Community Forums

hpykmpr47 · 05-12-2019, 05:34 AM

We arrived at Homecoming yesterday after spending a week at the factory. All was well until I tried to flush our half-bath toilet. I heard a gush of air and then water coming in but the valve did not open. The valve must be part way open as the water does not stay in the toilet. I have flushed it several times and the water comes in but the valve does not open . I have tried shutting off the power to re-set it but that does not help.I have looked for posts from people who have had problems but do not find any that seem to have the same problems.Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...... Alan.

brobox · 05-12-2019, 05:56 AM

Lucky you are at Homecoming with Techs. I had to replace the slide assembly, part number 7. The seal if not holding water is easy to replace, but if the ball is not moving, there is a problem with the slide assembly. It is not hard to remove, but hopefully a tech can help and have parts with him. At least close to Goshen has part suppliers all over. https://www.thetford.com/part/aria-deluxe-ii/

Tom78418 · 05-12-2019, 06:57 AM

You have a knob on the back of the valve to manually open and close it. It is a high ratio gear so have some patience as it takes many turns to move the gate for the valve. Chances are there is just a loose wire on the valve.

royals1212 · 05-12-2019, 08:03 AM

I replaced the ball seal valve in 20 minutes a couple days ago. Got the seal from amazon.

Is this a macerator toilet or ball seal?

On the therford ball seal. Remove plastic shroud, 2 robber rings holding it together in back. Lift over foot pedal. There 4 bolts easily accessible from the sides to remove nuts. Lift top of bowl turn 90 degrees sideways, plenty of slack in the water line. Ball seal is right on top. Just make sure you center the top bowl on the gasket setting the bowl back on. Retighten nuts and shroud.

hpykmpr47 · 05-13-2019, 05:12 AM

Thanks for the replies, We have a Thetford Aria deluxe II toilet.I guess i will wait until Tuesday morning and see if the tech's here at homecoming will at least diagnose what is wrong , I have a repair ticket but not for that item. I am also going to call tech support this morning to get their thoughts on what is wrong and to find out if there are distributors locally for parts to repair these toilets. I guess good things come in 2's as our shower stopped producing hot water as well yesterday I took it apart and it appears to be a problem with the valve in the Faucet as I can turn it on cold and there is lots of water coming out but when I turn it to hot the flow is cut to less than half so I am also trying to find out if those are available locally.

....... Alan.

hpykmpr47 · 05-13-2019, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

Lucky you are at Homecoming with Techs. I had to replace the slide assembly, part number 7. The seal if not holding water is easy to replace, but if the ball is not moving, there is a problem with the slide assembly. It is not hard to remove, but hopefully a tech can help and have parts with him. At least close to Goshen has part suppliers all over. https://www.thetford.com/part/aria-deluxe-ii/

Thanks I see your attachment includes local dealers as well so there should be no problems getting the parts that i need.....Alan.

brobox · 05-13-2019, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpykmpr47

Thanks I see your attachment includes local dealers as well so there should be no problems getting the parts that i need.....Alan.

Almost any part for a MH is going to have a distributor in or around the Elkhart area to service the RV industry. If a couch is in for service, a manufacture cannot wait for parts to come from NY. You are fortunate you are in the best area of the country if a part is needed. Hopefully only a wire has come loose. Take a flash light and look behind the toilet, you might see a wire hanging. Also check the spade connectors, or wire nuts, to see if they are tight, might be just a loose connection. I have seen both used. There are only 2 of them.

hpykmpr47 · 05-16-2019, 04:21 AM

I have to say some times RV'ing can be frustrating. Still no fix for our toilet nor do we have a diagnosis for what is actually the problem . The tech's were out tho our coach early Tuesday and checked out that and one other problem we had and they said they thought it would be the controller assembly that would be the problem with the toilet. They said they would talk to the lead person about getting parts and let me know what they could do.Never heard back and yesterday afternoon my wife went up front to the tech station and talked to the lead guy and he told her that they could not get parts in time to fix the toilet and even if he could the EPA would not allow them to fix the toilet out here at the fair grounds.Thanks for letting us know, not. We then called Thetford to make sure of the part number for the controller and after a frustrating conversation with a person there they told me that the only way anyone could tell if my problem was the Controller assembly or the Mechanism assembly is to pull the toilet and check the voltage. The tech's who were here to the coach on Tuesday did not do that. So Now I guess that I cannot order parts until I either pull the toilet myself or try and find someone else to do so. Customer service at the factory won't do anything because they are booked solid. A frustrating day to say the least. So I guess today I will have to call around to see if I can find an RV repair facility who is able to take us in on short notice and fix this.I expect that if I pull the toilet myself without having it properly diagnosed by someone my Extended Warranty will not cover repairs......Alan

brobox · 05-16-2019, 05:09 AM

Alan, just my experience for what it is worth. The toilet is two 1/2 inch bolt head lag screws to remove. But first did you check if one of the two wires were loose as was suggested earlier? There is also a fuse in a yellow fuse holder behind the toilet.

Thetford CS is great to work with over the phone. They can troubleshoot the problem, as there are not that many parts, fairly easy. I'll bet they can tell you where the nearest parts distributor is located. I doubt if the part will exceed the deductible of most extended warranties. Or replace the bolts and turn in a claim for warranty repair.
I have a theory when I comes to repairing things..... I can't break it if it's already broke. If you can unscrew two lag screws you can find out what is needed to repair it. Then decide if you need to find help, or if you can DIY.
Put a towel in the floor, it makes moving the toilet around a lot easier.

The EPA excuse is a good one, wonder when the last time EPA was inspecting the inside of coaches for toilet work?

LETMGROW · 05-16-2019, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

The EPA excuse is a good one, wonder when the last time EPA was inspecting the inside of coaches for toilet work?

A total cop out. Why didn't they just say they didn't want to work on your toilet?
Lynn

Victory Blue · 05-16-2019, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

The EPA excuse is a good one, wonder when the last time EPA was inspecting the inside of coaches for toilet work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

A total cop out. Why didn't they just say they didn't want to work on your toilet?
Lynn

Fixes at Homecoming are limited to three MINOR fixes; pulling a toilet apart doesn't fit that definition. The fixes are a courtesy and everyone attending knows the rules in advance. I might fault them for poor communication but not for not being able to fix a toilet; the excuse is immaterial.

hpykmpr47 · 05-17-2019, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

Alan, just my experience for what it is worth. The toilet is two 1/2 inch bolt head lag screws to remove. But first did you check if one of the two wires were loose as was suggested earlier? There is also a fuse in a yellow fuse holder behind the toilet.

Thetford CS is great to work with over the phone. They can troubleshoot the problem, as there are not that many parts, fairly easy. I'll bet they can tell you where the nearest parts distributor is located. I doubt if the part will exceed the deductible of most extended warranties. Or replace the bolts and turn in a claim for warranty repair.
I have a theory when I comes to repairing things..... I can't break it if it's already broke. If you can unscrew two lag screws you can find out what is needed to repair it. Then decide if you need to find help, or if you can DIY.
Put a towel in the floor, it makes moving the toilet around a lot easier.

The EPA excuse is a good one, wonder when the last time EPA was inspecting the inside of coaches for toilet work?

I exhausted all of the checking for loose wiring, checking fuses etc. before I even ask for help and I really don't have any problem with pulling the toilet myself,what I have a problem with is not being able to diagnose what is wrong so that I could order parts before pulling the toilet without ordering several parts that I do not need as these parts are quit expensive. And yes either of the two parts that Thetford told me were probably causing the problem would exceed my deductible of $100 extended warranty.

I am sure that Thetford has a great customer service but the guy that I talked with was someone that was stuck on himself, could answer no question wrong kind of person and he just rubbed me the wrong way he probably was knowledgeable but it my opinion does not belong in a position of dealing with the public.

Anyways I found a company here in Goshen called Affinity RV and he came out and checked it all over and it seems as though the Key Pad Flush Switch is the problem as he found that if he pushed the switch the right way it would flush the toilet, and it flushed 5 times for him before not working again. The sad part is he tried all of his contact's locally and there are none available so he had to order it from Thetford and it will not be here until Tuesday so we will be here with the trains for a few more days .Hopefully then we can be on our way with a fully functioning toilet.....Alan

hpykmpr47 · 05-17-2019, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Fixes at Homecoming are limited to three MINOR fixes; pulling a toilet apart doesn't fit that definition. The fixes are a courtesy and everyone attending knows the rules in advance. I might fault them for poor communication but not for not being able to fix a toilet; the excuse is immaterial.

I know the rules been here done that several times. I had three minor things on my list but took two of them off in order to not so much get the toilet fixed but to have it diagnosed so that I could order the right parts the tech's were the ones who told me they would fix it if they were able to get the parts.Their lead person had other ideas and I am faulting them not so much for not doing it as for not getting back to me and telling me they could not do it which if they had we may have had been able to get the part here this week.
By the way the one minor thing that I did leave on my list was a map light that has not worked properly ever since we bought the coach and has been on my list now for probably 5 or 6 times and worked on that many times and it still does not work.I think the tech who was at our coach has finally found the problem but his lead said that it was an in depth problem to replace the timer and would not do it.Oh well we still have a map light that does not work but it if mostly my fault as I should have had it on my list at the factory and maybe , just maybe they could have found the problem but I did not see a need to have it fixed at the factory as it was already on my list for Homecoming and I had already talked in depth with Mary on the problem...... Alan

brobox · 05-17-2019, 04:59 AM

Alan, Sorry your success with Thetford was not as good as mine. I had an outstanding tech, had I not, I would do like I do with other companies, called back until I got one I could communicate with. Did it with my DSL company the other day. Glad someone found the problem, there are not that many parts to the toilet, so it was a process of elimination.

As for Homecoming and Rallies, I rarely even put my name on a list, usually to hard to get squeezed in and the part is never available even when it was called in prior to. I gave up and fix it at home. If it's major, I'm going the factory or dealer anyway. That way I am never disappointed and can enjoy the rally.