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Tecoma toilet into liberty
Have any one replaced their headhunter toilet with Tecoma macerator toilet. Is this change easy to do what was the process. -
17 Replies
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Hish,
We had the Tecma macerator toilet in our Dynasty. What a headache! It had the flush button that would illuminate when it was empty, half full and full. The light was green, yellow and red respectively.
It would go to red for no reason. I had to back flush over and over again to get it to reset.
I seriously thought about getting a pedal toilet and be done! I don’t miss it.
Safe travels,
Mark
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I have made one repair to my headhunter in 10 years…it’s been very reliable.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
I just went through a Headhunter toilet replacement.
This changeout is not for sissies. I had to change the guts of the flush valve, redrill the bolt holes in the marble floor and use the dumbest toilet hold down method I have ever encountered. I had to run new wiring because Headhunter went from a 2 wire timer to a 4 wire timer. Then Headhunter had to send me a new special timer to get the bowl to fill after the flush because their plumbing assembly installed exactly like their installation manual specified would not allow it to fill.
I cannot imagine how much grief it would be to completely change toilet types based on how difficult it was to replace a Headhunter.
So here is my free advice worth every cent you pay for it: Fix the existing toilet. Unless you have a cracked bowl everything else is repairable and while I imagine Headhunter will charge as much as our national debt for their parts if you decide to switch toilets you are in for a lot of work, in a confined space, and when you get all done it might not work any better or be any more reliable than what you have.
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Here’s my take on the TECMA. We love it. As for M & C, you do not have to hook up the tank monitor feature, so you would not have that issue. Our’s works flawlessly. Best toilet every in all of the RV’s we have owned. The fact that everything is liquid by the time it reaches the black tank means that you should never have an issue of a blocked valve or partial open valve due to solids/paper stuck to valves.
Our change out was from a Microphor but the process is the same. Water source and 12v power supply is all you need.
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B and T,
You are right, it was a good flushing toilet. If I had known that the ‘lighted’ flush monitor button could have been removed I would have had it done. If the toilet went to red (for no reason), you had to hold the button for 3 seconds to force a flush. I did like the ‘small flush, large flush option’
My thought was, is that toilet paper would get caught in the macerator part and made the toilet think the tank was full. The way I had to fix it was to over fill the black tank with the back-flushing system forcing water to come back up into the toilet. That would work most of the time and sometimes I had to do that more than once. It was a waste of 70+ gal. of water but the red light drove me crazy.
Anyway, that was our experience.
Safe travels,
Mark
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
Hi all
The only reason I want to go to tecoma is to get ready of headhunter feature the you have to use the pump in order to flush. If the pump is out you are S.O.L unless you plumb another inline high pressure pump. My water bay is full there is no way to add anything.
On our old 04 XL2 I DID NOT HAVE TO EVER USE A PUMP UNLESS DRYCAMPING….always used city water to flush toilet and wash my hand and take shower. Not in a GREAT LIBERTY. That is way Tecoma toilet and Shourflo pump.
I believe that Liberty never HAVE and never will use the KISS METHOD. I like many features but!!!!!! -
Not true Hish.
First, I am not sure why some Liberty owners resist using the pump when city water hook ups are available since the coach was designed to operate properly using the pump. But if your only reason is that a failed pump will prevent you from flushing the toilet on city water on your coach then there are two things to consider. First, the problem may be that the accumulator tank has lost its air charge. If you allow the water system to pressurize, and then turn off the pump and city water supply you should be able to open a faucet and see water run for a couple of minutes. If not you have an issue with the accumulator pressure.
But if the accumulator is pressurized and you cannot get a flush you can add a second small pump for back up along with an accumulator dedicated to the toilet. The small pump will allow you to use water such as a shower and the accumulator in concert with the pump can allow the toilet to flush.
I added a small Shurflo pump and accumulator tank for back up to the Headhunter pump. With my system pressurized and all pumps turned off my toilet will do a complete flush with my back up system.
The small Shurflo is in parallel with the Headhunter pump and I can isolate either one with the shut off valves.
I placed the accumulator tank in the cabinet beneath the sink (this is before I replaced the shelf and secured everthing) and it feeds the water line directly ahead of the flush valve. It cost me some storage space in the sink cabinet but it was the only logical place to get the greatest pressure and flow into the toilet flush valve.
I think I have less than $250 invested plus a bunch of time.
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Jon I agree with you if I had the space to install another pump but all spaces are taken with large pump, ro system, electric tankless Heather and a accumulator tank and a 20 gal Raritan water heater. Maybe I have to remove some stuff from the water bay to add another pump. -
Jon I forget to say you did a nice job to reconfiguring your water bay , sorry
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I am not familiar with how the H3 water bay is configured by Liberty but I will bet a second pump can be added somewhere. It does not have to be on the water side, it could just as easily be on the waste side for example because I have space above the holding tank for the pump. The important thing is to make sure you have a high flow, high pressure delivery of water just ahead of the flush valve, and a small accumulator tank will do that.
Far less expensive than a toilet replacement and knowing what I went through to replace my older Headhunter with the current Headhunter repllacement it would be a whole lot easier.
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Jon
I have to look around in the water bay to see for a space to accommodate a small high pressure pump.
Jon can you connect you water hose to the post and not have to use the pump for hand washing and shower, if there is a way on our Liberty please let me know without powering the pump. -
All my Liberty coaches could be connected to city water and would work on city water pressure. What was unreliable was city water pressure and volume. Some pressures were too low, too high (with the 45 PSI controller having to limit the pressure) or the water flow rate was inadequate. So I did what I was supposed to do. I used city water to fill the tank and let the pump do what it was supposed to do.
Why the aversion to running the pump? That is why it is there.
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Jon
Found a 12 volt pumps that will output 60 PSI @ 5.3 GPM. And at reasonable prices. Have to order one next week.
Thanks -
Please let us know how that works, and if it will properly flush the Headhunter without the need for an additional accumulator tank.
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John, I can say for certain if the existing accumulator tank is not in line with the flush valve (mine is remotely located in the kitchen area) and has to push water through a convoluted path of 1/2″ water line the toilet will not flush properly. The small Shurflo pumps cannot deliver both volume and pressure at the same time, even if in line with the flush valve and that is the problem that required me to add the second accumulator.
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