Slow leak in the potty!

[3campers]

For the first time ever the water is slowly draining out of the bottom of the potty. After using it we always fill up the bottom of toilet with an inch or two of water to keep the smell from fighting it's way back into the camper. Well this past weekend...in few hours that water slowly drains out.. Thoughts? I couldn't find a thread on this topic... Thanks!

[lewster]

Sounds like you need a new ball seal.

What model & manufacturer is your bowl?

[n2916s]

There is a groove that the ball seal sets into that needs cleaning occasionally. The official Thetford tool looks lok an oversize plastic tongue depressor about an eighth of an inch thick and six inches long.

If you can fabricate a similarly shaped non-metallic scraper with a little bit of flex, you can clean out the groove and you should be back in business.

Mike

[Another Road]

I too am beginning to address a first time issue with with our 2011(already) black tank. I would notice an "aroma" after we had pulled to a new site and began to set up, after being stationary for awhile it would subside. I'm sure our issues are different, but I can share this, if your toilet seal is good you shouldn't get any black tank odor from that source. The first thing I did to test the toilet seal on ours was to put a few inches of water in the bowl, three days later it was still there, telling me the seal was good. So I am off in another direction, however your issue may be as simple as a new seal.

[Wingeezer]

I have had similar problems.

One season, I found that although I put antifreeze in the bowl when we stored the trailer for the winter, when we came to take it South in Feb., the bowl had dried out.

When we got to warmer weather and got water in the trailer, I found it would not hold water. I tried cleaning the seal area numerous times - with popsicle sticks, then with my hand, suitably protected in nitrile gloves! I didn't find any obstruction and my cleaning attempts didn't resolve the problem. The water would run away in maybe 5-10 minutes.

I even took to dropping ink into the bowl full of water in order to see which area of the seal was leaking - that did provide an indication of the area that was leaking, but I still couldn't stop it.

At this point I figured I was going to have to lift the toilet and buy a new seal.

Just as an experiment however, I applied a thin layer of silicon grease to the seal and that seemed to do the trick!

You wouldn't think the seal material would absorb water, but I have a suspicion that if it dries out it doesn't work as well.

Once I got it sealing and it held water again, I didn't have any further issues - not yet anyway - that was a couple of seasons ago, and it has even been fine again during winter storage with antifreeze. Never have put any more silicon grease on the seal.

Brian.

[lewster]

If you have a Sea-Land toilet, Traveler Series, you don't have to lift the entire toilet. The bowl detached from the base easily allowing for the quick and easy removal and replacement of the 2 silicone discs that form the seal around the ball flush device.