Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post your technical questions or solutions about your boat's head here.

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wcconway
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Location: Pensacola, Florida

Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by wcconway »

Head stopped pumping out waste and backed up. I took apart the pump at the back that holds the impeller and Macerator blade, replaced the o ring, shaft seal And seal plate. Put it back together and there is a very minimal leak. Anybody had this problem? What was the solution?
Wally & Coco Conway
, #467
Pensacola, Florida
KenKrawford
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Re: Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by KenKrawford »

Wally when you ask has "anybody had this problem?" do you mean the head stopped pumping or the leaking problem? Assuming the head didn't leak before you took it apart, the only suggestion I can offer is to take it apart again and check the seal and O ring to make sure they are seated properly. I'm not sure how many screws hold the pump housing but when re-assembling, make sure that you lightly torque all the screws equally before final tightening.
Good luck and let us know what you find.
Ken Krawford
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Lake Lanier, GA
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wcconway
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Re: Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by wcconway »

The o-ring was the culprit. Although it fits perfectly on the male side, look closely at the diagram and place on the female side. Problem solved (after much anguish!).

http://www.raritaneng.com/products/toil ... a_era.html

NOTE: The original problem was that the head was getting slower and slower to empty contents and eventually would not empty at all and kept filling up, up, up. The problem.....HAIRwrapped around the blade. We now keep the lid closed at all times when not in use.

Both Sergio and Vic at Raritan Engineering Technical Support were most helpful and patient if you ever need assitance with your Raritan products.
Wally & Coco Conway
, #467
Pensacola, Florida
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TBOT422
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Re: Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by TBOT422 »

Wally,

I'm getting ready to take on disassembly and repair of our SeaEra toilet that it appears you've done and would appreciate any advice you can offer since it appears you've done this job before. Could you be more specfic about the O-ring you refered to above? If you could provide the part number that crosses to the exploded parts view in the user manual it would be a help.

Our problems began with slower emptying of solid waste. It eventually quit emptying completely. Of course, that was in the middle of a 10-day cruise. I found our problem to be a large concentration of calcium deposits on the joker valve that appeared to be preventing it from flexing open. I was able to remove the joker valve and it's discharge fitting, soak them in vinegar and scrap off all of the calcium. I cleared the discharge line by feeding a small tube through it and pushing contents to the waste tank. After clean up and reassembly everything worked fine again for the rest of the cruise. However it seems to have developed a very small leak that drips from the middle housing assembly of the pump (#162200). I suspect that one of the seals became damaged by overheating the pump in my attempts to pump out the waste. Since there is no easy way to figure out which seal might be leaking, I plan to order the pump repair kit (#DIAPUMPRK) that includes most of the seals in the pump to hopefully that fixes the leak. While I was at it, I planned to remove the motor and clean the macerator implellor as I can see debris attached to it similar to the hair that you described.

I'll probably also order a new joker valve and put replacing it regularly on my maintenance list since the calcium accumlation clearly causes it to stop working.

Thanks
Gary & Janet
The Best of Times (Hull #422)
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wcconway
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Re: Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by wcconway »

o ring part # 161107 is what must be correct or you will continue to have a small leak. I ordered a replacement kit directly from Raritan that included 161107, 161123, 161120, 161115, (can't remember what else came with it) and 2 spare joker valves c254. What happend is that the blade 161123 got bent becuase someone's long hair (I don't have any hair, so that leaves only one suspect:) got wrapped around it and bent the blade. I changed out the blade 161123 and part 161115 just to be on the safe side and use the new o ring 161107.

My words of wisdom:
-at first sign of slow flush, check joker value and blade 161123. Don't wait until it's too late and full of solid waste.
-use sharpie to number each hose to the corresponding hose barb before taking apart. Makes it easier to put back together correctly.
-ensure o ring 161107 is on female side
-each part of the between 161107 and 1610 have to be adjusted to fit perfectly together, if it doens't fit like a glove, it's not right and will cause a little leak.
-once you put it all back together, do not screw the mounting bolts of the head back down on the fiberglass platform until you test the head for leaks. Once you have no leaks, THEN insert mounting bolts. (I figured this out on the 3rd try)
-and last but not least, call Raritan engineers. They were most helpful!

Hope this helps. We haven't had an issue for 18 months (knock on fiberglass) so good luck!
Wally & Coco Conway
, #467
Pensacola, Florida
stevewitt1
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Re: Raritan sea era head -small leak

Post by stevewitt1 »

As always, just great advice on all these posts. I just took delivery of a 2006 MkI and immediately noticed a leak when I tried flushing the head. The PO said they virtually always used the shower for water to flush. In my eyes that's a far smarter idea for a flush source than pluming into the boats piping, When a head is directly piped into the plumbing I can't help but feel there is the potential for bacterial contamination. Just my opinion and it may be wrong.
Back to the leak. I bought the discharge rebuild kit and it solved the problem. I think the biggest contributor to leaking was the black rubber shaft seal. The original one was as hard as a, well, lets say hard as a rock and very difficult to remove. I think the O-ring contributed as it was not a perfect circle when removed and there were two spots on it that were flattened. A generous coating of petroleum jelly kept it in proper position for reassembly.

The posts here are very helpful, even for a newbie like myself.

Thank You All
Steve
Oconto Yacht Club on The Green Bay
Of Lake Michigan
www.ocontoyachtclub.com
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