coachmac9 Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Last night, out of the blue, the toilet (Thetford) filled up to the top and ran over a little before we noticed it. Thankfully we were there and no damage occurred but the strange part is it hasn't happened again and I couldn't make it happen even though a flushed it many, many times. Tried everything I could think of to make it continue to run like barely opening the foot control and barely closing it...works like a charm...as a safety measure I cut the water off going to the toilet when we went to bed and when we left this morning. I definitely don't want to keep doing that or have a major mess either! I assume that the foot pedal is connected to the flap that opens and shuts and triggers the water to come on and off by a cable of some kind inside the toilet. Is that the way it operates and is there an adjustment of some kind??? The previous owners replaced it in 2014 so it is fairly new with little wear and tear...any suggestions ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Greg Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 We had a Thetford Arial Classic for several years and had to replace the water valve 3 or 4 times for the same problem you experienced. This happened to 3 of our RV friends also. It's possible a small piece of dirt was caught in the water valve so it didn't close and allowed water to fill the bowl. It's possible the water valve is starting to fail. There were no adjustments for our toilet model. I suggest you carry a spare water valve (we had other spare toilet parts too) like we did and learn how to replace it. We also had cables break (twice) , the foot pedal brake (twice) all over a 7 year period until we finally got tired of it and replaced it with a similar Sealand/Dometic toilet two years ago, No problems in 2 1/2 years !!!! Great. Yea!!! Greg Here's a link to Thetford's toilets and parts, you'll need it! http://www.thetford.com/products/toilets/rv-toilets/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmac9 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Thanks so much Big Greg!! I will definitely look into getting a different potty or carry plenty of spare parts!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXiceman Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 WE had the same issue. We learned to put your toe under the pedal and lift slightly to make sure the water turned off after two floods. This worked better than replacing the valve and parts a couple of times a year. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mptjelgin Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 We have had two instances over 4+ years where the valve on our Thetford toilet did not close completely, resulting in a tiny trickle of water continuing into the bowl. In one case it did overflow and in the other we caught it. I've found that keeping the cable clean and lubricated helps to valve to close more easily. I've put a "Leak Frog" water detector underneath the toilet to give us a head's up in case this happens again in the future. And we try to look down into the toilet after a flush to make sure that there is no trickle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chirakawa Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Exactly why I got rid of the Thetford and got a Sealand 510. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandsys Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 WE had the same issue. We learned to put your toe under the pedal and lift slightly to make sure the water turned off after two floods. This worked better than replacing the valve and parts a couple of times a year. Ken X2. Linda Sand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeBeFulltimers Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 My junky Thetford will be put in the trash Monday when the new Dometic 320 arrives from PPL. This is the second sorry Thetford in just 4 years. Get rid of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Part of the question is, which Thetford model toilet do you have? They don't all use the same parts and that is also true for all foot-pedal models. They can be rebuilt and some models also have adjustments. Parts for most Thetford models are readily available. We replaced ours after 11 years of use, rather than to rebuild it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFDR3116 Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Strange, our Thetford, foot pedal model was in our motorhome when we bought it at 10 yrs old. We have had it 6 yrs now and full-timed for 5 yrs. So, lots and lots of use. We have not had any problem at all. Maybe it depends on what model you have. Or, maybe the older ones were better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc2 Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 Aren't Thetford toilets made by the same company that makes NoCold rv fridges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFDR3116 Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 Funny, our No Co frig is 16 yrs old and works just fine. I guess it depends on the unit you get, how old it is. Not all are bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryneal Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 We had the same problem a couple weeks a go. We were in the living room and walked up the steps to find the bathroom and hallway flooded. What a mess. Problem was the water pressure in the RV park was so low it wouldn't close the valve all the way after a flush. We filled up the water tank and used the 12 volt pump until the park replaced the outside water spigot. Once the pressure returned we didn't have any more issues. One thing we've always done, if we leave the RV for a couple hours or more, we always turn off the water at the outside spigot just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Greg Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 jerryneal......Our old Thetford had a "Water Valve Return Spring" that closed the valve. I replaced it at least once when the water valve was replaced. I don't think water pressure was used to close the valve, yours could be different. I'd keep a close eye on the toilet after flushing it. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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