Fast forward to a few weeks ago when he offered up an "old" Mansfield Vacuflush system for the cost of shipping, I was the lucky recipient. Dave packed the system neatly in the box of his new head and included spares, the original manual and all of the install components. I paid the freight. Keep in mind, Dave did this from a location without running water and the Vacuflush system was put in the boat back in 1977 so there was a few years worth of "stuff and smells" inside the components, Dave stuffed paper towels in the hose fittings and duct taped every thing up securely.
So.. Commodave.. nice guy and he certainly went above and beyond to give something away. Good news is that is will not be put to "waste" and I have already installed it.
Dave was not sure if it even worked, so I ordered rebuild kits for the pump and the toilet and completely tore everything down at home, soaked everything in a bleach laundry soap solution overnight and then scrubbed every thing I could reach with a brush. I then reassembled the pump and toilet and set up a "test bench" in the driveway, using short pieces of hose, I put the system together, hooked the motor up to my truck battery and ran about 20 gallons of soapy water through the system, one bowl at a time,
it took about 20 seconds to build vacuum and flushed like crazy!
I got the system installed Friday and Dave has made my wife very happy. it flushes without the the blender grinding sound and we always used a cup of water in the head to flush, that being we kept a Drinking cup on the vanity in the head, when you went to flush, you fill the cup with the faucet at the sink, pour it in the toilet, and flush. so, it was our fresh water, conserving way to flush the toilet.
Now, the toilet is hooked up the the on board fresh water supply and it uses very little water with each flush and you can always add more water if needed. I built a platform in the bilge access to where I can simply remove the inlet and discharge hose and remove the vacuum tank and pump system as whole and repair or rebuild on the dock or home if it is ever needed which shouldn't be for a long time. I turned off the breaker to the water pump and the vacuum pump before leaving the boat of Friday and when I returned on Saturday, I turned on the breakers and the vacuum pump didn't run, so, I flushed the toilet, whoosh! and the pump kicked on, we stayed on the boat Saturday night and the pump never kicked on, so it definitely holds a vacuum. (you can hear the pump easily)
Thanks again Commodave !!!
