Toilet blade seal leak

[roaminaround]

I'm starting a new thread because this is model specific. I have a 12 year old Thetford Aqua Flush V. The bowl seal closes with a flat blade running across bottom of rubber seal. The blade seal stopped holding water so I bought a new seal. Old seal was a bit rough on the bottom so I figured that was the problem as it takes a couple hours to empty. I tried Vaseline and silicone and that didn't help the seal. Kit comes with new bottom floor seal as well. Good idea as the old floorseal came off in pieces. Easy job to replace blade seal but now it leaks faster than the old one. I'm wondering if I could disassemble and stretch the spring, buy a new blade on eBay for $16 or just buy a new toilet for $100. Any experience with this model?

[Gjac]

Glad it worked for you, no amount of new seals will fix that problem.

[roaminaround]

Update: I removed the blade (no easy task) and found a considerable amount of mineral buildup from 10 years of snowbirding in Arizona. I scraped it all off with a putty knife and reassembled. It's holding water overnight now.

[wa8yxm]

Humm.. I just installed one of those Aqua Magic's.... Only thing they had that was the right height.. Will likely order a better one later. But for now. THe room is back in service.

[Gjac]

I have a 22 year old Thetford Aqua Magic with that blade seal. As Bud said make a tool that you can insert into the seal groove to clean out any debris that gets caught there. I just did this yesterday for about the 3rd time over the years to clean out the groove. Just checked this morning and it is still holding water. Also the spring could get weak and not close all the way so you may need to help it up with your foot. Another problem I had was that hard scale built up on the under side of the blade from hard water and had to be scraped off and sanded to get a smooth surface for the rubber seal.

[Dutch_12078]

I replaced the broken Aqua Magic IV in our previous coach with a porcelain bowl Aqua Magic Style Plus. We liked the Style Plus so well that when our current coach came with another Aqua Magic IV, we swapped it with the Style Plus in the old coach before we sold it.

[j-d]

When I search "Aqua Flush V" I get "Aqua Magic V" - which is right?

We have an Aqua Magic IV, and on that one, the blade seal is as OP describes. It runs across the bottom of a Seal, not between two layers of a Seal like most other Thetford toilets. If the AM-V works like the AM-IV, then there's no groove in the Seal to be cleaned out. The AM-IV parts list shows this. The AM-V list does not, so I can't confirm Thetford used the same design.

AM-IV, now AM-V, is the cheapest of the cheap. Bottom of the line. I'm amazed that our 15-YOA one still works as well as it does. I can leave water in the bowl and it stays for at least several hours.

[ksg5000]

I would buy a new porcelain toilet - just double check to make sure you have enough room. When I considered the upgrade I was about 1/2" short.

[enblethen]

It is possible that there is some debris in the seal area. Thetford makes a tool to clean it. It is a bent screw driver looking thing.
I made one out a peice of wire coat hanger. Cut the coat hanger, bend one end at 90 degrees with about a one inch protrusion. Cut the coat hanger down so it is manageable. Insert the short portion into the groove of the seal. move it around inside the seal to insure there is no debris. Quite often a very small peice of debris will not allow the blade to seal properly.

[pyoung47]

Toolguy5 wrote:
I would jus buy a new porcelain toilet. Hours spent as well as parts trying to get fixed. You maybe further a head.

That's just me.

I'm not sure if you are a former sailor or a victim of spell check.

[Toolguy5]

I would jus buy a new porcelain toilet. Hours spent as well as parts trying to get fixed. You maybe further a head.

That's just me.

[jplante4]

Moved from General RVing

[donn0128]

Try plumbers grease first. Then go with a new toilet. Porceline toilets are way nucer than the plastic ones.