Elkmont flush toilet

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by brulaz

Wow, I had no idea so little was needed.

We already have plans for recharging the battery and propane, emptying the grey water and refilling the drinking water, all without having to move the trailer, but the black stuff was worrying me. Doesn't sound like it will be a problem if we're careful, as there's only two of us.

Just to be clear.....

Most usage of the toilet is for urine. That merely takes a quick flush to rinse the bowl.

In marine toilets, it's recommended to have a small container (with a lid) next to the toilet for women to deposit small amounts of T/P. The same method could be used for extended usage of an RV holding tank. This does away with holding the flush button down until the TP disappears down the drain.

This may sound gross to some RVers but it is quite common in the marine environment (even on multi-million dollar yachts). My 45' sailboat had 2 heads. Each head had a separate 15G holding tank. If we were careful, we could go several weeks without emptying our holding tanks when we were living aboard in the marina with zero over-board dumping.

Having said all that, my daughter's family (3 kids) can barely make it through a weekend campout in there 35' camper with a 30G blackwater tank.

Originally Posted by brulaz

Dave,
What make/model of flush toilet is installed in the Elkmont?

Thetford model 24300 according to the data sheet in the notebook the dealer gave me. It is a foot pedal, high rise, flush toilet.
As harvyrv pointed out, a quick tap on the foot pedal is all that is needed to move the flapper valve to empty liquid. Solids require the pedal to be held down longer, with more water squirting out for the flush. You can conserve water if you are "fleet of foot".

If I run out of water, I sometimes have to drive more than 10 miles to get more water. The last think I want to do is pour precious water down the toilet unnecessarily.

When camping, I see no advantage to a traditional RV toilet. They waste too much water.

I estimate our total water usage at about 5 gallons of water per person per day. That includes cooking, showering, shaving, brushing teeth, dishes, flushing the toilet, etc.

In a pinch, we could get by with 1.5 gallons of water per person per day.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Dave E

Thetford model 24300 according to the data sheet in the notebook the dealer gave me. It is a foot pedal, high rise, flush toilet.

HMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Something doesn't look right....
http://www.folandsales.com/catalog.asp?prodid=488920

A little off-topic but there is no way in heck that I would pay $900 for that toilet. All it is, is a bucket with a seat ($12), a valve on the bottom ($30) and a small water pump ($50). How on earth do they come up with $900??????

I've said it before and I'll say it again......If I ever have to change our toilet, I would install a cassette potty with a door on the outside of the camper for removing the holding tank for emptying.

Originally Posted by harveyrv

HMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Something doesn't look right....
http://www.folandsales.com/catalog.asp?prodid=488920

That web site says the Thetford 24300 is an "Electra Magic® Model 80 RV Permanent Recirculating Toilet". It doesn't require an External holding tank.

Not sure, but I think the one in ours will be the non-recirculating Thetford 31671 "Aqua Magic V" ... (who comes up with these names?). At least that's the closest I can get from the photos I've seen. And it's quite a bit cheaper.

Originally Posted by Dave E

Thetford model 24300 according to the data sheet in the notebook the dealer gave me. It is a foot pedal, high rise, flush toilet.
As harvyrv pointed out, a quick tap on the foot pedal is all that is needed to move the flapper valve to empty liquid. Solids require the pedal to be held down longer, with more water squirting out for the flush. You can conserve water if you are "fleet of foot".

Dave, I wonder if the factory put the wrong model down on your data sheet. The Thetford model 24300 is a recirculating toilet, and your description is that of a flush model. I found 1 item on 2003 TM data sheet wrong, so that is not out of the question.

We purchased an 09 Elkmont last June and had the dealer replace the flush toilet with the recirculating Thetford. Left the black water holding tank in place. Now we can recharge the Thetford at least 3-4 times before having to dump. As I recall, the dealer charged us a couple of hundred dollars to switch them out.

According to the latest Elkmont brochure, you can now get it with the flush or recirculating toilet from the factory.

I'm not Dave...but my 2010 Elkmont has a Thetford "Aqua-Magic V" conventional toilet installed. It supposedly has a 15 gal. black waste tank. I say that because It'll be another two weeks before I use the TT for the first time.

The following is a tangent to the thread but I have a question that I haven't found a suitable thread for...

From my observation, the grey water system appears to be entirely independent from the black tank/system. It seems from reading the somewhat generic Owners Manual that other TrailManor units have integrated the grey and black drainage. Having them seperate would change their operation ISTM. e.g. one wouldn't "chase" the black water with the grey to empty, among other things. Is this typical? Only with the Elkmont? Only with the conventional Thetford?

chanticleer

Recently, the law has changed and the discharge drains for black and gray must be independent of each other.

I would probably drain the black first, then move the hose over to the gray and drain that.

I'm not sure what was accomplished by the law change.