Powered Vent for Thetford Recirculating Toilet

[swaller8]

Rickst29 and Bill: Thank you both for your insight. I ran a ground wire to join the factory wirenut connection at the water pump. All seems to be working well. Big shout out to FlyboyTR, without his guidance via YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyg_d4Q7gJs&t=1s

I would not have accomplished this as easily. I did add the angle cock shut off to protect the fan. However, it is so tight to engage I may never use it (plan to dump before leaving site).

The previous owner of my TM created a sink hack for winterization that helped in drain vent access. He used stainless steel faucet supply lines to extend the faucet feeds and left the sink unfastened. Then he created a 'custom' hot water heater line bypass with standard plumbing connections and flexhose. I will drain the hot water heater and pull the anode when I winterize, bypass the heater and fill from the top (lifting out the sink). I just purchased my TM this summer so have not winterized yet, but it looks straight forward.

Thanks again!

[Bill]

Swaller8 -

Just FYI, none of the rather elaborate drain stuff you described is needed.

While it can't hurt to add a water heater bypass, the water heater in a TM doesn't need one. Nor is it necessary to pull the anode rod. The tank will gravity-drain when you open the four drains under the TM. A quick Forum search on the term BYPASS or WINTERIZE will bring up a lot of discussion and diagrams.

As noted in the TM Owner's Manual (as well as in on-line plumbing sites), the black plastic drain pipes will not break if frozen - they can expand to absorb the stress. If you are a belt-and-suspenders guy like me, you can extra-protect the trap by dumping a cup of non-toxic antifreeze down the kitchen sink drain. Cheap and easy-peasy.

Bill

[Shane826]

Bill-

If you have pretty much any toilet that has a fresh water flush supply, just draining isn’t enough. You need to get antifreeze through the flush valve. I speak from experience; the flush valve froze and cracked the first winter after I installed the SeaLand. If you use antifreeze, you’ll want to bypass the water heater otherwise that’s an additional 6 gallons of antifreeze to winterize the hot side plumbing. With a bypass you can winterize the entire plumbing system with one gallon, plus another gallon into the P-traps and tanks. I bet now that the SeaLand is available as original equipment they start adding a water heater bypass on new TMs and change the language in the owners manual real soon.

[FlyboyTR]

Originally Posted by swaller8

Rickst29 and Bill: Thank you both for your insight. I ran a ground wire to join the factory wirenut connection at the water pump. All seems to be working well. Big shout out to FlyboyTR, without his guidance via YouTube:

I would not have accomplished this as easily. I did add the angle cock shut off to protect the fan. However, it is so tight to engage I may never use it (plan to dump before leaving site).

Thanks again!

Thanks! I am glad that you found my video and mod beneficial. I am considering doing the same thing to our new to us, Rat Motel, Trailmanor! LOL

Travis

[thibchamp]

This may tie into the thread about adding an extra vent. We have had a Trailmanor in use for probably 10+ years. Never had a problem except the last 2 trips. Using chemical as usual, I get a terrible smell develop after 2 days. Dump, reprime, new chemical, the same smell 2 days later. At home I have fill
up, dumped 4 or 5 times to clean everything out. Then again, the smell comes back. Our style of camping, there are no solid waste, we always make it to the campground facilities. Question is there a vent that may be clogged up, so it vents back thru the toilet. Or is there other suggestions.