Macerator or manual pump?

[Blissopia]

My head currently drains into a holding tank or straight overboard. I would like to have the ability to pump out the holding tank myself (when offshore).
I understand how to correctly set up the plumbing but I'm torn between installing a macerator pump or a manual pump. Macerators don't seem to get favorable reviews when it comes to reliability and reliability is my #1 requirement.
What do you all think? Am I wrong about the reliability of macerators? Which way should I go?

[celenoglu]

Macerators are more reliable than most of the eletri pumps on board. A hand pump is always more reliable because the motor is the most reliable motor namely human body. But it is always a pain .... to pump by hand.

[H and E]

I have been using a macerator pump for four years on our RV. We spend several months a year traveling and it gets used quite a bit. So far no problems with it. I do have a spare impeller just in case. Not sure if the one for sailboats is the same. I add a little vegetable oil directly in the pump when it will be in storage for several weeks.

[Minnewaska]

Be sure to pump from a dip tube through the top of the tank so that gravity doesn't empty your tank into the bilge, if there is a leak. Most importantly, once the tank is empty, refill with 5 gallons of clean water and pump that empty as well. This will clean out the macerator, extends it's life and keep odor down. Sewage sitting in the discharge system is a very common odor producer that never goes away despite any witchcraft flushed down the head to address it.

We've not had a failure yet (fingers crossed), but also keep a spare pump aboard that has been vacuum packed with a home foodsaver. We keep a freshwater pump as well.

It takes 10 minutes for our macerator to empty the holding tank. No way I would want to do that by hand.

[Blissopia]

Thanks for all your help everyone. This is awesome.

Dylan

[funjohnson]

I'm adding a Whale hand pump this weekend to my system... I just like how easy, cheap and reliable this pump will be.

[Sea Diamond]

I'm replacing head+hoses+tank on my boat. I decided to go with a macerator head so the pre-macerated holding tank contents would easily drain by gravity though a 1.5" hose from the bottom of the H/T overboard, as suggested by Vetus. (when 3 miles off). My new tank has no bottom fitting so I'm contemplating installing one by accessing it thru a 4" top inspection port. Easy to cut a 1.5" hole in the botttom and install a plastic bulkhead type fitting with barb coming off the bottom - but what is the best for the fitting seal, since nothing I know of - not even 5200- bonds to a polythlene tank (except maybe poly chunks dissolved in acetone???). Maybe I should use a thick rubber gasket? Don't want a leak into the bilge.
I'd rather not have to install a second pump with dip tube unless its impossible to get a tight gravity type fitting - but it must be possible since "Relocation Fittings" are sold as "kits" containing nothing more than an access port for the top of the tank and a couple of fittings). IDEAS PLEASE !

[jrd22]

I'd never had a boat with a macerator before we bought our current one. I was skeptical because of what I had read so immediately bought a spare to carry on board. So far there have been zero problems, which I have probably just jinxed by writing this :-)) Very convenient and very reliable.

[mitiempo]

Sea Diamond

Fittings on plastic tanks are best welded on. The fitting is spun until the two fuse together. I wouldn't want any other type of fitting on the bottom of a holding tank. Check around - many marine stores that sell tanks can install the fitting for you.

[GaryHLucas]

We build waste water treatment systems using almost exclusively polyethylene tanks, about 100 tanks a year, in sizes from 20 gallons to 12,500 gallons. We install bulkhead fitting from 1/2 pipe size to 12 pipe size. The bulkheads get installed from the inside with the gasket on the inside, and the nut on the outside. We never go into the tanks. We cut the hole the then reach through the top handhole with a measuring tape that we poke out the hole in side or bottom that we just cut. Then we slide the bulkhead and gasket down the tape measure to the hole and pull it through from the outside. Then you put the nut on.

We have had leaks, because rotomolded tanks are often not uniform thickness. The gasket can take up the difference if the total difference is less than half the gasket thickness. If the difference is greater we cut a thicker gasket. Our standard gasket now on larger sizes, 3" and up is a 1/2" thick gasket. This has really made a big difference. Sometimes though the difference is just too great. I've used a hand grinder with a wheel installed backwards to back ream the hole to a more uniform thickness. For the 6" and up sizes I even have a fixture that holds a router on the inside while being guided from the outside. We also replace leaking or broken fitting using an electricians fish tape to feed a rope through the bulkhead. Then we pull it out and slide a new one down the rope.

We work with lots of nasty stuff too. 66 Baume sulphuric acid, 50% Sodium Hydroxide etc. and almost every tank has bulkhead fittings. Our experience with welded fittings, mostly in large sizes has been very poor. We just repalced a 6" one on a 10,500 gallon tank because the weld cracked. We installed a curved flange bolted bulkhead instead.

Gary H. Lucas