Toilet flush tank.

I have asked Thetford but they have not bothered to reply!!!!!!!!!!      Has anyone used anti-freeze fluid in their toilet flush tank ?. Is it ok to use it and can anyone advise the dilution?.   I am considering the " ready to use screen wash" liquid to prevent winter freezing.

If you are living in the van at the time   I doubt the temperature would get low enough to cause an issue unkess you enjoy living in a fridge . If worried about when in storage just empty the tank.  Never used anti freeze in any van in 35+ years of camping and just drain when not in use. Save your money!  

Leave empty and use a trigger spray mixed with water and pink fluid .

constable wrote: I am considering the " ready to use screen wash" liquid to prevent winter freezing.

Save even more money by not using this stuff - you're buying water!

Frank

I hade some anti-freeze in the garage and put it in the flush tank last winter. I don't know if it was linked to the build up of black slime in the summer. I've added baby bottle sterilising fluid to the water since and this has helped clean it.

Molly's answer cover just about every eventuality, and is also worth considering during the summer if water is at a premium.

Molly3 wrote:Leave empty and use a trigger spray mixed with water and pink fluid .

A spot of pine disinfectant could be used instead by those who don't like the smell of the pink stuff - or who think it's a pointless way of wasting money. It always seems strange to me that the stuff for use in the cassette has a very strong and distinctive smell, while the pink stuff for the flush tank smells completely different.   

Stopped using the pink stuff in the toilet water tank since it temporarily seized up the Thetford whale type pump a few months ago. I had to access it and encouraged the stuck impeller to spin and I also replaced the blown fuse with a slightly higher rated one, as has been suggested on some forums. All Ok now. As well as only using clean freshwater in the tank we also now use the pink spray in the bowl which has a pleasant smell!

Pete

I stopped using the pink with my first van, since I had the black gunge and had to renew the pump,

 Just use plain water,as in domestic loos,  I camped last winter and never had any freezing, I kept the flush tank half full in freezing conditions , also have a spray bottle to use also saves on the water. 

I would never use anti freeze in the hab part of my vans.

I don't use pink but I do put the bio washing fluid in the flush tank. I drain in winter.  No problems so far.

All, yes, another  vote for draining down all water systems once we get hard frosts. My main concern is the water heater since I reckon this is the most vulnerable part of the system.
In all honesty, unless we get really hard frosts or your van is stored in a really exposed location, freezing should not really be an issue. However, I always err on the side of caution, hence the drain down.
I'm lucky to be able to 'store' the van on the drive so also keep low level heating running using EHU plugged into garage.
Last winter, only issue was when I tried to refill the fresh water system during the 'Beast from he East' event and the filling system was frozen! Used bottled water instead!

What surprises me is, why are AS still using a seperate tank to flush the toilet.

Most other manufactures flush from the main water tank. This also tells you don't waste your money on the pink stuff. Water tanks are mostly onboard too.

Having an extra tank to fill,  is an extra chore. An onboard full tank of water is unlikely to freeze overnight anyway, even if the temperature drops really low, background heat would also prevent this.

Leighton.

Leighton, my view is that by using a standard Thetford set-up with a header tank. they effectively increase your fresh water capacity by 7 litres as it is not used or flushing. They avoid the need to supply a 12V solenoid valve and a check valve, plumbing and wiring/fusing etc to flush the loo. this saves on parts inventory and build time in production.

The separate tank saves re-inventing the wheel, and from the manufacturer's point of view, it is a standard, well tested system and the warranty cost for it falls back to Thetford.

When I bought a Swift with flush water fed from the main freshwater tank I had to ring the dealer to ask where I put the pink stuff! DOH!

What might be a good idea would be to allow push button filling of the header tank from the fresh water tank for when flush water runs out and you are not near any water source.

Dennis

Bad Penny wrote:What surprises me is, why are AS still using a seperate tank to flush the toilet.

My 23 year old Symphony uses the main tank for toilet flushing, but apparently, some later ones do not. Praps it was an option when new?

Frank

Dennis. When we first bought our Broadway, on our first trip after a few days the toilet refused to flush. This was fixed by the dealer. Our next trip was to Greece. For over two months of that trip it again refused to flush. This time we went back to the AS factory. Mark had the problem sorted.

Never had a problem with the one tank system, and it doesn't use much extra water to flush. In my opinion a far better system, other manufacturers must also agree, as most have that setup. The use of a shower takes far more water than one flush of the toilet. Far from reinventing the wheel, I think it's a step forward. As regards to how it works or what bits are needed, I don't care, as long at it works everytime.

Leighton

All three of our AS motorhomes since starting have had separate tanks. Bench toilet in Symphony, swivel bowl in Nuevo and bench again in Sussex all have/had separate tank. Over the 25 years of caravans we had 5 different caravans all had separate tanks. Never had one that takes flush from main tank. There must be a certain criteria which says which is fitted but can't get my head around what that could be.

Out of our 8 caravans and 3 MHs only one caravan took the flush water from the onboard fresh water tank. 

There is a school of thought that says it’s possible, although highly unlikely, for transmission from toilet to tank to occur. I have no particular view on that but I wonder if it’s a reason shared tanks aren’t popular.

I was upset to find that we had a separate tank but now my only gripe is that it has no level gauge.  I keep mening to make one by putting putting in a differnt drain plug with apipe sealed into it that could be taped to the side of the cassete comaprtment to show the level. Not rocket science but difficult to do withoutthe right size bung for the bottom of the tank.

Separate tank lets me put the bio wadhing detergent in the headre tank and have an effectively teflon bowl!

Hi Paul. The pump in the freshwater tank supplies the taps, shower and toilet with water, press the flush button, water pumped into toilet. One tank to fill, no pink stuff to add, which eventually creates the black bits in the toilet tank, which is bacteria. With this system there is none of that. When I first left AS and bought a German MH in 2004, that was the first time I came across it. 

Now I have left AS again,  I'm back to the one tank which I prefer.

Anyway, I'm sure you know how the system works. I believe most MH manufactures have now adopted this setup.


Leighton.

I used the Thetford flush stuff and black residue (algae I think) was present but never blocked the pump. I started using the Elsan version 2 seasons ago and the black stuff has/is gradually disappearing.

Just use neat windscreen wash fluid I buy when on offer usually buy 2 get 3 I have used this in the toilet flush tank on various vans for the last 15 years as we use the van all year round. It adds a pleasant aroma to the flush as well. Add to water each time you fill.

Alf

Thetford have changed the formula of their pink stuff but I use dealers own label stuff with no black bits.

PLOUGHLIN wrote:I used the Thetford flush stuff and black residue (algae I think) was present but never blocked the pump. I started using the Elsan version 2 seasons ago and the black stuff has/is gradually disappearing.

I bought a double pack of Elsan (lue and pink) a few years ago, and thus far I haven't had any evidence of the dreaded black stuff.....
Touch wood!

Cymro

Alf wrote: It adds a pleasant aroma to the flush as well.
Alf

That's alcohol Alf

Frank

inspiredron wrote:I was upset to find that we had a separate tank but now my only gripe is that it has no level gauge.  I keep meaning to make one by putting putting in a different drain plug with a pipe sealed into it that could be taped to the side of the cassette compartment to show the level. Not rocket science but difficult to do without the right size bung for the bottom of the tank.

Hi Ron

Why bother to go all technical when all you need is a piece of string! 

Tie one end to a small but fairly weighty float - heavy enough to pull the string quite taut when dangled from it.

Then fill up your tank by (say) quarter tank increments, drop in the float and tie a knot in the string each time to indicate the level. You will only need three knots as you can see the level when it's full.

It's not something that has ever concerned me. I just top up every few days when I'm fetching fresh water in the trusty watering can. We've never run the tank dry yet . . . . so everyone knows what will happen on the next trip!! 

In all the 6 caravans and 4 motor homes have only ever had a toilet own flush never from a fresh water tank, which I wouldn`t want anyway, happy with what I have, no chore to top up. I do have the glass guage on one not a gauge on the Amethyst as far as I can tell, a swivel loo, the other is a bench loo.