Toilet Platform Question

[Gizmo]

Hello, We just purchased a 2024 Vida 24P and have a question regarding the toilet as it rather than mounted directly to the floor as was the case in our previous RV's, it is mounted to a raised platform. I do not know if this is unique to either Winnebago and/or the Vida model, so my question is what is the purpose of the platform? Thank you.

 

[PancakeBill]

Small class b, might be the black tank, how does it empty?

 

[Gizmo]

Small class b, might be the black tank, how does it empty?

Ours is a class C. The black tank is located under the floor, you can see it looking underneath the RV And empties via the typical RV waste tank pulls. I am pretty sure when holding the toilet flush open it looks straight into the tank, but will have to double check.

 

[CharlesinGA]

OK, looking at the WBO website, it says the "Vita is back", its a model I am not familiar with. The 2024 plumbing drawings, wiring diagrams and coach parts illustrations DO NOT list a 2024 Vita, so I guess its too NEW and WBO has not yet got them posted. Nothing in 2023 either, so I backed up to 2022 and found a Vita 24P model. Looking at Page 2 of the plumbing drainage drawings The kitchen sink drain line drops down and runs aft ON TOP OF THE FLOOR, there is a cleanout under the bathroom sink, and the drain line continues ON TOP OF THE FLOOR to where it arrives at the RAISED SHOWER pan and drain, where the shower and the kitchen sink empty into the gray water tank.

The bathroom sink, and the toilet each have separate drains that drop straight into the black tank (this is common for Winnebago to add water to the black tank by draining the bathroom sink into the black tank, my '07 View did this.)

The toilet is raised on a box so the kitchen sink drain can pass under it and outboard of the toilet drop to the tank.

Look at the circled View BB on the left side of page 2 and blow it up to about 125% and you can see how the bath sink drain line drops and then S turns inboard to clear the kitchen sink lateral drain line.

Charles

 

[CharlesinGA]

Congrats on your new purchase. You have your hands full learning about the Sprinter, special motor oil, special brake fluid, special transmission fluid, battery disconnect you have better know where and how to disconnect as Sprinters have parasitic draw when shut off that will kill the battery in a week or so of sitting. Video is a 2020 model, which is the VS30 series Sprinter (2019 & up) also, same as yours.

Charles

 

[CharlesinGA]

Full view of the page, well, nearly full view.

Charles

 

[Gizmo]

OK, looking at the WBO website, it says the "Vita is back", its a model I am not familiar with. The 2024 plumbing drawings, wiring diagrams and coach parts illustrations DO NOT list a 2024 Vita, so I guess its too NEW and WBO has not yet got them posted. Nothing in 2023 either, so I backed up to 2022 and found a Vita 24P model. Looking at Page 2 of the plumbing drainage drawings The kitchen sink drain line drops down and runs aft ON TOP OF THE FLOOR, there is a cleanout under the bathroom sink, and the drain line continues ON TOP OF THE FLOOR to where it arrives at the RAISED SHOWER pan and drain, where the shower and the kitchen sink empty into the gray water tank.

The bathroom sink, and the toilet each have separate drains that drop straight into the black tank (this is common for Winnebago to add water to the black tank by draining the bathroom sink into the black tank, my '07 View did this.)

The toilet is raised on a box so the kitchen sink drain can pass under it and outboard of the toilet drop to the tank.

Look at the circled View BB on the left side of page 2 and blow it up to about 125% and you can see how the bath sink drain line drops and then S turns inboard to clear the kitchen sink lateral drain line.

Charles

View attachment 168666

Thank you for this detailed answer and help.

 

[Gizmo]

Congrats on your new purchase. You have your hands full learning about the Sprinter, special motor oil, special brake fluid, special transmission fluid, battery disconnect you have better know where and how to disconnect as Sprinters have parasitic draw when shut off that will kill the battery in a week or so of sitting. Video is a 2020 model, which is the VS30 series Sprinter (2019 & up) also, same as yours.

Charles

Thank you for this heads up. Will definitely be looking into this. As for the other items mentioned, I had planned to let local Mercedes service it.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

My last two RVs have had the toilet mounted on a raised platform.

As you get older it certainly makes it easier to get up from the toilet.

 

[CharlesinGA]

My last two RVs have had the toilet mounted on a raised platform.

As you get older it certainly makes it easier to get up from the toilet.

However, the toilets are very short to compensate. Dometic 321 is 13.5 inches seat height as opposed to a ~18 in height on standard models. Thetford Aqua Magic VI low profile is 12-15/16 in seat height. Actual seat height depends on how high WBO made the box its sitting on. Personally I despise those ADA 18 inch high toilets. If you are tall its OK but at about 5 ft 8 in, I'm not tall enough. I have 16 inch seat height models in my house.

Charles

 

[CharlesinGA]

Thank you for this heads up. Will definitely be looking into this. As for the other items mentioned, I had planned to let local Mercedes service it.

You need to know because surprisingly many Mercedes dealers don't know the proper oil to use in the diesel, among other things. I have read of this happening on more than one occasion to more than one owner, where they ended up having the dealer dump the fresh (but wrong spec) oil and refill it with the proper stuff. Also, many dealers don't service RV's due to size, won't fit their lifts, or their shop doors.

Charles

 

[John Canfield]

Congrats on your purchase! And thanks to Charles for the research on your behalf.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Toilets (RV or residential) come in two common bowl heights, basically for short vs tall people. These days, most home bathrooms get the tall height as "stamdard". RV toilets are often raised simply to provide room underneath for plumbing, so the combination of a raised platfrom and a short-height toilet bowl makes for a more-or-less standard tall height toilet.

 

[Gizmo]

Hello, We just purchased a 2024 Vida 24P and have a question regarding the toilet as it rather than mounted directly to the floor as was the case in our previous RV's, it is mounted to a raised platform. I do not know if this is unique to either Winnebago and/or the Vida model, so my question is what is the purpose of the platform? Thank you.

 

[Gizmo]

As a follow up. As I was planning and now into replacing the original toilet with a composting toilet, which was why I inquired about the why a raised platform, after a cutting the toilet flange out and a few exploratory cuts, it was clear there was no plumbing or wiring running under the front raised portion, so I have removed it. See before and after photos attached. I plan to cut the waste pipe down to floor level and plan to clean up the back raised panel which does have some plumbing underneath. The fact there was no plumbing or electrical wiring running underneath the toilet and having seen a Winnebago Navion's (the more expensive version of our Vita) bath which has a standard size toilet and no raised platform except along the back wall, really has me scratching my head as to why. But mystery solved and I am able to proceed as I had hoped. Thanks again all who responded.

 

[John Canfield]

So I assume the composting toilet is self contained? Do you have to frequently empty something ? Will this be easier/simpler than dealing with the usual holding tanks?

 

[Gizmo]

So I assume the composting toilet is self contained? Do you have to frequently empty something ? Will this be easier/simpler than dealing with the usual holding tanks?

Yes compost toilets are self contained. With our previous two compost toilets, we typically had to empty the urine tank once every day to two days before I connected the urine tank to the black tank and the solids tank about every two to three weeks. The benefits are no black tank smells, significantly less water usage considering the amount of water wasted to properly flush the tank and of course no flushing after each use. A real plus for the environment and for us boondockers. Also I was able to combine the black and grey tanks to double our grey tank capacity. In short I found composting toilets easier and trouble free than traditional RV toilets. Shortly after we bought our new RV my wife asked, “when are you going to install a compost toilet?”

 

[John Canfield]

That certainly makes sense when your holding tanks have limited capacity. On our Horizon, its black/gray tanks were about 50/60 gallons (don't remember exactly) and we could easily boon dock for a couple of weeks. Our idea of roughing it means running the generator 24 hours a day where permitted