Macerating toilet clogged with toilet paper

Headaches

Or in landlubbers terminology, pain in the toilet. A macerating toilet (head) is wonderful, until it isn’t. As long-time sailors, my wife and I know the best practice: “Nothing goes into the head until it goes through you.” Despite our experience, our Pebble head plugged while charging at a Rivian Adventure Network on our recent trip. Now, moving the trailer with a bowl of waste would almost certainly produce a nightmare. I won’t describe the bailing process.

I offer some observations for those new to this adventure.

• The macerating toilet in the Pebble is a quality unit from a reputable manufacturer.
• The macerator is indeed susceptible to clogging with toilet paper, even the fast-dissolving RV type.
• A tool for removing a plug that might be upstream of the macerator blade/impeller would be handy. I have long forceps in my tool kit, but of course that was home in my garage.
• A plunger might help, if the bowl is full and one hits the flush button to open the valve to the macerator while plunging. This can be messy. It’s not actually recommended by the manufacturer.
• Removal of the toilet to access the macerator would not be particularly easy.

I succeeded with time and patience. I emptied the bowl at the charging station (don’t ask) and completed our tow home. At home, I used a shop vac to purge remaining slop, filled the bowl with clean water, repeated, then let it soak. No additives, just water. At intervals, as inspired, I activated the macerator to agitate whatever the blockage was. After about 18 hours, it flushed. Woosh is a wonderful sound.

My advice would be to be very frugal with toilet paper. A practice among sailors is to bag the paper after use, rather than flushing. Yes, I know.

I noted that some on this forum are interested in a bidet seat. I’ll be watching for any installations shared.

Coincidentally, we had rewatched the old Robin Williams movie RV over the holidays, with the famous poop-geyser scene. He was much funnier than I.

Safe and clean travels