Our caravan , secondhand,had it 2 weeks. toilet is a thetford casstete type , not electric flush . when we use the flush there are lots of little brown bits coming out with the flush water .
Its not unpleasant smelling or anything , will this just clear up in time as we keep using it ,we have used it for 2 weekends now.
or is there another way of clearing them out .
the fresh water and pink fluid goes in via a swing out filler tube in the outside locker .
We bought ours in March and ours is the same. I wondered if it was because it had not been used for a while and thought like you that it would clear up eventually.
If it was a portaloo, no problem you could just keep rinsing it out , but as the top tank is fixed inside the van ? I may try repeatedly flushing it next time out and refilling it a couple of times to see if it works, couldnt be bothered this weekend TBH.
its not causing any problems or blockages , i guess it wasnt emptied properly before the winter and the water has just gone brown , these are like little hard bits, look a bit like tea leaves .
I think the standard reply is not to use the Thetford fluids.
How to clean out the brown or black bits? There are a few tank cleaners on the market designed to do this have a check around the caravan stores on line or real ones (watch you don't buy a new caravan by mistake though )
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fill with milton and leave over night then flush out with clean water.its just mould/mold/algae in the water.mainly caused by the pink stuff.you can also use fendox by fenwicks cleaners.
We had this problem and bought a bottle of tank cleaner from our local caravan dealers (after trying various remedies ourselves) - it wasnt cheap but worked immediately and the problem hasnt recurred. We have also stopped used the Thetford fluids, there are plenty of alternatives on the market.
Quote: Originally posted by Rune Caster on 26/4/2010
I think the standard reply is not to use the Thetford fluids.
How to clean out the brown or black bits? There are a few tank cleaners on the market designed to do this have a check around the caravan stores on line or real ones (watch you don't buy a new caravan by mistake though )
so if you shouldnt use the pink stuff what else should I use instead ?
I had the same problem using Thetford chemicals in a porta potti when we were in a trailer tent almost immediately, the bits appeared in the flush water. I have since changed to a caravan and started using Elsan blue and Pink. In 4 years, not a single black bit has appeared. I won't be going back to Thetford chemicals again.
Or just use untreated water; dumping it after each trip so it does not go off [not going to cost you and waste product].
Then having some "pink" solution in a cheap plastic house plant type spray and freshening the bowl after each "use". The spray does a much better job of sanitizing all round the toilet than the flush ever does.
Quote: Originally posted by beefysmum on 26/4/2010
Quote: Originally posted by Rune Caster on 26/4/2010I think the standard reply is not to use the Thetford fluids.
How to clean out the brown or black bits? There are a few tank cleaners on the market designed to do this have a check around the caravan stores on line or real ones (watch you don't buy a new caravan by mistake though )
so if you shouldnt use the pink stuff what else should I use instead ?
We use the Elsan pink without the problem - it just appears to be the Thetford pink that causes the problem
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Ours does the same thing, is it only the Thetford pink that is the problem or does the blue have the same effect or is it a mixture of the both. The tip about the Milton is a good idea, i'll give that a go next time we have the van at home. Michael, I assume you dilute the MIlton in the usual way?
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Topic: toilet flush question
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