Speaking of potty's

[rvpopeye]

It might not be a majority but some will be in RVs with holding tanks that will most likely not be dumped on site ........

 

[WildTrappist]

I am going to come right out and say it....if I own the toilet I sit on it to urinate; if I don't own it then I stand. There are few things in life more disgusting than splattered walls and dried yellow stains on vanities, tubs and anything else surrounding a toilet. Ask my better half how much she appreciates it...she is even teaching her grandkids (boys 6 and 7) the same rule.

If you DON'T own it then it is imperative you "take a seat"! As a guest, Please don't leave your droplets on the seat for others!

 

[WildTrappist]

I am a lady type person. I use a female funnel in my van. And I have quite good aim. I just posit it into the bottle and off i go. Easy Peasy.

There is such a thing as a condom catheter for the Gents.. Perhaps something a bit less restraining may work for the fellas? As I see it, the main issue for everyone is keeping the (urine) piss contained to the center of the bowl rather than sprayed or splashed all around the toilet. Is this correct?

I live alone. This is not a problem for me. YET!
However, I would like a solution before I meet a Fella. So we can start out with reasonable cooperative methods..
By that I mean "I will never clean another person's urine from my surfaces more than one time".

 

[Canine]

As far as cleaning, I've found that in one instance that a different area needed a different cleaner to get the hard water off. Scrubbing Bubbles works very well where I'm at in Montana, but when I was in Iowa for about 5 months, Scrubbing Bubbles was less effective. Now I use Clorox wipes. Yes, they are expensive, but for the small amount of area I have, I use so little of them that they are cheaper than buying typical cleaning supplies for a house. There is one less rag to wash, which saves water, space, and time. They are also quick and easy.

I pee and poo in a sawdust bucket. When I pee I take the seat off and and lift the bucket so as to not splatter over the side and with the seat off, it can't get splashed. It is also lined with a compostable garbage bag so that makes clean up even easier! In the morning I often sit down because the little fella likes to stand at attention; sitting is easier in that case.

The Travel John seat is my fav. It is only a seat- no lid. It doesn't snap on; it just sits on the top of a 5 gallon bucket, so it is really easy to take off and set back on. It is soft and flexible so dropping it does nothing to damage it.

One thing I've noticed is when I pre-wet a surface before I pee on it, the pee rinses off even better. Same with poo. Poo will stick to a dry surface then cleaning the smell off can be difficult. If you wet the surface first, neither poo nor pee seems to be able to a get good hold on the surface.

 

[GotSmart]

Like has been mentioned earlier, vinegar.  

When I worked in the care homes, vinegar was used to clean up after "accidents" The house was always smelling fresh.  

It removes hard water deposits also.  I would use it to flush Ice Machines and dishwashers also.

 

[WriterMs]

If you DON'T own it then it is imperative you "take a seat"! As a guest, Please don't leave your droplets on the seat for others!

I had the exact thought about how that post was written. LOL

 

[KristinaKarina]

Has anyone tried a dry compost toilet?
I am more and more coming to view water filled toilet bowls and their effluence as an unnecessary luxury, and
a pain to dispose.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Dry composting toilet&fr=yset_chr_cnewtab&type=newtab

 

[bcbullet]

I had the exact thought about how that post was written. LOL

The post was written exactly as intended...I try to limit my "seat time" on public toilets to emergency use only. I am still extremely vigilant about aim, but as I tried to infer in the original statement, there is no way that whizzing into a bowl of water does not create splash-back and spray. Apparently some others thought it was "girly" to sit and that real men piss any damned place they please and only standing thank you very much so there.
Like I said, if its mine, I do my best to eliminate the mess by sitting. If its not mine, I do my best to eliminate my exposure to filth by standing.

 

[bigsallysmom]

When y'all dispose of urine in a bottle, do y'all dig a small hole first to pour it in?

 

[Almost There]

Has anyone tried a dry compost toilet?
I am more and more coming to view water filled toilet bowls and their effluence as an unnecessary luxury, and
a pain to dispose.  

https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Dry composting toilet&fr=yset_chr_cnewtab&type=newtab

I have a C-Head. http://www.c-head.com/

After having several porta potties in the different vans and a black water tank in the Class A I opted for the separating toilet.

It's been in full time use for just over a month now and I'm extremely impressed with it. To say that I love my toilet sounds kinda weird, so we'll settle for 'really impressed'.

Absolutely no smell that is offensive and only a very vague, really hard to detect 'something' when it's time to empty the solids tank. Most people wouldn't even notice it but I have a sensitive nose.

Keep in mind also that my bed placement has my head within about a foot of the toilet when I'm sleeping and I still don't smell anything.

Cost to run is extremely low - a package of hamster pine shaving bedding from W/M maybe once every 6 weeks is total cost...less than $4. Some people like using peat moss and I may try it some time in the future.

I also put about a half capful of fabric softener in the liquid container but am going to have to play with what fabric softener because the one I'm using now leaves my whole van smelling like strong fabric softener to me... I went 2 1/2 weeks without any before starting that and didn't notice any smell during that time.

Bob did a video of my van last week and I had to stop him from getting the camera down the toilet as he commented that there was absolutely no smell from it at all.

Instead of paying dump fees I can simply take the gallon jug in a shopping bag in to any bathroom and dump it.

Yes, it's way more expensive than a porta pottie to buy initially but the ongoing costs are very minimal and I like the ecology of it. I'm not having to pay for dump stations nor chemicals. I'll never run out of holding tank room because I can switch out the gallon jugs it uses for another empty one if needed and the solids can be composted.

Here in the desert I'll have to dispose of them in a landfill but up north I can take them out in the bush and simply dig a larger cathole.

 

[Canine]

bigsallysmom, Nope. I give it a good fling or dump it as I'm walking. Diluting it first also helps, but that uses up precious water.

KristinaKarien, here is a good link. There are other threads on the forum that will also help with your question:

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-5-Gallon-bucket-or-keep-the-stock-toilet

 

[Canine]

Some people like using peat moss and I may try it some time in the future.

I tried peat moss. It did the job and did it well, but, man, was it dusty! The walls were covered with what looked like Earth-flavored Kool-Aid. Any kind of moisture that dripped down made a muddy rivulet of water. The floor showed the dust most of all. That was after a a week or so of using it. I imagine if I had kept using it, I would have seen that dust in EVERYTHING. The silverware drawer. In the canned goods cupboard. My books. My dog.

It has been used in stoves to heat houses, but I didn't realize how dirty it is. It sounds dumb to me now as I knew peat moss came from the ground.  Yes, it is largely organic material, but very dirty organic material. It is also super duper dry. Liquids will bead off of it where sawdust soaks up water like a sponge.

I would like to hear if anyone else had a different experience with peat moss.

 

[Almost There]

Canine, thanks for weighing in on the use of peat moss...maybe I won't give it a try!!

Quick question for you...where you separating liquid from solid or was it all going in one container when you tried the peat moss?

 

[GotSmart]

Peat moss was one of the ingredients used in making mud for the mud bath at one of the spa's I worked at about 25 years ago.  

Not a good idea.  Extremely fine dust, but can become a goo when wet.

There are different types and consistencies of it.

 

[WriterMs]

Like I said, if its mine, I do my best to eliminate the mess by sitting. If its not mine, I do my best to eliminate my exposure to filth by standing.

Ahh... referencing public toilet use vs. at home. That does make sense since I'm a bit of a germaphobe, too.

 

[BigT]

Ahh... referencing public toilet use vs. at home. That does make sense since I'm a bit of a germaphobe, too.

That's what "Ass Gaskets" (sanitary seat covers) are for.   :shy:

 

[Canine]

AlmostThere, It all went into the same slurry; I've never separated. The peat moss did soak up the urine, but it would bead up like oil on water at first. When I was standing and peeing on the peat moss, the dust was thick. Got on my glasses and sure could smell the earth in the air. I'm not exaggerating; it was quite dusty. A bag of peat mass is heavier than sawdust, too.

Screened sawdust is less dusty than non screened. The bag will say if it is screened and as far as I know there is little to no price difference. I'm not too picky if it is screened or not, but the screened is preferable. Pine sawdust is my strong preference for insect control.

 

[TMG51]

When I ran a hardware store, some customers bought bags of wood pellets (stove fuel) to use as kitty litter. The pellets are compressed but they balloon up and turn into sawdust if exposed to moisture. The customers who did this said it was cheaper than buying either kitty litter or sawdust.

I don't use a bucket, so I don't know about that as a van application. Just a thought while people are talking about sawdust and peat moss.

 

[Canine]

When I ran a hardware store, some customers bought bags of wood pellets (stove fuel) to use as kitty litter. The pellets are compressed but they balloon up and turn into sawdust if exposed to moisture. The customers who did this said it was cheaper than buying either kitty litter or sawdust.

I don't use a bucket, so I don't know about that as a van application. Just a thought while people are talking about sawdust and peat moss.

I've used wood pellets as kitty litter and for a bucket toilet. Works awesome for kitty litter; my favorite litter by far. When almost all of the pellets have expanded, that notifies you the litter is at full maximum absorption capacity. Can't do that with wood shavings. Wood shavings would probably stick to long haired kitties, which would make a mess all over your place.

Sawdust is waaaay better for a bucket toilet. One 40 pound, $5 or $6 bag of pellets lasts about a week or so. One large, 3 cubic feet, 20 pound, $7 bag of wood shavings last about 6 weeks.

Emptying a full toilet bucket of used pellets is a lot heavier than that same bucket full of used wood shavings.

They both do the job equally well. The disadvantages to pellets is one bag is twice as heavy as one bag of sawdust, lasts only a week, and costs about 5 times more to take care of the same amount of poo and pee.

Buying wood shavings from a pet store is expensive. I get mine from a farm and ranch store for close to half the price. The wood shavings from farm and ranch stores may be dusty, so look at what you're buying first. If it is full of dust and not shavings, then don't get it. Pet store wood shavings always are screened because the little piggies (guinea pigs) and hamsters can't handle the dust. Some hardware stores carry them too.

If you are near a farm, you may be able to get chaff from the wheat for free or if you are near a saw mill or planer mill, you may be able to get wood shavings for free. Using a proper, not too dusty product will help keep your place that much cleaner. Just about anything will keep the odor down- amazing how that works.

I read of someone who lines the bottom of their bucket with pellets and uses wood shavings for the rest. I've tried that and didn't find a significant advantage, so have stuck with pure wood shavings.

 

[SoulRaven]

We have two of these, one we use upstairs since we have only a bath downstairs, the other we use in one of the vehicles: http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Prod...15556&sr=8-1&keywords=reliance+hassock+toilet We actually have one of the fancy portable toilets but I hated cleaning it so it went into our rarely used vehicle. The cassette toilet in our pop-up is nasty too to clean. This Reliance is very sturdy, looks pretty decent and is so easy to keep clean.