This week we show how to maintain your marine toilet and replace the joker (duckbill) valve. When it wears out, it will allow water to backflow into the bowl after being flushed. There is not much worse than seeing what you flushed come back up for a little visit. We show how to troubleshoot and replace this part. It is not a glorious job but a reality of living aboard a boat. Once you get past the mental hurdle of having to do the work, it is a simple and straightforward task.
Troubleshooting a Joker Valve
It starts with determining what the problem is. If you have a manual flushing head like or one of the electric flushing types, you have a joker valve. Familiar brands are Raritan and Jabsco. The joker valve is a small one-way valve that lets water and (other stuff) pass through it. The unique shape keeps any of that material from coming back the opposite way through the opening. They have the nickname of duckbill valve because many of them are the shape of a ducks bill. In our Raritan model head (Marine Elegance 12v Flushing head) they are not shaped like a duckbill but instead have 3 points.
Common Issues
Over time the rubber gets loose and stretches from having things go through them. When they do, they don’t close well, and it allows water to flow back the other way. Luckily these seldom just completely break so they do keep any solids from working their way back into the bowl. The telltale sign is seeing the water level in the bowl rise slightly after flushing. The other sign is after urinating and flushing, you see the color of the water in the bowl go from clear to a nasty shade.
Disassembly
Taking this apart is not hard, and I typically have to get psyched up for having to do this work. The reality is you are going to get a little bit of toilet water on you. The first thing you want to do is look at the manual for your head and see where the joker valves are located. Below are a few links to manuals of the popular models as well as a place to purchase them if you desire to get them from one of our affiliate links. We prefer the Marine Elegance and have installed them on 2 different boats.
Common Manuals (and links to purchase)
- Raritan Marine Elegance (Electric Flushing Head) – Buy Here
- Raritan PH Superflush (Manual Flushing Head) – Buy Here
- Raritan Crown Standard (Manual Flush) – Buy Here
- Jabsco Lite (Electric Flushing Head) – Buy Here
- Jabsco Twist and Lock (Manual Flushing Head) – Buy Here
Once you know the location of the joker valve, you will need to access it. On ours, it is easiest to remove the toilet from the base where it attaches to the sole of the boat. With the twist and lock Jabsco style, you can usually access the valve with the bowl in place. Loosen the connection points to gain access to the valve(s). Be sure to check the manual to see how many joker valves you have. In our Marine Elegance, there are 2, and if you are going to do this job, you want to do them both at the same time for sure.
Catch your spills
When you loosen the area to expose the joker valve, have some disposable towels or paper towels nearby. Also, have a shallow bowl to place under the hose and catch some of the liquid that will spill out when you open the hoses. In most cases, these will be hose clamps or molded PVC nuts that thread onto the parts. Be careful with the inexpensive PVC components. They are easy to cross thread or break so don’t crank down too hard when tightening them.
Inspect the Joker Valve
Once you have the unit disassembled, it is time to remove the old joker valve. In most cases, you can just pull them with your hands and remove them. In the photo above you can see that our model has a small plastic fitting inside of it that keeps it from collapsing under the pressure of the flush. You can also see in the photo above that one of the joker valves is inside where the discharge line from the toilet connects to the boat discharge line.
Where does the waste go
Depending on your boat, this discharge line may go straight overboard. It may go to a holding tank or like in our case, go to a waste treatment unit (ElectroScan). The Electrocscan is a Marine Sanitation Device (MSD) model that treats waste for proper discharge. It is as good if not better than most municipalities in the United States. Once processed it allows the treated waste and wastewater to discharge overboard.
Life of a Joker Valve
When you remove the joker valve, inspect it to see if it is worn and not sealing back up. In the photo, you can see a new joker valve next to an old worn out joker valve. This valve was in use for 3 years with 2 adults and 2 children living on the boat. It has seen a pretty high volume of flushes. For what it is worth, we rarely flush paper down the bowl and usually put the paper products in the trash. With a young child that doesn’t always happen. She is now five years old, and it was not uncommon for her to put her toilet paper in the bowl and flush it. The unit can handle it. I like to take the precaution of reducing what goes through the toilet. Our rule of thumb is if you didn’t swallow and digest it, it doesn’t go into the bowl.
Assembly
The assembly is actually the easiest part. Ensure you correctly install the valves. A good reminder is that the thin side should face the direction of the flow. That is about it. In our case, we have one joker valve in the black hose (pictured). The first one is on the input side of this hose where it connects to the macerator pump. The other is right at the discharge side of this line as you saw in the earlier photo with the red arrow on it. Tighten the hose clamps and reinstall the toilet to the floor.
Summary
In the end, this is not a difficult job, and you can almost always do it yourself to save money. Joker valves are available on Amazon but, I prefer to order these from the manufacturer. We keep a few extra on board because in more than one occasion Raritan has had them on back order, so we keep a few spares. They run about $30 or so. One last reminder is to clean up the area around the bowl with bleach water or vinegar water to cut any contaminants. Keep in mind you are working on sewer lines that had human waste in them, and it makes sense to take a few precautions.
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