Dry Flush Toilets

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

afblangley

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2021
Messages
314
Reaction score
380
My current toilet setup is a bucket (lined with a garbage bag), enclosed in a wood box, that also serves as ottoman seating. Its cheap, simple- nothing to break, and has no smell. It works great 95% of the time. The only time it doesn't work so well, is after a poop deposit that can't be immediately disposed of, like in the middle of the night. The other thing is that its a bit off putting/crude for some of my guests.

A slightly higher elevation of the toileting experience is a dry flush toilet. Laveo makes the best selling model. It stores 25-30 flushes in a cartridge that must be changed out when full. I like Wrappon's execution better: each flush creates a little package that can be disposed of whenever convenient. Both use costly consumables, but it is the initial purchase price ($1000-1500) that keeps me sitting on the fence. Now there are cheap knockoffs available on Amazon for $500, and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger.

Anyone here have experience with these dry flush toilets?

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Odorless-One-click-Contained-Waterless/dp/B0D3P3LDKD/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1I2D3XZ3YNNXF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ze-l4IGKSr356dmtEZfV8jTTH2nNs2FKkjlW9nYcogZPYo958Pf1px_amcaf5wfPsFQvuAWyLczF4c4b1ZzDcVr0qTLPTHnp6PcMTktKcn8YtMsFfpA7kZYW19L6JOLV5FLEtMHo3X10zdeOzgAjoNZsvHM5C2PiPwTlxSXADAl0z5DO0NkG4xzV8GdYk6yW1RznFtxpUZgWOgvJPOtFbA.HuFPAahTvzkkllqCX3jXFixzjscrQxucHKWtI3_D0qE&dib_tag=se&keywords=dry+flush+toilet&qid=1725334671&sprefix=dry+flush+,aps,150&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
 
Even bathrooms in a house with flush toilets and vent fans smell bad after a poop. So you have to close the door. That is possible in a motorhome with a bathroom and flush toilet.
The solution is to get a toilet tent and have a flashlight, slippers and a warm robe or coat handy for middle of the night emergency trips. Then go back into your odor living sleeping space. A dry flush toilet will not solve the issue as the odor immediately upon bowel evacuation gets into the air and you need a complete air exchange to get rid of it.
 
We had a friend in the LTVA Pirate Camp have a Wrapon-CLONE in his van last season

He was quite content using the Hi-Tech.........His only Caveat was to avoid getting your "Junk" in the works !
 
Keep it super simple (KISS). I use a Boxio toilet--it's a little small but works perfect for a camper van, and a homemade version (that keeps liquids and solids separate) is just as good. Save some wood ashes from a fire pit and use that as your 'cover' material for #2's. Only 1-2 cups usually eliminates any odor. YMMV
 
Keep it super simple (KISS). I use a Boxio toilet--it's a little small but works perfect for a camper van, and a homemade version (that keeps liquids and solids separate) is just as good. Save some wood ashes from a fire pit and use that as your 'cover' material for #2's. Only 1-2 cups usually eliminates any odor. YMMV
If you only use a half cup does it smell like smoked poop? Asking for a friend...
 
LOT's of variables (diet, amount, etc.). :eek:
YMWV...
 
We use the bucket thing too, but fill it about 1/3 full of kitty litter and empty daily or at least tie and close after a poop time. And ALWAYS close the lid as soon as you are done. We don't stay in one place for to many nights in a row and don't use the bucket in the daytime if any other toilet is around. And Hubby "god bless him" if he can gets dressed and walks at any hour to the toilets in the campground if he needs to poop. But we don't live in our van and the kitty litter is not the cheapest method, I never thought about the ashes I under stand they work but would they do a number on the plastic bag? Last thing I want is to scrub the bucket after a bag has leaked because of some weird chem reaction or something..... I know ashes and water can leave a strong acid with some types of wood ash....
I made a cloth "pillow" cover for our bucket, but not worried if someone sees it. That is one of the frequent questions we get asked about. The pillow is a good spot to sit while getting my shoes on or????.
We have a big water flush pota-potty, but it is too big for my liking and harder to clean out
 
Pee in the portable toilet and bag the poop. To collect poop line the toilet bowl with a plastic grocery bag or compostable waste bag with several paper towel sections in the bottom. Do not pee in the bag. Women you can teach yourself to pee first and wait to poop just a little later after you line the bowl with a bag. Mind over matter, it might take practice! If you are doing dispersed clamping then go dig a cat hole to dump the poop into and keep the plastic bag in a airtight container until you get to a location with a dumpster to put the plastic into. The pee does not need to be emptied daily unless there are multiple people using a small 2.5 gallon portable toilet.

Also always empty the portable toilet before driving somewhere. Especially empty if it if it getting full. Most especially if you are going to be climbing up in elevation on that drive as the increased air pressure can cause a very unpleasant leaked out mess to clean up.

Airtight containers…the Gamma seal dog food bins can work for that. They are mostly fairly airtight but of course odors come out when you open the lid. So you want to do that opening of the lid outdoors. Not recommended to leave one outdoors in bear country anywhere close to your campsite.
 
Last edited:
My...toilet...is a bucket...experience with these dry flush toilets?...
.
Not just 'NO!', but 'HEY-YELL NO!'!
.
Fluids : we use a retired laundry-detergent jug with the spout removed.
.
Solids : we squat over a newspaper, then fold the proceeds including paperwork into a produce bag from the grocery.
.
Cost -- zero.
Odor -- zero.
Maintenance -- zero.
Cubic space occupied between uses -- pretty much zero.
.
If you feel the urge to save your thousand fedbux, pull up your throne and sit a spell.
I can show you our procedure.
.
Heck, all three of us can proceed simultaneously.
Try that with a fancy brand-name thousand-fedbux head!
 
Fluids : we use a retired laundry-detergent jug with the spout removed.
The exact device I use! But only if I don't want to go outside...

For emergency poop episodes I'd use the same folding throne that I use outdoors, only I'd go in a bag rather than a hole.

I haven't had an emergency yet, though. Seriously... several thousand nights of camping, and I haven't pooped in my rig yet.
 
^^^ you have newspapers??? 🤣🤣🤣
I thought those were no longer...printed!!!
.
Fact is, every Thursday, the local marxists put out their propaganda blatherings.
For years, it ran a couple dozen pages...
... twenty-four sheets, enough for one adult for almost a month or so.
.
Natch, we grabbed a handful each time we passed one of their dispensers.
At last inventory, we have just about enough 'receptacles' for the combined populations of Poughkeepsie and Paducah until about 2033.
Approximately.
.
And, then... suddenly, a couple years ago, they quit publishing!
Apparently, one of their high-up mucky-mucks embezzled a few hundred thousand fedbux, so they temporarily shut.
.
Goes to show, even marxists can't trust marxists.
.
And yet, dedicated to TheCause®, the marxists maintained their 'On-Line Presence', floating the idea of returning to a physical format.
Somehow, against all odds and in defiance of any semblance of common sense, enough proto-marxists and pseudo-marxists remain in the local university crowd to encourage them to re-activate their dreams of global domination.
.
As for us, shocked into action by the dire possibility of running out, these days, each time we pass one of their dispensers, we grab *TWO* handfuls.
.
.
An aside:
Using a page during election season is particularly satisfying.
.
.
[edited to add]
I am often accused of 'embellishments' and literary 'flexibilities'.
Guilty, guilty as charged.
And yet, this time, I am sticking exactly to recognizable reality.
.
I have proof!
.
.
Screenshot_20240907-114506.png
 
Last edited:
Remember there is a difference in preferences of the “setters vs the pointers” for indoor bathroom facilities with at least a modicum of privacy and comfort. It is not all about what you “ancient old farts” like to brag about. Think about would you like your grand daughters to have for their toilet needs if they went on a road trip with you. What do you want them to see you doing? You want them to actually see or even hear about old grandpa taking a dump on a newspaper? Is that the mental picture you want in their brains when they think of you?
 
^^^ you have newspapers??? 🤣🤣🤣
I thought those were no longer being printed!!!

The Tonopah paper and the Pahrump paper share the news stories, the classifieds, high school sports, etc.

Problem is they aren't free, and are only printed weekly. Not good news for this thread, but the paper is freely available on the internet.

Recently, there was a head on traffic accident on US-95 near Goldfield, three motorcyclists were involved with a car, the headline stated three cyclists. I pictured three people on ten speeds. The writer went on to refer to the one three wheel Harley as a "tricycle". He may have gone into hiding.

Very sad news, very stupid with details.
 
.....Shredded paper, scented with Lemongrass is awesome (for #2)! When time permits I pre-fill repurposed sandwich/quart bags with the mix. Use a bag before & after if needed, then bag & trash your masterpiece.
 
If pooping on a newspaper works for you, have at it. I'm not in a competition to be the toughest, crudest, survivalist. I didn't like camping as a kid, and I'm certainly not trying to do it as an adult. I am an urban dweller. And I've been in too many nasty Walmart/gas station/rest area bathrooms. Plus, I like to poop in private. Never needing to use a public bathroom is one of the attributes I love about having a van.

A bucket toilet has served me well enough that I was unwilling to spend $1500 on a slightly more refined version of essentially the same concept. But at $500 it might be worth it to eliminate having to see or smell anything. It also eliminates having to store cat litter, wood chips, or other bulking agents.
 
... You want them to actually see or even hear about old grandpa taking a dump on a newspaper? Is that the mental picture you want in their brains...
.
Actually [uses faddish slang in attempt to project image of youthful vigor], my brains try really hard to not infest anybody's mental pictures.
.
Accordingly, I dump alone.
Unless you swing by, of course.
Then we can dump together [happy dance]!
.
Holding hands is optional on your part.
But no cross-wiping.
That'd be weird...
 
Top