Thetford telescopic drain removal

[raceguy549]

I am one of the "lucky" few to have a Thetford telescopic drain on my coach. (95 Luxor) Occasionally the thing is convenient when the park sewer connection is in just the right place and elevation. Unfortunately, this is most often not the case. Plus the thing leaks and Thetford is no help as they discontinued the item and offer no parts availability. So I am about to remove the thing and plumb in a more conventional setup. My question is does anyone here have any experience with the changeover? pictures perhaps? Thanks

Raceguy

 

[madrone]

I will follow the thread with great interest as I have one too. Mine is in pretty good shape and not an immediate problem. Looking at it I would think that
a piece of pipe could be found that would fit the inside of the flexible rubber coupling the unit attaches to and then it would be easy to plumb to a standard
or a Thetford connection. Good luck and keep me posted please!

Steve

 

[raceguy549]

Steve:

My thoughts exactly. When I do the changeover I'll take some pictures and send to you. One of our fellow Luxor owners bought his coach at Foretravel in Nacodoches, TX. The pictures I've seen of his coach look like his telescopic drain has been removed. I had his email address and misplaced it. Perhaps he'll see this and reply.

Raceguy

 

[texasdrifter]

Looks like a regular flex drain hose was attached to tank and run down below compartment to a bracket and a fitting. Was already installed on rig when we bought it. Would not have known it was addon were it not for raceguy549. He's pretty sharp! He just looked at the pictures and probably knows more about it than I do! If I can help, let me know.

 

[raceguy549]

The sewer hose section is most likely from your original setup. There is actually a twist on connector up in there where you can't really see. A short piece of sewer hose then drops down vertically and makes a 90 degree bend towards the front of the coach. The sewer hose then is attached at that point to the telescopic drain with a hose clamp. When I remove the telescopic portion I'm left with a dangling hose. It appears that I can take a piece of  2-1/2 in sch 40 pipe to clamp this hose to and then plumb up to 3" to attach the conventional sewer connection fitting. It looks like I can go forward and then 90 outward for the final connection fitting. I may tie on to  some of the telescopic setup's mounting framework to anchor the new plumbing.  Trying to plumb straight out interferes with the hatch through which the power cord and water connection hose pass thus the need to start by going forward. I'll try to photo document this as i go along so that others might be helped when their telescopic drain fails as mine is currently doing. Incidentally, the original owner replaced this gizmo once already. I have the carcass of that thing as well. Unfortunately it is broken internally and will probably be difficult to repair.
Feel free to chime in if you have any opinion or ideas that relate to this gizmo.

Thanks

Raceguy
95 Luxor