21C Toilet Clogging

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

I have a friend who has owned over 4 Escapes. He told me once that he NEVER takes a dump in his toilet. That he relies on the camp ground facilites for showers, etc. My response: "I'd paid for that space. I'm going to use it".

Originally Posted by Donna D.

During the height of the pandemic and campground 'facilities' were closed, did people NOT camp or NOT poop when camping Seriously. I'm with you, bought a fully-self contained trailer and I'm using all of it. The sewer hose isn't transparent, I don't watch it drain, I don't care what's going down the hose. It works as designed. I think it's peoples perception about .....eewwww feces, than reality. Change a babies blow out dirty diaper you'll realize pooping in a toilet built for it is no biggy.

Double thumbs up.

Sit on my own toilet or use public ones. Hmm, let me think about that.

Ron

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

During the height of the pandemic and campground 'facilities' were closed, did people NOT camp or NOT poop when camping Seriously. I'm with you, bought a fully-self contained trailer and I'm using all of it. The sewer hose isn't transparent, I don't watch it drain, I don't care what's going down the hose. It works as designed. I think it's peoples perception about .....eewwww feces, than reality. Change a babies blow out dirty diaper you'll realize pooping in a toilet built for it is no biggy.

I second this. While I’ve not changed a “blown out” baby diaper, I’ve sure dealt with more than my share of portable toilet clean outs from the many river/rafting trips I’ve done, including a 21-day Grand Canyon trip. Once a person gets used to that, they can get used to anything!! Dumping my 19’s black tank is a serious breeze compared to emptying any loaded river toilet. It’s about the easiest part of managing it… connect the sewer hose, open the valve, and whoosh… all gone in a few seconds. No visual, no smell, no nothing. As long as adequate liquid is added, the thing works great. And I’d far rather use it for its intended purpose than a smelly outhouse. But, each to his or her own, whatever works!!

[SageRpod]

This whole conversation has me sitting back and smiling that we got a composting toilet. Absolutely love it.
FWIW, we used the toilet in our Rpod. It had a black tank flush hose hookup that made it easy except you had to carry two hoses with you. I am surprised ETI doesn't over a black tank flush on their trailers.

[Fender]

Perhaps everyone has a horror story!
I recall several years ago after dumping the tanks on our motorhome, which had very large holding tanks, I forgot to close the black water tank valve.
The next trip we were at a State park where the sites did not have sewer hook ups and at the dump station on our way out I didn't notice the valve was open. You can imagine what happened when I pulled off the waste valve cap!
That #2 policy was worth its weight in, ummm, gold, I assure you!
And I've never made that mistake again!

[oldwave]

https://youtu.be/fs7YE9hmD7k

Consult a pro

If you get by the constant subscribe pleas, this is very good information from a pro

I was pleasantly surprised what I learned.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by oldwave

https://youtu.be/fs7YE9hmD7k

Consult a pro

If you get by the constant subscribe pleas, this is very good information from a pro

I was pleasantly surprised what I learned.

not sure that advice is good for extended boondocking where you need to stretch your water supply and holding tank capacities as long as you can.

[Grasshog]

������me 2 or how bout magnetic cargo doors? The toilet clogging problem seems weird. Is this a brand new trailer? Just a wild stab here what about the vent pipe? If for some reason they didn’t install the vent it won’t drain very good at all. The only reason I mention this is because I read that you could opt out of the venting if you got a compost toilet?..never know.

[Grasshog]

Originally Posted by Grasshog

������me 2 or how bout magnetic cargo doors? The toilet clogging problem seems weird. Is this a brand new trailer? Just a wild stab here what about the vent pipe? If for some reason they didn’t install the vent it won’t drain very good at all. The only reason I mention this is because I read that you could opt out of the venting if you got a compost toilet?..never know.

Something got lost in the shuffle. I was responding to the black tank rinse quote and then thought of the magnetic latches.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

not sure that advice is good for extended boondocking where you need to stretch your water supply and holding tank capacities as long as you can.

And we do that by me having my very own 1 gallon personal pee pot. Very flexible about where it can be emptied. So our solids content in the tank is a bit increased but has never caused a problem that a good rinse flush didn't take care of.

Ron

[Nindy]

First a funny story:
A friend purchased a Casita not long before the pandemic and when checking out all the functions found an empty caulking tube inside her black tank! That was quite a trick to remove.

Second: After spending a bit of time trying to dislodge a TP mound once I am now in the camp of putting the not-so-dirty used TP in my kitchen trash bag. It gets thrown away every few days.

Third: I also have quit using any chemicals, fresheners, what have you in my black and gray tanks. My black tank never lets odors out anyway and I figure it's just a waste of money.

That seems to be a great choice now considering I'm going to be building a house on my land in the next field over from my campground and I will have a septic system. There will be access for my friends who camp there and me to empty our tanks directly into it. I have read it's a really bad idea to put RV toilet chemicals in a septic system. Which makes me wonder how those systems in some campgrounds deal with the variety of chemicals that get regularly dumped there!

[Iowa Dave]

Many do not have a septic system and are on a regularly scheduled empty the tank basis and haul it to the nearest sewage treatment plant. Some have a flushing system and the wastewater goes to a tertiary lagoon or fenced “wetland”. We had one of those at a local nature center.

A few years ago dog parks started becoming very popular as I’m sure many folks know. Some were built with septic tanks with the idea that the disposal bags provided were biodegradable.
In SW Wisconsin a large plastic septic tank was installed (buried) at a large area where dogs could be trained and allowed to run free. Picking up after the dog was encouraged through signage. Biodegradable bags provided. Then the fun started.
1. There was no flushing source connected to the tank and no plan to provide water on a regular basis
2. People bright their own plastic bags that didn’t break down.
3. The tank filled up with petrified poo.

No amount of flushing with water worked and attempts to use a sewer suction vactor were unsuccessful.
The inevitable happened.
The tank was excavated, the side was cut out with a chainsaw by workers in heavy raincoats. The poo was cut into blocks with chainsaws, loaded into a dump truck headed for a treatment plant.
Septic tank concept was abandoned.
Hole was filled with dirt and smoothed down.
It made for an interesting session at a Great Lakes Park Training Institute I attended that next spring.
True story, I saw the pictures of the man in the rain suit with the Homelite at work.
Paints a picture don’t it. Don’t think all park guys do in the winter is paint picnic tables and play canasta.
Iowa Dave

[Donna D.]

Isn't one of the reasons Formaldehyde is no longer in most RV black water treatments is because of septic tanks? Although Formaldehyde is still used as a preservative in some food.....

[elongest]

Another solution, get a short 310 Dometic ceramic toilet and a cheap bidet from Amazon.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Fender

Perhaps everyone has a horror story!

As much as I dislike this thread it doesn’t seem complete without a link to the poop geyser scene from RV. RIP Robin Williams.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-C0bpTLEmZw

[John in Santa Cruz]

The closest I had to a disaster was dumping at the very clean dump station at an Elks Lodge, and not properly attaching my hose to the trailer fitting (one side was clipped, other side was crooked). open valve, stuff started to leak out the fitting, ooops, close valve, eeew big mess.

thankfully, that dump station had a VERY large draining 'apron' around the sewer pipe, AND a nice long water hose with lots of pressure, so I had no trouble hosing the place down and leaving no trace, then reconnecting my hose and finishing my dump. I'll never do that again.

[Cowboy Doug]

I had a 2018 21c. It would build up a toilet paper tower right under the toilet. I accused my wife of not using enough water, but it turned out that Escape had let some glue being used during installation to drop on to the floor of the black tank. It caused toilet paper to hang right there and built up fast. I could use a rod to clear it but the build up would just occur again. I finally used some type scrapper the break the glue loose and the problem never occurred again. You might wnat to have a look at the floor of the black tank just below the toilet.

- Doug

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I'm with you, bought a fully-self contained trailer and I'm using all of it. The sewer hose isn't transparent, I don't watch it drain, I don't care what's going down the hose.

We have a clear 90 degree elbow to the dump hole attached to a 1' long clear tube, attached to our 5' sewer hose. Watching the clear tubes gives me something to do when dumping. I won't get into the discussions Terry and I have when dumping though.

We're all a little different,

Perry