Help Needed! Water Pump Pressure

[Diablo]

Need advice or suggestions.
Wanted to make sure toilet works. Depressed small pedal and water went into bowl. Depressed large pedal....and toilet emptied as water was pumped
in by the water pump. Work great 4 or 5 times. Shortly after the last try,
I noticed water "trickled into bowl" when small pedal was pressed. I also noticed that the water pump turned on for approx. 2 secs. and stops for about 5 secs. and turns on again for 2 secs. and stops again. This continues
on and on and all this time water is trickling into bowl. I thought it was the
water pump, but when I turn on kitchen faucet or shower....pump turns on
normal. What did I do wrong? Why does water not flow into toilet like it should, and why does the pump turn on and off over and over? Please any
help is greatly appreciated.
Diablo

[Chuck]

sounds like something has clogged up a line in the toilet, reducing the flow to a trickle. but its not completely clogged, so when you depress the pedal, a little water comes out, which lowers the pressure in the line s l o w l y, which triggers the water pump to turn on, which increaces the pressure quickly...quicker than the water line in the pipe is letting the pressure out....so the pressure builds back up in the water system, which turns the pump off...then in a few seconds, the pressure is reduced enough for the pump to turn on again...and so on, and so on...

either that, or the ball valve isn't opening all the way.

[ElliottBartlett]

Check the levers underneath that go from the pedal to the valve. If they came off or the nut holding them in place is loose, the valve may not be opening all the way and not closeing all the way. You might be able to get your fingers on it to manually open and close it. Otherwise you may have to pull the whole thing to get at it.

[53flyingcloud]

Originally Posted by Diablo

Need advice or suggestions.
Wanted to make sure toilet works. Depressed small pedal and water went into bowl. Depressed large pedal....and toilet emptied as water was pumped
in by the water pump. Work great 4 or 5 times. Shortly after the last try,
I noticed water "trickled into bowl" when small pedal was pressed. I also noticed that the water pump turned on for approx. 2 secs. and stops for about 5 secs. and turns on again for 2 secs. and stops again. This continues
on and on and all this time water is trickling into bowl. I thought it was the
water pump, but when I turn on kitchen faucet or shower....pump turns on
normal. What did I do wrong? Why does water not flow into toilet like it should, and why does the pump turn on and off over and over? Please any
help is greatly appreciated.
Diablo

Greetings Diablo~
One of the possibilities;
It sounds like the check valve in the back of the toilet, (Thetford..right?) which is a integral part of the seat's hinge, is either defective or clogged~
If that is the case, the simplest way to fix this is to loosen or remove the toilet's bolts down around the bottom. (You'll have to reach around behind to the opening in the back of the toilet to do this)
As I said, the check valve is in the upper part of the toilet, part of the seat's hinge Don't break it~!!. Just simply install a bypass tubing around the check valve, and you should be in business again..(After you re-install it)
To make things go smoother, be sure to have a new wax ring seal for the bottom of the toilet..Because, after you move the toilet..you'll need to replace that as well..This would be a great time to have some bleach on hand to clean everything~!~
No need to buy a new toilet if this works for you~
Hope that helps~!
Good luck~!!
ciao
53FC
Just to add this:
Since I have not seen nor worked on all Thetford Models,
The above may or may not apply to your toilet model.
ciao~