brunnhilde's cassette toilet - part 12

It is in! After a lot of hard work and I has the shower pan and the toilet installed into the bathroom. I am very happy with the result. My goal for the conversion was to achieve a finish quality commensurate with that of Westfalia factory.

It was a lot of work from researching the correct toilet, the shower pan of the European James Cook, and how the toilet is installed. It appears Westfalia uses a Thetford toilet built to their specifications the ones I can buy from Thetford requires some thoughts to install in the constrains of Brunnhilde's bathroom. For me it actually work out very well as the toilet I chosen has it's own flush water storage. This gives me an effective increase of the potable water capacity because I no longer need to use it for the toilet.


i laid the silicone latex caulking to secure the shower pan

i purchased the optional seal from thetford when I ordered the toilet; i have to make the decision if I want to use it

this is what the seal look - it gives a neat appearance; the extra length at the skirt needs to be trimmed off; upon close examination of the seal my conclusion is not to use it because i just don't trust it's ability to form a water tight seal

i used cedar shims to center the toilet for a neat appearance - i think i am as least as good as the over-paid guys in this old house

scribe and cut the valance trim for the base

Next comes the challenge to find a 12Vdc power capable of 3A. I am just too lazy to run wire to the fuse box for the cabin batteries. I would rather utilize what is already there near the toilet. My idea is to use the wiring harness for the poop sensor. I knew the sensor is just a resistive probe that has conductors with 4 different lengths. There are 5 wires with one being the common reference. None of these can provide 3A of load. To utilize the wiring I have to hack into the display panel.

it looks a bit like a kiddy toilet

 the connector of the poop sensor that i want to repurpose for 12Vdc needed by the toilet

the display panel removed - it is a custom unit made for Westfalia

 pretty low tech stuff

seems there are just BJT transistors set to turn on at different voltage thresholds

i wonder what these two connectors are for - they must be there for normal Sprinters but not needed for the Westfalia James Cook

here is the pressure regulator for the "city" water hockup - i tried to read the outlet pressure rating to no avail

 eager to see the toilet flush i jerry-rigged a power supply

 the flush is clockwise - just like home unless you live on the wrong side of the globe

i left a pool of water - a lesson i would learn soon

 you can see the toilet is designed to shed water from taking a shower

When i tried to fill the flush water storage tank i was surprised to see the water will not go in. I thought to myself it is a poor design as the fill spout is at the same height as the highest point of the tank and the air inside cannot escape to make room for the water to come in; soon i realize there is this funnel. By placing the funnel onto the filling spout it raise the height enough to overcome the U-trap like inlet plumbing.

this is what the funnel is for

the funnel store neatly here

I am glad I leant a dear lesson with how to operate this toilet. It is a lesson better learn now than later. When I was ready to stow away the fill spout for the flush water tank I pulled out the cassette not realize I left a pool of water in the toilet above the trap door which you can open and close with the lever inside the bathroom. When I pull out the waster water caddy all that water dumps into the caddy storage cavity and some water landed on the floor board of the Sprinter chassis. Fortunately it is just clean flush water. It would be a major disaster if there is a pool of urine or worst yet a pile of unflushed poop. Definitely not something you want to repeat.

the sight glass for seeing the amount of flash water (right)

I cannot get over how beautiful the sink cabinet is; at first glance it seems Westfalia make the front curve for fashion. However it is driven by thoughtful functional reasons.  The reverse curve discourage memory effect of the hideaway door. The curve front also give more standing room in the bathroom.

 i like how it look against the backdrop of modern furniture