Are you experiencing difficulties while trying to educate yourself on the various RV toilet parts?
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to recognize that an RV toilet functions much differently from the traditional toilet found in your home. Furthermore, it is essential for an RV operator to become well-acquainted with the various parts for RV toilets. Whether it’s understanding how to flush the toilet, or simply knowing how to fix it, it’s in the best interest of the RV crew to have someone on board who is knowledgable in this area.
If you are a newcomer to the marvelous world of RVing, there’s no doubt that you’ll want to educate yourself on this fascinating subject!
Let’s face reality, no one wants to be enclosed in an RV with people who do not know how to flush the toilet… That is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster. If you happen to be inexperienced in this field, you have come to the right place! Here are some brief descriptions pertaining to the primary RV toilet parts:
Seat & Cover
This RV toilet part is perhaps the most simple to understand. Keep in mind that it’s extremely important to maintain the cleanliness of this specific component. In general, this will prove effective in fighting bacteria that can lead to illness. All things considered, it may be in your best interest to keep the cover in a downward position when the toilet is not in use. This action alone will help avoid any unpleasant scents.
Seal & Valve
Generally speaking, it’s safe to assume that RV passengers would like to avoid any encounters with those vial bathroom stenches. The main purpose of the toilet seal and valve is to serve as a barrier. The seal prevents any stenches that are built up in the sewage holding tank from entering the main cabin of the RV. If you take a glance at the illustration shown above, you will notice that there is a small amount of water that is held in place by both the seal and valve. If at any point in time the seal and valve fail to hold water (which occurs when the seal dries out), this part may need to be replaced.
Foot Pedal Flush
In contrast to your toilet at home, most RV toilets have a foot pedal flush as opposed to the conventional handle flush. It’s important to understand that the functionalities of these foot pedals can differ for each toilet. Some foot pedal flush toilets require the user to step on the pedal to flush the liquids, and then lift up the pedal to fill the bowl with water. On the other hand, other foot pedal flush toilers require the user to step halfway down to fill it with water, and fully step down in order to flush. Regardless of how the foot pedal operates, it may require some trial and error when determining how each one behaves.
Hand Flush
The only major difference between the hand flush and the foot pedal flush is the appearance and location on the toilet. Furthermore, this hand flush device operates similarly to the foot pedal device. If the user wishes to fill the toilet bowl with water, they must press the device halfway. Alternatively, if they wish to flush, they must press the device fully. All in all, this device replicates the same functionalities as the foot pedal flush.
Water Module
The sole purpose of this mechanism is to connect the toilet to the water supply. Without this device, there would be no water available for the toilet to use. Out of all the existing RV toilet parts, the water module has proven to be a primary cause of leaks. Fortunately, RV toilet manufacturers offer their customers RV toilet repair parts. Overall, they are fairly simple to replace and there is no shortage of these prepackaged repair parts.
Hand Spray Kit
In some cases, the water pressure that results from the flush of the toilet may not be enough to fully cleanse the dirty remains. This is where the hand spray kit proves to be handy. When the lever behind the nozzle is pressed down, water is sprayed at the essential pressure to help remove any additional particles that were left behind after the flush.
How do I go about fixing my RV toilet?
Now that we have briefly reviewed the primary parts for RV toilets, we can proceed with a few tips on how RV toilet repairs should be approached.
Simply put, when it comes to fixing your RV toilet, the first step entails targeting the issue. Once the issue has been identified, it is imperative to identify the toilet part that is causing this issue.
For instance, if you are dealing with a “leaky toilet”, you may come to the conclusion that a defective water module is a primary cause.
Overall, the manufacturers of RV toilets distribute RV toilet repair parts for the numerous components of their toilets. In general, it is safe to assume e that these manufacturers (ie. Thetford) offer all the parts that were previously described above in prepackaged toilet repair kits. In short, once you tackle the cause of a deficiency in your toilet, you can easily order replacement parts.
Unfortunately, there is one common concern that arises in many RV toilets that cannot be fixed by simply ordering a replacement part. This issue is commonly known as “toilet clogging”. It’s important to understand that there are a variety of simple approaches to this problem, including toilet plungers, augers, and septic-safe chemicals. Many suggest that if these three approaches fail to serve their purpose, you should move on to executing the “power wash” method. In brief, this method requires you to use a hose to power wash all of the septic materials out of the sewage holding tank. Keep in mind that the hose you use for this method, will not be available for further use.
Luckily, there is a highly-acclaimed method that is inexpensive and works effectively. This process is as follows:
The Hot Water Method
Step 2… Fill up a pot with water and heat until rapidly boiling.
Step 3… Pour the boiling water into the toilet bowl.
You may be asking yourself, “is it really that simple?” The answer is YES! Generally speaking, you do not need to purchase any supplies in order to restore this issue. All you need is a pot of boiling water and you are good to go!
All things considered, these are all of the basic notions you need to be familiar with in order to understand how your conventional RV toilet works. By now you should have a greater understanding of the main RV toilet parts and how to make general repairs. You must keep one thing in mind when flushing your RV toilet: you can flush your body liquids, but you must fill the toilet bowl with water before flushing your body solids!
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to comment below!
