# Tornado Flush Disaster



## highgrade (May 14, 2007)

Well, after a great weekend camping, I went to flush the black water tank with my new Tornado Flush that I had installed a few weeks back (and discussed on this forum) only to have water start gushing from the underbelly!







Upon inspection, it appears the threaded portion of the unit itself broke, leaving the screwed on portion intake to the tank. I am hoping it is a fluke, and went to Camping World today for a replacement. I even had intalled a ball valve to allow slow start to prevent surges to the fittings and lines. I guess they are not built as strong as I had hoped. Oh well, at least the tank was cleaned before most of it broke









Highgrade


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Well, that must have been crappy!









Hope it was an easy fix and that it doesn't happen again


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## Rollrs45 (May 7, 2007)

You just confirmed what I thought when I was trying to decide between a Quickie Flush and the Tornado. I didn't feel comfortable installing a gizmo in my waste tank that had moving parts. IMO moving parts equates to a higher possiblity of failure versus non-moving parts. I didn't want to go into the tank twice (for obvious reasons) so I decided to go with the QF.

Sorry to hear about your problems. You may want to exchange for the QF if it isn't too much trouble to convert the install. Whichever you decide I hope your problems will be solved with the next fix.

Mike


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## Bill H (Nov 25, 2006)

I installed the Tornado in my Black tank in the new rig before it's first use. It worked absolutely awesome! I have no idea how I've made it this long without it......


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Rollrs45 said:


> You just confirmed what I thought when I was trying to decide between a Quickie Flush and the Tornado.


For me it's confirmation that my old-school technique of dumping a few buckets of water down the toilet is just fine, thank you. Not as easy as hooking up a hose and turning a valve, but always works and will never cause a disaster.


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Rollrs45 said:


> I didn't feel comfortable installing a gizmo in my waste tank that had moving parts. IMO moving parts equates to a higher possiblity of failure....
> Mike


My thoughts exactly. I installed the QF and it has worked without failure for 2 years. The only way to clean the tank as well or better would be to stick a wand down the toilet. And that's WAY too much trouble. Anything else is just not cleaning the tank as well.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Rollrs45 said:


> IMO moving parts equates to a higher possiblity of failure versus non-moving parts.


From the original description ("the threaded portion of the unit itself broke, leaving the screwed on portion intake to the tank. ") it sounds like a non-moving part failed, not a moving part.

Highgrade, can you clarify exactly where the unit broke?

Thanks,

Ed


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## highgrade (May 14, 2007)

LarryTheOutback said:


> IMO moving parts equates to a higher possiblity of failure versus non-moving parts.


From the original description ("the threaded portion of the unit itself broke, leaving the screwed on portion intake to the tank. ") it sounds like a non-moving part failed, not a moving part.

Highgrade, can you clarify exactly where the unit broke?

Thanks,

Ed
[/quote]

Ed, It was just past the female hose bib assembly portion on the TF. The section that screws to the tank wall (including the inside swivel) assembly was fine. Will have to do a little CSI action to determine exact cause of failure and report findings.

Regards
HG


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I bought a quiki flush. Carried it around with me for 2 years and never took it out of the original packaging. Last spring, I finally took it back to CW.

After being on the road for about 18 months, we have had no problems.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Highgrade said:


> It was just past the female hose bib assembly portion on the TF.


Thanks. Even though I choose a Tornado, I have been a bit suspicious of the moving parts ... so it is somewhat reassuring that the failure wasn't with the moving parts. Reassuring for me, still bad for you though.

Ed


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## Fbaloo2002 (Jun 26, 2007)

I put the quickie flush on and it seemed to work great. I did have one issue with the hose blowing off and spraying the underside (guts) of the camper. After reflecting on what I may have done wrong, I came to the conclusion that I should have used the pressure reducer on the hose which is a good bit of safety advice. Being in a hurry, I just hooked it directly I believe the pressure is pretty high in some parks.
Good Luck.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Fbaloo2002 said:


> I came to the conclusion that I should have used the pressure reducer on the hose which is a good bit of safety advice. Being in a hurry, I just hooked it directly I believe the pressure is pretty high in some parks.


I discovered that a standard pressure reducer gave me too little pressure to successfully run the Tornado. So, I go without the pressure regulator and simply turn on the water s l o w l y until I hear the Tornado operating.

Ed


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