Leaking Vacuflush Toilet

[menzies]

While in the Exumas last year one of our toilets started to leak. It happened when someone sat on it but leaned a bit forward (it does not happen when the person stays bolt upright on the head). The leak is from the top rear of the toilet. Surprisingly it looks and smells like urine, which I cannot understand since the toilet never fills that high and everything gets sucked away at the bottom when flushing. I cannot get to that part of the toilet as the space is too small so I couldn't eyeball the issue. To get by I put globs of silicon back there which slowed it but did not stop it altogether.
When I had the boat in the yard at the end of the year I had them rebuild both systems with a special focus on fixing that toilet. When I got the boat back I felt behind the toilet and all the silicon had been cleaned off and it looked fixed.

This week I had guests on for the first time since the "fix" and it has started happening again. I am looking for a toilet schematic to see if I can get an idea of what is happening back there, but in the meanwhile had anyone had this issue or got any ideas?

 

[HeadMistress]

I can send you a schematic if you want to send me a PM that includes your email address (no way to attach anything to a PM). And I'm having a hard time understanding exactly where the bowl is leaking...'cuz the only things that are connected to the bowl at the top, are the water valve and vacuum breaker...but but both of those are outside the bowl, so bowl ontents never come in contact with either one. There are no connections on the back of the bowl, everything goes out the trap door in the bottom and then out the discharge line. So I can't figure out exactly what you put silicon on. And it doesn't sound like your yard people are V/F experts either.

I have a feeling that the leak is actually at the bottom of the bowl...that the bowl isn't securely connected to the pedestal, 'causing the bowl to tip forward when weight is applied to the front of the bowl--causing the bowl gasket (gasket that seals the the bowl and the pedestal) to leak in the back. One way to find out what's leaking: Put about half a bowl of water in the bowl and add some food coloring, the have someone sit on the toilet learning forward..you should see colored water seeping from leak.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

 

[Vactech]

If a large person sits on a vacuflush .it will lift between the base and the toilet. you should try tightening the big clamp that holds the two together . if that does not work you may need to get a one piece toilet.
Be sure to use a ratchet and 5/16 socket to tighten this clamp, as a screwdriver will not tighten it enough.
You can also check half clamps under the large hose clamp and make sure that they are straight at both ends top and bottom.if the ends are bent out you need to replace these half clamps.

 

[menzies]

If a large person sits on a vacuflush .it will lift between the base and the toilet. you should try tightening the big clamp that holds the two together . if that does not work you may need to get a one piece toilet.
Be sure to use a ratchet and 5/16 socket to tighten this clamp, as a screwdriver will not tighten it enough.
You can also check half clamps under the large hose clamp and make sure that they are straight at both ends top and bottom.if the ends are bent out you need to replace these half clamps.

We resolved the issue while in the Chesapeake last summer. And tightening the large clamp did the trick. Having the screw at the back of the toilet made it difficult so we moved it to the side and were able to get it done. However the plastic base cover will not fit when the screw is there. It has to be at the back where the cover hinge is!

 

[HeadMistress]

If a large person sits on a vacuflush .it will lift between the base and the toilet. you should try tightening the big clamp that holds the two together . if that does not work you may need to get a one piece toilet.

The bowl seal (big flat rubber gasket) between the bowl and the pedestal) is anywhere near 10 years old, it's prob'ly time to replace it , 'cuz rubber and plastics dry out over time, becoming hard, brittle and prone to cracking. Plus the clamp "squishes" it, so it can only be tightened a limited number of times.


--Peggie

 

[Vactech]

Very true Peggy. But vacuflush boaters should also know there vacuflush systems and toilets should be serviced as recommended. every two to three years I think it is . Old bowl seals will definitely cause leakage at the half clamps and s.s.. clamp. Unfortunately some toilet models cant handle too much pressure on the front side as people get up and off.
The newer models do not have elongated bowls, unless they are a one piece ceramic toilet now. so the problem has been rectified by a manufacturer and a known problem back in the days.
When the leakage problem was first discovered , they came out with a hard plastic ring with the bowll seal instead of the rubber one as we use now ..that did not work.

 

[catalinajack]

Very true Peggy. But vacuflush boaters should also know there vacuflush systems and toilets should be serviced as recommended. every two to three years I think it is . Old bowl seals will definitely cause leakage at the half clamps and s.s.. clamp. Unfortunately some toilet models cant handle too much pressure on the front side as people get up and off.
The newer models do not have elongated bowls, unless they are a one piece ceramic toilet now. so the problem has been rectified by a manufacturer and a known problem back in the days.
When the leakage problem was first discovered , they came out with a hard plastic ring with the bowll seal instead of the rubber one as we use now ..that did not work.

And the joys of owning Vacuflush toilets continue unabated.

 

[HeadMistress]

Unless my memory has totally failed me, 20 years ago the bowl seal was 2 pieces--one was rubber, the other was hard plastic. Never quite understood why. And it was also very rare in those days for owners/users to be too heavy for a 2-piece bowl/pedestal. But in those days only about 5-6% of the population was classified as obese according to an article in the NY times dated March 23 of 2018 "new data shows that nearly 40 percent of them were obese in 2015 and 2016, a sharp increase from a decade earlier, federal health officials reported Friday" and almost 8% are classified as "severely obese." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/health/obesity-us-adults.html


So to paraphrase Shakespeare, "the fault, Horatio, is not in the toilet bowl assembly, but in ourselves!"


--Peggie