What we cover

• The #1 RV toilet upgrade mistake:assuming thewater connectionis universal Whybrand usually doesn’t matterfor mounting: most RV toilets bolt down to the flange in a similar wayThe real “gotchas” when swapping toilets:Water supply line fitment(may need a new line, adapter, or reroute)Fitting types and anglesthat change between modelsClearance to the wall(“too deep” problems when upgrading to larger/elongated styles)What to measurebeforeyou order:Base footprint and bolt positionDistance from mounting bolts to the wallWater line location and accessPractical tips fromEric Starkfor a smoother install:
  • Don’t assume—verify your connection type and space Plan for a water line update even if the toilet swap looks “simple” Confirm you can still access fittings after the new toilet is in place
  • Community question:
    • What black tank treatments work best for you?Let Me Know?
    • Gear talk / wrap-up:
      • A look atCamco’s newer sewer hose fittingsand why they can make connections faster, cleaner, and more reliable

Have you ever upgraded your RV toilet or know someone that has? And as they're doing it, they run into a problem that stops them dead in their tracks until they get it resolved? I'll bet you have.

And I bet I know what it is. And that's what we're going to discuss today. The number one problem you face when upgrading a toilet.

And then I want your feedback on what kind of black water holding tank treatment you use. I want you to let me know what it is. And then we're going to discuss the Camco fittings.

Camco's come out with some great new fittings for your sewer hoses connections. These things are absolutely awesome. So we're going to talk about those for a few minutes. I'm Eric Sark. Welcome to the Smart rver podcast.

If you'd rather be camping than sitting in a repair shop, you're in the right place. Every episode, I'll walk you through practical DIY maintenance and repairs that keep you on the road. Welcome back, Smart RVers. Today is episode 198.

Now, as a reminder, check out our podcast on itunes or Spotify all the major channels. Share it with your friends. Let everybody know about it. Shout it from the rooftops.

We are here and we are helping RVers stay on the road without all the problems. Now let's talk about RV toilets and that number one problem you run into when you're doing an upgrade with your RV toilet and how to avoid it.

Now, first, we're going to talk about toilets in general for a moment.

We need to understand the different brands and some of the variables, and that's going to help us get into the number one problem and how to avoid it. So there's several brands on the market.

You know, this isn't a flooded market in the mainstream RV world, maybe on the Internet, there's a lot more than what I'm going to talk about today. But these are the ones you're going to find in RV stores and in new RVs. You have Thetford, which has been around forever.

Dometic's been around forever. Now, they haven't been in the toilet business forever. They bought their way into that by buying Sealand several years ago.

Then you have Camco, Lippert, and now Envision, which is made by Suburban. All of these brands are good in their own little way. They all have pros, they all have cons.

Now, the Dometic 300 series, the Camco and the Lippert and the Envision, they're all basically the same toy that they look alike. In fact, some of the parts are actually interchangeable. So those are the more common ones you're going to see. Now.

Thetford used to be the king of the category. They are. In every RV made, you'd find a Thetford toilet.

Every rv, without a doubt, it'd be a Thetford toilet and probably an Aquamagic 3, an Aquamagic 4, a Starlight Galaxy with the two foot pedals. Very popular toilet, Extremely popular. Well, times have changed. A lot of RVers are coming with dometic toilets in them.

Now the 300 series, which has now become the 400 series. Now, if we get into the different models of them, and that's one of the things you need to know when you're changing a toilet.

It's not absolutely imperative, but it certainly helps. And it definitely helps when you go to get repair parts. Quite often people think that all the parts on toilets are all the same.

It's just a toilet and I need a flush valve. It's just a toilet. I need a foot pedal. It's just an RV toilet and I need this or that.

They're all model specific, so we need to know that information. Just that's. Keep that in your mind, you know, if you do have to buy a part for your toilet.

So now Thetford, they make the Bravura, which that toilet covers back in, goes back in time to replace any Thetford toilet in the past for the most part, but especially the Starlight Galaxy, which you don't see them anymore. If you have an older RV and maybe you're hanging onto that toilet, the Revera would be the replacement for it.

Then you have the Aquamagic 6, which replaces Aquamagic 5, 4, 3, 2 and so forth going back in time. Then you have the Style 2, which is a porcelain bowl with a plastic base. Very nice toilet. Then you have the Style Plus.

The Style plus is actually my favorite. That toilet is elongated. It's more of a residential style. Very high quality toilet, very nice, but at a reasonable price.

And then of course, dometic makes the 300 series, which is now being replaced by the 400 series. And don't be too alarmed. This isn't like a Dometic and their Atwood water heater fiasco where you couldn't make an Easy replacement.

The 400 series is a direct replacement for the 300. The toilets almost look identical.

The 400 has a deeper bowl and works a little bit better than the Camco Flomax and Voyager, which Voyager is made by Envision. Camco's toilet is Just called a gravity toilet. Flomax is made by Lippert and Voyager is made by Envision, who is owned by Suburban.

And we all know the Suburban brand. Very nice toilet. And I do want to say this about the Voyager toilet. Its water valve can be frozen.

These things can actually freeze, like minus 40 degrees. Not that I'm going to ask you or tell you or recommend that you do that.

But if it were to freeze, it's probably going to survive it, which is a nice plus because we kind of forget about toilets when winterizing or the toilet doesn't get winterized properly. Still a little water in that valve and it breaks, especially on those 310s. 300, 320s made by Dometic. And the 400 will probably be the same way.

We sell a lot of those water valves. And another little trick for you, the Flomax toilet water valve will work in the 300 series and probably in the 400.

Haven't tested the 400 yet, but definitely works in the 300. So you got a $25 valve versus like an 80 valve. Go for the 25, they work just fine. Now, upgrading the toilet, what do we need to know?

Okay, you have an RV toilet. They're not all the same.

And the, the key differences that'll really throw you off are the mounting bolts where they're at on the toilet in relationship to the back of the toilet. So will it hit the wall when you go to put a new toilet in, will the wall. Is it going to be where the mounting.

You know, you're mounting holes in the base of the toilet now maybe are 2 inches forward of the studs sticking up out of the flange. See, that won't work because the walls there, you can't move the wall and you can't move the flange.

So you have to buy a toilet that's going to fit on there. And for the most part, RV toilets are pretty interchangeable.

It's not always a huge deal, but it does happen where the flange was mounted too close to the wall. And a better toilet or an upgraded toilet won't work. Take for example, the Dometic 300 series.

You know, they go from anywhere from 8 1/2 inches to 11 inches from the center of those mounting holes to the back of the toilet. So you really should have 8 1/2 to 12, or it should be about 12 inches to the back of the toilet, let's say, or to the wall.

That gives you some room for adding a new toilet in later on, even if it was an upgrade in a Dometic toilet. If they mounted the, let's say the 300 series right next to the wall, you might not be able to get a 310 in there because there's an inch difference.

So that could be a problem. It's best to measure that just to be sure. Before you go buy a new toilet, get that measurement. The RV or the toilet's already in your rv.

Just get a tape measure, push it against the wall, measure it to the center of the bolt that's holding it down. That's the measurement you need to know. So if it falls within there, you're good.

And your toilet is probably an inch, maybe 2 inches away from the wall. So pay attention to that. Take a picture of it. In fact, I'm going to ask you later on to take some pictures of your toilet anyways before you buy one.

So keep that in mind.

Now, the Thetford toilets are about seven and a half to 12 and a quarter inches on that measurement from the center of the bolt to the back of the toilet.

So if you're buying a Thetford toilet and you want, or you want to buy a Thetford and replace your dometic, you have to make sure you have room for it. And quite often it's not an issue. But it does come up. That's why I'm mentioning it. So it's important we know the basics here.

And having an idea of your toilet before you go to the store helps. It's not always going to make everything so much better by knowing it, but it certainly helps.

And quite often the person might be able to help you and say, you know that toilet you got? I wouldn't recommend going back with that. Maybe you've had this problem where the water valve, you know, every year you got to replace it.

If the pedal breaks off, you got to buy a new toilet, that type of stuff. They might be able to help you and say, yeah, don't go back with that if you can. Let's go over to this toilet here. Let's go to the Thetford style.

Plus, that's my go to. That's the one I always recommend because it's such a good toilet. But anyway, I don't want to get all wrapped up in that.

We're talking about upgrading and how to do it. So knowing that is going to be a big help. And sometimes you might be talking about replacing your toilet and you just need a water valve.

And a good salesman, he's going to guide you to that. Hey, also your water valves Leaking. That's why you want to do this way. You don't have to replace your toilet. Do you know what model toilet you have?

Oh, we have that water valve right here. They're $45. That's much cheaper than buying a new toilet. Right? And so hopefully they would do that because why buy a new one if you don't have to?

Water valves fail. That's part of a toilet, an RV toilet. Some fail more often than others, but they do fail. You have seals that can leak, so there are issues.

It's just like a house, except you have to deal with it more often. RVs are a little bit different. You got this house going down the road. It's like a rolling earthquake all the time. So you get that figured out.

You got your dimension on the floor, the mounting bolts to the wall to the back of the toilet. You know what you can get in there. You have a pretty good idea. You might not know exactly what the toilet you want is going to be yet.

So you go to the RV store and you say, I want this toilet now. I'm going to be able to just bolt this right in. Right? And they're going, oh, yeah, yeah.

You got two bolts side to side, nine o' clock and three o' clock position. Piece of cake. This toilet is going to bolt right in. So they're probably not going to warn you about the water connection.

And that's the number one problem you face when you're upgrading your toilet is the water connection. Because they're not all the same. And depending on how your RV's plumbed, it can be kind of a hassle to change that connection.

But it's doable if you know what you're up against.

And if you live someplace where you don't want to make more multiple trips to the RV store, you can head this off at the pass by going into the store armed with a picture of the water connection of your rv. So the guy knows what you're talking about. And don't even think about going to the store and say, well, it's an RV toilet.

They're all hooked up the same. Absolutely not. And you can have the same toilet in 100 RVs.

And you can see multiple ways of the water connecting to the toilet, because each manufacturer is going to do it different, I guarantee it. So don't assume that. Go in prepared to change the connection if you have to.

Now, if you have a dometic 310 toilet and you want to go back with that dometic 310 you don't want to monkey with anything. You can buy a 310 and it's going to be a problem free installation.

You could buy a 410, the new Dometic, it's going to go right in because the water valves are in the exact same spot. Now this might throw you the Aqua Magic or the Thetford Aquamagic Style Plus. For example, it has a water valve on the back of it down on the side.

It looks like at a glance it's in the same spot as a dometic 310, but it's not. It's over about three inches. So that connection from your 310 to that aquamagic plus might not work.

So you'd have to modify your water line so you get it. The water connection is going to be the problem unless you go back with the exact same toilet.

Most of your Thetford toilets, other than the Style plus the water valve is at the top of the toilet in the back and the fitting on it points straight to the ground. It's a half inch pipe thread. And by the way, they're all half inch pipe thread. So that's normal, not a problem. But it points straight to the ground.

So if you're not going back at the same Thetford toilet, you'll have to modify the water line. Now, these modifications are not an issue. Most of the RV stores that sell this, you know, plumbing, they sell toilets.

They're going to have the fittings you're going to need. And a lot of times you can just cut the water line off near the wall and just re plumb it from there, put a coupler in.

Or I would recommend putting a shutoff valve in right there. A brass one made by Flaret. They're very small, they're compact, they're easy to put in line, especially if you use their. They're Pex clamps.

Just crimp them on with a pair of pliers. You don't need a special tool. Very cool.

So if you install that, then you just plumb forward and you might have to go straight then up, do a 90 up to the water valve or up or straight, then a 90 to the left to get to the water valve. It just depends on your RV where that water line comes through the wall or the floor.

And you know, it seems like when they install these water lines they maybe get like a 45 and just blow a hole in the wall in the four someplace, you know, at random. You know, I just put it here today, Joe. All right, now it's good that's why you always have a hole on the outside of your rv.

That's where they put the water line in for the toilet. And just kidding, you guys know that it's not always precision and it doesn't always make sense.

Some RVs, that water line 7 or 8 inches away from where it really probably should be, sometimes they go through the floor and it's right behind the toilet, very awkward. So you have to kind of work with that. And sometimes you can buy a flexible water line. You may be the RV store will have it, maybe they won't.

You can go to a hardware store and get a flexible one with a half inch female fitting on one end and a half inch female fitting on the other end. And you might be able to put one of those in there.

You know, put a little loop in it and tie it off on both ends, tighten it up and you're good to go. Now what you do need to know on that is these flexible water lines, especially in hardware stores, the collar on it or the nut is very short.

You have to find a long one.

So if you're unsure, take the old water valve with you or a half inch pipe thread fitting with you to the hardware store because it has to get three or four turns on there. And sometimes these nuts are so short you can only get a quarter of a turn or a half a turn on it. That's not good.

It'll just come right off and sometimes you'll ruin the valve trying to put it on. So make sure the collar is longer than normal. Those ones are like a half an inch long.

You probably want something 3/4 or an inch long to make sure it works right. So check your local RV store. But that is an option. You just got to make sure that collar is longer.

I was in a hardware store the other day and everything they had were short collars, but they do make longer collar ones. And it's half inch pipe thread. The toilet's half inch male pipe thread. It's not the same as a residential toilet.

A residential toilet is five, eight pipe thread. So that takes a different fitting. And that's what they're going to try to sell you. It's a toilet that takes this one.

No, it's a half inch pipe thread. In fact, most of your fittings on an RV are half inch pipe thread. So just keep that in mind. So that's your number one problem is that water line.

So if you take a picture of what you have, go in there with some information, determine whether you have half inch PEX line or 3.8pex line or it's a quarter inch line or maybe it's a flex line that's already in there. You'll be able to reuse it. But being prepared when you buy the toilet, you can fix that water issue.

And I highlight putting in that shutoff valve when you do it because that way you can turn your water off to your water off to the toilet and still keep the rest of the water on in the RV very handy. Especially when the toilet fails and it's the middle of the night or in the morning when you're trying to get ready.

Now you got to shut off water to the entire RV because the toilet has a problem. Let's avoid that. So stick with the mainstream brands and don't be afraid to do an upgrade. It's not a big deal. You guys are the smart RVers.

Your expert is a do it yourself type maintenance. And if you do run any problems, you can call me at Highway 93 RV in Victor, Montana.

You can use the Contact Us page on the SmartRver.com I want to know what you're using in your black water tanks.

So in order for you to do that, you can either call me or go to the contact us page on the smartrver.com and the reason why I want to know is we have our favorite product that we sell, a lot of, which is pure power. In fact, that's our primary product. If we have a say in it, that's where we're going to direct a customer.

If they ask us, hey, which one do you recommend? That's what we recommend.

Now if they go back into that department of our store, they can pick whatever they want and that they might go with Camco, tst. Yeah, they can pick whatever they want. Wall X, it doesn't matter. And so I'm curious as to what product you're using and how well it works.

Do you use it just because that's what was in your RV when you bought it? You bought a new toilet and it had something in it. Someone recommended it to you and you're just kind of using it now?

That's what the local RV store has. So I just buy it every time I go in there. Let me know and I'd like to know what it is and how well it works.

That way I can decide what we have in our store. It'll help me make decisions on what we're gonna sell and push. Like I said, we sell a lot of the pur. Maybe that's your Favorite, but let me know.

So use the contact us page@thesmartrver.com Speaking of toilets and sewer hoses, let's talk about the Camco sewer hose F fittings. Camco is always coming out with new things that are very unique, and their sewer hose fittings seem to be one of them.

Now, they have an item called a drain lock. So it's a fitting that will actually lock into the campground.

You put it into the to the 3 inch or 4 inch pipe in the campground and you push this lever down, it locks into place, hook up your sewer hose, you're good to go. So it's not going to pop out. Now, other brands do the same thing, but they're much more expensive. They come with a hose. It's kind of a system.

So if you want something simple that accomplishes the same thing and use your existing sewer hose, whether it's Camco, Vaultera, Thetford, it doesn't matter. All those fittings work together. You can buy one of those and be up to snuff and keep that fitting in the ground so your crap don't go everywhere.

And also Camco is making fittings that rotate, which is kind of cool. You know, sometimes you put your fitting on the RV and then you put your sewer hose on and it's not really in the right spot.

Well, you can rotate these now so it's more adjustable. And just so you know, when you get the fitting, you know, you go to the store and buy it, they're going to be hard to twist.

It's not a real loose fitting, so it takes a little bit of effort.

But they do rotate and they're clear, which is nice, too, for those that like to see everything is coming out of their holding tanks, whether it's liquid or not. But these fittings are pretty sweet. Camco is always coming up with stuff that works very well. Unique.

And heck, sometimes their products or their ideas might not be the greatest, but they try it out and it fails. They move on to the next thing. But check these out. You can find them at your RV store.

We're going to have them on our website@sunpromfg.com so you can check them out. There they are. Pretty cool. Now, as a final reminder, I want to ask you to sign up for our newsletter.

And when you sign up, we send you a couple emails a month. We don't bombard your inbox. We're not going to fill it full of spam.

Everything you get from us is going to be useful information, stuff that's going to help you to stay the smart RVer and it has to do with DIY RV maintenance and repairs. In the next two weeks we come to episode 199 and we are going to talk about 12 volt RV refrigerators and what is possibly killing it.

If you're having problems with your 12 volt refrigerator, which it seems like there are a lot of problems with them where they don't last or you have to buy a circuit board all the time. So we're going to get into that and I have got a great product I'm going to recommend. So come back in two weeks and check out episode 199.

Alright, that's going to be it for today's episode episode of the Smart rver podcast. Thank you for listening. I'm Eric Starks and if you'd rather be camping than sitting in the repair shop, you're in the right place.

Until next time, take care of the little things and enjoy the trip.