Add-On Toilet Plumbing Question

[Shane826]

Ok kids I need some input…

I have a SeaLand toilet and think it’s one of the best upgrades you can make to the camper. I do have one gripe; there is really poor pressure/slow flow when you flush it. Rest of the camper is fine. No blockages. So I’ve thought about adding a dedicated city water inlet just for the toilet and then add a couple check valves to isolate it from the rest of the plumbing but still be functional if I need to use the tank and pump.

So here’s the question. What’s the proper etiquette about running an orange hose to a Y splitter on the spigot at the campsite?

[makriegz]

Hey Shane,

Any follow-up on this?
I'm considering upgrading to the SeaLand. Figured I would want to do the full install in one sweep. Did you end up modifying to strengthen the flush?

Thanks!

[Bill]

I'm not sure why you would use both a city water inlet and the tank and pump at the same time. If you have city water, and use it to flush the toilet, are you concerned about its quality as drinking water? I guess I can understand that, though an inline filter might do a lot of good.

As for an "orange hose" (what's that?), why not put the Y-splitter directly on the spigot, followed by your pressure reducer, followed by a white hose directly to your TM? I've seen that quite often, and no one seems to object. Wouldn't it get you the pressure you need at the toilet?

What am I missing?

Bill

[Shane826]

The problem lies in the vacuum breaker on the toilet (first pic). It loses any and all pressure there so it just kinda trickles when it flushes. A dedicated input to the toilet won’t do anything. I’m looking for a way to either eliminate the air gap style vacuum breaker and install a check valve or else I’ll probably get a new toilet.

Bill said “As for an orange hose (what’s that?)”

Well, I guess it’s a hose that is orange? I kid I kid. Camco has a bright orange hose (second pic) to use for tank flushes and stinky slinky rinses etc, orange so you know that’s the one for dirty work.

[oldstick]

My opinion is that the trickle on the Sealand toilet is by design and you probably don't want more than that. Unless you want the 9 gallon holding tank to be filled to the brim in less than a day of use. Mine does the trickle with just enough flow to give the bowl a quick rinse using about 1 or 2 seconds with the flush pedal.

We try to minimize the use as much as possible, but still have trouble making the tank last more than 2 days, without having to haul a portable tote tank full (Yuuck!) to the dump station.

[Shane826]

But it’s such a trickle that water doesn’t come out all around the bowl so it doesn’t rinse certain areas. And no it’s not plugged.

[jagizzi]

ours is the same but we live with it. No issues with peeing but for the big stuff we prefill the bowl a bit to help ease things along and keep it cleaner.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Shane826

I have a SeaLand toilet ... I do have one gripe; there is really poor pressure/slow flow when you flush it.

Shane -

I think I hear you saying that the problem is not the trickle between uses, but a lack of pressure when you flush. If that is the case, perhaps you need a pre-charged accumulator/pressure tank in the supply line to the toilet. This would solve your problem with both sources of water - city water supply and TM tank-and-pump supply. Choose a small size with just enough capacity to flush once. Here's one from Shur-Flo, but of course there are many.
https://www.freshwatersystems.com/pr...cumulator-tank

Or maybe I'm still not getting it ...

Bill

[Shane826]

I’m pretty sure the problem lies in the vacuum breaker/air gap at the toilet. I’m trying to see if I can eliminate that and just install a regular check valve.

[Bill]

The limitation of that approach is that when you have no city water hookup, and you are operating on the TM's tank-and-pump system, the vigor of the toilet flush will be limited by how fast the pump can push water to the toilet. And of course the pump has to push water through the check valve, which adds some small resistance to the flow.

By contrast, an accumulator will store an entire flush-worth of water, under pressure, ready to produce a powerful flush whenever you step on the pedal (or whatever you do with that toilet). It works equally well on city water or pump water. It requires no electricity, and would install conveniently under the bathroom sink. And it requires no check valves - which tend to catch grit, as well as being a pain during winterizing.

Have you ever lived in a house where water came from a well, rather than a water main? Every one of them has an accumulator.

Bill