Macerator

Project total cost: about $160.

During a two week vacation in the GMC with a family of 5 ending last week, I found myself dumping the tank a lot. We were traveling through the north east and found that hardly any campsites had drains that worked well with the black snake hose. The configuration on my coach had been modified so many times it was almost all elbows. See pictures:

So I decided on the macerator and new plumbing to the rear for emergencies or for long stays at a single campsite. I choose the Jabsco macerator based on net recommendations and its sale price of $99 at West Marine. I used stock ABS parts from Lowes.

You can see in the next picture I made a bracket to hold the pump that bolts to an existing hole in the frame with a single large bolt and fender washers.

This picture shows the angle of the street tee and reducer to get to 1.5 inch. I sink tested the angle to make sure that any water that gets through the thetford valve on the tank witll make it to the hose. Since the pump is higher it creates a bit of a trap. Hard to tell if this will collect solids and clog. The pump seems to have no problem drawing from the tube when the tank has something in it. I really don't want the pump or any plumbing lower than my frame.

Also note that the clear hose allows me to "see" what is threre before the pump. Also note the white nylon hose adaptor. It can be removed and a 1.5 inch cleanout plug inserted to remove the macerator and leave a functioning system.

The next shot shows from under the drivers side. I decided on another waste gate... one before and one after the macerator. This gives me the option of unbolting both gates and dropping the entire section out.

Lastly, I decided for the under the bumper hose storage. I considered many locations including the generator space "wrap" but decided on this method to keep the hose to the least number of touches... Keeping in mind my wife and kids saying "gross, Gross, GROSS!" every time we dump :-) On/Off switch located just under the battery compartment in an existing hole in the frame. I used 12 gauge wire and an inline 20 amp fuse hanging off the solenoid in the battery compartment.

1977 GMC Palm Beach

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Macerator