SAFETY: Cat crap is nothing to sneeze at. It can carry many diseases and make you sick. Wear gloves and wash your hands afterwards.
Do you have to hook this up to a water line or can u just plug it in. This litter box system requires hookup to cold water, a drain or toilet, and an electrical outlet to.
If you're going to scrub vigorously you might want to wear a face shield. Although not absolutely required, I highly recommend shutting off the water line and disconnecting the power. DISCLAIMER: If you screw something up, I am not responsible. You assume all responsibility for your actions. Your mileage may vary. Look both ways before crossing the street.
Don't drink and drive. Eat your veggies and above all, be good humans. TOOLS: You need a drill (don't worry, you won't be damaging your CatGenie or voiding any warranties), a pitcher (for water), and maybe a towel. We're now trying to empty out the yuck soup. This is where the drill really shines - empties 'er out with no muss, no fuss. You'll notice that there is nothing in the drill and the chuck is fully open so there's nothing sticking out.
Make sure that the drill, if reversible, is set in the forward direction. Place the drill end-down on the impeller gear, and pull the trigger gently. The impeller will spin up from the friction and, if you're lucky (I wasn't), force the yuck soup out the drain line, allowing you to disassemble further for cleaning. I would caution you against too much speed on the drill - you could have splashage, and we don't want that. We REALLY don't want that.
Should you be unfortunate enough (as I was) to get no drainage, you'll have to purge the line. Sadly, our line has a solid clog.
We'll have to blow out the line. Take the end of the drain tube and hold it up to your mouth, and blow really hard.
NO, NOT REALLY!!! Hold the end of the drain hose up to the sink or bathtub faucet as shown, do your best to make a seal with your hand, and (once again gently) turn on the water. This will blow the clog out of the line so you can drain the yuck.
After you've heard a gurgle or two from the CatGenie, hook the drain line back over the toilet. Repeat the routine with the drill to finally get rid of that nastiness. Try not to look into the toilet. It's kinda gross.
Now that it's empty, we need to further disassemble our CatGenie for better cleaning. I'm going to do a complete tear-down on this one for your benefit, but you could just put it back together and run another cycle at this point if you choose. To take the upper housing off remove the hand by pressing down on the black clip at the back. It'll slip right off. Then, push the arm back as far as it'll go - you'll hear a 'clunk' when it's all the way down. This keeps it from hanging up on the housing. To remove the upper housing, hold down the impeller with your thumb and with your other hand, reach to the back side and pull up on the lip.
If you don't hold down on the impeller you'll just lift the whole CatGenie off the ground. Okay, now it gets really nasty, so glove up. The impeller is in a housing that, like everything else with the CatGenie, lifts right out without tools.
Once lifted up, gently tip the top toward you so it will drain completely. There's some nasty water in there. You'll notice on the water drain that there is a red washer. This washer is important. Your CatGenie WILL NOT FUNCTION without it.
I know, it happened to me. Pull it off and set it aside, and don't forget to put it back on when we're done. Grab the impeller housing firmly with both hands, hinged side away from you, and open it like you would a book. This exposes the impeller and all-important water sensor. The impeller is held in place by a plastic clip. DO NOT over extend this clip when releasing it.
It looks fragile to me, and I think it wouldn't be difficult to break it off. Move it just enough to the right to release the retaining clip. Now remove the water sensor. Grab the top of the left end and move it towards you and to the left. It should pop free. Pull the other side to the right - it'll pop free in your hand.
Clean it off and put it aside somewhere. REMEMBER where you put it, because it's damn near invisible when you're looking for it. Using your toilet brush that you've specifically dedicated for this purpose, scrub the impeller housing clean in your improvised CatGenie sink. Scrub gently rather than vigorously as you don't want to have it flinging all over the place.
Snap the impeller and the water level sensor back in place, then close your freshly cleaned poopinart (sorry - impeller assembly), snapping it shut securely. Check the hole the poopinart goes into for granules - a few is okay, but too many in the bottom and it won't seat properly.
Lots of granules? Add water and dump them into the toilet. Reinstall the ever-important red washer, and slide the whole assembly back into the lower housing. Spin the impeller with the drill again to empty out your wash water, rinse and repeat. Place the bowl back on the center spindle; it should spin freely. Put the upper housing back in place. Now, you're probably thinking you should put the hand back on the arm, but that's a baaaaaad idea.
Since all the granules are wet, when you run a cycle (to clean those nasty pellets) they'll stick together in a mass and you'll lose a couple of handfuls down the impeller. Granules are expensive. Losing them is bad. The motor assembly houses all the electronics, motors, sensors and whatnot to make the CatGenie work it's magic. If it doesn't work, nothing works. Okay, pick up your motor and look at the bottom. The little red nipple is also a critical component - it directs the cleaning solution into the water during the wash cycle.
A spare of these is also included from the factory. They thought of everything didn't they? Anyhoo, pull this nipple off and rinse it with fresh water, hold it up and look through it to be sure its clean, then reinstall. I've had one get clogged and solution flooded (okay, not 'flooded' - how about 'ended up in') the area where the base sits. Thanks to thoughtful design, however, none of it went on the floor. Before you put the motor back in it's place, inspect the base area for granules.
ONE granule in this area can keep your CatGenie from seating properly and it won't power up, so check very carefully. Put the motor back where it goes, and put the hood back over the hand area. Yes, I know the hand is still not installed. Trust in me, young padawan. Push the start button to start a cycle. Pick up the hand, stand there and watch as the arm extends and the bowl goes around.
Its not fun, but its strangely fascinating in a weird way. Its really an amazing machine.
Don't install the hand until the water starts to run. This signals the end of the poop-scooping cycle, so you won't lose any granules after this. Once the water starts, hold the hand down there and let the arm extend itself into it's hole in the hand.
It'll click nicely when it's seated. Let go and go on about your day - your work here is done! The CatGenie will complete the cycle normally and resume normal operation. Now, if you didn't manage to get the hand reattached before the arm extends too far, do as the Guide says on the cover and Don't Panic. The hand must be installed for the CatGenie to successfully clean and dry the granules, so take off the hood and motor. It will power off, but that's okay.
Taking the motor off disengages the drive mechanism for the arm, and you can just lift it up manually and attach the hand. Once the hand is attached, leave it extended and replace the motor and hood. The cycle will resume where it left off, blissfully unaware you interrupted it. I hope this Instructable helps you get more joy (or at least less hassle) out of your CatGenie - please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think! For more of my CatGenie (and other) observations you can visit my blog at.
When you have 6 cats, you would be cleaning litterboxes every single day. If not more often.Not to mention about the disease and infections that can result from litterboxes with that many cats all using each others boxes. Or the bloody sand getting everywhere from catfights in the box.Add the fact that a GC is very cheap to operate (if you refill your cartridges, and keep the granuals in-both explained by ScottSEA) and can operate for days without human intervention.I'm not saying you would leave your cats unattended for weeks on end, but now I can leave my cats for 2 days (I have an automatic feeder as well) and not feel absolutely horrible about it. I still feel bad, but work needs me sometimes. And I don't care how good of a friend you are-nobody is cleaning litterboxes for you.So, yes. We have cat toilets. Why don't you move along with your completely useless comments and to back to Youtube where your kind are usually located.
![Ball Ball](http://frontpagemeews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Genie-Ball-in-Hopper-e1469821074327.png)
I know this is coming dangerously close to not being within the 'Be nice' policy-but Sheesh! Ok, you got a point. For people who have cats living indoor it sure seems like a nice idea. I just think that it's more water been used, more chemicals being thrown at the sewer system. By now, I got 7 cats. As I live in a home, I let them make it in my backyard, as it is a big sandbox.
Every weekend I catch their poops. By the way, I also got 5 dogs. So it's a zoo mess over here.: ) Ok, you wasn't really nice with me but I don't take those things serious.
IF you got time, and curiosity, take a look at my 'family': Cya around the web. And btw, good luck unclogging your cat toilet!; ) lol just joking, couldn't help. I purchased a CatGenie last November on the advice of a co-worker. We have 2 cats, and they LOVE this thing!
They actually compete to see who can get in the box first after cleaning. We recently went away for 5 days, and the cats were fine with the Genie. I love the fact that there is no smell (the litterbox is in the laundry room). After 7 months of use, I just dissambled and cleaned the Genie for the first time. Our cats are an 18 lb Siamese, and a 6 lb. Tuxedo, the Siamese is fat, so we do not free-feed the cats. For travel I purchased a Q-Pets automatic pet feeder from Amazon (just in case you need this, too!) Enjoy your travels, Navy.
Thanks very much for your service!
Just as an observation addenda to the above.I have my C/G hooked up in my (only) restroom (no laundry available), and it's not a problem. The waste flushes itself down my (admittedly older-style) toilet, due to the volume of water/cleanser that goes through the C/G in a cleaning cycle. No lingering waste, no lingeJust as an observation addenda to the above.I have my C/G hooked up in my (only) restroom (no laundry available), and it's not a problem. The waste flushes itself down my (admittedly older-style) toilet, due to the volume of water/cleanser that goes through the C/G in a cleaning cycle. No lingering waste, no lingering odor.
Impossible for me to say whether this is the same for all toilets, though.Just as an observation addenda to the above.I have my C/G hooked up in my (only) restroom (no laundry available), and it's not a problem. The waste flushes itself down my (admittedly older-style) toilet, due to the volume of water/cleanser that goes through the C/G in a cleaning cycle. No lingering waste, no lingering odor. Impossible for me to say whether this is the same for all toilets, though. I was unaware of the fact that there would be enough water volume to actually flush the toilet. If this is the case though, then it should work with any age toilet, as the flushing concept is the same, when the siphon tube of the toilet is quickly filled, it causes the bowl and pipes to be pressurized, forming a vacuumI was unaware of the fact that there would be enough water volume to actually flush the toilet. If this is the case though, then it should work with any age toilet, as the flushing concept is the same, when the siphon tube of the toilet is quickly filled, it causes the bowl and pipes to be pressurized, forming a vacuum, and the contents get sucked out of the bowl.
A very old, but effective concept, which requires no moving parts. So, it's very unlikely this will change anytime soon.As far as your claim of no lingering odor though, Michael. Are you telling me that your Cat Genie has never before treated you to the delicious scent of freshly baked 'cat brownies'?
(the unmistakeable smell of heated cat poop, created when the Cat Genie goes into the granule drying cycle, and heats the one or two pieces of cat waste, which the poorly engineered scoop mechanism seems to miss almost every cycle)I was unaware of the fact that there would be enough water volume to actually flush the toilet. If this is the case though, then it should work with any age toilet, as the flushing concept is the same, when the siphon tube of the toilet is quickly filled, it causes the bowl and pipes to be pressurized, forming a vacuum, and the contents get sucked out of the bowl. A very old, but effective concept, which requires no moving parts. So, it's very unlikely this will change anytime soon.As far as your claim of no lingering odor though, Michael.
Are you telling me that your Cat Genie has never before treated you to the delicious scent of freshly baked 'cat brownies'? (the unmistakeable smell of heated cat poop, created when the Cat Genie goes into the granule drying cycle, and heats the one or two pieces of cat waste, which the poorly engineered scoop mechanism seems to miss almost every cycle). You've actually answered your own question.
If your pop is a professionally licensed plumber, there's no doubt in my mind that he can find a way to hook up the C/G in a permanent or semi-permanent way to your home's existing plumbing system. Just because certain plumbing fittings are supplied with the unit to make it easy to install in most situations doesn't mean you have to use them. Have your pop look over the information on the C/G website for information on what plumbing fixtures are supplied with the unit, and he can probably go from there.