Toilet won't hold water in the bowl

[michguy]

We have a Dometic Sea/Land Toilet in our 2005 TropiCal Motorhome. Jst recently, it stopped holding in the toilet bowl. It slowly leaks out. Any suggestions on how to fix this ?

[jzick]

Most of the time, slow leaks like you describe are caused by small bits of paper stuck to the seal or, sometimes calcium deposits that have accumulated. There is a small groove in the seal that needs to be cleaned. When ours leaked I used a bent coat hangar to clean the crud from the groove. After cleaning, the seal needs to be lubed with some silicone grease. We were told by a Dometic phone tech to never use a petroleum product (Vaseline) on the seal. Ours has not leaked since - we lube it about once every three months. Keeping water in the bowl will also help prevent leaks.

If cleaning/lubing the seal does not fix the problem, replacement is inexpensive and easy to do.

[GaryKD]

Hi michguy,
jzick is most likely correct. The cleaning task may not be the most pleasant, but one just needs to get down and "dirty" to get the job done. Hold the flapper open with your foot on the pedal and get in the grove with a tool to get the crude out. My toilet came with a tool, but the coat hanger or paper clip will do the job. Be real careful not to drop anything into the black tank.

[LEMO]

I have a Sealand in my 04 motorhome, I replaced the seal as I found the seal had a lot of mineral deposits on the seal and the ball valve. It's not really hard to replace the seal, I used a plastic scraper to remove the minerql deposits on the ball valve. Cost about $60.
Lemo

[Kuppajoe]

Does anyone have a web reference that shows these procedures in pictures or video such as Utube?

["007"]

Here are a

few video's

for you.

[Kuppajoe]

Thanks 007, it's always good to have a video reference before starting something I haven't done before.

[Finhawk]

Go to Lowe's or home depot. They have a silicone grease that is made for a plumbing application. Just turn the water off, hold the pedal down and put a coat of grease on the seal. Works like a charm. I have to re-apply mine every 3 or 4 months but it's no big deal

[IC2]

The SeaLand in our Titanium would leak down in an hour or so. Scraping the mineral deposits out while together didn't help a bit.

As these toilets are really easy to disassemble - disconnect the water, pull the Velcroed front cover off, loosen the long gear type clamp and remove the to ceramic section and pull the seal out. That seal is in two pieces and they are assembled in a particular order so pay 'tention as to how it comes apart. Peel the two apart and scrape away. That seal - it's a bit costly for a couple of 4" pieces of neoprene - is pretty tough and, unless gouged or torn, probably will benefit from disassembly and cleaning. It seldom needs replacement - unless you really want to spend the bucks. As far as silicone grease, that will wash off pretty quickly, but can help, but wont seal the drain back. Not a 'pretty job' but with nitrile gloves isn't bad - besides that, it's your ...... nah, not for a family friendly discussion forum

Another possible problem is that rotating ball flush valve getting gouged up. The only repair is replacement = $$

[michguy]

Thanks to all of you. Scrubbed 'er up and it's working fine !!

[jimkate]

When we bought our coach, the Sealand toilet wouldn't hold water. The rubber gasket seal had become hard. I installed a kit from Sealand which solved it.

I have since found that when I notice the water leaking down a little, putting some CLR in the water overnight for a few nights seems to solve it.

[Mr_D]

I suppose I'm going to have to replace that gasket someday. In all my years of RV'ing (since '57) I've never had to replace one!

[Rnicfingrp]

Please find my pic's & notes for replacing the Surburban 511 teflon and rubber toilet seal. Part 1 is pic's 1-10 and Part 2 is pic's 11-16. We're limited to 10 pic postings.

Rnicfingrp
2000 Newmar Dutch Star DSDP

[Rnicfingrp]

This is Part 2 pic's 11-16 of the seal replacement job. The seal was purchased online via Amazon for $32 and took about an hour to do. Have some towels handy. Pretty simple job. Hope this helps.

Rnicfingrp

2000 Dutch Star DSDP