I have a Thetford ARIA Deluxe II that has lasted two years. The flush valve needs replacing and the porcelain has badly eroded at the water level. Needless to say, we're not happy with the brand. We like the size, features, etc.
We want to stick with a porcelain, full size, elongated bowl.
What brands and models are good quality? What do you like or not like?
Have a Microphor Model LF-220 electric model (DC) in my bus. Installed in 1991 use it about once or twice a month for several days at a time. Knock on wood, still a cranking/flushing. Had a problem leaking water out of bowl but folks there told me to clean flapper with solvent and put silicone grease on rubber and it was good to go after. Hear they are pricey. The only other thing I have done is to replace wax ring on bottom which isn't the Microphor's fault.
How often do you use your bus? My Aria Classic is still going strong after five years, but I don't use the bus all that much.
We live full time in our bus.
I have the Sealand 510 simple gravity flush. It is platinum in color. I have rebuilt it once, and should be rebuilt now again also-but that's after 21 years of use. My black tank is mounted in between the small frame that AMGeneral transits have down the middle. I have a pipe run of about 3ft. No problems-just make sure to have enough water for solid flush. With a 45 gal black tank, I can go two weeks before dumping. I like the setup so much, I've bought the same toilet (in white this time) for my truck conversion. But this time will have 69 gal black tank. On the truck conversion will be about a 6ft run with 4ft drop. Have not tried it yet. If it doesn't want to work, will replace with an electric toilet. But, like everything simple. Good Luck, TomC
Hi Tikvah,
After replacing 4 RV toilets we went to a house style toilet.
It is a Home Depot product , low water usage and still I adjusted it lower.
The toilet is an elongated type with 2 push buttons (one for a half flush and one for a full flush) it works great. Our black water tank is right below the toilet so we use just enough water to clear the bowl. We've been to Q'site and a few other dry camp areas and it is no problem. The type toilet I searched for is a one piece without the tank sitting in the back bolted to it. We have it 5 years now and would suggest it to anyone wanting to move away from an RV toilet.
Frank
If I have any problems with mine, and I'm sure I will after 25 years, will do what Frank did.
Sealand 910...
old and working....since 1992 .... (maybe longer) ...
when it quits i will do what Frank did...
Hello: I chose a household type Kohler porcelain low profile 1 pc and did what Frank did to lower the water use. I built a 3" raised platform that it sits on, so one can get up from it easier, while feet still touch the floor. Gerry H
Hi Dave and Amy,
Nuther vote for house toilet. They are getting efficient enough to nearly keep up with the low water usage of the rv toilets. We originally had the Dometic 310 Porcelain toilet. Nice toilet. Leaked urine all over the floor at the plastic shroud after just 4 years of fulltiming. Yanked it and installed a Home Depot toilet. Best upgrade in our coach yet! You won't regret it.
We use the Dometic 320 RV Elongated. Its higher and longer than most rv toilets. I added a sprayer and a bolt-on Bidet from Home Depot.
Dave
Quote from: Scott Bennett on December 14, 2015, 05:16:52 PM
Hi Dave and Amy,
Nuther vote for house toilet. They are getting efficient enough to nearly keep up with the low water usage of the rv toilets. We originally had the Dometic 310 Porcelain toilet. Nice toilet. Leaked urine all over the floor at the plastic shroud after just 4 years of fulltiming. Yanked it and installed a Home Depot toilet. Best upgrade in our coach yet! You won't regret it.
I've installed a Dometic 310, but it's not yet been used at all. Should I change out the bolts (that eventually rust due to leakage) to stainless steel ones now? Is there anything else I can do to improve the foam seal now?
John
I did what Gerry H did. Mine has worked fine since approx 95'. Only
caution I take is to make sure the water pump is off while traveling. Other wise the
water will splash around and go down the overflow tube on the toilet.
Merle.
We have a Dometic 320 elongated bowl in our bus and it works like a charm....so much so that yesterday I replaced the cheaper plastic toilet in our 5th wheel with another Dometic 320. A low-profile this time because it site on a raised platform, but otherwise identical.
Mark
John, you could replace the bolts with stainless ones and caulk around the foam seal, but honestly it's just a bad design. You can read about it on google.
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I have an old one in my mc5. I'm not sure what model anymore and can't go look. Was leaking and not working so I started looking at new ones. Didn't like what I saw and bought a repair kit for $200.00 instead and glad I did. I think I'm gonna put that one in this bus when I get back to it.
Quote from: Scott Bennett on December 16, 2015, 12:22:28 PM
John, you could replace the bolts with stainless ones and caulk around the foam seal, but honestly it's just a bad design. You can read about it on google.
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So, today I took my basically-unused Dometic 310 loo apart to see what all the fuss is about. (Am I the only one who takes apart almost brand-new things even before they've been used, especially if the instructions state that it is not "user-serviceable"?!) When I undid each of the four bolts that hold the two halves together I heard something fall off inside - not good. The base easily separated from the bowl, revealing the round foam gasket under the flushing seal that apparently is the reason for these loos leaking after some use. What got me thinking was how to reassemble it again, because the four white plastic wedges that hold the bowl onto the base are intended to be used only once - the conical nuts that expand the wedges tight against the bowl's holes break off the ends of the wedges when they're assembled in the factory. I bought four stainless 8-32 pan-head 3" bolts (the original non-stainless bolts are about 2-1/2" long with a hex/slotted washer head): their extra length makes it possible to reuse the wedges. I wanted to change out the steel nuts in each conical nut assembly, but the stainless 8-32 nuts I bought were too large to fit inside the plastic cones so I had to keep the original rustable Z-P nuts there. Much vigorous shaking and swearing resulted in the four conical nuts falling back out of the bowl's four holes - without retrieving all four of them this project would have been dead in the water.
I ran a small bead of exterior-grade silicone caulk on the top and bottom faces of the main round gasket (the one that eventually leaks) and the thinner rectangular gasket between the plastic base and the nylon seal plate, ran the conical nuts onto the new bolts so they were flush to the end of the tapered ends of the wedges, squeezed the wedges together with needle-nose pliers so they would go inside the bowl's holes, put the loo upside down on the ground and sat on the plastic base to make sure it seated all the way against the bowl. While sitting on it I tightened the four bolts until they were snug but not tight - if you over-tighten them they will crack the china bowl.
I hope this will prevent the dreaded leaks/smells/puddles of pee that these loos are notorious for. I think they're generally a flimsy design, and the seal is obviously not up to the job after it's been compressed and loses its elasticity. Hopefully this fix will work - if not, at least I now know what's inside there, and it wasn't expensive in the first place if I have to replace it altogether.
Isn't life fun when you have a bus?
John
John, you understand now exactly what the issue is with those toilets. I could never describe it to anyone properly and even dometic acted clueless. Anyway, hope your fix works. Even exterior caulk exposed to constant urine is probably going to fail. Yuck.
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Is it safe to assume that the Dometic 320 does not have the problems that the 310 has???
"Thoughts on Toilets"
I do some of my best thinking when on it. :)
Quote from: Tikvah on December 22, 2015, 11:02:59 AM
Is it safe to assume that the Dometic 320 does not have the problems that the 310 has???
The 310 and 320 are essentially the same. The difference is the seat - the 310's is plastic, the 320's is wood. Both toilets share the same manual, and both look identical, so it's prudent to assume the 320 may have the same problems as the 310. For peace of mind it may be worth caulking the seal now before it's used - my project wasn't too bad to do once I had figured out the wedges and conical nuts that hold the two halves together.
John