By Jim Twamley
Many “old school” RVers keep a spray can of Pledge in their cleaning supply closet. After all, your rig can accumulate a lot of dust on the road. But I keep a can for more than just dusting — it also helps with the toilet. Here’s why:
I was at an RV dealership and was talking to a knowledgeable RV tech about my leaking water seal on my RV toilet. I have a Sea/Land type toilet that uses a rubber gasket and a foot operated ball lever.
The plastic ball moves back and forth across a rubber donut shaped disk and is supposed to trap the water in the bowel when closed. The trapped water prevents noxious odors from entering the RV which is a very good thing. He told me that if the seal was not cut or the ball not gouged, then I may be able to clean around the rubber seal and treat it with Lemon Pledge. He says that years ago, before Dometic bought out the Sea/Land toilet company, they used to tell you this in the owners manual.
I turned off the water, opened the ball and pushed the rubber seal down about one quarter inch with my fingers (I recommend using rubber gloves for this procedure). I used the blade of a screwdriver and carefully scraped all the Arizona hard water build-up off the top of the rubber seal being careful not to puncture or tear the seal. Soaking it down with Lemon Pledge was easy, just push down on the seal and spray it. Let it set for five or ten minutes and then turn on the water and test it. Now my toiled retains water and my wood is happy to get the Lemon Pledge leftovers.