G-RATED BLACK TANK REPAIRS (AND MOBILE SERVICE UPDATE)

Currently in Belton MO (Low 61 Humid with Clouds and Sun High 79) 

Note: this blog entry may only be of interest to RVers.

While in Colorado the plastic flange that our toilet is attached to broke on one side so we had a serious lean. Here is a flange like we have that is not broke.

At first Bob tried to repair it himself by buying a new flange. The RV parts guys at both Camping World and RV Four Seasons told Bob that it was either glued or screwed on so Bob brought both to be safe. Bob was also told that the pipe from the toilet to the holding tank was straight down and could be lifted up and the new flange attached. All good info in theory but this is the RV lifestyle where nothing is at it seems.

The pipe from our flange did not go straight down but had a bend in it. When Bob tried to lift the pipe so he could unscrew the broken flange it would not budge. We have the screw on type and it would not easily screw off. Since brute forcing anything to do with the black tank system is not advisable Bob decided the job was above his pay grade so he started calling mobile repair places. Turns out all the mobile techs were scheduling 4 weeks out or would not work on anything black tank related. One of the mobile techs thought about it and called back with a tip to try Home Depot and a flange repair ring.

Bob was a little worried that the rubber seal at the bottom of the toilet would not seal properly so he put them together, first the metal ring on top of the plastic flange.

We had a toilet seal as part of the flapper seal replacement kit so Bob then made sure it would seal before he started the job.

First the good news: The metal ring fit over the plastic flange on the floor. Bob was able to use 4 screws in the plastic one on the floor and 4 longer ones that went through the steel plate through the plastic flange and into the floor. The rubber closet flange on the bottom of the toilet that rests in the plastic flange on the floor was inside the metal ring so we got a good seal.

Now the bad news: the metal ring interfered with the toilet housing so it was a little bit above the floor. Bob shimmed and we were good for awhile.  

Bob then had the idea to see if a toilet riser would seat better, i.e. it would rest on the floor without shimming and the toilet would sit on the riser. 

Bob returned the two plastic flanges and checked out if the riser would work. He brought along a metal ring and plastic flange and checked out the spacing and it looked like it would work so he bought the riser. When we got the riser home we realized we were going to lose some valuable floor space in the bathroom so we abandoned that idea.

The replacement of the toilet flange was then added to our mobile service visit for the inverter and was successfully changed. The inverter was removed and they will do some shop testing on it before they call our extended warranty company. One advantage of this is that they hardwired the connections so now we have power on all the outlets so no more extension cords. We should find out soon about the inverter and the extended warranty.

This was a G-Rated black tank repair as no actual black tank was harmed, or displayed, in the making of this blog entry.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo