C26 head not filling

[goletamoby]

I’m a new C26 owner so apologies if this is a dumb question, but our head does not fill when the flush button is pushed. It seems to drain out fine and we hear the pump and a very tiny trickle of water runs down the back of the bowl but nothing near what I would expect.

Sea strainer looks good, any ideas on how to troubleshoot?

 

[Bruce Moore]

Bumping post delayed in moderation queue.

 

[allanrs74@gmail.com]

My 2016 R-27C has the same problem and I finally took some time last summer to trouble shoot the problem. I disconnected the salt water supply line for the head at the sea strainer and jury rigged a connection to the garden hose. With city water pressure supplying the head with water, the head filled up as designed when you push the button. I shut off the water hose and the head would not fill. From this exercise I believe the pump in the head loses prime when trying to pump water to supply the head.
My simple work around for this problem has been to pull the sink water faucet out and use fresh water to flush and fill the head bowl. It's easy and it has worked for the previous 4 years. A plus is that it converts the head to a fresh water system which may be better for odors and bug growth in the black water tank. Some of our fellow Tug Nuts have taken a Tee off of the pressured fresh water supply line to permanently convert to a fresh water system. For me, pulling the sink faucet out and using it works fine and doesn't require any modifications.

Stay safe.
Bob

 

[goletamoby]

Thanks, Bob. Did you leave the head connected to the salt water or close off the hose somehow?

 

[Just Right]

You need to remove the factory installed check valve . Mine was located on top of hot water heater. Splice the two hoses together with a barbed fitting. Now install a swing type check right above sea strainer. It’s important that it is as close to vertical as possible. This ensures that there is enough head pressure to close the valve. After I made this modification the head fills in any situation, engine off, idle, or cruising at 2000rpm. If you search there is a thread that I posted the part number for the valve from McMaster Carr.

 

[allanrs74@gmail.com]

I've left the salt water supply hose for the head connected at the sea strainer.

 

[kjoverbeck]

2015 R27
I had the same problem. I shut the seacock, removed the strainer and forced water up the supply line to prime the pump while my wife held the flush button down. All worked fine for a while but then after a period of about a month or 2 of non use, the check valve allowed the water to drain out again. I repeated the procedure and all is good again. Hopefully there was a piece of trash in the valve. I press the flush button every time I visit the boat to be sure the pump has not lost it's prime. If this happens again I plan to install a check valve just above the strainer as previously mentioned. However, I don't see a need to remove the factory installed one. I think I'd have to tear the boat apart to get to mine. 😀
I also use the shower if need be.

 

[goletamoby]

Thank you all for the feedback, extremely helpful!

 

[Ralf H]

Hi all,

Some good ideas here. The biggest issue will be that something has clogged the supply line over the years. Make sure it is clean and that the check valve operates properly, and all should be ok. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ralf

 

[goletamoby]

Hi all,

Some good ideas here. The biggest issue will be that something has clogged the supply line over the years. Make sure it is clean and that the check valve operates properly, and all should be ok. Hope this helps.

Very dumb question but how do I make sure it is clean?

 

[Texas Tuggernaut]

Our head was losing prime every time we ran the motor. Sharing one strainer for the engine, head and wash down pump is a terrible design. I put a check valve in the head hose to keep the motor from stealing prime from the head. That mostly fixed it. I still feel like a head rebuild might help as the raw water pump on it doesn’t seem very strong. 2013 R27 Classic with Raritan SeaEra electric head.


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