Corn

R

Robski97

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Two people today told me they had there Heads back up due to corn getting stuck in the duck bills...

How do u protect urself from that ...

Sign on the head door " if u have eaten corn in last 24 hrs " see PAIL ?? : )

Only way they fixed it was.... well u know disasembly....

NOT A GOOD THING ....

Rob
 
First time i've heard that!!! Not 100% positive, but i believe thats bull
****.
 
I have corn on the boat all the time. Never a problem. But then, I have a superior digestive system. Maybe your guests eat too much tofu and are not properly equipped for real food?

:)
 
Corn, that's funny! Broccolli is the real culprit! In the mid-80's I was the supply officer on a Coast Guard ship in Thunderbay ON. My clerk mis-typed an order for provisions and we ended up with 12 cases of broccolli instead of 2. We were already off the dock on a 4 week construction assignment so there was no way to return the stuff. The waste system on the ship uses an aneorobic bacterial biodegradion system and after about a weeks worth of broccolli soup & salads the system plugged up! Now the engineers don't like going in and cleaning out the macerators but had no choice. What they found was all the partially digested broccolli gumming up the works! :o)
 
You must make sure that your guests are trained to chew their food properly no matter what they are eating. A few years ago this was something that kids were taught and art of good eating manners.
 
I'm with Gary - I think they were having fun w/ that story. Maybe it's not the whole story, maybe someone shucked corn into the toilet and the silk got stuck? I have a hard time believing that kernels of partially digested corn could stop a vacu-flush system.
 
I agree with everybody above - unless you've eaten half a dozen ears of corn on the cob in one sitting, I can't imagine it causing a problem. I have an Atlantes head in my basement, that is used daily, and when we eat corn there's no problem. Maybe a kernel or two will come floating back after the flush, but never a clog!

The Admiral once poured about two quarts of leftover chili into the Atlantes toilet and tried to flush it - that was a no go! It was just too much concentration, and plugged up the duckbill (joker) valve. I had to take it apart and clean it out, while uttering liberal amounts of obscenities all the while. She'll never do that again!
 
Ok let give some back ground to this

July 4th of this year my marina had a Bar b que. Corn was served. I invited a bunch of friends to the marina for the fireworks etc ( they stayed in the tansient slips ) after dark I get a knock on my boat can the kids use ur head... Mines all backed up.

To shorten this story up we took apart the pump and all and one of the duck bills had a kernel which prevented it from closing . So if it cant close no vaccum can be formed. Toilet dont flush.

The guys at the marina called to say they found corn in two more heads that people complained werent working. They remebered our july 4th MESS... and it was a mess....

So i guess it wasnt a freak thing...

So its infact a true story....

Rob
 
I believe you now, and ah, thanks for mental image. ;)

My next bet would be that the corn came through with too little water: they failed to fill the bowl before flushing
 
It's possible that a few kernels of corn could "catch" in the duckbill valve of the vacuum pump on a VacuFlush, keeping the duckbill from closing tightly. In that instance, yes, it will never build up adequate vacuum and shut off. Net result, the toilet won't flush because there's no vacuum. On more conventional marine toilets that don't work with vacuum, the corn shouldn't be an issue at all. The VacuFlush does have its own particular set of quirks, and the corn issue can be one of them.
 
VF have TWO pairs of duckbills at the pump... even if one has a corn kernel stuck in, the other one should be fine. i thought the duck bills were really there so that the system (tank) holds pressure and that the pump itself was doint the pumping ?
 
In a VacuFlush system, the vacuum pump pumps out the contents of the vacuum tank or vacuum generator to the holding tank, sending it off to the holding tank, while at the same time evacuating the line between toilet pedestal and the vacuum tank and holding it under vacuum in preparation for the next flush. When the vacuum pump wears out and needs to be replaced, some guys replace them with the "T" series pump, which only has one pair of duckbills, because it's a little less expensive. In that instance, the corn could keep one of the duckbills from sealing. I know Peggie Hall (I think it was her) used to say that the cheaper pump would do the same job in building and holding vacuum in a VF system - unless of course, something gets caught in one of the duckbill valves... If you hold the flush pedal up with your toe, the water flow will sometimes clear away whatever is caught in the duckbill valve, and you're good to go again. It doesn't always work, but sometimes it does. Wads of toilet paper can cause the same problem in a duckbill valve.
 
a single DB holds vacuum fine... i have 2 heads/tank on one pump and they are isolated with a single inline DB between each tank and the Y before the pump. i've opened one while the other system remained charged and sealed with its single DB.

a plunger should clear a corn kennel... i've succesfully used plungers on my VF before with no side effects
 
Rob,

Oh never mind, I will pass on this thread, to easy. :}

Walter
 
Thanx Walter,
Pascal the head was filled to the top from the owners trying to clear what they thought was a clog. Im trying to remember the details ... ( pump constantly running or not ) WE tried a plunger ... I think there were 2 buck bills. only one was clogged. But we took everyting apart as we ddint know what the issue was... FOr the life of me i cant remember the details , Getting old I guess.

But we were able to systematiclly get to the issue locaton. ( pump or duck bills )

They didnt need replacing just a cleaning.

Rob
 
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