how to flush out duckbills

T

tugger

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Nov 11, 2019
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Hi All. I have a 2007 320 sundancer, I replaced the 4 duckbills which were in bad shape and while I was there also replaced the plunger. Worked well then the vacuum pump wouldn't shut off a few weeks later so I replaced the pressure switch. Now the vac pump runs every 2-3 minutes for maybe 5 seconds. I will check the seal at the toilet ball valve but I suspect there is some toilet paper in the duckbills. How do I flush that thoroughly without taking it apart again and cleaning it? Also, my hose that comes from the vacuflush to the toilet is (on the part that I can see until it goes through a compartment) is cracking but is that hose one piece all the way u to where it connects to the toilet itself? Has anyone ever replaced that and how difficult is that and any tips? thank you
 
Once a week we fill bowl to brim and flush. We also put in a bit of liquid dish soap. No idea if it does any good but we have never had problem.
 
If your bowl seal is leaking, all the water in the bowl will disappear within a couple of hours. If not, it's something else not sealing. Might be duckbills or another point from the toilet bowl to the last duckbill valve.
 
Isn't there an O-ring seal on the footpedal valve that can cause loss of vacuum?
 
You might try taking off the hose at the pump, then close off the inlet (holding your hand over it works) then turn on the pump. If the pump holds vacuum, the problem is upstream.
 
Might you have the duckbills themselves not installed correctly? Easy to misalign them, or even flip them backwards.
 
I had something similar and just took the easy part that holds the Two duckbills out and rinsed it out... it worked... its a 50/50 chance
 
Thanks all. i know I have the duckbills in facing the right direction, but someone mentioned alignment? I have 4, two sets of two pretty close to each other? I guess what I'm questioning is do they have to be rotated so the slits on the valve are the same way? Doesn't make sense to me since the opening would be the same size when sucking stuff through, just wanted to make sure i wasnt missing something obvious
 
another quick one, would the water leave the bowl if there is a bad seal around the bowl even if the vacuum pump is not turned on? I assume it would
 
The hose that goes into the vacuum tank can get pushed out a bit. Check that.
 
Last edited:
gerryb said:
Might you have the duckbills themselves not installed correctly? Easy to misalign them, or even flip them backwards.
Click to expand...

curious about alignment, I think it would be hard to keep them all linger up with having to thread them together, any additional help or advice is appreciated
 
Alignment isn’t important as long as they’re going the right way.

With some water in the bowl run the pump to build vacuum then shut it off at the breaker. Come back the next day to see if that water is gone. If so suspect your ball seal.

If the water is there but there’s no or low vacuum pressure when you flush your ball seal is good and I’d look at the pedal shaft seals next.
 
Thank you
I hadn’t read that alignment was an issue and thought of the logistics. I feel it would be hard to put the DB’s in backward, because the lip would catch before going in.... but who knows

Soulshine said:
Alignment isn’t important as long as they’re going the right way.

With some water in the bowl run the pump to build vacuum then shut it off at the breaker. Come back the next day to see if that water is gone. If so suspect your ball seal.

If the water is there but there’s no or low vacuum pressure when you flush your ball seal is good and I’d look at the pedal shaft seals next.
Click to expand...
 
It seems that way but you do hear about them being installed backwards.

Starting at the toilet end gets the low hanging fruit out of the way.
 
Mine just runs a little long. Guessing it’s the bellows.... changed the DB’s (4) a few weeks ago. When I went to disassemble, the dip tube for the vacuum tank was brittle and dry rotted.....
 
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