Thetford Flush Issues

The toilet flush in our Rienza has been troublesome since we have had it. So far I have changed the pump a couple of times and changed the switch a couple of times annd flushed lots of black gunk out of the tank. Every time I needed  to repair it the wiring crumbles or has corded connectors. 
I have tried re routing the cables to keep them out of the flush water and sealed wiring and the switch switch but once again the pump has packed in.
Whilst looking for parts before I noticed a manual pump for the same toilet. Looking  in the handbook from Autosleepers it shows a manual pump with operating instructions. Maybe ours is a posh model with electric flush but I have ordered a manual pump and hope it fits. 
Every time I have to try and fix the electric flush I manage to slice my hand on a bit of sharpe plastic so that will be another bonus.

I had the same thought Peter. I couldn’t find anything from a search. Maybe I worded it wrong.
This time I sliced one knuckle and the back of my hand. 
The only thing I might have to do is some sussing and boggling about will be the level warning light but it’s fairly obvious when it’s full I suppose.

Warning light has nothing to do with the pump. There is a magnet on a float inside the cassette and that closes a magnetic reed switch outside to switch on the warning light.

Regarding the black gungy bits - do you use the Thetford pink fluid by any chance?  That is known to cause this. There was a supposed change of formula to prevent this a couple of years ago but I found it no different so have given up using it. 

By the way, ours has always had the manual flush and I've never seen the point of some having electric, it's just something else to go wrong.

Hardly takes much effort to press a lever, after all we do it at home. 
Or are new loos electrically operated now too? 

Here you go.......

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I should have asked you first Paul. You have the knack of knowing the mysteries of the search. This puts a new light on my task ahead. Meanwhile the shower head will do for flushing this weekend. 
We are at home for a couple of weeks for the Rienza to be serviced and other domestic chores so hopefully we will have a flushing loo before our SW 300 trip.

Just a quick post to close the post regarding the flush pump and thank the members for their advice and guidance.
The pump arrived yesterday but the connecting pipe from the old pump was too short  and very hard so as advised I bought a new piece of pipe from magnum. Compared with the agro and sliced hands the new pump was fitted in fifteen minits. I noticed two screws taped to the new pump for the surround. I thought they were still attached to the pump because I couldn’t find them. Rather than taking the pump back out I used screws from the old one. The missing ones were on the window surround.
Management tested the flush and approves, flush only because I emptied the cassette yesterday.

The flush saga has started again this trip. The hand pump worked fine last trip delivering enough water for a decent flush but last week the flow of water is a trickle no matter how hard you pump. I am wondering if the bio wash tablets we put in the flush tank had caused a problem. 
I thought the troubles with the electric flush were over and I don’t fancy going back to that. The bench Thetford in the Duetto didn’t give us this much trouble. 

Hi Dave,

As you know another Rienza owner here.

Mine works well tho I have had the 'gunk' problem.

I now use pink'd or clear water as the mood takes and find a trip with a low tank level usually helps free up the gunk.

Makes for an interesting flush or ? untill it clears up.

Just what you need on a B/H, information that someone elses unit is working well!


Have a good one.


Cheers


Boots

I am home now because my son had to be in work tomorrow so I have a day of tidying and checking things tomorrow. The first thing to try will be to drain the flush tank and try it with water only. 
The layout of the Rienza means it’s easy to use the shower head for additional flushing. We were off grid all last week so the pump got a good workout but I didn’t expect these problems.

I am loosing the plot with this flush problem . This morning I drained the flush tank and flushed it out with clean water. No black gunk came out as earlier in this saga.
The bad news is that the flush is still only a trickle no matter how hard you pump. My only thought now is to take the pump out and see if theres anything visually wrong. It is just a simple plunger pump so not much to fail.
As I mentioned in the first post this has been the biggest problem to resolve since we have had the Rienza. Yes I have had some issues with the step and admit partly my fault. I really dont want to go back to electric flush after the problems I have had so far. 

Sounds like a blockage in the hand pump, or pipe leading to it. From your description there can't be much to go wrong. 

Wxl uses water from fresh tank to flush, but we seldom  do. Have spray bottles for both pink fluid and zoflora in loo an just spray bowl with that if liquids only. If needed for solids use happy bowl liners . Toilet gets good clean after every trip

I thought a follow up regarding the flush problem might be of help to any one fitting the manual pump as a replacement for the electric flush pump.
After removing  the pump from the tank I could see the seal for the valve at the bottom was sticking out on one side. On closer inspection one of the three clips was not properly located causing the seal to become dislodged hence the lack of water pressure. 
I removed the valve from the bottom of the pump and the seal looked  ok., I dont have any o rings that size so I re fitted the valve and tested the pump in a bowl of water.  There was plenty of flow so it must have just been the  badly fitted valve. Being a new pump I never thought to check it before fitting it.
Even though I have cleaned the tank to remove lots of black gunk there are still a couple of bits appearing with the flush water. Not wanting that problem to start again I am going to just put water in the flush tank and keep a spray bottle of something as others have suggested.

As I said in my last post I have a spray bottle to add to the flush. I found a bottle of Thetford pink unopened in the locker so I have diluted some for the spraying the bowl.
Management has asked if it will react with the Lidl Bio tablets we put in the cassette. It’s not something I thought about but I suppose time will tell.

As I've said elsewhere I would not use biological washing POWDER in the flush tank and I suspect that tablets might also risk blockages. Why not use the liquid washing detergent?

I havnt used the flush for its purpose yet but I have tried the flush with just water this week and the black bits seem to have stopped. After driving to our first stop it might disturb more bits but so far things are improving. 
The bio tablets in the cassette seem to be helping with the smell. I can’t remember what flavor they are other than being Lidl own brand.