ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Joined: 02/25/2005
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My brother and his wife bought a used Trail Manor with a recirc toilet and none of us knows how it works. Can someone explain the operating principles and give us some instruction on how to use it before we make some kind of really nasty mistake?
Thanks in advance!
Scott, Grace and Wesly
2003 Dodge 3500 4x4 Cummins (lightly bombed),
2004 Forest River 25RKS many, many mods.
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Fishinghat
Western Washington, USA
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I hope someone jumps in here with some specifics, hopefully from recent experience.
Baring that, I'll volunteer that I had one in my boat some 35 years ago, and it used a chemical to kill any bacteria in the holding tank, since the fluid was pumped back into the bowl to help flush the next use. I don't recall the name of the chemical, but it would have to prevent the formation of methane since that is the source of the odor and gas. A simple perfume wouldn't work. So, many of those chemicals made for our holding tanks probably would be ineffective. JMHO
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Nyssa
Colorado Springs
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We have a new Trailmanor. The recirculating toilet is neat, but a change from our Thetford cassette. I can only tell you about the new one. Assuming the toilet is dry, dump three gallons of water in the toilet - yep - right in the toilet. Put one or two packets of Thetford deodorant in the toilet. Press the elctric switch to let it recirculate. That's it! The gauge on the toilet will say empty. As you fill it the gauge will go up to full.
There is a handle on the front of the toilet. Don't pull it until you are ready to dump your black water. Pull it before you close the trailer IF you are going to dump sewage. If not, you will have to raise the trailer to get to the toilet. Connect your sewage pipe and pull the black water handle outside. The toilet will dump. Since we take short trips, I dump mine at home - very carefully - into a plastic bucket. The I dump the goodies into our toilet at home like we did our cassette. Then I can add fresh water to the toilet to rinse it out. Chemicals do a super of keeping odor down. A new Thetford chemical smells like baby powder.
There is a good manual on the Trailmanor sites.
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RedRamMan
Northeast Kansas
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Joined: 08/27/2003
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DON,T pour the chemicals down your home toilet if you are on a septic tank. It kills the bacteria, messes up your tank.
2004 Red Ram SLT QC 3500 Auto CTD HO SB
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Nyssa
Colorado Springs
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Good point about septic systems, but we live in town.
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Polishnurse
Schodack, NY
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The chemicals will userly last about one week. You will know when they are no longer working. Adding more on top of the existing load will do no good. You should dump and recharge. If I'm not mistaken, there is a pull valve in the base of the unit that is hidden behind a piece of plastic. The one I used to use was some 20 years ago. Bill
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Joined: 02/25/2005
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Thanks for the info everybody. I never dreamed something like that could work but it obviously does!
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mtnguy
Ruckersville, Va.
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To add to the advice of Nyssa and others:
The workings of the toilet are pretty simple. The is a mesh cone in the toilet that filters out solids and leaves them in the center of the toilet....similar to clothes in a washing machine. The fluid that surrounding that cone is what is used to flush the toilet......so you are flushing the toilet with the water from the initial charge plus what goes down the toilet, minus any solids. I know, it seems like a gross system, but it works great. Using Thetford Campa-Chem Natural we have never had bad smells coming from the toilet, even after 6 days of boon-docking and a pretty full toilet.
The advantages of this style of toilet is that it doesn't take any of your precious water to flush after the initial charge, which is usually done at home. And you don't need a 20 gal black water tank, as everything is right there in the toilet. Trailmanor likes to keep things light and functional.
Like Nyssa suggested, if you decide to pull the toilet handle before closing up the Trailmanor so you can dump while leaving a campground, check and recheck that the outside toilet valve is closed, or you might be up for a rude awakening when you take of the dump cap. 
Chap
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Joined: 02/25/2005
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Thanks Chap. So how much of the nasty stuff does it hold?
Scott
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WishWeWereCamping
USA
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Joined: 02/23/2004
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It's supposed to hold about 6 gallons. We have a 10 gal blue tank and it doesn't come close to filling it up.
Here's a link to an owners manual for one similar to ours:
http://www.thetford.com/HOME/PARTS/Perma........lets/ElectraMagic/tabid/566/Default.aspx
According to the directions on the deodorizer chemical we use, recirculating toilets use two packets instead of one.
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