As we don't have an internal water supply I suppose the only thing that should worry me is the toilet flush water Rod.
I've not drained that in the past as I totally lag the toilet area both from inside, outside and under the van. Is it easy to drain the cistern?
Could the method of draining down be explained in a little detail for those of us who've not done it before.
R

If you scroll down to the Technical Help Files section and click on Links to Manufacturers' Technical Data Files, then link to Thetford products, you will find a list of links to the data files for all their toilets.

The one fitted in our 2003 Triton is a Porta Potti Cassette C4 manual flush and it is drained via the transparent level tube at the front right of the external access door. Pull the tube out of its clip and point the end downwards. If you remove the little rubber bung from the end of the tube and remove the filler cap, it will drain more quickly.

You may be amazed by the amount of black 'stuff' that comes out with the flush water.

The problem is that the black stuff can really build up to the point where flushing it out will not be sufficient. I've tried 'Milton' sterilising solution which was highly recommended but it wasn't much use.

In the end I removed the manual pump operating knob to reveal the plastic bellows underneath. At first I thought that the bellows were made out of black plastic but I found that they are transparent but were coated internally with the black gunge. In the picture you can see a reddish tinge which suggests to me that the culprit is the pink Thetford solution itself that is somehow breaking down, perhaps due to bacterial action (?)

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You can see from the state of the dip tube in the second picture what a state the inside of my tank was in and 'flakes' of black stuff were flushing onto the toilet bowl every time it was used.

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I did the thorough cleaning last May but noticed to my dismay that black stuff was coming out of the drain tube when I drained down at the end of holiday at the beginning of last month.

I'll look out for the product you mention and see if it solves the problem.

Can I ask what might be a daft question?

Why does draining down need to be such a big deal when it's easily done on site before you come home?

Am I committing chumpery of the gravest kind?

I'm working on the basis that I don't want to be towing any water at all, either on the way somewhere or on the way back. So the aquarolly thing gets emptied before we leave, and I open the drain cocks - having lifted the taps - to let everything out of the internal water system.

A few litres of clean water piddle out onto the grass while we're doing something else, and that's it. Empty pipes.

I empty the flush tank by disconnecting the sight tube's top rubber pipe (thanks for showing me how to do this, Rodders) and letting it all dribble out into the poo tank.

This may mean one extra trip with the tank, but that only takes a minute or two, and the net result is that the caravan is effectively dry when we hitch it to the car, and I don't need to remember to do a special drain later on.

Worrying about getting Mrs Pew's sensitive aspidistra inside before it freezes is quite enough.

Have I goofed somewhere or what?

Quote: Frantone wrote in post #9

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I met a guy on site this last weekend who drained his pretty pink flush liquid into a couple of bottles to put back in when next on site.

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Quote: Crow wrote in post #13

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Did you flush until empty as well?
Taps left closed and are frost damaged seem to be a regular topic
on caravan forums,especially those only used in the summer months.
I also blow my pipes out, hot and cold, this coughs up around 70ml.
per pipe.
I think saving the flush liquid, provided it is clean i.e.no black bits is
sensible. it can then be reused for those short winterbreaks.

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