RT.SS
I have a 2008 RS and I cannot see where I can mount the no fuss device part way up the side of my black tank. Mine is surrounded with shields, etc. does your SS have good access to the side?
Gary
Replacing the macerator with conventional dump hoses on SS Agile
- Thread starter evansrle
- Start date
I have a 2008 RS and I cannot see where I can mount the no fuss device part way up the side of my black tank. Mine is surrounded with shields, etc. does your SS have good access to the side?
Gary
RT.SS
Active member
Gary
It is the same with the Agile SS black tank, all 3 sides are covered, except the side facing the rear of the RV. I connected an elbow adapter to the flush device then run a hose to the driver side of the RV. A permanent water inlet for the flusher is mounted next to the metal surround box for the holding tank discharge hose and waste valve handles.
RT.SS
Active member
Gary
Thanks. Looking at the RT manual, I see that the RS has a different setup for the holding tanks. The Agile SS black tank is on the rear passenger side and the gray tank on the rear driver side, not so with the RS.
The black tank should have a larger diameter drain and gate valve compared to the gray tank.
Thanks. Looking at the RT manual, I see that the RS has a different setup for the holding tanks. The Agile SS black tank is on the rear passenger side and the gray tank on the rear driver side, not so with the RS.
The black tank should have a larger diameter drain and gate valve compared to the gray tank.
RT
I confirmed with Roadtrek and the black on mine is in front. As I look at it there is no place I can get to the tank without removing some of the metal shielding they placed around the tank. I will check again next spring when it is warmer but I am not optimistic. As I mentioned I have a local dump station with a high pressure hose so I can blast mine a couple of times per year and probably be okay.
Thanks again
Gary
I confirmed with Roadtrek and the black on mine is in front. As I look at it there is no place I can get to the tank without removing some of the metal shielding they placed around the tank. I will check again next spring when it is warmer but I am not optimistic. As I mentioned I have a local dump station with a high pressure hose so I can blast mine a couple of times per year and probably be okay.
Thanks again
Gary
mikeydaldog
Member
Well, I finally replaced the macerator.
Went with the Shurflo 3200-001 which is the direct replacement for the OEM Shurflo pump 3200-200. I didn't want to mess with different hole placement for the base screws.
Because it was so cold last week, I broke it up into 2 jobs, which took a total of roughly 2 hrs.
Raised up the passenger side wheels on ramps on the curb straddling the end of my driveway so I did not have to lie partly on the curb. Gave me plenty of working room. I like a tarp under the work area - I can slide around more easily, my tools are easily pulled out when I pull out the tarp (don't do the dining room table cloth trick!) and if I loose anything (nuts, bolts, washers, etc), they are easily found again.
1. Make sure house batteries are OFF before sliding under the van
2. Get the shield out of the way.
My macerator is protected by a light weight shield attached at the front side by 2 bolts with nylon lock nuts. The rear side is attached with rivets. There are no other attachment points. I decided not to mess with the rivets; after undoing the bolts, I just gently bend the shield down and away and up towards the back and anchored it away from the macerator using 2 bungee cords attached to various things under the van - the tire storage area has lots of good attachment points.
3. Disconnect the impeller extension turning rod
Just unscrew it from the rear end of the pump by undoing 2 screws that hold the original shaft cover in place. I suppose it was the RT factory guys who drilled a hole in the cover, then welded the turning rod on with a screw driver end on the rod. Gently push the rod off to the side - easily move it 4-6 inches out of the way. Handy having that rod. No way in hell I would turn the impeller manually without it.
4. Undo the macerator hose from the output side of the pump.
Be ready for liquid. There will always be liquid. Stuff the hose end and pump opening with paper towel. Then push the hose end up out of the way for a while. Else it is very annoying.
Good time to replace that hose. I really, really like my Sani-con hose. See my other postings on that topic.
5. Loosen the 4 base bolts holding the pump to the support.
Undo the 4 bolts that hold the pump to the support under the van. Not that easy to do, as you are somewhat blind to the nut side, but with smaller hands and the proper size wrench (3/8") and screw driver (Phillips head) with and without extension depending on how you fit under the rig, the nuts and bolts easily came apart. Difficulty level: 3/10 just b/c you're working upside down. By leaving the bolts in place, but nuts loose, the pump will hold itself in place until you are ready to remove it.
6. Cut the power wires.
I waited until this point b/c the RT factory guys had routed the black wire in the loom between the pump and the base it was attached to, so I had to loosen up the bolts to get at the wire more easily. At this point I unveiled (removed the corrugated loom) and cut the black wire about 3 inches from the pump (I planned on a direct black to black connection later, rather than installing a new ground on the frame of the van). I opened up the red power wire corrugated loom, found where they had connected the red and cut the wire just this side (power side, non-pump side) of the butt connector.
7. Disconnect the pump from the intake flexible rubber connector
Just a matter of loosening up the screw clamp. Be ready for liquid (maybe a couple of cups total). I used a small bucket and stuffed both the intake on the pump and the connector end with paper towel.
At this point, the pump pretty much drops into your waiting arms. And of course you loose the bolts, the nuts, the washers. However, it was now too cold to continue, so I went to Home Depot and got stainless steel bolts, nylon lock nuts and washers. And meandered around.
The next day I reversed the process.
1. Reconnected the pump intake port to the rubber connector. Easily done (hold pump in one hand, tighten clamp first with fingers, then one handed screw driver. I would later come back to this and spread a band of ProFlex (all I had) just inside the rubber connector lip and then cinch down on the screw clamp. I noted evidence that they must have done this at the factory. And that without it, there was a drip. I don't like drips.
2. Place and hold the pump in place with loose bolts and nuts (washers top and bottom).
3. Shorten the wire length as appropriate, strip the wires, then reconnect the wiring with heat shrinkable butt connectors (yellow on the red as it was a 10 AWG down to 14 AWG, blue on the black 14 AWG both sides, consider underside of vehicle to be a "wet" environment, so all connections should be able to withstand the wet). Re-loomed the wiring, put them back where they originally traveled. Except I didn't mash the black under the pump base. Just attached it to adjacent framework with zip ties.
4. Tightened up the 4 bolts (small hands, proper size box wrench).
5. Reconnected the Sani-con hose to the outflow port of the pump with the screw clamp.
6. Reconnected the extension rod/impeller access plate cover to the back of the pump
The new impeller access plate had been removed prior to crawling underneath. I had previously removed the new plate and replaced the screws in the pump back so that I could use them at time of installation with the old plate.
I then crawled out, stretched, warmed up, turned on house battery, then for 2 seconds, and 2 seconds only, so as not to burn out the new pump, I pressed the pump switch. Yeah! It worked.
At this point I decided to really look at the valve gates and decided that it would be silly not to just hit the cables at both ends with silicone spray. And to do the "drill a hole in the square part of the gate valve housing" trick (see prior post with video link) and spray a little silicone in there as well. And yes, the movement of the valves was definitely improved. I then crawled back under, wiped off the drill hole sites and slapped some electrical tape on them. FTHOI.
7. Replace the shields
However... just prior to undoing the bungie cords, I discovered the intake connection drip. Remember testing those gate valves? I really thought those tanks were really, really empty, but I guess it's all relative. So I added the ProFlex around the rubber lip of that connection, screwed the clamp down tight, then undid the bungies and using 2 new bolts with nylon locking nuts, replaced the shield. The nylon locking nuts are really important in the battle against vibration loosening up everything.
Then I was done. Yippee. The new pump was delivered within a week from Trailer Parts Superstore aka easternmarine.com for about $125 total. The HD hardware was another $5-6. Sense of accomplishment, priceless. Next time it should take less than 45 minutes. My sense of adventure stretched this project out to about 2 hrs.
We are due for a hard freeze early next week, so I will winterize with RV anti-freeze. I will also dump a cup of mineral oil down the toilet, then open the gates and turn on the pump for a couple of seconds to allow the entire system to be protected. After all that work, 10 minutes to winterize it completely and oil the impeller is a no-brainer.
I will disassemble the old pump later this weekend and let you know what the problem was. Minimal hair in the blades visible via the intake port.
Went with the Shurflo 3200-001 which is the direct replacement for the OEM Shurflo pump 3200-200. I didn't want to mess with different hole placement for the base screws.
Because it was so cold last week, I broke it up into 2 jobs, which took a total of roughly 2 hrs.
Raised up the passenger side wheels on ramps on the curb straddling the end of my driveway so I did not have to lie partly on the curb. Gave me plenty of working room. I like a tarp under the work area - I can slide around more easily, my tools are easily pulled out when I pull out the tarp (don't do the dining room table cloth trick!) and if I loose anything (nuts, bolts, washers, etc), they are easily found again.
1. Make sure house batteries are OFF before sliding under the van
2. Get the shield out of the way.
My macerator is protected by a light weight shield attached at the front side by 2 bolts with nylon lock nuts. The rear side is attached with rivets. There are no other attachment points. I decided not to mess with the rivets; after undoing the bolts, I just gently bend the shield down and away and up towards the back and anchored it away from the macerator using 2 bungee cords attached to various things under the van - the tire storage area has lots of good attachment points.
3. Disconnect the impeller extension turning rod
Just unscrew it from the rear end of the pump by undoing 2 screws that hold the original shaft cover in place. I suppose it was the RT factory guys who drilled a hole in the cover, then welded the turning rod on with a screw driver end on the rod. Gently push the rod off to the side - easily move it 4-6 inches out of the way. Handy having that rod. No way in hell I would turn the impeller manually without it.
4. Undo the macerator hose from the output side of the pump.
Be ready for liquid. There will always be liquid. Stuff the hose end and pump opening with paper towel. Then push the hose end up out of the way for a while. Else it is very annoying.
Good time to replace that hose. I really, really like my Sani-con hose. See my other postings on that topic.
5. Loosen the 4 base bolts holding the pump to the support.
Undo the 4 bolts that hold the pump to the support under the van. Not that easy to do, as you are somewhat blind to the nut side, but with smaller hands and the proper size wrench (3/8") and screw driver (Phillips head) with and without extension depending on how you fit under the rig, the nuts and bolts easily came apart. Difficulty level: 3/10 just b/c you're working upside down. By leaving the bolts in place, but nuts loose, the pump will hold itself in place until you are ready to remove it.
6. Cut the power wires.
I waited until this point b/c the RT factory guys had routed the black wire in the loom between the pump and the base it was attached to, so I had to loosen up the bolts to get at the wire more easily. At this point I unveiled (removed the corrugated loom) and cut the black wire about 3 inches from the pump (I planned on a direct black to black connection later, rather than installing a new ground on the frame of the van). I opened up the red power wire corrugated loom, found where they had connected the red and cut the wire just this side (power side, non-pump side) of the butt connector.
7. Disconnect the pump from the intake flexible rubber connector
Just a matter of loosening up the screw clamp. Be ready for liquid (maybe a couple of cups total). I used a small bucket and stuffed both the intake on the pump and the connector end with paper towel.
At this point, the pump pretty much drops into your waiting arms. And of course you loose the bolts, the nuts, the washers. However, it was now too cold to continue, so I went to Home Depot and got stainless steel bolts, nylon lock nuts and washers. And meandered around.
The next day I reversed the process.
1. Reconnected the pump intake port to the rubber connector. Easily done (hold pump in one hand, tighten clamp first with fingers, then one handed screw driver. I would later come back to this and spread a band of ProFlex (all I had) just inside the rubber connector lip and then cinch down on the screw clamp. I noted evidence that they must have done this at the factory. And that without it, there was a drip. I don't like drips.
2. Place and hold the pump in place with loose bolts and nuts (washers top and bottom).
3. Shorten the wire length as appropriate, strip the wires, then reconnect the wiring with heat shrinkable butt connectors (yellow on the red as it was a 10 AWG down to 14 AWG, blue on the black 14 AWG both sides, consider underside of vehicle to be a "wet" environment, so all connections should be able to withstand the wet). Re-loomed the wiring, put them back where they originally traveled. Except I didn't mash the black under the pump base. Just attached it to adjacent framework with zip ties.
4. Tightened up the 4 bolts (small hands, proper size box wrench).
5. Reconnected the Sani-con hose to the outflow port of the pump with the screw clamp.
6. Reconnected the extension rod/impeller access plate cover to the back of the pump
The new impeller access plate had been removed prior to crawling underneath. I had previously removed the new plate and replaced the screws in the pump back so that I could use them at time of installation with the old plate.
I then crawled out, stretched, warmed up, turned on house battery, then for 2 seconds, and 2 seconds only, so as not to burn out the new pump, I pressed the pump switch. Yeah! It worked.
At this point I decided to really look at the valve gates and decided that it would be silly not to just hit the cables at both ends with silicone spray. And to do the "drill a hole in the square part of the gate valve housing" trick (see prior post with video link) and spray a little silicone in there as well. And yes, the movement of the valves was definitely improved. I then crawled back under, wiped off the drill hole sites and slapped some electrical tape on them. FTHOI.
7. Replace the shields
However... just prior to undoing the bungie cords, I discovered the intake connection drip. Remember testing those gate valves? I really thought those tanks were really, really empty, but I guess it's all relative. So I added the ProFlex around the rubber lip of that connection, screwed the clamp down tight, then undid the bungies and using 2 new bolts with nylon locking nuts, replaced the shield. The nylon locking nuts are really important in the battle against vibration loosening up everything.
Then I was done. Yippee. The new pump was delivered within a week from Trailer Parts Superstore aka easternmarine.com for about $125 total. The HD hardware was another $5-6. Sense of accomplishment, priceless. Next time it should take less than 45 minutes. My sense of adventure stretched this project out to about 2 hrs.
We are due for a hard freeze early next week, so I will winterize with RV anti-freeze. I will also dump a cup of mineral oil down the toilet, then open the gates and turn on the pump for a couple of seconds to allow the entire system to be protected. After all that work, 10 minutes to winterize it completely and oil the impeller is a no-brainer.
I will disassemble the old pump later this weekend and let you know what the problem was. Minimal hair in the blades visible via the intake port.
jasper2222
Member
replaced my pump last week on 2007 Agile. Put in new pump. saved old one for back up. The old one's impeller was completly shot. Looked more like chemicals ate it up then anything else. Not a bad job. Probably took more than 2 hours, but it was a learning experience.