Rienza repairs

:tap_fingers:Since we have owned the Rienza the toilet flush has been a bit hit and miss. It would suddenly stop working, leave until you washed youre hands and it then worked.
Earlier this week when I was away with my son it refused to work at all. Thinks me it must be the pump because you could here it trying to work. I ordered a pump and set about changing it yesterday. When I took the switch out the protective boot on the back of the switch was detached leaving the rear of the switch in line with the filler opening. Using a hose to fill the flush tank must have drowned the switch. 
The inside of the tank was covered in sticky black gunk including the pump. Having the old pump in my hand I tested it. It did run but at varied speeds. Fitting the new pump the fault was still there, working when it felt like it. Before I ordered a new switch I sprayed the old one with contact cleaner. Packing to go away again tomorrow  , we can flush with the shower as we did in the Duetto, I tried the flush. It works now   . The contact cleaner must have helped. The only down side being the new pump is a lot noisier giving a better flush. Night time visits wont be as discreet as they used to be. 
When we get back I think I will look into flushing the tank out with some thing a bit stronger than the pink flush gunk hopefully giving the new pump a chance.

It's the pink stuff that caused the black gunk!

Agree with the above. it ruined my pump, took ages to clear the black gunk out, never used it since, only Aldi washing liquid, then not at every fill of rinse tank.

Slaphead wrote:It's the pink stuff that caused the black gunk!

Thetford stuff does, Elsan doesn't.

PLOUGHLIN wrote:

Slaphead wrote:It's the pink stuff that caused the black gunk!

Thetford stuff does, Elsan doesn't.

Thetford has been reformulated so hopefully should cause problems now. Not that I buy it anyway, I buy Spinney own label with no problems.

I bought the Thetford pink gunk because I thought it was the Elsan gunk that caused the problem . Also our local motorhome spares place only sells  Thetford gunk to go with the Thetford toilets they sell.   
Considering the mess in the tank I cant recall  any black bits in the flush. I drain the flush tank every winter, maybe that helped.
I live 50 yds from a Lidle so I might think about the washing liquid. Is that the clothes washing liquid?.
Considering the date on the old pump is 2005 its lasted well on what ever has been put in there before we took it on. When we bought the Rienza it had tap water with no gunk. I put gunk in to help the flush.
The switch problem must have been like that from being built, again that has lasted well.
Until I can decide what to put in the tank I will drain it and re-fill with water no gunk.

It is the clothes washing liquid.

That will be easy as we use the none bio from Lidle already. The issue of what to use were was easy with the Duetto using water from the main tank. Yet another advance in motorhome design to creat potential problems..

The toilet flush is still playing up. It worked fine overnight at Saltburn until I moved to the site at Hinderwell, half an hours drive. It tried to work a couple of times then failed again. The pump seemed to struggling to run.
After the first night it started working again for the three nights we were away. I now wonder if the pump is picking up sludge from the bottom of the tank even though I drained the tank before we left. The only other thought is that the switch is not sealed properly getting wet when we move ,I found the boot off when I changed the pump.
I will give it some sussing and boggling and maybe change the switch just to prove that.

When I cleaned mine out it took ages , kept putting water through from inside and flushing the loo, after it was drained and cleaned as much as possible i used kitchen towel to clean up what was left. putting in from inside and pushing it in and moving it around to gather up any spare black bits, then flushed through again, it wasn`t a five minutes job, then it was all clean and shiny inside. never had any more trouble .

I have been out to re-pack things and the toilet now flushes as it should. The thought of sludge in the tank dosnt seem to ring true to me. If it was sludge I would see bits in the flush water at the bowl. Due to other none motorhome holidays it will be stood for a while now so I will give this matter some further looking at, starting with the switch. It is fourteen years old so being soaked every time the tank is filled cant have helped I suppose.

I have just stumbled onto something that I didn’t know. I have some Fenwicks waste tank cleaner on the shelf I forgot about so I am going to give the waste pipes and tank a flush out. The instructions say you should shake the tank, I think a run out would be more practical. We had thought about a day out next weekend so that should give it good shaking.
Reading the instructions it says you can use it for getting rid of black bits in the flush tank so I will give that a try.
The switch is working again now but I don’t trust it so a switch will be ordered if only to prove the fault. Another little thing I keep forgetting about but will get ordered eventually.

The switch arrived today so I got stuck in and fitted it . Feeling quite smug thinking that my toilet problems may be solved I noticed the cassette full light was on.
Whilst I had a think I drained the cleaning gunk out of the grey tank and flush tank. When I drained the flush tank some of the gunk splashed on to the cassette so I took it out to wipe it down. Now I know why the light was on.”The cassette was full”.
I am normally on the ball with cleaning and draining tanks after each trip out. Perhaps it’s old age that’s got to me.