Adding a Macerator to my

[Gump159]

I am thinking about installing a macerating pump to the black water tank for those times when dumping at home will be more convenient than driving to a station. I do not have full access for a 3 inch connect to the sanitary sewer but I can get a garden hose to a clean out.
my questions are...should the pump be installed with a full time connect to the tank or go with the bayonet fit for occasional use? Some pumps have a connection for adding water to aid in cleaning, some do not, pros and cons? Are there any to stay away from period?
Thank you in advance for your help.

[HarryStone]

I just did what you are thinking about. Bought a Flo-Jet to allow dumping at my house, thru the sewer cleanout. I remove the macerator when I'm not using it, as I'm not sure it will be worth the hassle at a campground.

[dieselclacker]

Flo-Jet makes a portable 12 volt macerator pump kit in a brief case type carrying case. I have had one for a number of years. Sounds like it might work well for your needs. Don’t have a link, but am sure you can google one, or Amazon has them also.

[Gary RVRoamer]

We used a portable macerator since we used it only once in awhile. Mine was fitted into a tool box that also held connector hoses and 12v terminals, so easy to store & use. Or you could use a 120v macerator pump if you will always have shore or genset power available.

By the way, the pump will work better and last longer if you use a 1" or 1.5" hose or pipe to connect to the sewer or septic. Far less back pressure, so the pump runs smooth and at low amps. Never blew any fuses once I increased the hose size.

[HarryStone]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

We used a portable macerator since we used it only once in awhile. Mine was fitted into a tool box that also held connector hoses and 12v terminals, so easy to store & use. Or you could use a 120v macerator pump if you will always have shore or genset power available.

By the way, the pump will work better and last longer if you use a 1" or 1.5" hose or pipe to connect to the sewer or septic. Far less back pressure, so the pump runs smooth and at low amps. Never blew any fuses once I increased the hose size.

I just used mine for the first time, pumped thru 100' 3/4" hose no problem, at least this time.

[Captain Morgan]

We've been using the same sani-con macerator pump since 2007 on two different motorhomes. I've rebuilt it twice as a preventative measure, not because of a failure. It's connected to a short piece of 3" flex hose and a bayonet fitting so I can easily remove it for maintenance, winterizing and an emergency in case it ever fails. I new early on that I would never go back to a stinky slinky hose!

[hilgert]

We have the FloJet bayonet style. We use it extensively when camping at sites with no sewer. I pump the black thank every 4-5 days (so it's not full) into a 42 gallon blue waste hauler (wheels removed and tossed...it's strapped into the bed of the F150), leaving enough room to run some grey water to clean the garden hose, then run it up to the park dump station. I will repeat with grey tank dumps until empty.

Typically I can do one grey dump per day and almost keep up with showers and dishes, with an occasional day where I do this twice for the grey tank if we are doing laundry, etc. Each cycle to drain/transfer, dump at park dump station, and return is typically less than 10 minutes in total.

Not having to hook up the blue thank and limit speed to 5mph (or slower) makes it easy to dump tanks...we often will do this and dump at the park dump station on the way out to dinner or the store (and a few times we even forget it's back there until we feel the extra 320lbs of water when cornering!!!).

At times we've camped for weeks using this method at no-sewer-connection parks/sites.

Since we tend to camp at spots with full hookups, we use the normal sewer line most of the time, but there have been times where I have left the macerator attached and just run it into the site connection if we are in-transit and want an easy/clean way to pull up camp in the morning. This is also useful for those spots where the sewer connection is stupidly high (so no "flow" with a normal sewer line).

To us the FloJet is an essential piece of equipment...so essential we have a second brand new one just in case the first one fails when camping in a no-sewer spot. We also have a 30 gallon water bladder I can fill if there is no water connection (I put it on the floor of the 2nd row of the F150), and have used that a few times at electric-only sites, or sites with no hookups at all.

[UTTransplant]

DH installed a Sani-con a couple of years ago, and we use it all the time - no portable, though we did take it off one time for a full black tank flush. (Long story involving a cat who likes to drop socks into open bowls!) No mess and pretty fast. The newer ones like we have use a bigger hose than older ones resulting in a fast dump. Our rig has a built in black tank flush, so no experience with a macerated-based one.

[richard5933]

Flo-jet with bayonet is what we have. To make connection easier, I have a short 2-ft sewer hose I use to connect it to the discharge port on the coach. Much less cumbersome than wrestling with a full-length hose and much easier to clean out when we're done.

The pump I have does include a place to connect a freshwater hose and does make the clean-up process very simple.

My pump came with spring-loaded clamps to connect the pump to the battery. Fortunately my generator battery is near my discharge port and it works well. If you have a different setup, it would be pretty easy to swap the clamps out for something else and wire in a permanent power 12v power outlet near the connection point in your coach.

[Dutch Star Don]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

We've been using the same sani-con macerator pump since 2007 on two different motorhomes. I've rebuilt it twice as a preventative measure, not because of a failure. It's connected to a short piece of 3" flex hose and a bayonet fitting so I can easily remove it for maintenance, winterizing and an emergency in case it ever fails. I new early on that I would never go back to a stinky slinky hose!

We got our first SaniCon unit as a factory install on our new 2005 Diplomat. I've had one ever since. It is sooooo much easier than dealing with a 3" sewer hose. The original SaniCon dumped slower than a 3" sewer hose, but the time to dump overall was less or the same as a 3" hose, because the SaniCon hose doesn't have to be disconnected and stored. It doesn't even need to be flushed as it sealed during storage.

The newest version of SaniCon (turbo model) can evacuate a 50 gallon tank in under a minute.

[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

We got our first SaniCon unit as a factory install on our new 2005 Diplomat. I've had one ever since. It is sooooo much easier than dealing with a 3" sewer hose. The original SaniCon dumped slower than a 3" sewer hose, but the time to dump overall was less or the same as a 3" hose, because the SaniCon hose doesn't have to be disconnected and stored. It doesn't even need to be flushed as it sealed during storage.

The newest version of SaniCon (turbo model) can evacuate a 50 gallon tank in under a minute.

I think it's way easier and a lot less messy! I never disconnect the hose and always put the cap on to seal the system. I do the same thing after the final dump of the gray tank. I looked at the new "turbo" model, but I think I'll stay with my current unit for now.