17' Series 17.56.2 Sewerage problems...

[Hiluxpanda]

So we are surrently away and have had some horrible issues with the toilet...
Sewerage sems to be leaking into the cassette cavity and i found there were two plates that lift up underneath where the cassete sits, which cover cavities about the size of a chinese container...both were full of fluid consistent with urine...although i noted one of the cassettes were not sitting properly.

In order to clean this area i stuck a hose in there on very low pressure to help dilute and wash out the remaining sewage....however water began to somehow make its way into the interior of the van eminating under the wall of the shower and running down to the front of the van...this water did smell malodourous also....

Cleaned up and feeling rather annoyed...i thought id gotten to the bottom of the issues but this morning i noticed the cassette was full but the light was not on warning so.

Opened up...and again there seems to be some leak from somewhere....

Cleaned out....now the dunny has a fairly rotten sewage smell that is quite unpleasant.

Have no idea what to do....a bit sick of stupid don't be rude like this going wrong on this van...jayco build quality leaves a bit to be desired imho. .


Help!

 

[Bluey]

Yes it will make its way in there if your not useing toilet properly you must open the flusher when you use the toilet its not like your one at home its more like a pit toilet the seal will let fulid through if you leave it closed when you go ,, its there to stop any smell when not in use you should have some chemicals in there anyway and shouldnt be to bad if your not opening the toilet when you go theres your trouble so do your stuff with it open then just use the flush water to wash anything away ,,,,,,if you hose it out in the cassette yes you will get water everywhere and leaking into and under van it will get in the 2 holes at back of the last fuild well if happens again soke it up with towel or somthing much better than hoseing out so remember open toilet when you go so it goes straight into cassette ,,,,,,,,if you where to fill your toilet with flush water with it closed it will also dissappear into bottom of cassette and van under shower wall

Hope this helps where you going with flap closed ???????????

 

[Hiluxpanda]

Its possible....the kids like to use it also and often enjoy holding down the funny flush button for ages.....ill get an old towel out..dry it up and then see what transpires....ive also noticed that the Thteford Kem Green is now where near as the Kem Blue.......i might also wash the cassette when i get home with nappy san.

Cheers.

 

[Hiluxpanda]

Both the handbrake and myself are sure we have had a light come on in the past....not sure ill trust it now though...

Think most of the smell is coming from the overflow in the heat....about to give it a good clean with spray and wipe....

Why does it have those two vhinese container sized cavities under the plastic covers beneath the cassette?

 

[mfexpanda]

Both the handbrake and myself are sure we have had a light come on in the past....not sure ill trust it now though...

Think most of the smell is coming from the overflow in the heat....about to give it a good clean with spray and wipe....

Why does it have those two vhinese container sized cavities under the plastic covers beneath the cassette?

I think they use to have the small chemical containers stored there

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I have had exactly the same issue happen with a family member not opening the flap first, and using too much toilet paper.

Also discovered that the contents of the overflow pit will run into the bathroom - not at all pleasant.

I have been looking at how hard it would be to install a drain hose from that pan under the cassette to outside to ensure it cant fill up in the event of overflow.

Also looking at sealing the cassette housing so it cant leak back into the bathroom.

We also had water leaking in through the hatch and back into the bathroom during the torrential rain last week.

Had to open the window to create somewhere for the water to run off before it got to the hatch. Need to look at the seal on the door.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

The LED light we had was on the rinse water, I think to indicate it was low.
I would be really surprised if you have a sensor detecting the cassette level. The reason I say this is the cassette is removeable, so sensors can't be attached.

Our Thetford cassette unit has a red light operated off a float inside the tank.

Works well, saw it light up twice in the week we were just away.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Ok there you go, learn something new, must have change them after ours. Would have like high fill warning, Are there wires attached to the cassette??

Funny but I had never looked. So I just went and pulled it out, looking for some sort of contacts or something, but nothing.

So I thought it must have a magnet which activates a reed switch or something.

Did a bit of googling and came across this document, that I thoght would be quite handy for others on here (will put up a separate post) which confirms that it is indeed a magnet on the float which would activate a reed switch in the main unit.

https://caravansplus.com.au/pdf/thetford/thetford-repair.pdf

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Ahhh there you go, much flasher dunny that what was in my old Expanda....

Wonder if @Hiluxpanda high level switch is not working so well!!

The light is quite subtle so unless you know about it (which we didn't until,we saw it come on) it is easy to miss, especially if the kids or others don't notice it or mention it.

Before you know it it's toilet Armageddon

 

[Drover]

I will have a look and see if I can find the thread I did on this moving subject...
In the meantime......there are 2 reasons why you end up with crud in the collector pods ( just made that name up ) one pod is for small chem bottles the other is to catch the crap..............you do a quick 101 when both are full....

Firstly when the tank is full it will overflow via a dump valve which is under the cassette, remedy is don't fill the thing , secondly the seal on the top valve may be stuffed, will look okay but will allow liquid to by-pass the holding tank, may even end up in the shower area on some set ups.............remedy is to replace the seal, $30 an easy job use to do use olive oil on the seals.

Your full tank light may not work because crud is jamming the float in the tank, remedy is to flush tank and take the mechanism off and give a good flush.
Other than the thread, if you download the manual for the unit you will find all the instructions for dismantling the unit, cleaning and replacing seals.
Chemicals used is covered in a very informative thread elsewhere on here.

I would advise not to travel far unless your stuck with a near full holding tank, it just makes a big yucky shake....we use those smelly bottle things with sticks in them to kill any pong but good maintenance means no pong. On long trips I will give the box a good scrub out every 2 weeks just to make sure....and carry a spare seal just in case.

 

[Bluey]

Everyone is correct we where told also to keep a bit of flush water on the seal to keep it from drying out just a bit though i do think there should be a better system for cleaning out under cassette if problems happen and a drain hole you can open so you dont get water in van if you want to hose it out they say our vans are built on marine ply well the marine ply i know looks diffrent to theres it looks like painted ply is it water proof at all ?????

 

[Bushman]

(1) In our Panda the area under cassette filled with shower water because the seal at end of the dunny had parted company with the wall (Not so bad) however I had store a packet of the dropping toilet sachet's under there, the whole thing was a lavender smelling sloppy mess they was an our of cleaning soaking it up with paper towel, and rinsing constantly with sponge, never stored them there again and shower as resealed.
(2) went to fill the flush tank while away one time with the hose one very slow trickle walked away to do something else for a minute, came back to find it had started to over flow however water dripping into the cassette area and drip from the other side of the van:eek-53: lesson here was don't leave hose unattended while filling flush tank, 2 the area bottom of walls in the cassette area isn't sealed from rest of the van as it was running through the rear tunnel boot as well. 3 the hatch for dunny cassette isn't sealed around the inside between the unit and wall, looked at many other vans since and found the same issue including the current van, but is sealed now to prevent that happening again
(3) Both the Panda and current van have the red warning light for the cassette, though usually just keep an eye on it via visual inspection, and always open flap before going.

 

[achjimmy]

The first expanda had a rotating indicator which showed it filling up and then red when full. Worked really well. Both vans since have the red light indicator that doesn't work!

 

[Marv_mart]

The LED light we had was on the rinse water, I think to indicate it was low.
I would be really surprised if you have a sensor detecting the cassette level. The reason I say this is the cassette is removeable, so sensors can't be attached.

Our cassette of course is removable for emptying but a light does come on to show it needs emptying, must be some sort of connector for when the cassette is pushed in??? Not sure how it works out that the cassette is nearing full though as I cannot see any sensor in the cassette. Always works correctly though.
Maybe a good reason to contact the manufacturers and ask some questions.
Our flusher is water pumped in from our tanks so must have pump turned on when in use even when connected to the mains.
Would really like to know how the 'sensor' works so can fault find when it malfunctions but no issues at the moment :madgrin:

 

[Drover]

I have sealed my tank area so now it can be hosed out, the poor original fitment meant that nothing was sealed and water could go back into shower area or down the internal wall as the outer door flashing was just loosly fitted, Jayco QC again...............

 

[Hiluxpanda]

So it still reeks after soaking up the excrement in the overflow pods and through the cavity.....what would be the best thing to use to remove the residue...spray and wipe??

 

[Dobbie]

Domestos?

But wipe it off after using. It should leave a different ( cleaner) smell but I'd wash out again with clean water then wipe over, if possible, with some eucalyptus oil...but just a little diluted as it could stain the white plastic.

 

[james saunders]

Yes it will make its way in there if your not useing toilet properly you must open the flusher when you use the toilet its not like your one at home its more like a pit toilet the seal will let fulid through if you leave it closed when you go ,, its there to stop any smell when not in use you should have some chemicals in there anyway and shouldnt be to bad if your not opening the toilet when you go theres your trouble so do your stuff with it open then just use the flush water to wash anything away ,,,,,,if you hose it out in the cassette yes you will get water everywhere and leaking into and under van it will get in the 2 holes at back of the last fuild well if happens again soke it up with towel or somthing much better than hoseing out so remember open toilet when you go so it goes straight into cassette ,,,,,,,,if you where to fill your toilet with flush water with it closed it will also dissappear into bottom of cassette and van under shower wall

Hope this helps where you going with flap closed ???????????

Thanks bluey you answered my question better then the jayco dealer did

 

[Bellbirdweb]

So it still reeks after soaking up the excrement in the overflow pods and through the cavity.....what would be the best thing to use to remove the residue...spray and wipe??

We used a disinfectant initially, then Vanilla fridge cleaner, then left the cassette out, and hatch open in the sun for a couple of days.

The smell eventually left.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Our cassette of course is removable for emptying but a light does come on to show it needs emptying, must be some sort of connector for when the cassette is pushed in??? Not sure how it works out that the cassette is nearing full though as I cannot see any sensor in the cassette. Always works correctly though.
Maybe a good reason to contact the manufacturers and ask some questions.
Our flusher is water pumped in from our tanks so must have pump turned on when in use even when connected to the mains.
Would really like to know how the 'sensor' works so can fault find when it malfunctions but no issues at the moment :madgrin:

@Marv_mart, this video is the same model as ours.

It shows the reed switch replacement in the toilet.

The magnet on the float inside the cassette activates the reed switch to turn on the light when it moved close to this board