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- Verified Buyer
I had this unit for less than 2 years when one day I heard a humming sound coming from the unit. As I came closer to the unit I saw and smelled smoke coming out of the unit. This was all when the unit was OFF...yes OFF! I immediately unplugged the unit and felt the top of the unit - it was raging HOT! I had the unit plugged into a double wall outlet with no other items sharing the receptacle. I am going to contact JET to see what can be done. I hope I can get a new one (or refund) as it says it has a 5 year warranty! Buyer beware!Purchased new unit, defective since day 1. Contacted JET for replacement, was informed that they have haphazard quality control and that all I need is a logic board (which I was expected to replace myself). I conceded, and did the repair. 70 days later, the machine made a strange humming noise and started emitting smoke and a burning smell (The unit was powered down, hanging from my garage). Luckily someone had stepped into the garage to notice, otherwise this unit could have (caught fire?) don't more damage. I've contacted JET (JPW Industries) for a replacement and they refuse to replace the unit, rather they want to keep sending parts. This time they want to send me a motor (and expect me to install it) , not to mention un-mounting and re-mounting the unit on 15 foot ceilings. Otherwise the unit works well when it's not emitting a burning smell and smoke .I purchased this unit as an air filtration system for my woodshop. After about three hours of use the unit started to turn on by itself with the fan turning slowing and with a loud humming noise. I discovered this is an old issue, reported through on-line forums, dating back to 2009 so I contacted Jet technical support directly for warranty support. There has been lack of response, lost shipments from Jet, and the circuit board they finally sent was same as the old and still did not fix the problem. I sent it back today for a refund. Do not buy this product!Like many others who left reviews here before me, I received a unit whose fan wobbled significantly. I did not see anything that was obviously bent during my inspection, so I cannot be sure if the issue was due to poor QA at the factory or rough handling by UPS. I suppose it would be easier to eliminate UPS as the potential culprit if Jet's packaging was not so poor.I normally wouldn't review a defective product since I don't believe such reviews are a fair reflection of the product. A defective product is usually an anomaly. That said, I believe it's fair to ding this product since literally dozens of the reviews here document similar issues with the fan. In fact, some of those reviews describe fans bent so badly that they would not even rotate. Thus, I wouldn't classify my issue as an anomaly. It may not be typical, but it also doesn't appear to be extremely unusual either. In my opinion, you are rolling the dice when you buy this product...at least if it is being shipped to you.It's really unfortunate since the unit has great features and specs. It moves a TON of air, is fairly quiet, and the remote is handy, provided it works in your shop. Apparently, fluorescent lights near the unit will prevent the unit from receiving the signals from the remote. That was not an issue for me, but it's worth considering if you will have fluorescent lights close to your planned mounting location.My recommendations:1) Buy the product locally if you can. Doing so will eliminate the rough handling of residential delivery and also make a return far easier than what I just went through if you receive a damaged or defective unit. Home Depot has a free "ship to store" option and their price often matches Amazon's price on this product.2) Regardless of where you purchase it, don't open the hardware package and start assembling the hanging brackets until after you have verified that the fan works and is balanced properly. You don't need anything in the hardware bag to test it. Instead, just do the following:- Remove the unit from the box and the plastic bag- Set the unit on a pair of sawhorses, a workbench, or some other rigid surface where it will be clear if the unit is out of balance and vibrating when it is operating (not on carpet)- Remove both air filters and set them aside- Remove the four stabilizing Styrofoam blocks from the interior of the unit- Reinstall the inner bag filter (to ensure you catch anything that you suck in during the test), but leave the first stage filter off (so you don't have to remove it from the plastic)- Make sure you don't have any loose items near the intake side- Plug the unit in and turn it on- Observe the squirrel cage fan through the grill to see if it is wobbling- Monitor the unit for any unusual vibration or grinding noisesIf it passes that inspection, then you can open the hardware bag to test the remote control.Seriously, take my word for it - you don't want to go to the trouble of hanging this thing before you realize it has an issue. Learn from my mistakes.And for the folks who received an undamaged unit from Amazon, congrats. Sincerely. You folks are the reason that I didn't award this product just 1 star. Use it in good health. ;)Regards,SteveFifty something certainly has its benefits. It also has its negatives and nocturnal urinary frequency certainly is one of them.The necessity of going up and down a long flight of creaky stairs at all hours of the night for a pee (and waking the household up) was getting a bit tiresome for all involved.We needed a downstairs toilet so started looking at all of the options given it was a basement bedroom with no accessible waste drainage.Now, I know that you can buy systems that pump waste up from such areas, but to say they are expensive is a understatement. Add to this the fact that just about anybody who has taken the plunge with such a system has ended up with an issue or two with them lead me to thinking of alternatives.We decided on a chemical toilet!Now, initially, the idea might seem horrifying to many, but we reasoned that just to use to have a pee at night time and having positive experience of exact same caravan toilets made it an extremely sensible idea.We were anyway building a larger than required sliding door walk-in wardrobe into our lower split level room, and so we decided just to create a small privvy room to one side of it at the same time simply by inserting a cavity wall.A lilo floor and skirting was installed, and one paint job later (plus wall toilet roll holder and gel dispenser) and we were ready for the purchase of the star of our sparkling new privvy... The toilet itself!As ever, weeks of research were undertaken by self, as I really did not wish to end up with leaks, mechanical problems or unreliability...It didnt take me long to end up with the decision to buy only Thetford.Given their pedigree in caravan/leisure chemical toilets that part was not at all difficult.At first I loved the look of their all singing and dancing electric flush 565E.. The shape is just fab, it has electric flush and it looks very elegant and most like a standard toilet.I had no qualms about the emptying and maintenance (all the thetford models being largely the same), but what did put me off was the presence of a number of mainly Amazon reviews stating early electric pump failure.A new pump can be procured, although it is quite expensive, and the possibility for it to go again was high up in my mind. Given batteries would be constantly required, I reasoned how much harder would it be just pushing a small manual pump bellow?All was not lost however as I noted the same toilet can be purchased in a manual pump variant (the 565P).. The trouble was, was this pump to fail, where could I get another...? I searched every outlet and could not source a replacement. This worried me as these pumps do fail... For a toilet costing over a hundred quid I thought this might end up problematic.I then happened across this toilet, the tried and tested manual pump 365.Same flush tank size as the 565 series, same waste tank.. Same in every way except £40 or so cheaper and with a manual pump mechanism that can be bought from a great deal of sources for £15.Sold...So how has it been???Fabulous!!The flush and waste fluid last for ages.One strong push on the pump below swirls enough of the flush liquid to contact and cleanse the entire bowl.It never smells and only needs emptying for (regular peeing only for 2 people) once a month, and then it's only half full and so is easy to carry upstairs to the toilet with its carry case handle.Emptying is as simple as remove the cap, tip into the toilet, press an air valve button which removes any splashy glugging, then flush away...Simply then pour a bit of blue chemical back in (dont bother with the recommended water if peeing alone, as urine will quickly dilute the chemical anyway and it will give you an extra penny to spend or two).. Good advice I assure you, from a life long caravanner ;)The top bit then simply fits back onto the bottom waste tank bit.. Top up with flush and water if necessary, then you are sorted again for many a week..The pump flush is obviously very quiet compared to a conventional toilet, and it never leaks...Knowing caravan toilets by Thetford, the seal is reliable and will only need changing once every few years at a tenner a shot. It can be kept in good nick by smearing a little silicone spray or olive oil onto it every time you empty it.. this isnt strictly necessary, but will extend seal life a little.We worried it would slide around when you sat on it.. It doesn't, down to the weight of the flush water.. it is comfortable and exactly the same height as our conventional toilet. The blade is only required if doing a number two into this toilet, as you need it to seal the toilet in order to fill the bottom with a few inches of flush fluid to do your business into. If you are just using it to have a sit down pee, then you can simply leave this blade open indefinitely, as the flush fluid cleaning the bowl and the waste tank blue chemical ensure the urine is made odorless and neutral. There is never a whiff leaving the blade open, but those who dont like this can close the blade after peeing and flushing if they wish.The only time we shut the blade is when we need to in order to carry it upstairs to empty it...And that's it..A truly swish little water closet for very little cost fabricated out of our wardrobe project.An absolutely massive boon for absolute minimal cost.We did wire lights into the wardrobe and so there is a light in there, but here is a top tip whether you have lighting or not..Buy one of those little body heat sensoring battery powered toilet bowl lights and pop that on this toilet.They cost 3 to 5 quid and give plenty enough low intensity light enough for you to creep out of bed for a pee without waking up your better half.This toilet works fantastically for us, and is actually cleaner and less odourous than a standard toilet giving the chemical aspect.Please do not be horrified by the thought of doing the same, as although it might seem a bit of an unorthodox home solution, please just think how much it differs to a standard toilet and how little it will cost in comparison (especially if there are insurmountable plumbing issues).I can also assure people horrified about using it for a number two (as I once was before using one for this out of necessity due to a lack of site facilities on a caravan site), it will soon become comfortable second nature should you need to do so, although this is not a night time requirement at any time for us...Sorry it was long winded, but I hope this helps someone:)Super happy with my purchase. As others have said, it's best not to flush loo roll down it, and if you must, then use the special loo roll you can get that disintegrates more easily and won't cause clogs. I take dog mess bags camping with me and put used tissue inside, tie up and toss into the rubbish bag.The capacity is excellent, just what I was looking for, for 5-day camping trips with no chemical disposal points on site(!). It's easy to use, feels well made and sturdy and the flush works well (one quick sharp press works best). Before buying some reviews mentioned it is quite low down, I don't think it is, but perhaps if I was older with mobility issues I might feel differently?Even after 5 days of use, I don't get any smells from this camp loo which is brilliant and I got no leaks at all either (which alarmingly I'd seen people mention happening with other models of camp loo - yuck!), in fact transporting it home full and disposing of it at home is easy, though after 5 days it's pretty heavy to carry!One tip, if you are emptying it at home, you'll want to tip the waste pipe very slowly towards the toilet bowl, otherwise you'll get all the waste rushing out and splashback will occur (yep, it happened to me, I learned from my mistake FAST!) so just tip it towards the loo very slowly. If you're using a proper chemical disposal point it will be much easier and as there is usually a drop, so splashback shouldn't be an issue.That leads me on to cleaning it. Do make sure you use the right chemicals with it - these stop any nasty smells in use, but they do leave the loo once empty smelling a bit weird/unpleasant, so it's a good idea to make sure you give it a thorough wash out then I leave mine open to air for a few days. Once empty, I basically rinse mine a few times and tip into the loo, before spraying the inside with anti-bac spray and showering the whole thing down and leaving it open to air.Emptying and cleaning it really isn't my favourite job in the world, but I'd rather do that than have the hassle of traipsing across a field to the loo several times each night!Anyway, it's a great camp loo, miles better than the cheaper, smaller model I previously had (and got rid of as it clogged endlessly) and I only wish I'd invested in this sooner!I simply would not camp without it now!So let's get the obvious questions out the way.Does it smell?No, we had this within an 8 man tent sectioned off in one of the sleeping pods. It was used by children and adults for two days and no one even noticed it was there until it was needed. The only comment from All was that it was very convienient. Sorry for the pun.Is emptying it a bit icky?No, this was the part I was dredding the most. Emptying the waste was not at all unpleasant. We were at a clean camp site with a designated chemical toilet area. Simply open the cap press the button and release. There were no obnoxious smells and it was a supprisingly easy process. However make sure you follow the instructions and use the right amount of chemicals and water in the waste tank and flush tank. Don't skimp, this product comes shipped with enough chemicals for one full fill and empty cycle.How long does it last before it's full?With two adults and 3 young children it lasted 2 days before we needed to empty it. However we were out and about for 4-5 hours a day where we used other facilities. How long is a piece of string I suppose.Is it heavy?Yes, the waste tank will be holding 30 litres of waste when full so it is heavy when its time to empty. You can empty more often to avoid this but in most cases I would describe it as heavy not unmanageable. No I not a gym goer just a regular sized slowly over wieght 40yr old man.I am really pleased we took this on our first camping trip. With our youngest child being 6 years old it was great not to have to walk half way across a camp site in the middle of the night to use the toilet. The product is extremely well put together and easy to use but follow all the instructions and use quality chemicals. I don't know what the outcome would be if you didn't and I don't want to find out. You will also need special toilet paper like aqua soft otherwise you risk clogging the system up.The products flush system is sufficient if not amazing. It does the job. We always used the toilet with the waste tank open but can be used with tank closed and bowl emptied after use by opening the shutter blade.I would highly recommend this product but I am a very novice camper. Happy we had this bit of kit with us though.Bought for disabled person who cannot get up the stairs and was using a cammode as no downstairs toilet. Their cammode needed emptying frequently which was not a pleasant job. This only needs emptying every 4 to 7 days and no smells. There were no sample liquids with it so also bought the triple pack, pink,blue liquid and aqua paper. Also bought the shed to put it in. Ideal for larger size adult, especially male.
