Yet another vacuflush problem

L

lark

Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2007
RO Number
26900
Messages
197
This is my second boat with a VF so I had my share of duckbills and hissing ball seals.

The new system leaks two drops of liquid bowl contents whenever I flush. The leak look to occur near the big clamp. I tightened the clamp hand tight with a screw driver and it didn't fix it. Should I try tighter, maybe use a wrench? There plastic parts in there so I'm leary about overtightening. If I take it apart, how do I know if there is a problem with the rubber seal?

The toilet is brand new and I emailed Sealand. They want me to call for help but calling during here business hours is a PITA for me.
 
if it's brand new it's under warranty... who did the install?

sounds like it's not tight enough or maybe the seal/bowl/clamp isnt' lined up correctly.
 
The metal clamp should be tightened to 65 lbs. Basically as tight as you can make it by hand with a screwdriver or nut driver. I would not use a socket with a rachet. You may over tighten it and break the clamp. The two half circles need to lock in the front of the bowl and there should be a space in the back. They will not come together and touch. The ceramic bowl sits on a thick rubber seal. There is a tab on the top of the base and a notch in the ceramic. You pretty much have to have the tab in the notch or the bowl won't sit at all. The rubber seal is what keeps the water in when you flush. The clamp doesn't need to be super tight.

You may want to remove the bowl and feel underneath where it sits on the seal. It should be smooth. There may be a void or something from the molding process and it may not be making a perfect seal.

I'm not sure where you are located but Northeastern Sanitation in Farmingdale, NY is their distributor and they are excellent over the phone.

Is it a new boat or just a new toilet? Whoever installed it should be able to take care of it for you.
 
It's a new boat. If it turns out to be more than a few minutes with a screw driver, I'll involve the dealer. My dealer doesn't sell a lot of boats with heads so I'm just trying to avoid his learning curve.

I'll try loosening the clamp, taking the bowl off and checking for something obvious. If that fails I'll call the dealer and he will do all the simple stuff again then call Sealand.
 
The bowl is not heavy or hard to remove. Just turn off the pump and freash water. It weighs about 25 pounds or so. You can take it off, pull the white hose off the back and turn the whole thing upside down. Then you can inspect the bottom surface where it mates with the rubber seal. Take a look at the seal as well. It's not a complicated system. If there is a flaw in the ceramic, the bowl will have to be replaced. You don't need to use any lubricant or sealer there. Don't let anyone try that.

Don't overtighten the clamp. There are actually two seals. One is thicker and goes on the bottom. That one seals the bowl to the base. There is a thinner one on top that seals the ball. The larger one is stamped "This Side Up." Once you get the bowl off take off the two seals and look at both sides of them.
 
I think that torque is probably 65 In/Lbs, About nut-driver tight as Michael said.
 
I followed Michaels instructions and took the bowl off. It was easy, but why are the hose clamps always facing the wrong way :)

I could not find anything obvious. There was a small hole in the bottom of the ceramic bowl but it looked like it belonged there. Michaels instructions and my memory of how things came apart did not agree. The thinner but wider rubber seal was on the bottom, nearest the ball. It was dark green and stamped this side up. The thicker black seal was nearest the toilet bowl. I clean everything and put it back togther the way it came apart. I tightened the big clamp as tight as I could with a screw driver.

No leaks so far, maybe I'm just lucky.
 
Sounds like your VF was a Friday afternoon or a Monday morning unit...
 
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