Continuing problems with Thetford toilet

Thanks Bill; I was joking about the magical pump of course, being the scientists we are, the laws of physics have remained intact...just expressing our ineptitude. Since we had some other issues...leak somewhere near awning top front, sliding stove top, a couple of other more minor issues, we did finally drag the TM in yesterday to Sacramento, to RV Brokers. Ray at service said he wouldn't bother with the toilet, and since the empty-full guage doesn't work correctly either, said he would just get a new toilet for us. He agreed that the flushing was totally inadequate, unlike the local Thetford rep who said it was "normal". We definitely will not go to him again.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by nonichris

Thanks Bill; I was joking about the magical pump of course, being the scientists we are, the laws of physics have remained intact...just expressing our ineptitude. Since we had some other issues...leak somewhere near awning top front, sliding stove top, a couple of other more minor issues, we did finally drag the TM in yesterday to Sacramento, to RV Brokers. Ray at service said he wouldn't bother with the toilet, and since the empty-full guage doesn't work correctly either, said he would just get a new toilet for us. He agreed that the flushing was totally inadequate, unlike the local Thetford rep who said it was "normal". We definitely will not go to him again.

Good for you.........

That's really the correct solution.

I think that a letter to Thetford and TM is in order.

Now we know why the toilet did not work. Thetford would not replace the toilet without knowing what was wrong, which required taking it apart. Looking at Shrimp Burritos photos of the inverted toilet, there is an elbow which is an integral part of the bowl, which attaches to the inlet tube. That elbow is completely broken...because of the break, not much liquid goes into the bowl with each flush...does that make sense to you all...hopefully now they will replace the toilet or that whole bowl part...this so far has required almost two weeks of back and forth phone calls and Thetford has not been good at returning calls..so it seems as though it is a very long process.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by nonichris

Now we know why the toilet did not work. Thetford would not replace the toilet without knowing what was wrong, which required taking it apart. Looking at Shrimp Burritos photos of the inverted toilet, there is an elbow which is an integral part of the bowl, which attaches to the inlet tube. That elbow is completely broken...because of the break, not much liquid goes into the bowl with each flush...does that make sense to you all...hopefully now they will replace the toilet or that whole bowl part...this so far has required almost two weeks of back and forth phone calls and Thetford has not been good at returning calls..so it seems as though it is a very long process.

That makes perfect sense. What doesn't make sense is that Thetford would put you through all that hassle. IMHO, they should have sent you a new toilet.....period. They should not expect you to return the old one either.

You paid retail for that toilet and they are not treating you like a retail customer. That really sucks......please be sure to write a letter to Trailmanor and let them know how you were treated. If I were a manufacturer and one of my suppliers treated one of my customers the way that you have been treated, I would seriously look at having some serious discussion with that supplier with the thoughts of possibly changing to a different supplier.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by harveyrv

If I were a manufacturer and one of my suppliers treated one of my customers the way that you have been treated, I would seriously look at having some serious discussion with that supplier with the thoughts of possibly changing to a different supplier.

The problem, however, is that TM needs to install a toilet that is lightweight. I don't know of any way to minimize weight other than to use a recirculating toilet. And if you can find any other manufacturer besides Thetford that makes a recirculating toilet, let me know. I've looked, and haven't found any.

Just like most supplies in the RV industry, like Suburban, Wedgewood (sp?), etc., they have the market cornered. It doesn't appear to be a very competitive market for some reason. It seems that at best, there are maybe 2 manufacturers for every appliance or major component in the TM. With the toilet, there's only 1. If you can have crappy service and people still buy your product, what's the incentive to improve?

Dave

[Wavery]

I think that TM should look at using the Cassette toilet, like most pop-up manufacturers use.

It is really handy to be able to take that cassette out and empty it in a toilet when it gets full. When this recirc toilet gets full, we have to fold-down and tow the trailer to the dump station. That is really dumb IMO.

When I find my newer TM, I'm going to do a major design change on that bathroom.

You could fill a tote now and haul it off right? I don't think filling the tote would be any worse than emptying it. I think some have made a rack under their TM to hold a tote.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by larsdennert

You could fill a tote now and haul it off right? I don't think filling the tote would be any worse than emptying it. I think some have made a rack under their TM to hold a tote.

That is an option for our current situation.. However, a messy one. The cassette toilet is very convenient to use. The people that have them, swear by them.

All I'm saying is that TM does have options and IMHO, they should consider exercising them. The rest of the industry has seen how well the cassette toilets work, it may time to look at them. It would mean a redesign of the bathroom but it is well over-due for change IMO.

nonichris...reread my original post (#9) in this thread. My feed tube wasn't broken but had come partially unattached, causing the same problem. Which I had so poorly explained. My dealer, Custom RV in Anaheim fixed it in about 15 minutes...

I reread your post and see that the results would be similar...unfortunately in our case it is not the inlet tube coming loose. The elbow that is part of the molded toilet bowl that connects to the inlet tube is broken...so the entire bowl apparatus must be replaced. We talked to so many people about this...I should say that Casey at Thetford was helpful except he just never called us back about anything, and finally yesterday someone else at Thetford told us to tell RV Brokers to call the Warranty department...The manager at RV Brokers said "Why didn't they say this in the first place", but what we understand now is that Thetford had to know first that the problem wasn't in the wiring and they asked RV Brokers to use a separate 12V source to check the voltage..After finding that the wiring was fine (they had assumed it was the converter box in the TM causing the problem...so not a Thetford issue) they asked RV Brokers to open up the toilet to look at the sources of intake problems, and after finding the broken elbow, now hopefully will replace that..looking at the diagram in the online manual, the elbow is almost invisible as a dotted line under the bowl in back, but in the photos that Shrimp Burrito took of the inverted bowl, it is clearly visible as a dark curved plastic part of the molded bowl itself...not an accessory tube.