Leaky Thetford top tank?

JonathanM
JonathanM Forum Participant Posts: 8
edited August 2012 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

OK, caravan is a Swift Charsima Freestyle (dealer special) from Lowdhams Leisure that my wife & I bought in January 2010. It's been serviced regularly (2011 & 2012) & on the service this year the engineer mentioned that the model of toilet fitted had the
potential to leak, & that Thetford had released a fix for the problem.

The problem manifested itself during our trip to france this summer, I noticed fluid dripping from the rear right corner of the caravan on a clear sunny day, and on inspection it had the distinct odour of Fenwicks toilet fluid, but it was not strong enough
to be from the bottom tank. Pulling the septic tank out the "sump" of the holder was wet, again with dilute Fenwicks, and sitting seeing if I could identify where the leak was, I saw occasional drips from the upper edge of the bottom tank holder. It wasn't
from the top tank drain tube, I checked that, but I couldn't determine where it may have been coming from. The tank had also been dry until we arrived on site, so I don't think there could have been a problem with a partly filled tank leaking.

Has anyone encountered such a problem & if so what was the fix? The top tank is drained & left empty after trips and locally we did not have a harsh winter so I don't think it is likely to be frost damage.