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Old 01-18-2007, 01:59 PM   #1
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Macerator

If you are planning to install a macerating toilet, do you need a P-trap to the black water tank?

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Old 01-18-2007, 09:52 PM   #2
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A regular house hold toilet has the trap built into it, and from what I've seen on the macerating toilet.... I got this,

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But instead of routing the flush water through a drain in the floor, the system moves it through a rear-spigot outlet in the toilet bowl to a macerator pump contained in a small plastic box that is positioned on or inside the wall behind the toilet. Similar to a garbage disposal, the macerator uses a fast-rotating cutting blade to liquefy human waste and toilet paper in the flush water. Within seconds, this fine slurry is discharged under pressure through a copper, PVC or CPVC discharge line as small as 3/4-inch to a soil stack or a septic tank.
I know that a regular RV toilet doesn't use a trap at all, just a valve to dump it through to the holding tank...
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Old 01-19-2007, 02:53 AM   #3
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Yeah, I understand that, but I'm just worried that sewer gas will meander its way up the pipe, and was wondering if the macerator would block any infiltration...
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Old 01-19-2007, 08:23 AM   #4
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The macerator is really a 2-in-1 situation; it's got metal blades that grind the waste like a garbage disposal but it also has an impeller pump to get the waste to the holding tank. In an RV or boat the discharge hose would be Sanitation Hose; it's specifically made for the application to be odor-free and flexible enough (though it's fairly stiff) to be routed through difficult areas. I'm sure other hose (discharge line) materials would work but all the macerataor toilets I've seen come with a hose barb outlet for use with Sanitation hose and it would have to be adapted for other discharge line types.

The impeller pump will ensure that black tank gases and odors do not come back in through the toilet. They'll also take the path of least resistance which is up through your tank vent. There's really no reason for the gases to want to go back through the toilet (in this setup).
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Old 01-19-2007, 12:04 PM   #5
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Thanks Les... That's what I figured, but I wasn't sure and haven't found it specifically anywhere... So, to recap, there is no need for any check valve or anything else after the macerator... right ???....
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Old 01-22-2007, 08:35 AM   #6
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That's correct. If you can do it with your setup one of the better systems is a continuous length of sanitation hose (or whatever else you're using) from the toilet discharge to the waste tank with nothing in between in the way of fittings, valves, or other gizmoes.

This system would be the more evil of the two main choices (and there are others) which are an RV-style gravity flush toilet or a marine-style macerator flush. The macerator is much more complex and requires some periodic maintenance and replacement. If someone puts something in the toilet bowl other than human waste or lightweight paper products you will get to perform maintenance on the system. On the other hand an RV-style gravity flush toilet will deal with anything small enough to drop through the rather large opening at the bottom of the bowl.

The electric macerator toilet is noisy, so depending on your layout if you have a light-sleeper partner (especially a grouchy-when-woken one) that could be annoying.

Also consider (depending entirely on your intended use for the bus and your personal opinions) that the macerator draws a fair amount of power while it's running so that might not be good if you're minimizing power use for an off-grid conversion. It also uses a fair amount of water to mix with the waste as it pumps it to the holding tank.

The marine-style toilet (even the manual pump models) have the distinct advantage of placement. They do not need to be over the holding tank to which they're sending their waste. They also do not require a hole in the bus floor for the waste dump.

I lean toward the RV-style toilets due to their simplicity and tolerance of use but they may not work in a specific floorplan; the marine-style toilet gives you much more flexibility albeit at the price of noise, maintenance, electrical load, and perhaps water use (this is entirely dependent on the operator, someone with a heavy foot (or hand) on an RV toilet can use a lot of water...maybe even more than the macerator toilet).

As always it comes down to what works best for you after you weigh all the options.
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Old 01-22-2007, 12:24 PM   #7
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Thanks for the good poop....

All the best
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