irwinengineering
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2018
- Messages
- 46
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-28
Hi,
Here's a little story with a happy ending:
Symptoms:
1. Reduced flushing performance (trying to be gentle here) of our 2011 vintage Lite Flush.
2. A little water leaking from under the base which was easy to dismiss as trapped shower water.
3. An occasional mild crunching sound from the evacuation pump.
Attempted fixes:
1. Annual joker valve cleaning or replacing.
2. Fresh water flush after each trip to reduce stagnant salt in the system.
3. Mild acid system flush. There were considerable salt deposits in the pump, joker valve and outlet plumbing. Several hours of soaking and flushing cleaned all of that out.
These 'fixes' are probably good general practice but did not get rid of the crunching and the acid flush may have actually made it worse. It was time for surgery, luckily the acid flush did a nice job cleaning out the system so it wasn't overly unpleasant.
Upon removing the bowl and pumps, there was a bunch of salt crystals and maybe rust bits in the bottom of the base. There was evidence of leakage on the macerator pulley and bearing housing. It seems this has been weeping for some time. The macerator shaft was hard to turn by hand.
A quick web search turned up no published repair parts and the only 'fix' being a $479 pump replacement. Not finding this satisfactory, a further web search turned up this encouragement - https://www.myhanse.com/jabsco-liteflus ... 11011.html.
I took the pump apart and found that the shaft seal had disintegrated. The leak path of this design was directly into the upper bearing, leading to the loss of lubricant and eventual seizing/crunching. Some quick work with calipers to verify sizes and a few minutes on Amazon had a new seal and bearings on the way. A day later I reassembled the pump with the new parts and a judicious greasing of the cavity in the seal and above the upper bearing, to make it harder for any leakage in the future.
The unit now runs like new, all for about $20 and an hour of effort.
bon voyage,
Brendan
Here's a little story with a happy ending:
Symptoms:
1. Reduced flushing performance (trying to be gentle here) of our 2011 vintage Lite Flush.
2. A little water leaking from under the base which was easy to dismiss as trapped shower water.
3. An occasional mild crunching sound from the evacuation pump.
Attempted fixes:
1. Annual joker valve cleaning or replacing.
2. Fresh water flush after each trip to reduce stagnant salt in the system.
3. Mild acid system flush. There were considerable salt deposits in the pump, joker valve and outlet plumbing. Several hours of soaking and flushing cleaned all of that out.
These 'fixes' are probably good general practice but did not get rid of the crunching and the acid flush may have actually made it worse. It was time for surgery, luckily the acid flush did a nice job cleaning out the system so it wasn't overly unpleasant.
Upon removing the bowl and pumps, there was a bunch of salt crystals and maybe rust bits in the bottom of the base. There was evidence of leakage on the macerator pulley and bearing housing. It seems this has been weeping for some time. The macerator shaft was hard to turn by hand.
A quick web search turned up no published repair parts and the only 'fix' being a $479 pump replacement. Not finding this satisfactory, a further web search turned up this encouragement - https://www.myhanse.com/jabsco-liteflus ... 11011.html.
I took the pump apart and found that the shaft seal had disintegrated. The leak path of this design was directly into the upper bearing, leading to the loss of lubricant and eventual seizing/crunching. Some quick work with calipers to verify sizes and a few minutes on Amazon had a new seal and bearings on the way. A day later I reassembled the pump with the new parts and a judicious greasing of the cavity in the seal and above the upper bearing, to make it harder for any leakage in the future.
The unit now runs like new, all for about $20 and an hour of effort.
bon voyage,
Brendan