Thetford Tecma Easy Fit toilet - ‘16 C30 LE

[Boatagain]

It flushes just fine using fresh water from the shower, but the bowl does not fill with raw water in any of the modes as it should. I checked the hose from the sea strainer to the toilet pump in the engine room and it was wide open. I had a hard time telling if the pump was the problem. Since the toilet switch is in the head and far away from the pump in the engine room, It’s hard to know if the pump runs when the switch is pushed (working solo, no one to help). I disconnected the output of the pump and placed a clear plastic cup over the barbed fitting. Went forward and pushed the flush button. Returned aft and the cup was completely dry. The pump is not working.

There is no labeled fuse for this pump in any of the DC panels, but, through process of elimination and wire color, I think I found it - solid light brown wire with a tiny label on the wire saying Pump #3, turned the wrong way so I couldn’t see it, in one of the several fuse blocks in the quarter cabin. The 10a fuse was fine. Can anyone confirm that this is the fuse for the toilet pump? If not, where is it?

I have not yet checked the long run of hose from the pump output to the toilet or if anything is pinched behind the toilet. It was working properly until late last season - can’t imagine how anything got pinched.

Any help would be
very much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

Take your smart phone and place it near the pump. Set it to record a video or record a sound. Then go forward and push the button in the head. Then go back and play back the video or sound. I've used this method several times when I'm working solo.

 

[BradOwens]

Behind the toilet there is a connector that connects two wires from the toilet to two wires from the control panel. Over time, vibration from the boat moving can cause the connector to come loose. This just happened on my 2012 R29. It was an easy fix, but required moving the toilet to get access to the back. I did not need to disconnect anything, just loosened the bolts holding the toilet to the deck and slid it forward a few inches.

 

[Boatagain]

Bob,
Great suggestion about the phone. I guess you have to be in your twenties and think hi-tech like that. 😉

Brad,
You’ve given me hope! I won’t be back at the boat until this weekend. I’ll post the results then. If it’s as simple as a loose connection I will be very happy. Thanks

 

[Boatagain]

Update on my potty trouble.

With wifey on board (low tech solution) I was able to confirm that the raw water pump was running when the toilet button was pushed. No need to pull the toilet to look for loose connections.

I pulled off the pump’s intake hose, back filled it with water from the dock hose and also squirted some water into the pump’s intake. Reconnected the hose and, holy cow, it worked! All I had to do was prime the pump. You’ve never seen someone so happy to see water flowing into a toilet bowl. 😀

 

[Florida_Cruiser]

When I took delivery of my R29 in January the sales rep pointed out that the toilet pump may lose prime periodically. The fix with the boat in the water is to slightly open the knob on top of the sea strainer that feeds water to my toilet, a/c and saltwater wash down. This appears to break the air lock and you will see water fill the sea strainer basket. Once the water visually shows in the sea strainer and just starts to overflow close the knob and secure it tightly. I have had to use this fix on more than one occasion already.

 

[Boatagain]

That’s interesting. My sea strainer also supplies water to the air conditioner and raw water washdown, both of which were working just fine. I actually tried what you suggested last week and it didn’t help with the toilet. Ya live and ya learn.