Forum Discussion

acritzer's avatar
acritzer
Explorer II
Apr 21, 2016

Toilet not holding water

I'm on a roll with needed fixes. I had the toilet seal inspected when I had the camper winterized. The guy said it looked good and had held the water/anti freeze for a couple weeks while they waited for a part on a different issue.
It was dry when I went to de-winterize. Now since getting thugs set up its not holding water. I cleaned really well (it was already clean). I rubbed some oil on the gasket. I've filled it about 4-5 times. So far no luck.

Any other ideas? And how difficult is it to replace a gasket yourself?

Thanks everyone.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Apr 21, 2016
    Replace it. Depending on toilet brand its usually a 30 minute or less fix.
  • acritzer's avatar
    acritzer
    Explorer II
    Apr 21, 2016
    Camping this weekend (yikes) so I'm going to try cleaning under the closed ball and see if that helps. Meanwhile I'll search for a replacement.
  • corvettekent's avatar
    corvettekent
    Explorer
    Apr 21, 2016
    Order the new seal and replace it after your trip, it's not that big of deal if it leaks a bit.
  • acritzer's avatar
    acritzer
    Explorer II
    Apr 21, 2016
    Yeah. But it leaks all the way out...rather quickly. Will probably smell. im fine, but convincing my wife and kids to use the campground facilities might be hard.
  • acritzer's avatar
    acritzer
    Explorer II
    Apr 21, 2016
    Well...minor update. I smeared a bunch of Vaseline on it and it seems to be holding for now. Not sure how long that will last. Tomorrow my said wife will see if a local place has the part. If so I can work on it after we check in when I'm home from work.
  • Ltrip's avatar
    Ltrip
    Explorer
    Apr 21, 2016
    I have the same issue. Been on the road for 2 months. No odor for us. I use a black tank deodorant. I plan to fix it when I get home, but I don't consider it urgent. I will be looking for a video or description on how to replace the seal.
    Cheers,
  • rekoj71's avatar
    rekoj71
    Explorer
    Apr 21, 2016
    When I had that problem I couldn't get a part due to location, but did have some time to kill. I took the toilet apart to make sure the gasket I was seeing online was the one that I had. I found that I had a lot of hard water type calcium type buildup on my gasket. I cleaned (more like scraped with a dull scraper) and was able to clean it to what looked close to new again. Put it back together and it's held for over 6 moths already. Obviously no promises as to weather that might work for you.
  • 1ofmany's avatar
    1ofmany
    Explorer
    Apr 21, 2016
    corvettekent wrote:
    Order the new seal and replace it after your trip, it's not that big of deal if it leaks a bit.
    Agree...once it starts to not hold water, the seal is likely gone. If you do an online search, you may be able to find a "how to" do your seal replacement...it is not hard, but follow the directions that with probably come with the seal.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    Apr 21, 2016
    I found on mine it was hard mineral buildup that prevented the seal from holding water. When I removed the toilet to replace the seal I could see the buildup and a new seal would not work unless the build up was removed. After scraping the mineral deposits of the old seal worked fine.
  • jplante4's avatar
    jplante4
    Explorer II
    Apr 21, 2016
    Just a bit of advise from someone who just went through this.

    We've been on the road for 6 months. The only part of the toilet that hasn't been replace is the bowl. Do yourself a favor; just replace the entire unit. You won't be sorry.

    Total up the cost of the parts in the toilet. The ball, ball seal, floor seal, valve spring mechanism, plus your time running around and working on the thing, and you'll nearly break even.

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