Always listen to your gut feeling. I could tell something was slowly falling apart with our Thetford toilet flush valve. I had changed the seal maybe two years ago, but now I believe the flush ball itself was a problem.
Once we got to Wisconsin, the problem became worse. As all of you know, I like fixing things but not under duress. So, I watched a number of videos on-line. I realized quickly that I had 2 options.
- Tear the toilet apart and replace most of the parts inside the base. This looked like an incredible amount of work and about 60 dollars in parts.
- Purchase a brand new base for 80 dollars.
That was an easy decision, option 2! I ordered the toilet base on Monday and it arrived on Wednesday at my daughter’s house. Thursday I brought it to the trailer and figured I’d just install it on a day when we were going to be just relaxing in the camper…Wrong!
Friday, I smoked pulled pork at my daughter’s house. It’s always an all day affair when I’m smoking pork butt. I put in on the smoker at 6:00 AM and it was ready at 5:00 PM.
After dinner I figured we would go back to the trailer and just relax. However, once we got back to the travel trailer, I flushed the toilet and a plastic part somewhere within the flush handle shot off like a rocket. I heard Tammy say “oh … that didn’t sound good”. She was right because now the toilet didn’t work at all. So, here we go!
It is pitch black in the back of my truck as I feel for my tools. I pull out my 3/8 ratchet, socket set, and a pliers.
I spread a garbage can liner out on the hallway floor and turn off the water to the trailer. Next I disconnected the water to the toilet, and unbolted the toilet from the floor. Out it goes into the hallway where I disconnected the base from the bowl. This is no problem as I’ve done this before. It’s just removing two bolts, a hose, and then a counter clockwise twist to unlock the bowl.
Next, I looked at the instructions that came with the new base. Calling them garbage would be an insult to garbage everywhere. It’s always great (insert sarcasm here) to have a part that is not shown in the installation instructions.
After much deliberation I had the base ready for mounting to the bowl. This was absolutely the hardest part of the job. After struggling for twenty minutes with a lot of head scratching and cursing I had it back together and mounted to the floor. All in all, a 90 minute job.
What a difference! It really is a new toilet now, and frankly not a hard job to do, just frustrating at times.
I am so glad I listened to that voice in my head that said “you better buy a new base”. Otherwise we would have been walking to the campground bathroom multiple times everyday until it arrived. So make sure you listen to that voice too!
Happy Camping!
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