We replaced the Vacuflush head, I really dislike them, with a Raritan Marine Elegance head. It can use either 1” or 1.5” discharge hose. I used 1” for two reasons. 1, it takes much less water to flush the macerated poop into the holding tank. 2, I used the old 1.5” hose as a chase for the new 1”ID, 1.375 OD hose. I first cleaned the hose and tank with a mix of sodium perconate and Tide detergent. Then pulled the refer and cut the old hose at the front and rear of the refer opening. Scoped both hose sections with a camera to make sure they were clear. We ran the new discharge hose forward from the refer cabinet and then aft from there. Used lots of wire pulling lube. The new more direct run from the head was 36’ to the holding tank. It literally took 57 minutes to run the new hose.
Now I have the best head on the market. I have approximately 12 to 14’ less discharge hose due to the new route. If I had used 1.5” hose it would hold 3.3 gallons. With the 1” it holds less than 1.5 gallons. So I can flush the entire hose with less than 1/2 the water. No more vacuum leaks, yippee. I used a Uniseal to make the new hose entry into the holding tank. The hoses visible by the engine stringer are for the new shower sump and new bilge pump. The head discharge hose is just barely visible at the very top of the photo above the generator.
I didn’t have to remove anything except the refer to do this install. Working under the swim platform is a real PITA so that is also nice. I didn’t have to cut any cabinets in the galley and how do you remove the old hose over the starboard fuel tank? No access. I removed the vacuum tank but left the vacuum pump in place because it wasn’t in the way. I just capped the old discharge hose to contain smells.
Maybe the hardest part was getting power to the head. We put a bow thruster in a year ago. It is 24 volt so I bought a 24 volt ME head. I ran power from the dual batteries under the berth in the forward cabin aft under the step to the berth and into the head. The Smart Control for the head is Bluetooth so no cable needed. The Smart Control lets you do 4 different things. 1- normal flush which is 3 fills and flushes. 2- short flush which is 1 fill and flush. 3- dry flush with no water added. 4- add water without any flushing. It really helps to save holding tank capacity. It takes 2 normal flushes, 3 fills and flushes x2, for water to get to the holding tank. So after a pee just use a short flush. After a poop use 2 normal flushes.
One of the hoses not visible in the photos is one of the new 1.5” vents for the holding tank. It is just above the discharge hose at the top of tge photo. I added a 1.5” vent to each side of the boat to prevent stinky smells when you flush the head. Aerobic bacteria doesn’t smell but anaerobic bacteria smells horrible.
The ME head is really wonderful. I have put them in our last 3 boats and they just work. Oh, did I mention no more vacuum leaks???