Toilet overflowed...
Had an extended 6-night labor day weekend camping trip. Around 7 am on the second morning I got up to go to the bathroom and stepped in about 1/2" deep water. Nooooooooooooo.... I quickly discovered that the toilet had overflowed since the last time someone used the toilet during the night, maybe about 3 hours earlier.
Like a scene from Apollo 13, after quickly realizing there was a catastrophe, in seconds we were both grabbing towels, the dog blanket and a sleeping bag to mop up the water. I hadn't bothered to properly level the trailer and the water was in front next to the bed on one side. Fortunately it hadn't run under the slide, to the kitchen or under the dinette seating where the furnace and converter are.
Once the standing water was all mopped up, I used the hair dryer to try and dry up the bottom of the luan paneling and under the under-bed storage and under the bathroom vanity. Water had gotten in the pass-through storage so that had to be mopped up too along with using the hair dryer.
Then, looking at the underbelly, it was obvious water had leaked there too. I quickly pulled down almost 1/2 of the coroplast and found some of the batt insulation was saturated. I also found the the some of the batt insulation directly under the plywood subfloor was also saturated. I cut slits in the Darco fabric where it appeared water was trapped. The left side of the trailer where there is Darco between the frame and outer wall (about 1' wide lengthwise) had quite a bit of trapped water so I ended up cutting a slit lengthwise about 12' long (between the outriggers). I pulled out what I *think* was all of the saturated insulation.
From when I stepped on the water to the time the corolplast was pulled down and all the wet insulation removed was around 4 hours non-stop. I made a trip to a nearby hardware store and bought the only batt insulation they had, the last roll of 15" wide R12 in the store plus a roll of Gorilla tape. Over the next two days I got new insulation installed, the cuts in the Darco taped up and the underbelly back in place. Getting the coroplast back in was waaay harder than getting it out. Working on my back in a CG on sharp crushed gravel was NOT fun. I could not find any wet looking plywood subfloor.
I'm not really sure why the Thetford Aqua Magic (porcelain) toilet overflowed. The holding tank had filled right up. Not sure if it was the foot valve mechanism or a sticking flapper seal. If you release the foot pedal slowly, the flapper valve doesn't fully close and the water keeps running. We found the toilet had started to overflow 2 seasons ago and caught it in time. Had an RV repair shop install a new water valve and it has been fine until now. Several years ago I installed a shutoff valve behind the toilet and we kept it off and only turned it back on when we needed to flush.
What a POS toilet if it can overflow like that. Not sure I want to rebuild/repair it or get another brand. Would switching to a Dometic toilet be better? I never ever want to have this happen again, besides the fact that the weather was great and it ruined the trip.
Oh, and to add insult to injury, I found that a PEX fitting under the shower was leaking and water had gotten under the shower and into the insulation below. The cinch clamp on the flex braided hose to the toilet was improperly done at the factory. I have no idea how long it has been leaking. Had to make another trip to the hardware store for a couple of fittings. Ended up using a gear clamp temporarily until I can fix it properly at home.
FWIW, the insulation and the so-called "heated underbelly" is a joke in these things. If I had the time and inclination I would pull out all the insulation and do it better/properly.
Not a good weekend. :(
Like a scene from Apollo 13, after quickly realizing there was a catastrophe, in seconds we were both grabbing towels, the dog blanket and a sleeping bag to mop up the water. I hadn't bothered to properly level the trailer and the water was in front next to the bed on one side. Fortunately it hadn't run under the slide, to the kitchen or under the dinette seating where the furnace and converter are.
Once the standing water was all mopped up, I used the hair dryer to try and dry up the bottom of the luan paneling and under the under-bed storage and under the bathroom vanity. Water had gotten in the pass-through storage so that had to be mopped up too along with using the hair dryer.
Then, looking at the underbelly, it was obvious water had leaked there too. I quickly pulled down almost 1/2 of the coroplast and found some of the batt insulation was saturated. I also found the the some of the batt insulation directly under the plywood subfloor was also saturated. I cut slits in the Darco fabric where it appeared water was trapped. The left side of the trailer where there is Darco between the frame and outer wall (about 1' wide lengthwise) had quite a bit of trapped water so I ended up cutting a slit lengthwise about 12' long (between the outriggers). I pulled out what I *think* was all of the saturated insulation.
From when I stepped on the water to the time the corolplast was pulled down and all the wet insulation removed was around 4 hours non-stop. I made a trip to a nearby hardware store and bought the only batt insulation they had, the last roll of 15" wide R12 in the store plus a roll of Gorilla tape. Over the next two days I got new insulation installed, the cuts in the Darco taped up and the underbelly back in place. Getting the coroplast back in was waaay harder than getting it out. Working on my back in a CG on sharp crushed gravel was NOT fun. I could not find any wet looking plywood subfloor.
I'm not really sure why the Thetford Aqua Magic (porcelain) toilet overflowed. The holding tank had filled right up. Not sure if it was the foot valve mechanism or a sticking flapper seal. If you release the foot pedal slowly, the flapper valve doesn't fully close and the water keeps running. We found the toilet had started to overflow 2 seasons ago and caught it in time. Had an RV repair shop install a new water valve and it has been fine until now. Several years ago I installed a shutoff valve behind the toilet and we kept it off and only turned it back on when we needed to flush.
What a POS toilet if it can overflow like that. Not sure I want to rebuild/repair it or get another brand. Would switching to a Dometic toilet be better? I never ever want to have this happen again, besides the fact that the weather was great and it ruined the trip.
Oh, and to add insult to injury, I found that a PEX fitting under the shower was leaking and water had gotten under the shower and into the insulation below. The cinch clamp on the flex braided hose to the toilet was improperly done at the factory. I have no idea how long it has been leaking. Had to make another trip to the hardware store for a couple of fittings. Ended up using a gear clamp temporarily until I can fix it properly at home.
FWIW, the insulation and the so-called "heated underbelly" is a joke in these things. If I had the time and inclination I would pull out all the insulation and do it better/properly.
Not a good weekend. :(
