understand why somebody would want to go to a storage bay, pull out a Tupperware container and remove a nasty, dirty, stinky hose, drag it over to the wet bay, get down on their knees and connect it. Then you drag it over to the sewer drain, hopefully it's close enough and downhill, and connect. You do all of this so you can say.....when I pulled the valve, I got a whoosh that cleaned my tank. That's actually an old wives tale. There is no cleaning whoosh out there.

Now lets look at the SaniCon. You open your wet bay door, open the grey tank valve, grab the clean and odorless SaniCon hose, that EASILY extends up to 20', and doesn't care about the slope to the drain, unscrew the small cap and stick it in the sewer drain.

When you're ready to dump the black tank, simply turn the SaniCon on, wait a couple of minutes and you're done. No need to flush with grey water or fresh water. I grab the hose and cap at the wet bay, walk the hose at an angle toward the drain, remove the hose end and cap. You're done.

The SaniCon has a grey water bypass, it drains grey water automatically when the hose is connected to the campground sewer and the grey valve is open.

I always hear how the 3" hose drains so much faster. Yes it does, but the extra 10 minutes of connecting, disconnecting and cleaning surpasses the time it takes the OLD style SaniCon to dump. The new version is several times faster.

I like to keep things simple. I often watch people pull into a campground and spend 45 minutes connecting hoses and cords, building little sewer ramps and making repeated trips to their bays, bending and pulling gear out.

I can pull up to a campsite, pull out the power cord, water hose and SaniCon hose and connect in less than 3-4 minutes. I extend the slides and I'm ready to camp.

Last week we went camping with the kids. My site was long and I needed to stay near the front of the site to get my satellite to work (very important). The shore connections were over 30' away. My water hose and power cord reached the connections, my SaniCon was 10' short. Rather than pull out my extra SaniCon hose, I just used an old water hose, that I use for grey water only, to extend the SaniCon hose.

Obviously, you can see that I get a little intense about the SaniCon system, but I've heard all the excuses over the years as to why it doesn't work. I just don't see why ANYONE would regularly deal with the nasty 3" hose.

Lastly, 95% of the time that we stop at a campground overnight, I connect my SaniCon. I do this so I can run the dishwasher or washing machine if I choose or take long showers. The reason I bring this up......I often read how many don't connect their sewer hose until their tanks are full and then run out and connect. I think the reason they don't is because they hate the procedure and want to limit how often they do it. The SaniCon solves this issue.

[lostinfla]

Originally Posted by dutch star don

i've been using the sanicon system for 14 years now. It came standard equipment on my 2005 diplomat. The older version on my diplomat malfunctioned one time for a total of one malfunction in 14 years. It got plugged because someone (wife) put a moist towelette in the toilet. The towelettes are too tough for the impeller.

I closed the black and grey valves, stuck a bucket under the wet bay floor opening and slowly removed the sanicon bayonet fitting at the coach discharge. The fluid in the sanicon hose (about a quart) drained into the bucket. I pulled the nose off the sanicon unit, removed the towel, and was back in action.

Okay.......so you got the one horror story. So let's talk about the sanicon. The people who typically poo poo the unit, pun intended, have never used one or have not used one enough to realize what a great system they are. I could never understand why somebody would want to go to a storage bay, pull out a tupperware container and remove a nasty, dirty, stinky hose, drag it over to the wet bay, get down on their knees and connect it. Then you drag it over to the sewer drain, hopefully it's close enough and downhill, and connect. You do all of this so you can say.....when i pulled the valve, i got a whoosh that cleaned my tank. That's actually an old wives tale. There is no cleaning whoosh out there.

Now lets look at the sanicon. You open your wet bay door, open the grey tank valve, grab the clean and odorless sanicon hose, that easily extends up to 20', and doesn't care about the slope to the drain, unscrew the small cap and stick it in the sewer drain.

When you're ready to dump the black tank, simply turn the sanicon on, wait a couple of minutes and you're done. No need to flush with grey water or fresh water. I grab the hose and cap at the wet bay, walk the hose at an angle toward the drain, remove the hose end and cap. You're done.

The sanicon has a grey water bypass, it drains grey water automatically when the hose is connected to the campground sewer and the grey valve is open.

I always hear how the 3" hose drains so much faster. Yes it does, but the extra 10 minutes of connecting, disconnecting and cleaning surpasses the time it takes the old style sanicon to dump. The new version is several times faster.

I like to keep things simple. I often watch people pull into a campground and spend 45 minutes connecting hoses and cords, building little sewer ramps and making repeated trips to their bays, bending and pulling gear out.

I can pull up to a campsite, pull out the power cord, water hose and sanicon hose and connect in less than 3-4 minutes. I extend the slides and i'm ready to camp.

Last week we went camping with the kids. My site was long and i needed to stay near the front of the site to get my satellite to work (very important). The shore connections were over 30' away. My water hose and power cord reached the connections, my sanicon was 10' short. Rather than pull out my extra sanicon hose, i just used an old water hose, that i use for grey water only, to extend the sanicon hose.

Obviously, you can see that i get a little intense about the sanicon system, but i've heard all the excuses over the years as to why it doesn't work. I just don't see why anyone would regularly deal with the nasty 3" hose.

Lastly, 95% of the time that we stop at a campground overnight, i connect my sanicon. I do this so i can run the dishwasher or washing machine if i choose or take long showers. The reason i bring this up......i often read how many don't connect their sewer hose until their tanks are full and then run out and connect. I think the reason they don't is because they hate the procedure and want to limit how often they do it. The sanicon solves this issue.

exactly!

[HavingABlast]

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I wouldn't want to own a coach without a Sanicon. I've recommended this system to all who ask, or are curious. We've used the system since August 2015 when we took possession of our coach. I was only making fun of me and my "self created" situation in telling this story.

I've since reworked my procedure. I now have either eyes or hands on the nozzle cap before flipping the switch. I also do a test run with only my grey valve open just in case something were to go wrong. When all runs well, I turn off the pump, close the grey valve, open the black valve and purge the black tank.

[Mark D]

We have two masserator toilets and the sanicon. If we are going to be parked for 2 or more days we use the conventional set up. The sanicon we use for overnight stays.

Except when we stay at a family or friends place. The sanicon is great when you need to pump to an area away from the coach like a septic tank or a clean out. You can hook it to a garden hose if needed.

In case you didn't know you can use both systems if you have that option. The sanicon disconects easily.

I would have one

[C.Martin]

I am a fan...but I use the regular 3” Dominator hose 99.9% of the time.

We have a portable Flojet Macerator. It stores in a little blow molded carrying case. Easy to connect, if I need it...just remove the dump tube cap, add elbows and twist on the flojet Macerator. It uses standard 3/4” garden hose fittings for dump, and a flush connection, if you choose. I added a 12v power dongle in the wetbay for Macerator power.

In all honesty...while camping the last seven years...I have used it exactly ZERO times. The only time I use it is when servicing tanks at home. I have an in-ground connection point by our RV pad. I use a short 6’ jumper hose to connect the flojet Macerator to the in-Ground connection point. I have about 90’ of 2” PVC that is buried in our yard and makes the journey to the other side of the house where our sewer lift station is located. So, that’s really the real reason we own a Macerator. It is an awesome tool...when I need it.

As a precaution...I always “charge the chamber” with grey first. Just to ops check the unit. Then, when I’m satisfied it’s working properly...I switch to black...do a couple of black tank flush rinses...then switch back to grey to push all the black water from the line and finish dumping grey. Finally, a quick freshwater rinse of the system prior to storage.

It does require a little maintenance...Lube the o-ring occasionally...and remove the hair that may wrap around the impeller blade shaft using long needle-nosed pliers.