handy man special?

[CountryGuy]

This is a 2 part improvement?? Not that we chose to do either one!

Number 1: 4 days before we left the Rio Grande, the toilet broke! There were two foot pedals, one to fill, one for just the flush. I was standing on the fill pedal, when POP, BANG, POP, the cord/wires on that fill pedal snapped. I shouted a few words of surprise and shock. Al had on his ear phones for the Television, never heard the sound nor my non-printable reaction.

Al started calling around, dealers, Thetford, dealers, Thetford. After a number of calls he found: toilet guaranteed for 3 years, yeaaaa, we are not quite 2! That particular toilet, some of the dealers will NOT work on, fix, nothing, they say there was a flaw in the design, etc. Thetford agreed to replace with another toilet, vs the fixing of the old one and allowed us to upgrade. We now have Aquamagic 5. It is taller, only has one pedal and is the noisest toilet we have ever had (fill is noisy!!!!).

On, the "ewwwwwwwwwwwww" side of this story, we had been having some trouble with odors from the old toilet, don't have that with the new one. Not sure why, but, glad to have the "ewwwwwwwwwwww" gone!

Number 2: One morning in Arlington Texas we were sitting around getting organized to go visit cousins when the ground fault interrupter in the kitchen/living room area started making the most horrendous noise! Who knew they made such a racket when they were going bad??? Not even my electrician hubby knew that! So, he found a Lowe's close by, purchased new, installed new and in the matter of a hour or so, no more noise! And, the interesting part was that again, the old stuff was a problem in that we never have ever had a receptical that was so hard to plug into or pull plugs out of. This was becoming an Olympic sport! The new ground fault is sooo smooth and the tug of war is OVER!

So, a handy man is a special guy, glad to have one on board!

Owner of a RV = man with handy hands and handy cash!

Carol

[vickir]

Carol ... our original toilet did the same thing just a few days before we left Independence and we replaced it with the same model as yours. Except for the noise (you're right ... it's loud! Thetford sent us a new valve, but we don't see that it made any difference), we like it a lot better ... as you said, it's taller and it's easier to clean. I agree on the handy hands/handy cash!

How is Al's mother doing?

[CountryGuy]

Hi Vicki,

Al'mom is better, but I think she is still on pain pills. He will be going over there tomorrow to check on things and see her, all that. We got home too late last night and he wanted to get me all set up here before he leaves in case he has to stay there for a while. Had to turn the water on in the house, found some things that leaked, he had to fuss with them. He has been mumbling a lot of "I know why Steve R. is full timing and got out of that house!"

As far as the toilet, yes, the noise is annoying. I have trouble getting the fill to work correctly. I like to put a lot of water in there, and I seem to get some in, and then the silly thing flushes before I am ready. I am strongly suggesting one of those flush/cleaner hoses that goes in the bathroom, that has the sprayer on it. Some one was talking about one not long ago here on the forum. That seems like a good solution for us.

Never a dull moment, if it ain't the stick built, it is Montana. Such is life, and on we go!

Carol

[sreigle]

Awwww, Carol, that old toilet had a three year warranty? Drat!! I should have checked the manual. I did the dumb thing and assumed it was a year, maybe two, and went out and paid for a new toilet. It was the day before we were to leave Independence and the snow and ice behind and was late in the day at that so I rushed to get the toilet before the place closed. We were leaving next day and had to have a functioning toilet.

Ours is also very noisy. Someone else had that and posted they called Thetford who sent a new valve and that solved the problem. So I called Thetford, they sent a new valve, it didn't solve the problem.

And I, too, have trouble with the single pedal. I realize you go halfway with the pedal for fill and the rest of the way to flush but there needs to be a stronger detent to let you know when to stop while it fills. Otherwise the pedal feels a lot more solid than the pedals in the IV did, to me at least. It is taller, I didn't need the riser I had put under the IV. I like it better than the old one except for the fill. Ours is very noisy right at the beginning of the fill but not after that.

[CountryGuy]

Exactly Steve,

The beginning of the fill will wake up your partner in the middle of the night! And, exactly right about the half fill so we don't flush point. There does not seem to be a point where you can feel the difference between fill and dump. Your experience is exactly what ours is!

Yes, OURS had a 3 year warranty. Hopefully after the axle situation we lived through we have learned to follow our own advice and ALWAYS read YOUR warranty before acting. This time we remembered to do just that. (Have not always, SIGH)

We have been reading a lot of warranties, Television, toilet. Also this trip we blew the CD changer on the stereo. Good luck trying to find a replacement for THAT! One that will come close to fitting in that cube of a hole. SO far, we found 2, ordered both, both orders were rejected due to "out of stock". Well, cripes, take em off the internet if you ain't got none!! GRRR! We are still working on a fix for that situation. Did not read any warranty on the ground fault interrupter, just replaced that one!

Carol

[tbhd]

We had Camping World install the Thetford Agua-Magic V High Profile foot flush (boy a lot of words to describe a toilet). Anyhow I agree with everyone. I love having the high profile but darn if I can find that half fill also. We went to Camping World today to buy the sprayer and all they had was a hose with a handle on it for $22 no fittings or anything so Dennis is going to call Thetford tomorrow to see if they have a kit for that model. It says on their site there is one available.

[fulltimedreamer]

Al and Carol,
It is good to hear that Al's mom is doing better and that you guys arrived safely home.

I'm glad you got those RV glitches taken care of and I hope the home repairs are going as well. We recently replaced the "potty" in our unit with one of the porcelain models. Somebody put some thought into this one. You push down on the pedal to flush and pull up on it to fill. You don't have to guess about when the "dump" is going to occur.

We'll continue to keep Al's mom in our prayers.

[CountryGuy]

tbhd,

Hey, let us know about that sprayer will ya?? Did not realize Thetford had their own.

fulltimedreamer,

Thanks for the continued prayers, she is not out of the woods yet, and we certainly appreciate all your good thoughts and prayers.

Your new potty sounds very nice! I heard about that up and down function from OntMont and other MOC members. Since we were getting for free, we took what they offered. Al says he is has reservations about this one lasting too???? Maybe then I can get the porcelain??

Carol

[tbhd]

Al and Carol

Glad to hear Al's mother is doing better. We will continue to keep her in our thoughts and prayers.

Dennis called Thetford this morning and ordered a hand sprayer from them. The part number for the sprayer is 19289. Customer Service phone number is 1-800-521-3032. The total cost for us is $34.23 and that includes a $3.50 UPS shipping charge to the Mt Clemens, Mi area. It might be slightly different for someone else depending on the shipping charges. It is suppose to include everything you need for the installation. While he had them on the phone he asked if they had a possible fix for the sensitive foot pedal. Maybe a longer rod or something but of course they didn't. They did say they have a lot of complaints about it though.


http://www.thetford.com/parts_aquamagicvfoot.cfm

[CountryGuy]

tbhd

Thanks, I'll pass this on to Al, I figure the shipping fees are about the same to Tipton as they are to Mt. Clemens! Heck we are almost back yard neighbors!

Carol

[William H. Collier]

CW must be getting a great deal from thetford, I just replaced my toilet with a Aqua Magic Style Plus and the optional sprayer was only 26.09 free shipping.
Bill

[sreigle]

All this talk about finding the halfway fill point got me to paying attention when filling and flushing. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. The fill point is not halfway at all. I'm very slowly pushing on the pedal until the water flow is the rate I want. When ready, then I push the rest of the way to flush. I suppose over time this will become automatic but until then it requires serious concentration.