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Old 01-13-2015, 09:11 AM   #1
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The incredible exploding toilet.....

I found these pics on my computer.......this happened a few years ago at work.

I came in to work one morning to find this......



....and this......



It appears that someone left the ratty worn-out ceiling fan on when they left the night before, which caught on fire and melted the plastic grill which was located directly above the toilet.

The molten grill plastic dripped into the toilet causing it to explode.....There was a thick slug of melted plastic completely plugging the hole in the bottom of the toilet bowl.......I'm not sure exactly what happened (we had the entire engineering team checking it out) but perhaps the molten plastic plugging the bowl caused the water left in the toilet to boil........it's one theory anyway....

....lucky that the building didn't burn down.....

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Old 01-13-2015, 09:16 AM   #2
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Re: The incredible exploding toilet.....

whoa, thats nuts! what a crazy scenario. now im gonna be scared to leave the fart fan going in the master bath. its making a lot of weird noises lately. i know its gonna die, but i never imagined it had the ability to do so much damage. guess it would be wise to replace sooner than later. appreciate the heads up!!
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Old 01-13-2015, 09:21 AM   #3
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Re: The incredible exploding toilet.....

Wow! That is an insane chain of events! I can't believe the building didn't catch fire either.
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Old 01-13-2015, 09:31 AM   #4
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Re: The incredible exploding toilet.....

Sounds like something to send in to Mythbusters.
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Old 01-13-2015, 09:47 AM   #5
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Re: The incredible exploding toilet.....

OK, I have something of value to contribute to this thread. I uh, heard this story, uh, from someone about his girl friend's first time use of a toilet in a camper van, kinda like mine... The names are omitted to protect the unfortunate.

"So, my now wife and I were getting pretty comfortable with each other after dating for quite some time and being out doorsy types with camping, kayaking and all, and we were heading up to the ski resort for some premarital skiing bliss when she really needed to use the toilet, which in my case is a Thetford electric push-button flush portable cassette toilet (highly recommended, btw).

I hadn't converted the van to 4x4 yet and was on the stretch of iced over uphill roadway on which we needed maintain speed or risk having the light rear end of the van lose traction (even with studs), pushing the van sideways and requiring me to either back down to a turn-out (with traffic behind me) or putting chains on in lane in the roadway.

Everything was going well, I was making it up the grade without riding the a$$ of the vehicle in front of me, when there was a loud explosion from the back of the van and a scream.

I had to keep focused on our forward progress, but when I pulled over I cleaned (stuff) off the ceiling and off my now wife's back and elsewhere.

It seems that she had failed to open the slider (bayonette) door on the toilet before doing her business - thereby loading the top of the door with projectile, causing the now highly pressurized (due to a significant change in altitude from sea level to in excess of 7,000 feet) sealed toilet holding tank* to explode up and outward when opened while still sitting."

My, uh friend, told me that the two morals of the story are:

"1. If you find a woman who will stay with you in your van after an experience like that - Marry Her!

2. Buy 4x4.

3. And a bonus moral: teach your girlfriend/wife/significant other how to use the toilet before she uses it."

The odor is long gone, but there is a little darker color on an area of the headliner which only my wife and I notice...

* I have been really impressed with the seals on the cassette holding tank. Never hint of odor escapes the holding cassette on the Thetford. Hence the extreme build up of pressure.
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Old 01-13-2015, 11:42 AM   #6
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Re: The incredible exploding toilet.....

My theory ...burning molten plastic from the fan caught the toilet seat on fire which burned intensely causing the porcelain to crack and fall apart and possibly to allow sewer gas / methane to escape and be ignited .Believe it or not there is an article on Wikipedia about Toilet-related injuries and deaths which includes "Exploding toilets" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet-rel ... and_deaths
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