Toilet water valve had a freeze crack

[Ken / Claudia]

I was getting the trailer ready for the season. I filled the fresh water tank, turned on the pump and after afew gallons of water flooding the bathroom, I found the toilet shooting water out of the lower end by the pedal. I have a Dometic 310 toilet and found that the water valve spilt. It is a easy 5 min, 40 dollar fix. I followed the manual for draining and winterzing by blowing out the water. Nothing about this valve was mentioned. The RV parts guys gave a good idea to prevent it again. He said when blowing the air into the water lines have someone step on the flush pedal and hold it until air comes into the toilet. Without doing so will/can trap water in the valve and it is made to crack when frozen. If pumping anti freeze thru the water lines it should also prevent the problem, by getting anti freeze into the valve. According to the parts guy they sell alot of these replacement valves. I am not the only one who learned about the valve the hard way.

[JRTJH]

Ken,

I think you're the third so far this season that has posted about a frozen toilet valve. Your parts guy is right in saying that unless you step on the valve, you won't purge (or blow) the water out of the toilet valve. It's really just another cold water faucet, so unless you "open it" air won't blow through it. I'd be concerned in very cold storage temps that even with blowing all the air out of the valve, there's still water in the toilet rim and that porcelain could easily crack. Having antifreeze in the toilet rim is the best insurance if you're going to store in below zero temps unless you can get all the water out of the rim.

Like you said, replacing the valve is not a difficult fix, just a frustrating one. Not nearly as frustrating as the old Thetford toilet valves that were on the floor, at the very bottom of the toilet, in back, where they were completely hidden from access unless the entire toilet was removed. It seemed to me that no matter how hard you tried, those valves froze and split every year. I used to keep a spare in the bathroom vanity cupboard along with toilet chemicals. LOL

[Ken / Claudia]

I guess I missed the other posts about this valve. But, sounds like the more we inform others, maybe the sales of the replacements will go down.

[JRTJH]

One can only hope the word gets to everyone, eventually. LOL

It's not surprising to me that the Thetford valve cost $4 when I first started replacing them and they were up to $7.85 (or so) when I bought my last one. Then along came Dometic toilets and the valve costs $28 online and upwards of $45 in a parts store...

And to think, they still freeze and split. That part wasn't improved along with the cost, that's for sure.

[Bombfixer]

I had the same thing happen on one of my toilets. Hardest part of the fix was getting the crimped on connectors off. Had no idea to get them off other than cutting them. Gonna gradually replace all of them with good screw type hose clamps.

Sent from my NX008HD8G using Tapatalk

[Htfiremedic]

I had the same problem. I was hooked up and ready to start camping. 45 minutes from a shop that closed in 30. Jody's RV in Greenwood, SC stayed open for me so that our weekend away could happen!!


Sent from my iPhone

[Buckrut]

Yep, I had it happen to me this year! Dometic 310 and it was $34.99. I must say, been camping for 15+ yrs and this is the first time. I could have sworn I flushed the toilet when I winterized my camper! Oh well, I've seen worse! Happy camping...

[Jim & DJ]

Yep, happened to me with a 2007 Mountaineer TT. The worst part is all the water that sprays until the problem is found.