Soapy water in Thetford

[Bill]

A few weeks ago I had a spot of bother with my bench-type Thetford: the blade stuck in the open position.

 

Thank God this happened

a) When it was outside the van

b) When it was empty

 

I took it to a caravan maintenance shop, and they said that when they opened it up the mechanism just disintegrated. Net result I had to buy a new cassette.

 

I am particularly pleased that this happened was while the cassette was outside the van; if it had been in place I don’t think there would have been any way to get it out other than by demolishing the washroom – which would have been horrendously expensive.

 

Naturally I started wondering what had caused the problem. Was it just age (the cassette was about 18 years old)?

 

A few months previously I had cleaned it by half-filling with warm soapy water and then driving about 30 miles. Would warm soapy water damage the mechanism?

 

BTW the cassette alone cost £146; you can buy a complete Porta-Potti for about £75, and a friend bought a Lidl own-brand Porta-Potti for £35.

 

 

[Bill Ord]

As I use Aire de Services more often than camp sites I usually use the grey water to rinse my cassette, it was a tip I learned from watching others in similar situations. I find it cleans the cassette well and on a number of 'vans over the years I have never suffered any problems I could associate with using the "soapy water" to do the job.

 

Bill Ord

[cronkle]

I have to say that 18 years doesn't seem an unreasonable age for the cassette to last. :-D

[Globetrotter]

It wouldnt be the soap. The mechanism parts could have been replaced but it is a fiddly job, so much easier for the repair shop to just replace it whole. £146 seems expensive-just had a quick trawl and £100 seems to be the average.