My tried and tested guide to emptying your porta potty toilet! (Black water)
As a relative newbie to the porta potty world (12 months in and countless “accidents”)
It does not seem to matter:
- how well you aim
- how large the receptacle is that you are pouring into
- how fresh the air is around you
- how few wees you think you did!
When emptying the portable poop tank you are going to get some of it on you and it IS going to smell bad!
Not terrible like spoiled milk or rotten eggs especially if you use toilet blue but a scent kinda like your own trumps – oddly not unpleasant but not something you want to spend a whole lot of time around.
That stuff has a splash factor that seems to defy gravity and logic especially if you have one of the anti stink devices (SOG extractor) attached that’s supposed to help remove the “smells” seems to just make the juggling act even harder making poor & peep appear from all over the place unexpectedly.
The SOG system
Is designed to allow the removal of unpleasant smells without needing to use chemicals by passing oxygen over the surface of the waste possibly with a fan. The company does advise that naturally treated waste has far less of a smell when emptying the cassette and you can use normal toilet paper. You can find more information here www.soguk.co.uk however in my humble opinion I am not sure the expense is fully worth it? I am not a fan! We have decided to remove the system to see if it makes emptying the cassette easier and will report back if the impact on odor is noticeable.
After repeated attempts I found that the best course of action is to simply don a disposable bio hazard suit and gloves! Failing that you could just burn and replace your poop receptacle when it gets full!
In all seriousness here are my little tips picked up along the way that seem to make the whole experience just a little bit “nicer”:
- Hand sanitiser, hand sanitiser, hand sanitiser.
- Wear flip flops or washable footwear – it makes those little spills so much easier to clean up
- Invest in good quality blue to help dissolve those poops. See Amazon link below.
- Antibacterial wipes are a great way to clean all the surfaces and potentially yourself.
- After every big trip empty and clean your tank ready for the next one – its a pain but it makes sense to deal with the current turds before future turds!
- Try to empty your black waste at every available opportunity (even if its not full). Especially if you are planning to drive around for a while as the sloshing around in the tank during transit can make for some nasty smells!
- Buy special RV/ Porta Potty loo roll – it breaks down quicker and helps remove the risk of a blocked black water tank. See Amazon link below.
- If the smell gets too bad in your bathroom light a candle or a match and blow it out letting the smoke dissipate
- Be nice and leave the disposal area clean and tidy for the next customers.
- Check out your poops when emptying! Health first people!
Happy travels!
October 28, 2019 at 8:53 pm
I thought I must be doing something wrong, I bought a 99 B544 a couple of years ago, it has been great but the casette loo is a messy business. The van came with the Thetford blue cleaner and toilet paper and I’ve only used them.
The leakage from the casette during emptying doesn’t look right to be but at 2 annual services I’ve been assured that this is normal???
Disposable rubber gloves really help.
November 2, 2019 at 10:14 am
Hi John, Thanks for getting in touch. When you say leakage – where is it coming from exactly? I am sure those that service know what they are doing but if we can help in any way based on our experience more than happy to do so. We found that we get leaks from the sliding part when emptying. Its caused by flush water being left above the seal (we now leave the hole open for longer to allow all the water to drain away before closing?. We also found that the seal can get bunged up over time with lots of use so we replaced and now clean regularly 🙂
November 3, 2019 at 5:36 pm
Hi Muffin, Thanks for the response.. your first suggestion sound right. It is from the sliding part and we would close the hole immediately after finishing..Replacing and cleaning the seal might need a bit of working up to.?
November 6, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Hi John – sounds like replacing the seal is worth looking at. Its not such a nasty job so long as you give it a good wash out before hand and use some gloves. In all honesty the odd scum that we found on ours that was stopping it from closing properly is not obviously related in either smell or look to any bodily fluid (so not that horrible to deal with) – I think it might have been some soap residue or limescale build up. Either way it cleaned up well. Good luck! 🙂