Thetford toilet pump

[stagthelad]

Every now and again the pump in the back of the toilet stops working, I took it out and turned the motor round with some small tweezers and it works fine.
I think it's just a build up of scale as it only happens when the van is parked up for a while.
I know I could get a new one but has anyone else had the same problem.

 

[izzy]

A very common problem, sometimes a bit of spray lube on the impellor may extend the time before attention is needed.
New pumps are cheap enough and if like me you get fed up of changing them as in my son's van for 30 quid you can take the whole lot out and fit a manual pump (bit radical though)

 

[Sam Vimes]

Yes. When I check the caravan at the beginning of the season for the first trip out, it's not working. Only use water in the system but it still gums up. A quick dismantle and a bit of encouragement gets it going for the rest of the year.

On my daughter's caravan in New Zealand...a Bailey....same thing happened. Because spares are hard to come by there and expensive we carried over a manual pump and swapped it over. No more problems

 

[birdman101]

Can also be bad connections on the circuit board and its switch not making good connection when pressed due to its damp location. Might be worth giving the board a good clean up and then spray with an electrical laquer to waterproof it.

 

[GUMPY]

Had this happen for the first time recently,
Took the pump out and it was movable, just.
Decided as it is 8 years old to replace it as it's not expensive if you don't buy from Thetford.
This Pump is exactly the same as the Thetford one except for the writing on the side of the pump.

 

[Kevin M]

We had that first time out this year, I drained the header tank and blew hard down the drain tube, noticed on filling up and repeating the process that some black build up was emitted. I used the Thetford cleaner and flushed through and had no further issues