Toilet bowl doesn't hold water

Arcamper wrote:
Had that problem once caused by something stuck in the seal. Used the wife's toothbrush and cleaned it out. No problem with the seal since, wife was another story...

Thanks for the laugh!

If it's not the obvious like something stuck in the seal, I would then suspect the seal compression. Does the pre-fill work fine (hold lever down to fill bowl)? If not it could well be that the rubber seal is not compressed sufficiently. We had this a year ago. Simple fix by righting the four bolts that hold the top of the toilet down and compress this seal.

Spa / Pool lube also would work, if you have a pool and have some around. Stuff you put on pool filter gaskets.

Lyle

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Ours has been occasionally failing to hold water for several years now. It never smells so I've left it alone.

Pour a little CLR product in toilet 1 or 2 times.

I agree you should first thoroughly clean the mouth of the toilet, paying particular attention to the rubber gasket. Then as long as you are at it, just lube the gasket, but do not use Vaseline or any other petroleum based product, instead use plumbers lube which is not expensive, readily available and the right product for the job. If it still leaks, then the gasket needs replacing.

I have had the leaking issue on different trailers because of the hard water. ready bad in Ca and Az. I would pour some vinegar in the bowl and the rubber seal would go to black from the grey buildup that would cause a leak.

chevman

Had that problem once caused by something stuck in the seal. Used the wife's toothbrush and cleaned it out. No problem with the seal since, wife was another story...

I used disposable plastic gloves and a old toothbrush ( bent) to get under seal. Cleaned it up used silicone grease and not a problem since.