Thetford Waste Ball Seal Repair

Posted from Hurricane, UT

(Click on the pics Below to Enlarge)

As a fulltimer, there are days when life is not all blue skies, hiking, and visiting with friends or new locations.  Sometimes we have to slow down and take care of the “day to day” maintenance items.

This blog is about one of those days. We’ve recently (well not really, it’s been at least a month) noticed that after flushing our toilet the water fails to stay in the bowl. After a bit of research on the internet  I was fairly certain that I knew the reason why. Time for a bit of maintenance.

To set the stage, we have the Thetford Aqua Magic Style Plus toilet. It is a manual flushing toilet with the foot pedal in the front. (NOTE: The Thetford Aqua Magic Style II is very similar to the maintenance procedure to be described below.) Our toilet  is original to our 2010 Tiffin Phaeton and has obviously seen much use through the years, as we live in our rig 365 days a year.

The model #34421 can be located on a label on the rear of the toilet.

My research suggested that it was time to change the waste ball seal. I had already attempted to clean the top and bottom of this seal (wear gloves for that one!), but eventually the water would still find its’ way out of the bowl. I went online and found the waste ball seal kit #34120 for my toilet. Since I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, I purchased it online for $14.20.

Here is a picture of the items included in this kit. You'll get: Thetford instructions, 4 nylon thin washers, a closet seal, and a ball valve seal (bottom left).

The remainder of this blog will show what’s involved with the replacement of the seal. I am writing this from the standpoint of someone who has never removed their toilet from the floor and who has no prior experience with a repair such as this.       So let's get started.........................

At the end of the blog I will include a link to the .pdf version of Thetford’s instructions, along with a complete list of part numbers and costs for this job.

REQUIRED TOOLS:

Slip Joint Pliers

½ inch Open End Wrench

½ inch Standard and Deep (Optional) Sockets

Phillips Screwdriver

HANDY SUPPLIES TO HAVE ON HAND:

Plenty of paper towels

An old cotton rag                Small container (such as a flat pan or cup) to catch water

Rubber gloves

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Although I believe that a subsequent repair of this seal could be done without totally removing the toilet from the floor, I believe that most will find it much easier to work with the toilet in an open space the first time.

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    1.       Shut off water supply to rig.

2.    Depress foot pedal to drain all water out of bowl.

     

     

3. This toilet has a plastic shroud which is attached at the rear by  large and small rubber bands.To remove the shroud look behind the toilet and remove the two bands. 

4. Press down on the foot pedal while pulling up and forward on the shroud.

5. Disconnect the water supply line from the plastic fitting at the rear of the toilet. (Have a cloth or container on hand to catch water which will drain out of the valve.)

6. Loosen the floor bolts (one on each side) which hold the toilet base to the floor. There might be white caps covering these bolts, but I removed these on a previous repair job. These are 1/2" nuts and can be removed using an open-end wrench, but a 1/2" deep socket is somewhat quicker. Set the nuts aside as they will be used to re-install the toilet.

7. The toilet can now be lifted straight up and positioned in a more suitable work space. (Outside is good.) Be prepared to stuff old rags or paper towels into the sewer drain hole to prevent the escape of gases into the rig.

8. Because you will be separating the upper bowl from the base, I found it useful to disconnect the vinyl tubing from the aerator. (I forgot to list needle nosed pliers in the tool list at the beginning, but channel locks will also work here.)

9. To separate the upper bowl from the base, you will need to remove 1/2" nuts from each side of the mid-toilet area. There are two nuts to remove on each side of the toilet.

10. You will notice that the bolt threads are fairly short above the nuts, so a 1/2" open-ended wrench or a 1/2" socket works well here.

11. Please take note of the position of the nylon and metal washers on the bolt. When re-installed the nylon washers MUST be placed against the china bowl, then the metal washers are placed against the nut.  IMPORTANT! Do not overtighten these nuts when re-assembling the toilet.

12. Lift the upper half of the toilet straight off the bolts. (The bolts have metal retainers which will hold them in an upright position.) Place the upper half on a protected surface. Here's the seal which is to be replaced.  With your gloved hand, pull the old seal from the base and discard.

13. Flip the base upside down and remove the old floor seal and discard.

14. With everything apart, now is a great time to thoroughly clean the toilet.  

15. Although the Thetford instructions do not address this, I coated the top and bottom of the new waste ball seal, and the top of the plastic waste ball itself , with plumber's grease.

16. Make certain to place the "green" side of the new seal down against the base. Here's a look at it all "greased up" and in position.

17.It's time for re-assembly and re-installation of the toilet in the rig.  ADDENDUM FROM THETFORD HERE!!: Place the four new nylon washers onto the four vertical studs before placing the upper bowl onto the lower half. Raise the top bowl portion and place it directly over the four studs which are still standing vertical from the lower half of the toilet. IMPORTANT! Make certain that the top half is centered. When you look down into the bowl you should see an equal portion of the new seal showing all around. If not, lift the upper section and re-position. The view from above should look like this.

18. Place the old nylon washer over each stud, then place the metal washer above the nylon washer. Re-tighten each nut equally (alternating sides is a good idea).  Snug the nuts down, but DO NOT overtighten. You could crack the bowl with too much pressure.

19. Re-attach the vinyl tube removed in Step #8 above.

20. Place the new floor gasket onto the bottom of the toilet (the one removed in Step #13 above).

21.Take the entire assembled toilet back into the bathroom and carefully lower it onto the two floor closet bolts. (See Step #6 above). This was the hardest part of the entire repair job for me. It helps to have a second person to align the bolts as the toilet is lowered onto them.

22. NOTE: At this point, the toilet will not sit flat and flush to the floor. Don't panic. Carefully re-install the nuts on each floor closet bolt and tighten each side in an alternating motion. As the nuts are tightened the toilet will sit flush on the floor.  NOTE: Be careful again here!  DO NOT overtighten these nuts.  Snug is fine!

23. Re-attach the water inlet line to the rear of the toilet.  Hand tighten only.

24. Turn on the water supply and check for any leaks.  Flush the toilet with the foot pedal. The addition of the plumber's grease certainly made my toilet operate much smoother.

25. Re-install the plastic shroud removed in Steps #3 and #4 above.

THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!      YOU'RE DONE!!!!!!!!     JOB WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!!

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Here is the breakdown of the costs involved in this project:

Thetford Waste Ball Seal Kit (Part #34120)          $14.20 from Amazon

Plumber's Grease (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.)       $2.49

Here's the .pdf version of Thetford's Instructions for this repair job.

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Should you have any questions, please contact me either via the email link or via the comment section below.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Thetford Aqua Magic Style Plus Toilet Repair

Red Bay, AL

It's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted a blog.  During that time we've moved from our winter home in Casa Grande, AZ to our present location in Red Bay, AL.  I'll detail the cross country drive in another blog post, but today's blog is about a repair to our toilet.  If you don't have the same style of toilet or little interest in repair or maintenance jobs, please feel free to move on to the next blog at this time.

Ok, for those few of you who have continued thus far let me explain.  A few days ago we noticed that the toilet in our MH appeared to be leaking at the base.  I first suspected that the seal had failed and that we were having sewage not properly find its way south into our black tank.

We have a Thetford Aqua Magic Style Plus toilet in this MH.  It has a china base with a foot pedal in front to activate the waste gate valve.  The model is #34421.

I began a closer examination of the source of the leak by removing the plastic shroud which surrounds the lower portion of the toilet. This picture shows the shroud already removed.

Looking to the rear of the toilet I discovered that when I depressed the foot pedal to open the waste gate slide inside the bowl, water was dripping from the part later identified as the water valve.  This leak was occurring every time the pedal was depressed.

After looking at the parts diagram on Thetford's site I concluded that the problem must lie in the water valve assembly itself.  Fortunately for me, I'm currently in Red Bay, AL (the home of Tiffin Motorhomes) and their parts store is very good.  I walked over to the store and purchased the toilet water valve kit (which also includes a new rubber floor seal, new screws to replace the valve, and a new clamp to re-attach a hose).  The Thetford part number is #34100.

So now my dilemma was to decide whether to attempt to replace the valve with the toilet still in position or remove the toilet completely to gain better access.  After trying to see behind the toilet using a mirror and flashlight, the choice was simple.  That toilet was coming out!

Actually, the removal of the toilet is very simple.  Shut off the water, unscrew the water line to the back of the toilet, and remove the nut on each side of the toilet base flange which holds it to the floor.  Here's what you're left with after the toilet has been removed.  The dirty rag to stuff into the waste line is VERY important!

Now that the toilet has been re-located to an easier place to work the job will go much quicker.  Here's a better look at the water valve assembly.

First, take a pair of pliers and remove the return spring from the metal rod on the lower portion of the assembly.

Next remove the 3 screws holding the valve assembly in place.

At this point the valve assembly can be pulled away from the rear of the toilet.

The drive arm is removed next by pulling the ball end of the cable (which attaches to the foot pedal) from the plastic slot and by rotating the drive arm to free it from the wire rod (shown near the bottom of the top circle).

Here's what the freed drive arm looks like after performing the above two tasks.

Installation of the new water valve and drive arm assembly is literally the reverse of the above instructions.  The really nice thing here is that Thetford includes instructions in the package to do exactly what I have shown above.

All that's left to do is to replace the toilet over the existing toilet floor bolts, hook up the water inlet line, and check your work for leaks.

The entire job from start to finish took less than 1 hour and I'm happy to report that I had no leaks after the repair (the first attempt, no less).  This is certainly a job which can be done by almost any MH owner.  Not only will you save labor costs, but you'll certainly get a better understanding of how this type of toilet works.

......and here's the end result.  A normally functioning toilet once again.  HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

Thanks for dropping by to take a look!