Toilet flushing - poltergeist????

[djohn]

I have a unique situation with my toilet. In the middle of the night, the toilet started flushing. Open, flush, close; open, flush, close. On and on until my better half gave me the elbow to 'fix the noise'. Nothing I could do to make it stop except completely turn the power off. It stopped alright, with the seal open. It was like having an indoor outhouse. Then, the next afternoon, it made it's noise again, this time closing the seal. Permanently. Now nothing I can do to open it. Any clue? Or is it a poltergeist and I need an exorcism?

[offshore]

Sounds like a movie title. We have a vacuum toilet, boy does it make noise but at least it doesn't flush on its own. Good luck.

[AFChap]

Quote:

In the middle of the night, the toilet started flushing

What kind of toilet is it? Sounds like something electronic with a bad connection on a board or something similar. Is it normally possible to manually flush the toilet somehow if there is no power?

[Rex]

Sounds like you have an Aria electric toilet. If so, you have a water leak above the control module in the back of the toilet. At least that is the common thing that causes it to flush on its own.

There is a water cutoff on the floor behind the toilet. The toilet must be removed in order to fix the leak. Make sure you have a new seal for the base before removing the toilet. There are a couple of hoses above the control module and that is most likely where you will find the leak. As I remember, they do not have hose clamps on them and if you can reach them without removing the toilet, you may be able to put clamps on them. You may also have a cracked fitting rather than a hose leaking on the fitting.

You can order the needed parts from Camping World, or Thetford.

[djohn]

According to my Newmar spec sheets, I have a Sealand 500+ model toilet. It is electronic, no foot pedal, etc. There are two buttons, one for feeding water in and one for flushing. Neither work, and there is no other way of flushing that I know of.

I agree that it sounds like a bad circuit board (in a toilet??), so I called Dometic today to see if they could give me any help, but, since I am not under warranty any longer, all they would do is tell me to take it to a dealer.

Oh, well ....

[RV Wizard]

Check for loose electrical connections first. If this does not solve the problem then the control board would be the next place to look at. Good luck and keep us posted.

[djohn]

Here's what I did:
First of all, it was an Aria toilet. The repair guys were here twice, replaced a fuse once and did nothing the second time. It worked fine while they were here (of course) and within 5 minutes of departure, flush, flush, flush. Needs a circuit board. $150 and on backorder for who knows how long. So, I bought a 12v momentary switch and wired it in. Now flushing is a 2 handed job, the button and the switch. Don't know how long this will last, but it takes care of the problem now.
Thanks to those who offered help!

[MarineChief]

Don't know how well this will help you.... We have decided that if/when the electric toilet gives us problems then we'll repalce the whole thing with a high quality MANUAL (foot tredle) toilet. I can not for the life of me figure out WHY electric flush is necessary. A manually flushed toilet give less problems, uses MUCH less power (great for boondocking), you can flush it without battery connection (good for quick use while fueling or if batteries are found low after long-term storage) and you can flush it withOUT bending over to reach down for the button. Just my $.02

[Techie]

a 12VDC problem can also be the culprit.

We have the Aria and once when we set the Xantrex (accidently) to desulphate it increased the DC power and the toilet began cycling.