thetford toilet cistern

I keep overfilling the cistern and water then runs down into the cassette compartment.its a pity the cistern is not fitted with some sort of gauge.Am i alone in having this problem?
Has anyone devised a method of determining how much water is in the cistern?

There should be a clear plastic tube with 2 marks on it. This indicates the minimum and maximum water levels. It's located on the left hand side near the door. You take it off its holder and point it to the floor to empty. I now have a tank fed Thetford so it doesn't apply to me, I'm assuming that you have a Thetford top rinse tank.

thanks for the reply Woodlice
Unfortunately I do not have the clear plastic pipe on mine all there is a drain plug ,What you describe is a good idea but there is not any means of fitting one to my cistern .
I have studied my auto sleeper manual and cannot find anywhere that mentions the cistern or its capacity so i usually Finnish up poking a piece of flexible cable down the filler and topping up by trailing error

Ah sorry, I have no knowledge of your particular motorhome just saying what I've experienced on various caravans and motorhomes. I'm supprised A.S. didn't fot anything!

As far as I know the level tube/drain tube is only fitted to the bench toilet not to the swivel toilet. I've had both types and the swivel one you can see the level through the filler hole outside the van.

The advice usually given ( by Thetford and in the AS manual) is that you do not travel with your cistern full- or indeed, that you drain it completely before travelling. This is to ensure no possiblity of water leaks from extra pressure on joints or from the cistern overflowing.

I suspect not many of us do drain it completely when on the move but, unless we are in one place for a few days, we seldom fill ours completely. We have a 1.5 litre polythene milk bottle and that is enough for a short stay.  The cistern capacity is 7 litres.

Given that your loo does not depend on being water flushed it doesn't matter if you do run out of flush water. We keep an old shower spray bottle with water and a glug of multi-purpose cleaner and this is fine for freshening the bowl after use. It also does not fill the loo as quickly as flushing does- important if you are short of places to empty the cassette.

Maybe yours is different, which model Thetford is it you have?
On our Pollensa it's the C200 and the flush reservoir has an eye level external lockable fill point, some way above the cassette access door.  This has an internal horizontal lip and we simply stop filling when the water level reaches this lip. We've never had any spillage as a result, even if full whilst driving. Maybe there is some sort of seal that is damaged causing the leak?

I was told by my dealer not to fill above half full as it has caused damp  in the side wasll

use cistern until it is empty, DO NOT REFILL that way you will always know it is empty - ridiculously (in my opinion) you are supposed to drain the cistern before travelling so just keep it empty and invest in a spray bottle (£1 at a £1 shop near you) you will use less pink and your cassette will take longer to kill

I have no idea why AS recommend travelling with an empty flush tank, it seems stupid when you think lots of owners (myself included) rarely use sites, and often don't have access to a water or electricity supply for many days. It's a bit like saying carrying gas cylinders is ok so long as they're empty..
The idea of a MH is to be self-sufficient.
I always brim the flush tank whenever the opportunity arises and in 10 years of touring have never had a problem.
Al.

But even when the C200 toilet flush tank is full, the level is still several inches off the underside of the switch panel. 
But anyway, as I'm of the opinion pink liquid is an unnecessary rip off and only use plain water, what's the worst that could happen, a little water would leak into the shower tray. 
Al.

bikeralw wrote:
what's the worst that could happen, a little water would leak into the shower tray. 
Al.

Suggest you Google the subject to see the worst that could happen !  

We don't use pink stuff either but it does have the advantage that you can see where it has been when it soaks into the floor of your van following a leak.

I have better things to do than Google my toilet cistern...
As I've already stated, over 10 years touring with a full cistern and no problems whatsoever says it all as far as I'm concerned.
Al.

Same as above.

Electric kettles have usually got a clear panel in the side to see water level. It should therefore be possible to manufacture this into a Thetford tank. Perhaps no one has suggested it to them !!!