Topic: Macerators (Read 7138 times) previous topic - next topic

Trying to decide whether to have a macerator installed on my now on-order Unity FX.  Salesman discouraged it with the explanation of the dumping taking approximately 20 minutes.  Since I anticipate most of our dumps will be done campside, I'm wondering whether it might be advisable.  Would appreciate any information pro or con.  Thanks much!

Obviously the salesman has never dumped, he should, he is full of it!!!
Or Wonder came with the macerator, was not happy about it, had lot of trouble some 8 years ago.  Was pleasantly surprised that later version worked flawlessly, until it quit when 8 months old!  So I removed the macerator and started to use the 3” gravity hose.  Takes about 10 minutes, unless you are one of those that has to get a hazmat suite on, flame proof gloves, hose off every inch of drain pipe, then pack it in a sealed plastic bag, test everything for bad bacteria, report to CDC.

So the macerator is slower, if the tanks are full, might be 20, half full 15 depends on how casual you are about it.  But it does make noise, I would not run it at 7:00 am while your neighbor is still sleeping!  Big plus, you can pump up hill, nothing to assemble, just pull out and stick end in the dirty hole!

Oh, LTV did send me a free replacement macerator, it’s still in the box!  Not difficult to install, it’s just that I have used the 3” all my life, I like the quiet way.  Someday will put it back on!

Well, I'm on the side of it being a necessity   Bought our Wonder used.  Put a macerator on before our first trip.  I had previous experience with the stinky slinky when we rented an RV years ago.

The macerator makes dumping a lot cleaner and as far as the time spent, I think it is faster.  One doesn't have to get out the large hose, hook it all up, dump, potentially get our a black water hose and connect it to rinse out the stinky slinky, then put it all away.  I pull out the macerator hose (that is always connected), REMOVE THE SMALL CAP, put it in the sewer hole, open the black tank, turn on the pump and when that is empty, I  close the black tank, open the grey tank and finish pumping.  Then remove the hose from the sewer, put the small cap back on and stuff it back into the compartment. 

It also allows you to dump uphill.  We have a sewer cleanout on the side of our house.  I added an elbow to turn it upwards and used the existing cleanout cap on the elbow.  This cleanout is on the house wall inside a built up flower bed that rises about 15 or so inches. So with the macerator, I can empty at home as well as do all of the vigorous cleaning, winterizing, etc.

Oh my gosh you don’t rinse the macerator hose after dumping!

Why rinse the stinky when it was flushed out by soapy grey water, just like 1 1/2” hose?

Anyway, I find the 3” faster, pull it out twist 1/4 turn, go dump!  Water flows much faster in 3” then 1 1/2”, maybe 3 times, fluid dynamics!
Will have to put a stopwatch on these activities!

It's rinsed with the grey water and then capped.  The 3" is open on both ends and still drips, drains, whatever while maneuvering for storage.

They make caps for both ends of the 3”!  But if it is dripping it is grey water, not poison!
 I can do the whole dump thing without getting my hands wet or dirty!  I do wash afterward!

The macerator hose can drip, until you get the cap on, and it has been inside that yucky hole!

I bought the macerator with my 2019 mb and I'm glad I did.  When I picked up my new RV last July there was a leak in the macerator connection, and the dealer fixed it  before I left.  Since then I've had no problem with it.  Yes I know that it's slower than the stinky slinky, but that's if your at a full hook up site.  If you have to use a common dump station with the small tanks all Unity's have, I can hook up and dump my tanks just as fast, and a hell of a lot easier than the manual hoses.  The other advantage mentioned is the ability to pump uphill or a extended distance.  I've been staying in my nephew's driveway since the whole covid thing started and the closest clean out would require me to park on his lawn whenever I need to dump, which in a Unity is every 3 to 5 days.  I can just hook up a hose (no not the same one used for drinking water) to the end of the macerator and throw the switch.  I have had numerous issues my murphy bed (right now my coach door is stuck, but I'll address that in another post) but the macerator has worked just fine.

We picked our LTV March last year, left for a 5 month trip in June, macerator quit 2 days before we got home in Nov!!
LTV sent me new one, installed it and it would not work!  LTV said to remove it and bench test, did that and it worked! 
At this point I have had to crawl under it 3 times to remove or install.
It is now stored In a compartment, waiting for the 3” gravity hose to fail!!!
So far no need to pump up hill or long distances

Did you check the fuse??  : )

No, had power at the macerator in line plug connection!

So power to the plug and when you connected the macerator it didn't work.  But you bench tested using the connector on the macerator wires and it worked.  Very strange.

Bench testing isn’t always electrical, on a bench!
Suggestion was to disconnect the pluming but leave wire connected, stand macerator vertically, pour water in, turn on switch.  Water pumped out, so it worked.  Put it back in storage. Still using 3” gravity.

We've had Macerators on our 2007 Roadtrek, 2013 Unity TB, & ordered Macerator on our new 2021 Wonder RL.  Never had a problem, & never, never took 20 minutes to dump.  It's easy, fast & no mess. 

Hi,

Any secrets of dumping at home using a toilet for discharging into.  I know the mascerator end has a threaded male hose connection which one can hook up a standard garden hose to extend the length.  Is this suitable or is there a better way to do this ?

tks

It's pretty straight forward. Watch some YouTube videos also will help.