Emptying the Porta Potti

[melissab]

I was wondering how folks deal with the Porta Potti when they are overnighting extensively in parking lots etc. Do you plan for campground stays every couple of days to empty the P-P? Or do you find a dump station like at a Flying J and pay to dump it there? I'd hate to arrive at my folks after 5 or 6 days of traveling and ask to empty the P-P there, lol. Which brings me to my next question of returning to your own home with the P-P. Do you have to empty a bit into the toilet, flush then empty some more, flush etc to keep from overflowing the toilet? A cassette tank holds 5 Gallons so I cant imagine dumping all that at once into a toilet.

Thanks for any insight! With our popup we always stayed in CG's so I emptied before returning home using the sewer access provided. Can't imagine pouring all that into a toilet. Is there a splash factor too????

[Donna D.]

Interesting question. This is my answer to some of it. I've emptied my homemade blue tote (which is 5-7 gallons) right into the toilet without stopping. It all went down. When finished, THEN I flushed the toilet with fresh water. I remember the same thing happening with a 5 gallon bucket of dirty floor washing water too.

[Nancy]

5 gallons would be too heavy for me to dump (old lady). Our's is the smallest size and I think we only dump about 1/2 that much. Since we want showers every couple of days we generally stop at State Parks with showers at least every few days. Then we dump while at the park.

I doubt you will go 6 days between dumps for a couple of reasons. There will be four of you. Do you plan to use it during the day too?

We only use ours at night for the two of us, just pee goes in. I don't use the water flusher part. I carry a squeeze bottle for flushing. Never figured out if I use more water or less that way, but I like that I can flush more of the bowl. Probably have gone 5 days at most.

I dump before I get home, look for places around you. We have a Holiday gas station that has dump station. If I have to dump at home it is usually a small amount from the end of the journey, without (or with very little) chemicals as we have a septic system.

Your needs will be different from other people. You will just have to learn as you "go".

Nancy

[Bobbie Mayer]

I don't think mine holds more than two or three gallons but there is a bit of a splash if you aren't careful.

[Gina D.]

Feel free to dump the whole 5 gals down the bog.

nothing bad will happen. Here is how the throne works

HowStuffWorks "How Toilets Work"

[Ron Humerickhouse]

Its a Nasty Job !! but some one has 2-do it &Watch out 4-da Splash!! Ron

[melissab]

Excellent Tutorial, Gina. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Gina D.

Feel free to dump the whole 5 gals down the bog.

nothing bad will happen. Here is how the throne works

HowStuffWorks "How Toilets Work"

[Darnelle]

There are also old-fashioned outhouses in many campgrounds and forests -- really easy to dump porta-potty. Wayside rests are a good place to dump, too. We like to dump often, it's much easier; and our small unit gets little notice.

[Nancy]

Melissa, I woke up thinking about this. I would pour 3 gallons of clean water into the hole of my brand new tank. Then I would see how difficult that is to pull out and dump. Next I would try 5 gallons of clean water in that never used tank.

If your toilet is like my you will be able to see in the hole and get an idea how much the 3 gallons fills up the tank...how far down does the water look. I'm like Darnelle, I like to dump often when possible. Does that 5 gallon tank have wheels? I would need a dolly.

Gina, that was neat. I always wonder if one of the more energy efficient toilets would work when I have a long run to the septic tank. Always figure more water to flush with is best. I agree with everyone, you can pour lots of fluid down the toilet without a problem.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Great idea, Nancy!

I'll repeat my advice- probably won't work for a big family on long trips, but the longer you wait, the less noxious the experience of emptying the portapotti! Give those enzymes time to do their job.

[melissab]

Thanks for the idea, Nancy! When we had our cassette in our popup I'd empty it every couple of days b/c that thing got heavy in a hurry! I should probably keep a gallon of water with the toilet chemical in the tank anyway for dilution. I wouldnt want to add more than another couple gallons at most to that as wrangling 3 gallons of liquid is pretty awkward. No, there are no wheels so I was thinking of one of those folding suitcase dollies. This trip it's just me and my 2 girls and we plan to only use it at night unless it's not time for a stop yet or my youngest cant wait. That happened last year out in the middle of Nebraska or Iowa and it was quite awile before I found a bathroom for her. Almost didnt make it.

[Flygal]

suddenly i feel the need to wash my hands....<eww>

[Roger C H]

I keep an old 1/2 gal juice bottle. When we arrive at a campsite, I fill the bottle being careful not to touch the spigot. I find a watering spigot or something that will not be used for drinking.
I then pour the water into the top tank of our Thetford 135, also not touching the fill opening on the pp. This lasts us about 2-3 days.
We only use the pp for pp at night, although it has come in handy traveling with no facility in sight.
Every morning, I set the pp outside the egg, disassemble, tote the bottom to the bathroom, turn the emptying tube, carefully remove the cap so I don't lose it, pour the contents down the toilet, squirt water into the emptying tube from a non drinking spigot, (usually there is one around bathrooms, staff use them for cleaning up), then pour this down the toilet, flush the toilet, reattach the cap, take the bottom back to our campsite, pour a "glug" of green stuff into the bottom section, reassemble the pp and place it back in its little cubby hole ready for the next night.

The article is interesting, but refers to the siphon toilet like you have in a home or public bathroom. Porta Pottys work differently. Here is a link to the owner's manual

Porta Potti 135/155/155SL PDF

ONE HINT: The waste compartment of a pp is sealed. This means if you drive up to the mountains, and then open the valve, you will have sea level pressure air which will whoosh out.

ALWAYS OPEN THE VALVE FOR THE FIRST TIME BEFORE USING AT EACH CAMPING SESSION WITH THE LID CLOSED AND THE BOWL EMPTY.

Don't ask me how I know this.

[Kip in Ga.]

Georgia "Rest Stops" have free dump stations at the exits. Might be worth while to check out other state's rest stops.

Kip

[melissab]

Oh my Roger! Thank you so much for those words of wisdom, LOL. I had no idea about pressure building etc and I'd guess it would be the same situation for a Cassette toilet as well.

Kip, it never occured to me Rest Stops would have dump stations! That is awesome info! We've stopped at a GA Restop more than once but I never noticed the dump station anywhere. I'd look closer next time.

Thanks! This board is awesome, so much good info to make a newbie's life a lot easier, lol.

[Nancy]

Roger is very correct. I didn't have stuff in the bowl so didn't experience that. But there is a burp. With 100 degree days and up and down mountains the burp was pretty smelly. I try to remember to burp the baby with the lid down now.

Melissa, we don't put water in the empty chamber. I figure the chemical comes in a plastic bottle and the pee and flush water will dilute it quickly enough. Of course I don't have 3 females using toilet paper either, and only mellow yellow going in.

Nancy

[Matt in SV]

The purpose in putting a pint of water in the empty tank is to ensure that the entire bottom of the black tank area is covered with solution. Mainly important for odor control if you go some time before using it, or if you're using dry chemicals.

Regards,

Matt

Originally Posted by Nancy

...
Melissa, we don't put water in the empty chamber. I figure the chemical comes in a plastic bottle and the pee and flush water will dilute it quickly enough. Of course I don't have 3 females using toilet paper either, and only mellow yellow going in.

Nancy

[Joy A]

Some of ours in California do to. In fact I dumped at one on my way home from Quartzsite.

[SherryNPaul]

Melissa,
I don't know what brand of cassette toilet Li'l Snoozy plans to use, but Thetford makes one model where the cassette (tank) has wheels and a handle. Inside the trailer bathroom, it looks just like the standard model, according to the photos on their website.
A gallon to recharge the chemicals would likely be a lot. In the cassette toilet we used in a rental, the tank wasn't that wide. The pint Matt suggested would likely be more than plenty to disperse chemicals across the bottom of the tank.
I know this sounds "icky," but you could instruct the girls to put tp in a small covered wastebasket to save more room in the tank, and make everything easier for you. Urine is actually almost sterile...
Use the campground facilities whenever possible. You may find that the five gallon tank may last longer than you think.
Sherry

[Sharon G]

Sherry, one pint covers the bottom of our cassette. The directions said use two pints, but I found out that one works fine.