Who was the genius...

[punomatic]

...who designed the Dometic 300 series toilet? Our year old Whitewater Retro 195 began to smell like an outhouse. I figured it was a vent problem, but nothing I did seemed to help. DW said, "Could it be the seal between the toilet and the floor is leaking?" We had had that problem in our TC with an Aqua Magic toilet.

So, I decided to remove the toilet and see what shape the flange seal was in. I got the toilet out of the trailer and realized it was the toilet itself that smelled. It was worse than any odor the now open black tank was emitting. The flange seal was in good shape, BUT I discovered about a cup full of black water was trapped between the inner and outer bowl moldings.

When I got the whole thing disassembled, I discovered that there is an O-ring that is supposed to seal the inside bowl from the outer shell. It is square in cross section, and it is not compressed in any way. In fact the fit was so loose that the O-ring was twisted during installation at the factory, making the seal even less secure. It did have some silicone grease on it, but it obviously allowed black water to get out of the bowl and into the outer shell. Whew! Talk about a smell. Good thing I have a strong stomach.

I cleaned all the parts and put the toilet back together and installed it. It works fine, and the smell is gone, but I told DW if it starts to smell again, we'll toss it and get a different toilet. It makes me sad, because this toilet works better than any other we have had in an RV. It is just so poorly designed that it is truly unsanitary.

[Lynnmor]

I was camped next to a guy a few weeks ago that was having his 320 replaced. Turns out that he had a 310 replaced with the 320 last year and now the that toilet was leaking. In the evening after the tech left he said that the newly installed 320 was bad and the tech will be back in the morning to do it all again.

Now I have a 310 about four years old and the flap is cracked. No replacement parts available so the fix is total replacement. Now the question is what to buy.

[dougrainer]

Yes, OLDER 300's (3 to 4 years ago ) had a silent recall. They found that they needed to use screws to secure the problem gasket/seal. That was rectified almost 3 years ago. But the OP's is within 2 years old and should not be part of the original problem. Yes, he had a defective toilet, but he fixed it. If he did not fix it, he could have received a NEW toilet under the 2 year warranty. Which he can still get. Doug

[Housted]

Lantley wrote:
In the end the toilet had a bad o ring seal that the OP was able to fix. Does that mean the entire line of toilets is defective and should be recalled?
If so where are all the other complaints?
Doug's point is the Dometic sky is not falling. Condemning the entire series based on 1 toilet is a bit of an over reaction.
Doug is in the business and deals with way more than 1 or 2 toilets a year.
He has a broader more global perspective. I imagine he is somewhat perturbed by the overblown exaggerated post. While I have nothing at stake here I understand Doug's point.

X2

Housted

[MFL]

Thanks for the info mike-s! I have been happy so far, with my 310, but nice to know of the issue, if a problem similar to the OP's was happening. The forum is great for sharing info, due to the MANY knowledgeable people here. No reason for any member to be condescending to another member.

Jerry

[mike-s]

Lantley wrote:

mike-s wrote:
Dometic has a history of bad seals, which allow waste to collect in places it simply shouldn't be. Whether from design or manufacturing, it doesn't matter, it's an issue.

So it appears maybe there has been a recall issued on 300 series toilet? The OP may want to contact Dometic on this.

He has a one-year old TT. A quick Google shows reports of the recall as far back as 2013. Riverside is a small manufacturer - I doubt they were working off a 3+ year old supply of toilets.

I pointed that out simply because, based on their history (I found similar complaints about other series), they haven't earned any benefit-of-the-doubt. There's simply no excuse for the problem. They seem to have design issues - a weakly compressed square gasket where a more tightly squeezed o-ring seems to be one which would reduce or eliminate a potential manufacturing issue. Voids which allow waste to collect instead of draining, or least leaking out the bottom so the user is quickly aware of the issue is another.

[Lantley]

mike-s wrote:
Dometic has a history of bad seals, which allow waste to collect in places it simply shouldn't be. Whether from design or manufacturing, it doesn't matter, it's an issue.

So it appears maybe there has been a recall issued on 300 series toilet? The OP may want to contact Dometic on this.

[mike-s]

Dometic has a history of bad seals, which allow waste to collect in places it simply shouldn't be. Whether from design or manufacturing, it doesn't matter, it's an issue.

[Tiger02]

There are some very sensitive fellas on this forum.

[Lantley]

In the end the toilet had a bad o ring seal that the OP was able to fix. Does that mean the entire line of toilets is defective and should be recalled?
If so where are all the other complaints?
Doug's point is the Dometic sky is not falling. Condemning the entire series based on 1 toilet is a bit of an over reaction.
Doug is in the business and deals with way more than 1 or 2 toilets a year.
He has a broader more global perspective. I imagine he is somewhat perturbed by the overblown exaggerated post. While I have nothing at stake here I understand Doug's point.

[marcsbigfoot20b]

Yeah I dont get it either....
Im sure they are assembled by hand and one or two square cut orings get rolled a year and it makes it through QA without being caught, well sh!t happens..literally.
We have all gotten a bad part or wrong order at one time in our lives.....I dont boycott Burgerking because they forgot extra onions once years ago on my burger.

I love my new Dometic 320.

[MFL]

dougrainer wrote:
Let me get this straight. Dometic makes hundreds of thousands of this model toilet. They are in scores of models. You have a DEFECTIVE one. So, you blame ALL the 300 toilets and the designer. Get a life. You fixed yours. Dometic sanitation have a 2 year warranty. If you go thru the proper procedure, they will replace your defective one. Doug

I agree, this post from Doug, is unfriendly, and unwarranted! Yes Doug, you are often helpful/knowledgeable, but need to work on your demeanor a little.:W

Jerry

[dougrainer]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

bucky wrote:

mike-s wrote:
I think we just found out who designed it - Doug Rainer.

As much help as Doug is on here let's not throw stones. The rest of us want his input. At least use a smiley face.

Really? Why the smiley? I don't think he was trying to be funny. Some non-helpful posts need to be called out. RVing can be frustrating and I think it's OK to vent.

Why was my post NOT helpful. I told him how to get a new toilet. Blaming Dometic for 1 in thousands is just ridiculous. Doug

[Bill_Satellite]

bucky wrote:

mike-s wrote:
I think we just found out who designed it - Doug Rainer.

As much help as Doug is on here let's not throw stones. The rest of us want his input. At least use a smiley face.

Really? Why the smiley? I don't think he was trying to be funny. Some non-helpful posts need to be called out. RVing can be frustrating and I think it's OK to vent.

[bucky]

mike-s wrote:
I think we just found out who designed it - Doug Rainer.

As much help as Doug is on here let's not throw stones. The rest of us want his input. At least use a smiley face.