We were able to get an appointment on short notice yesterday with Airstream Adventures Northwest in Portland, which is 30 minutes from where we are camping at Champoeg State Park vs. driving an hour and a half back to Sutton RV in Eugene.
Non-RVer’s if the subject didn’t send you away, you probably won’t be interested in the following details. RVer’s on the other hand might find what we learned useful.
It turns out we had a lot of calcium build-up on both sides of the seal in our toilet. The seal itself was disintegrating and the calcium had created small divots in the ball that covers the hole. So even if we replaced the seal, we’d still have a problem due to the divots.
My first thought was wow, I can’t imagine that we have that much calcium in our diets. But then Brian and the service guy pointed out that the water in places like Vegas is very high in calcium. I guess I knew that, since you can actually see deposits on the outside of our trailer near the water heater.
Dometic doesn’t cover calcium damage in it’s warranty, and a new ball assembly is basically the same price as a new toilet. The dealer happened to have a porcelain toilet with a sprayer (which I’ve been coveting, since our old toilet didn’t have a sprayer), so we had it installed.
The big take-away is that Dometic recommends cleaning the toilet regularly with vinegar to avoid calcium deposits.
Dinner Last Night:
Last night we met up with George & Lisa for dinner in Portland. More on that tomorrow.
2013 Cost of Camping:
50 nights paid camping
107 nights free camping
157 days this year
Total spent on camping this year: $1,059.08
Daily average cost of camping: $6.75
16 Comments
We upgraded to the same one (white, with sprayer) and it’s kinda silly how much nicer it is. It’s a toilet! 🙂
I know! It’s the little things.
You need to address the hard water by using some product that takes the calcium out of the water. I have one on my rv and it protects the whole water system and uses no chemicals or electricity.
Plus it makes keeping the shower and sinks clean too.
What is it??
Yes what is it called. I need some really bad. Thanks
Sue
All hail the sprayer.
Our previous RV had a sprayer – I miss it.
We must have acidic pee. Never encountered this problem before! Or maybe we aren’t spending enough time in Las Vegas.
So much for the saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”…
Ooooh…I think I have porcelain envy. Nothing like a new toilet to brighten your day!
Love the new toilet!! We keep a spray bottle of vinegar in our bathroom cabinet. Every now and then if we aren’t going to use the toilet for the day, we spray vinegar in and let it sit for the day. This has really helped make the seal last longer and it is a simple, cheap idea.
Enjoy your sprayer!!!
Try a powerade bottle (it’s a coke energy type product) dump out the drink .
The bottle has ball type stopper that keeps it from spilling when tipped over
Works great for tiolet chemical and vinegar. I just add a few drops to the tiolet keeps the water pretty blue. Happy black water tank happy wife lol.
Cheers rob
Congratulations on a new throne to sit upon.
I have porcelain envy as well. We install a new toliet this week as well. We did upgrade to a foot flush, but would have loved a porcelain one.
I’d add a little vinegar to Brian’s diet.
We’re new to all this RV stuff – recently brought home a ’74 Argosy we’re going to restore – so forgive my ignorance on the toilet topic. What’s the deal with the sprayer? You’re all making it sound like something I ought to covet (and maybe convince my hubby we need one in our Airstream)! Thanks!
Heather
Hi Heather! Congrats on your Argosy! An RV toilet doesn’t fill with water like a normal toilet, you can use the sprayer is helpful to add water to the bowl or clean it. Before the sprayer we used a pitcher to bring extra water to the toilet.