Head challenging to fill with sea water

[bmcminn]

Hi all. I have a new 2026 C-248. This is the first marine head I've used other than cassettes and buckets. It empties fine into the holding tank. But filling with sea water seems unusually inefficient. When I flip it all the way to the fill mode and use the pump, sea water comes in but 90% goes back out. I'm assuming from vent smells into the holding tank. So it's practically impossible to get water past the narrowest bit the neck into the actual bowl part. Every now and then it works as I would expect.

Is this the way it should be operating or is something off? I'm looking for some backup (even in theory) before I go ask the dealer.

Thanks!!!

 

[KKRCRACE]

This is not the answer to your question but on our C24 we stopped using the sea water to flush and instead keep a gallon of fresh water in the head to flush with. It reduced the holding tank smell greatly in salt water.
Ken Keir
Sunny Daze

 

[solstice]

Hi all. I have a new 2026 C-248. This is the first marine head I've used other than cassettes and buckets. It empties fine into the holding tank. But filling with sea water seems unusually inefficient. When I flip it all the way to the fill mode and use the pump, sea water comes in but 90% goes back out. I'm assuming from vent smells into the holding tank. So it's practically impossible to get water past the narrowest bit the neck into the actual bowl part. Every now and then it works as I would expect.

Is this the way it should be operating or is something off? I'm looking for some backup (even in theory) before I go ask the dealer.

Thanks!!!

I have a new 2026 R-27 and have noticed the same things with the head. It is either normal or we are both having the same issue. I do not know. I've been topping it off with the sink faucet.

 

[bmcminn]

I have a new 2026 R-27 and have noticed the same things with the head. It is either normal or we are both having the same issue. I do not know. I've been topping it off with the sink faucet.

I don’t think it’s working right.

I’m going to be asking the dealership about it tomorrow.

 

[Submariner]

I go over the head in quite a bit of detail in this video. We've pretty much eliminated the smell and have our head working as good as new.

 

[solstice]

I go over the head in quite a bit of detail in this video. We've pretty much eliminated the smell and have our head working as good as new.

Thanks, it sounds like you were having the opposite problem. Your toilet was flushing slowly and filling up fast. Our toilets are flushing quickly and filling up slow, so much that they aren't really filling at all.

 

[CaptMhack]

That's not normal, it sounds like either obstruction on the intake of sea water or a leak in hoses.. any leaks you've noticed?

 

[bmcminn]

That's not normal, it sounds like either obstruction on the intake of sea water or a leak in hoses.. any leaks you've noticed?

My boat is basically new, I think the same for Solstice. And plenty of sea water comes in, the next pump just sends 95% of the water into the holding tank.

No leaks that I can find.

The AI suggested to me that a flapper valve is being pinched by a bend in the hose and not shutting currently. Sounds plausible to me.

Mostly it’s just good to know that expected behavior is that water fills the bowl and not just the neck.

Now I just need the dealership to get the warranty going. I don’t think it’s too surprising that things like that need to be re-done on a brand new boat, they assemble them by hand mostly? and not enough to have a really tight QA program set up.

 

[Red Raven]

You don’t state the brand of your toilet. We have a Raritan Sea Era toilet on our 2014 R27C. The toilet is not designed to hold water. A small amount stays in the bowl for a while after flushing but eventually goes out. When the boat was new I called Raritan regarding this and they said it is completely normal. You should flush long enough to move the contents of the bowl to the waste tank and not attempt to fill the bowl with water. You will just end up filling your waste tank prematurely.

 

[bmcminn]

Great point Red Raven, this is a Jabsco. The problem is not the flushing, it’s the filling.

Jabsco has a lever for both. Our heads are sending water into the holding tank when it’s set to fill (meaning the bowl).

 

[venajeff]

The toilet on our boat only has one flush button and it won't ever fill up with flush water. It pumps it out at a higher rate than it fills. The only water ever sitting in the toilet is just to the top of the neck. I feel like our toilet is working as intended, but not like a residential toilet.