Well we had our first outing in our new (to us) caravan. We went for 2 nights at Burford CC site. The site was excellent and except for the weather the first night went brilliant. Until disaster struck. Because there is only 1 shower/toilet block at burford which we managed to park the furthest away, we decided to use the facilities in our caravan. However on the 2nd night we went into the washroom only to find water on the floor. i thought this was a burst pipe or maybe a Joint had come loose, i checked them all and found all to be okay. I switched the pump off and drained down the system and we mopped all the water up. put towels on the floor and retired for the night. The next morning i went back into the washroom to check and it was still leaking from somewhere. So it was the end of our holiday and time to pack up which led me to empty the toilet cassette. when i opened the door out pored urine, i removed the cassette to find 1" of urine in there. Now the cassete was only around 1 quarter full so i have no idea how this happened. it took me an hour to clean it up and sanitise the whole washroom. Now my worries are is there any perminent damage done, as everyone on here talks about the dreaded D word. Will that happen to me? Any advise would be much appreciated. I think i may be caravanning on my own now as my wife is rather put off.
I'm not really sure what happened, but you have my sympathy. I still wouldn't have cut my holiday short though. Bad things sometimes happen. No need to make them worse by losing your holiday as well.
Is the cassette one of those with a flap, operated by a lever? I think from memory that this just slots on to the top of the cassette as you slide it in. Just a theory, but if the flap handle was in the wrong position when the cassette went in, it might have opened the top flap but not the one in the actual cassette.
This would have meant that liquids would have dropped on top of the cassette and run down the sides, starting to fill the compartment.
You can check by putting the cassette back in. opening the flap and peering down the hole. You should be able to see the bottom of the inside of the cassette. It may be as simple as that, and won't happen again.
Was the original flood just water, or was it urine? Not really sure what has happened there.
I'm not an expert on damp, and there are many on this forum who will advise. I would have thought a one-off wetting wouldn't start any problems, as long as you dry it all thoroughly. I think ventilation is important in theprocess.
As for getting your wife to go again, I'm sorry I can't help, I've never had any control over women. It's not easy at the moment, but you will look back and laugh - eventually.
About 40 years ago, when toilets were plastic buckets with lids, we wer rushing to catch an early ferry, and went down a mountain road without puting the travelling cover on. It is funny now, but it took 40 years... No, by next year it will be a funny story, not a disaster.
Don't let this put you off, something was amiss and it may just be what Jim has been saying above, or has the cassette got a crack in it, it must be an easy thing to check out. It sounds to me that the cassette hadn't been pushed in sufficiently, it will click when you have put it in exactly right and as Jim said when you open the shutter from the inside of the toilet you should be able to see right down into the cassette, if you can't then it's not opening the shutter correctly. At the very least it might mean buying a new toilet cassette, but don't let it put you off, as Jim also said you will be telling this story for years to come! Not sure what the water all over the floor was though.
Hi robtuke, Welcome to the forum, sorry you had bad first trip, Six years ago my mate and his wife had same thing happen to them on their first trip, toilet and van flooded, and same as you oppened cassette door and water poured out, turned out to be that his wife was useing the toilet like a normal one in the home,every time toilet used she would fill the bowl 3/4 full then use toilet and drain,( I should have twigged as he was useing, 4 23liter tanks in less than two days) Maybe your OH was doing the same thing, Say to her that only one inch of water needed, open blade, rinse one or two squirts on manual flush, or two seconds on eletric flush, is all that is needed,close blade, hope thats all that has happened, Hope this is of help keep us posted good luck.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
I posted this answer when I was away - had exactly the same problem with ours the problem was the lip seal on the top of the cassette - this had warped on the top but was still sealing on the bottom consequently any liquid draining down with the blade closed was spilling out over the top of the cassette. A new lip seal costing £13.50 cured the leak and was well tested for the rest of the 2 weeks away
------------- Caravanning is a way of getting a cheap holiday out of an expensive hobby
When people here talk about damp, they mean water ingress that is inside the walls and soaked into the caravans timbers, not some spilled "fluids" Provided it is all cleaned up and the source is rectified (most likely incorrect fitting of the cassette) you shouldn't have any problems. (assuming there were no damp issues before that is)
Our previous Pageant did the same, dealer had a look could not find anything amiss. They lubricated all the moving parts with silicon spray and checked for alignment.
We cleaned out the compartment with water and a disinfectant solution, luckily it all found its way out through the bottom and not under the floor covering.
The tech at the dealer told us that the floor on Baileys is actually sealed(varnish or similar)so there should be no soaking in! Don't know about other makes.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
Just a thought. When you push in cassette, Make sure that the outer cover that slides over the blade, moves back fully. This happened on our van. When I opened the door the casing was drenched. Now, when I replace the cassette, I make sure that it is as far back as it will slide. We all have these little problems. Just part of caravanning.
Sorry to hear about your plight , but if you dont know the van i would put in for service , just for piece of mind that every thing is in order , gas -electrics -tyres -brakes-suspension geometry - damp etc , best of luck i am sure once its all sorted you will really enjoy it
Hi again. thanks for all your advise its great. And im glad its not only happened to me. After some thinking my wife is coming back round to the idea as the positives are so far outweighing the negatives. Today i filled a watering can and pured it down the toilet, tried with blade closed and open and it didnt leak anywhere so im thinking i must have done something wrong the last time i fitted it. I do need to get it serviced but after buying the van and all the bits and a towbar etc im struggling to scrape together the £200 + parts it will cost me. And Mrs T wants a porch awning ready for the Triumph Festival at Mallory Park next month. It never ends
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Topic: First time away, DISASTER
