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Old 11-08-2019, 07:37 PM   #1
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Toilet Seal Never Installed From Factory

TLDR; Factory never installed seal on toilet on brand new RV, causing the underbelly to swell full of black water. Is it unreasonable to ask them to replace the underbelly? The unit has been repaired but we cannot get smell to go away. Still have not been reimbursed for repair after three weeks, is this normal?

Hello everyone. We are new to RVing. My Vibe 26RK TT was purchased in late August, and we took the TT on two "test runs" at local campgrounds in Ohio before embarking on our first road trip in mid September to Reno, Nevada. Shortly after we were at our RV park in Reno (I'd say maybe 1 week or so), I noticed the black tank reading was not correct, so I decided to run the black tank flush.

Before I even got to running the flush, I was walking toward the hookup and I saw a single drip of water near the steps. I bent over and noticed there was a massive "bulge" in the underbelly. I poked it with a broom, and sure enough it seemed like a giant water balloon. Later my wife actually crawled under on all fours and pushed upward which caused the water to spill out on the sides. I took pictures and actually recorded a video of it. This was before we knew it was black water otherwise we never would have done that.

I can't tell you how hard it was to finally get someone to help me, this thread would be too long. (between forest river, camping world, good Sam etc.) However we were finally able to get it into a shop for warranty repair with help from camping world, and it was found that they never installed a seal on the toilet. I'm very upset, naturally, that their manufacturing and quality control did not catch something like this. It was impossible for us to even see or know there was an issue because of the enclosed underbelly, until of course this bulge appeared. The bulge ended up growing to the point that the back right underbelly separated from its mount from the weight of the water. I also feel this error caused our RV to immediately plummet in value.

So now I'm waiting for almost a thousand bucks for reimbursement, which they are now fighting because the shop didn't take pictures of the toilet missing the seal. On top of a new RV that probably is worth far less after three months than it should be. Is this kind of thing common?
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Old 11-09-2019, 08:41 AM   #2
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I would question your assumption that your rig has suddenly dropped in price. Leaks of all kinds happen with these rigs and many times the first indication is the corpolast bulging.
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Old 11-09-2019, 09:29 AM   #3
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Did you have the black tank drain open when you ran the tank flush? If not the water pressure would cause the issue you describe and would not be a warranty issue.
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Old 11-09-2019, 10:19 AM   #4
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it seems in the third paragraph he implied he did not flush the tank maybe I'm reading it wrong.
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Old 11-09-2019, 10:30 AM   #5
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it seems in the third paragraph he implied he did not flush the tank maybe I'm reading it wrong.
You may be correct.
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Old 11-09-2019, 11:59 AM   #6
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Did you have the black tank drain open when you ran the tank flush? If not the water pressure would cause the issue you describe and would not be a warranty issue.
It has been open the two times I did run it, however in this instance I never even ran it.
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Old 11-09-2019, 12:00 PM   #7
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it seems in the third paragraph he implied he did not flush the tank maybe I'm reading it wrong.
This is correct, I never did run it.
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Old 11-09-2019, 12:03 PM   #8
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I would question your assumption that your rig has suddenly dropped in price. Leaks of all kinds happen with these rigs and many times the first indication is the corpolast bulging.
Thank you, that makes me feel better. Again I am new, and don't want to be overreacting. I would just assume it would drop in value more than it would have without the issue. My main concern at this point is the smell. I have tried everything in these forums and it is apparent there is nothing I can do to get rid of it.
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Old 11-09-2019, 01:19 PM   #9
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I can provide you some direction for the smell, you will have to try to determine what is smelling. Such as, is it the subfloor, insulation, underbelly material etc.

Also did any of the black water seep into the flooring around the toilet. Black water incidents are much different in their cleanup than a fresh water leak.
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Old 11-11-2019, 03:58 PM   #10
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I can provide you some direction for the smell, you will have to try to determine what is smelling. Such as, is it the subfloor, insulation, underbelly material etc.

Also did any of the black water seep into the flooring around the toilet. Black water incidents are much different in their cleanup than a fresh water leak.
Thank you for your help! Unfortunately I cannot pinpoint the source of the smell, but as far as I know no black water seeped into the flooring around the toilet. I have tried putting my nose up to everything in the bathroom and I cannot find it. We had only seen a little bit of water around the toilet one time, and it seemed to be clean water leaking from the connection to the toilet. It never came back after I hand tightened it. If it is in the insulation or underbelly, how would I determine that for sure? I will say the smell is less now that I removed the toilet brush and cleaned the ledge of the shower, really well but it still persists. (we use the shower to wash clothes, I'm thinking dirty water probably got on the ledge)

Luckily, I just now got an email from Camping World and they took it upon themselves to take care of me and they are reimbursing me for the repairs, as well as taking care of the underbelly and any potential smells. Forest River is still asking for things, but Camping World is handling it and taking care of me right away instead of making me wait.
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Old 11-11-2019, 05:09 PM   #11
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Good to hear that Camping World is stepping up for you.
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