Toliet exploded

[richfaa]

So there I am in my brand new best you can buy , top of the line 2013 3402 Big Sky. I am utilizing my top if the line best you can buy Thetford john in my best you can buy , Top on the line, Montana Big Sky. It is a beautiful day in Florida, 92 degrees and the A/C is keeping us at a cool 75 degrees. We are on track to leave for Ohio Friday Morning.

I press down on the flush pedal and the toilet explodes. Pedal flies off, parts everywhere, water gushing out of the water input line. I am yelling at Helen to run outside and turn off the water as keystone in a effort to save 98 cents did not put a shut off valve in the water line. She is yelling what in the H%^& is going on in the john, the bird is screeching because we are yelling.

I call thetford .I am not happy. Tech rep Casey says no problem we will send you a new toilet. Big problem say I we have no water, no john and are on the road Friday.

can we put it back together I say. Well says he the difficulty level is about the same as defusing a nuclear bomb. We have no choice say I.

Casey was very calm, very professional and very patient. He talked us through it Helen doing most of the work as she can fit back in there. He is sending a new john to Ohio. One fridg and one john in two weeks both tethford products???

[pineranch]

It's definately a crappy situation. In time this too will pass and you will laugh and laugh. Keep the faith!!!!
Mike

[Rondo]

I won't make a comment at all about the weight issue Rich! Good luck on your return trip to Ohio and hope you get everything back together again. You don't won't to be in Ohio yet anyway! To cold and to much snow!

[c214dick]

When we were kids my brother blew up our toilet with a cherry bomb. I never heard of an exploding toilet from a foot.

[jpkelpe]

You really need to make a movie. I can just see this. Hope it all comes out OK
----REMEMBER!! RICH YOU TAUGHT ME THIS WHEN WORKING WITH THAT STUFF THINK LIKE A PARROT!!!----NO THIS IS NOT JAN!! AND IT REALLY WORKS I KNOW FROM ALL OF MY MESSES!

[richfaa]

The thetford tech after discussion said that it was a defective unit as the retaining ring should never come apart and set us a new unit without question. My question is why could this not have happened 3 days after we got here instead of three days before we are leaving. There was no way we could have got it fixed other that reassembling it ourselves. Hope it holds.

[drsmart]

We had our peddle pop off last winter after 18 months from trailer production date. Luckily no water issue. Sorry that happened to you. I think ours was the Aqua magic Style II with the side peddle. I was able to get the peddle back on and used bungee cords around the base to hold it there until we got a new potty. From what I've heard, this is a fairly common problem.

Quote from Thetford's web site: "The Thetford Name is
Your Assurance of Quality"

[steves]

Rich sorry about your dilemma but your note had me laughing....I think the bird did sonething to the toilet?

[kab449]

I now know why I kept the porta-potty from my pop up days 35 years ago. I'll find a compartment for it.
Seriously, you would think the quality of the parts Keystone puts in there higher priced units would be better.

[dieselguy]

Rich ... if it pops again, drop by a Lowes or ACE hardware and get a cap fitting for the 1/2" plastic feed line and simply cap it off. The only tool you'll need is a pair of pliers. You can use a pitcher or bucket to flush till you return home. That way you can at least have water to the rest of your unit.

[bigskyjimmy]

Same thing happened to me 3 moths into ownership ,called my dealer got a new toilet in a few days installed it myself in 20 minutes ...Done Yeah I did the bunge thing for a few days till my toilet came in but I'm with ya Rich, NO Freakin shut off valve??? AT the toilet??

[ole dude]

Would that be a good enough reason to turn the water off when leaving the trailer for a while?

[Bigboomer]

Rich,

Oh do I feel your pain. Although our potty did not explode, we did get a big surprise when t the toilet overflowed after use. This because we found out that if the water pressure dropped below 40 psi the water valve may not close properly and with dump valve closed it will fill up the bowl in no time and needless to say a soaking wet carpet and hours drying and cleaning did not make use happy. Since the CG we were staying in had low pressure I decided to put a brass ball value in the water line behind the toilet. Total cost about $11 and took 20 minutes. Now as the saying goes, we don't leave home without turning the valve off and in fact after every use we turn it off just in case.

No doubt, there should be an internal shut off valve near the toilet or in the bath area.

It certainly would have save us and many such as yourself headaches.

Les

[Illini Trekker]

I'm thinking the bird may have learned a few new words today? Hope it holds together for the trip home, best of luck!

[steelpony5555]

Now I know the next time you sit down to think you won't think about that toilet exploding again........Or will you.....lol lol....ok ok just don't think about it lol lol

[Recumbent]

This could be a time when a back receiver hitch would be very convenient for towing a trailer with a port-a-potty. Our pedal popped off the previous coach potty and I reinstalled it with a 3.5 inch long bolt though pedal and into the base interior. I have got a list of warranty issue work, with some already fixed and some scheduled to be fixed on our 2013 built after the 11/21/2012 date on the frame. Have a safe and uneventful trip north.

[DQDick]

Don't laugh at Rich folks this may be in your future also. The very same thing happened to us in January. Once we get to our home base I'll be putting shut offs on most of interior water lines.

[Bigboomer]

Here is what I did for reference on the shut off valve:

http://s962.photobucket.com/user/myb...toilet%20valve

Les

[MIMF]

Nice work, Bigboomer! When I de-winterize the old Challenger in a few days, I'm going to look this all over real good and see about installing an inline shut-off valve to our potty. This one is 8 years old and it hasn't exploded yet but, I want to be prepared incase it does. There is too much of a chance of that happening any way every time I use it!

[mail2us]

Rich, sorry to hear about your problem. As Dick said, it can happen to any of us. There is something that causes me to wonder about the past issues of waste tanks and now toilets giving you problems. I hope whatever it is that it goes away for ya.
xxxx

Les, great job on the shutoff valve install. Very neat job.