cassette toilet in Starcraft Venture

[dandreas]

At first I posted this on the Mr. Fix It page, but I think it belongs here.

This is my first experience with a pop-up since I was a kid.  And that thing was pretty primitive.   We just got a new to us 1999 Starcraft Venture with a built-in shower/cassette toilet area.  I understand the concept of how the toilet should work as I have used porta-potties before, however I can't get the "rinse" button to work.  I don't have the manufacturer's guide so I don't know if I am missing a step when trying to work it.  And yes, before anyone asks, I filled the water tank.  The button only depresses about an inch and a half or so.  Should it be pulled up first?(I tried to pull on it a little, but that doesn't seem to be it.)  Is there some sort of trick to this or is my water tube just not attached properly anymore?  And is there any easy way to fix this?  The whole toilet seems to be one big molded piece and the access door from the outside is too small for me to see anything.  How can I get to the tube if need be?  Any input would be great.  At least the button rotates so I can "flush" everything down.  I'd just like to be able to rinse it each time without a bottle of water this next trip!  Thanks everyone!

[austinado16]

The folks at StarcraftRV are really great, and I'd recommend you give 'em a call on Monday.  If you don't have an owner's manual, you can order it from them too. They've got a tech assist dept. that can help with your questions.

Sounds like maybe that rinse button is just bad internally, but that's just a guess as I'm not familiar with the version of toilet used in your model.

[snoops]

I'm guessing your cassette potty is made by Thetford, right? If so, open the door where the waste tank is and look near the top of the compartment for a flasher fuse. That could be bad. Also, there should be a 3A glass fuse near the flasher fuse. It will have a black cap that unscrews to access it. Replace it if bad.
At the beginning of this season, my potty blew the 3A fuse everytime I flushed. The problem was that the pump motor had seized up. I had to remove it and free up the properlers on the bottom of the pump. Works fine now.
Here is a link for you: http://www.thetford-europe.com/web/show/id=45119/langid=42

Please post your results if you get it working again.

Hope this helps.

[dandreas]

Thank you both so much for your posts.  It is a Thetford and I will check it out asap.  I didn't know there was so much involved with these toilets! Much more involved than our little Coleman Porta-potti!  Thanks again.

[tlhdoc]

Do you have an electric flush cassette or the manual flush.  If you have a manual flush cassette you have to twist the knob to flush the toilet.  The European Thetford site has a lot more information than the US site does.  Good luck on the toilet.