Replacing Toilet?

[Utahgoldrup]

Does anyone have experience replacing their old Thetford toilet? We want to replace the one we have currently (below) in our 1991 25ft Excella with a Thetford Aqua-Magic Style II toilet, we just purchased it a day ago... I am wondering if we may have any trouble getting it to fit. I read other posts and see that some toilets are too big (long/deep) and cause problems, not sure if we will have the same situation.

If anyone has attempted to replace their toilet with one like we have, can you give any suggestions, advice, etc?

Thanks!!

[vswingfield]

I would be interested in the seat and the lid. I am happy with mine, but have a crack in the seat that delivers an impudent little pinch on the cheek when arising. Currently patched with fiberglass from behind, but(t? ) always holds the potential for future failure.

Having looked at the newer Thetford replacements, I don’t anticipate you having any difficulties. The newer models also use standard seats and lids, a plus in my opinion. I just have other replacements ahead of this, and I live in my Excella.

[Utahgoldrup]

If I can get the old toilet out okay and find a replacement which will fit, the lid and seat are yours! The toilet is actually in great condition... we are just got the "remodeling" bug and wanted to do a few projects one of which is replacing the toilet. I will let you know how it turns out.

Matt

[vswingfield]

No vested interest here, but had a good experience with Camping World. I was at the North Little Rock one for a cabinet latch and the representative, a very sharp lady, sold me on the “Presidents’ Club” explaining that they would price match anything I could bring in. I had noticed problems with my old Dometic refrigerator and anticipated replacement, so I joined. I found a price on what I wanted (http://www.airforums.com/forums/f425...aes-44474.html) online, printed it out, and it saved me hundreds of dollars.

Sure I could have ordered it online (it had to be ordered anyway, they even asked which was I wanted the door to open), but this way I was able to just pick in my F150 when it came in rather than arrange for receiving a very large package during work hours.

To make a long story long, too late for short, I checked out the toilettes on display while I was there. A wide selection and you can see exactly what they are. I see that they have locations in both Draper and Kaysville. Go in and check out what is available. You are under no obligation to buy just for looking. Then find the best deal you can online, print it out, and you are good. My experience is that they are competitive in the first place, the fridge was an exception.

Not to blow something that would benefit me , the one you have is pretty nice. It has the china bowl, right? Easy to keep clean, a huge improvement over the all-plastic ones. You might want to reconsider.

[DEITZ645]

Utahgoldrup,
Take a look here and you can find the clearance specs on the throne you are looking to install.

Aqua Magic Style II

One potential problem I can see as to comfort will be the finish heighth of the new throne. Especially since your existing one is already on a raised platform. Though I see they have a low profile mdel that may just be the ticket.

Removing and reinstalling is pretty straight forward. Turn off and disconnect the water. Find the "closet" bolts (usually 2) on the base of the toilet and remove the nuts. At this point the toilet should simply lift off the closet flange. There may be a wax ring or some other sort of gasket. Remove any leftover wax or sealant and clean the closet flange thoroughly. Then install the new toilet in the reverse order. Be sure to use a new wax ring or gasket. If you are purchasing a brand new toilet, chances are it will come with one.

Good luck and let us know how you make out. It is pretty easy and straight forward. The toughest part will be contorting your body to remove the nuts that hold the toilet onto the closet flange. A ratchet set with extensions and a universal joint will help immensely.

I hope my 500th post was helpful
.

[Utahgoldrup]

Hi Carl - looking at the specs for the toilet we bought, it is going to sit too high, even though it is the low profile. Currently the old toilet sits about 20" from the floor (this includes the box/pedestal), the new toilet would end up at about 24"... I'd feel like a small kid again using that toilet with my feet not touching the floor and swinging!! ha ha..

For the life of me, I can't find the two bolts that need to come off to remove the toilet. If I press down on the foot pedal in front, I can see a bolt that I think is one of them, but not another. I can reach around back barely but all I can feel are the water lines, etc, I don't see how it would be possible to undo anything back there when you can't get to it, couldn't feel another bolt.

I wonder if another toilet is made that will sit as low as the original. I like Vaughn's idea about price shopping and having Camping World match it... when that happens Vaughn, the seat and lid to the original one is yours!!

On a side note, I posted under another thread about finding water damage in our trailer (leaks) so I have spent the past two days ripping out the couch, rear twin beds and all of the carpeting and pad... going to have to spend some time taking care of sealing vents, etc on the roof and then sealing around the strop along the bottom of the trailer on the outside (someone told us that water can leak in onto the floor if that area is not sealed which seems to be the case). The toilet will probably be the last thing we replace but the goal is to have everything done by the time we go camping in early May!!

[Utahgoldrup]

Hey Carl - sorry I didn't mention your 500th post!!! It does and did help, the link to the specs on the new toilet were very informative, I do appreciate your taking the time as well as everyone else for doing the same. If it wasn't for this forum, too many of us Airstream owners would be lost with what to do!!!!!

[DEITZ645]

Utahgoldrup,
The second closet bolt should be pretty much on the exact opposite side from the one that you can see when the flushing pedals are depressed. There might be a trim panel that can be removed to access the other bolt. Another possibility is that the seat can be removed on order to look down onto the second bolt. My friend's mobile home toilet has a little circular plastic plug on the top of the toilet that pops off in order to access the closet bolt in the back.

Yes the forum is a very helpful and thoughtful community. Anybody that has bought an older or vintage unit is going through the exact same thing you are. Just take it nice and easy and you will learn a lot about your coach, its systems, how it was built, and how to properly maintain it. Don't get overwhelmed and don't burn yourself out. Most important of all, have fun renovating the coach and use your Airstream as much as possible.

[Utahgoldrup]

Bingo!! There is a little tab thing on top of the toilet Under the lid) and I am sure that is what will let me get to the bolt I couldn't find, thank you!!

Saturday was a very overwhelming day, our hopes were dashed of getting things updated inside (all cosmetic stuff), we didn't dream it would turn into more but after settling down and doing the work we have done so far, our spirits are up again and I am looking forward to the "learning" process and doing a lot of the work myself, I am sure still considered the "easy stuff" by many but you are right, I have seen many a post with others having to tackle what they hadn't initially set out to have to do.

This Monday morning is starting out just right!

[DEITZ645]

Originally Posted by Utahgoldrup

I have seen many a post with others having to tackle what they hadn't initially set out to have to do.

Utahgoldrup,
You have hit the nail on the head. Our second Airstream was just going to be one we could put on our leased site at Penn Wood Airstream Park so we wouldn't have to haul the '06 back and forth all the time.

Well we got her home (she's named "Savannah" and the '06 is "Katarina") and did the usual new owner cleaning and I decided the ugly '80's era mauve shag carpet had to go. So a friend and I spent the first winter putting down a new Wilson Art laminate floating hard wood floor. After that was finished I decided I wanted the outside polished and the belly pan and frame inspected. So we hauled her eight hours away to P & S Trailer Service in Helena, OH. Origianlly I was only going to have the top portion of the trailer stipped and reclearcoated, but when we pulled in there was an Excella 1000 pretty much like ours that they had just finished polishing the whole thing. I told them I wanted ours to look just like the one they had finished, so the entire trailer got polished and clear coated, new updated decals, road side and rear awnings, and the belly pan, wraps, and frame were all gone over. So she should be ready for another 20 years. We had a picture prfect season at Penn Wood with her and brought her home to keep our '06 company in our orchard over the winter. This winter's projects are to get the trailer lettered, get a new mattress, get rid of the ugly '80's era mauve upholstery, and replace a gaudy mirrored / flowered cabinet panel in the living room with maybe a leaded or etched glass panel. The upholstery is at the upholsterer's now and should be finished in a few days. Hopefully after this year it will be just small maintenance items, but I am sure those are just delusions of grandeur.

Keep up the good work on your silver palace and keep us posted on your progress.

[vswingfield]

Another "Throne Thread" got me curious. What did you end up doing?

[Utahgoldrup]

I will have to post some pictures soon.... it has been interesting. We did buy a toilet from Camping World, it dos sit a bit high but it is the low profile version. We had a local RV dealer we have been going to install it, this was right after we had re-carpeted our whole trailer including the bathroom and kitchen galley. Unfortunately, the first trip out, the toilet leaked but we didn't know about it until the second day, ended up being some kind of manufactures defect and the dealership replaced our new toilet with another new one, same color, brand, style, etc. BUT, sewage leaked out under the toilet onto the floor and into the kitchen galley area, we had throw rugs down and that is why we didn't know what was happening until it was too late. We ripped up the new carpet and pad, cut it back to where there wasn't any damage, dried the trailer out, used an ozone machine and painted the floor with Kilz... then had new carpet pieced in and seamed professionall (luckily we kept the left over carpet from the install so you can't really tell where it was seamed).

Had to take the trailer back in to fix additional leaks at the water connection, just wasn't tightly screwed in and it finally is working the way it should, so much nicer than the old toilet that we had!!

[Utahgoldrup]

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Not to blow something that would benefit me , the one you have is pretty nice. It has the china bowl, right? Easy to keep clean, a huge improvement over the all-plastic ones. You might want to reconsider.

The old toilet did not have the china bowl, it was all plastic or we would have kept it. We really liked the toilet we had in our 2005 Bambi CCD, it had the china bowl.