Bathroom Toilet

[KoehlerFarms]

If a person decides that they want to go with a flushing toilet and black tank, is there any reason to use a cheap RV toilet instead of plumbing an actual residential toilet?

 

[Bus'n it]

Two things. I believe a residential toilet uses more water and hence fills up black tank faster and most importantly, you do not want a bowl full of water sloshing around while you drive. This includes the tank and the bowl.

 

[o1marc]

Most residential toilets use 1.6 gallons of water each flush and then refills the tank. Not going to work in a skoolie. RV toilet made to address the concerns of RV travel.

 

[KoehlerFarms]

Thank you both for the replies. Pretty obvious now that you point it out.

 

[Danjo-SKO]

I installed the Dometic 210 and I’m pretty happy with it.

 

[musigenesis]

I installed the Dometic 210 and I’m pretty happy with it.

Nice tile job!

 

[BeNimble]

The rv toilets drain straight into the tank, whereas house toilets have a trap that seals the drain, which must be kept full of water.
The trap probably needs a lot more water to get the contents to move through it.
That said, a house toilet is so easy to clean. And are essentially free..I plan to try and modify one for the Nautibus.
A diamond cutting blade can cut the porcelain.

They also make high pressure kits so the toilet flushes with more pressure than just the weight of the water to push it through the trap. Those are the noisy kind you see at home depot, etc.

 

[Oscar1]

If you’re looking for a porcelain toilet to have a more house type feel to it search TMC Marine macerating toilets. I have installed this model in a boat and was very happy with it for seven years before selling the boat. I have already picked up a new one for the bus, just haven’t got the bathroom finished yet. One great advantage is a lot less chance of having a black tank plug up on you with one of these. Another bonus is the toilet can be on the opposite side of the bus from the holding tank as you are pumping to it. Available on Amazon for around $500

 

[Danjo-SKO]

Dometic toilets have a porcelain bowl. I grew up in RVs with Thetford plastic toilets. They suck

 

[cadillackid]

My thought with a house toilet is as you drive the water will slosh from the bowl down the drain , the the trap becomes open for odor, an RV unit has a flapper on the bowl to help seal it.

Flushing is easy, get a capsule flush where the pressurized capsule sits in the tankand holds the water, you don’t have the issue of tank water sloshing out.

For those you do need a really good water pump as most work best with 40-70 psi of supply pressure.

The tankless toilets in public bathrooms are different they require a high volume of water for a short time so you need a heck of a pump. Most use a 3/4 inch pipe

 

[o1marc]

The rv toilets drain straight into the tank, whereas house toilets have a trap that seals the drain, which must be kept full of water.
The trap probably needs a lot more water to get the contents to move through it.
That said, a house toilet is so easy to clean. And are essentially free..I plan to try and modify one for the Nautibus.
A diamond cutting blade can cut the porcelain.

They also make high pressure kits so the toilet flushes with more pressure than just the weight of the water to push it through the trap. Those are the noisy kind you see at home depot, etc.

House toilets use 1.6 gallons of water per flush. How are you going to replenish that supply?

 

[kazetsukai]

Pretty sure RV toilets were engineered because of the problems with large tanks of water sloshing/etc in motion...

 

[o1marc]

Pretty sure RV toilets were engineered because of the problems with large tanks of water sloshing/etc in motion...

I think the constant water supply was the bigger issue.

 

[Oscar1]

I think the constant water supply was the bigger issue.

This ^ the rv toilet design that the waste discharge is straight down in to the tank is to reduce water consumption, in trying to wash that waste thru a conventional plumbing system you would use much more water. One of the biggest problems with rv toilets and our desire to conserve water is that whithout enough water in the tank you can and will develope the great tower of dry poop directly below the toilet drop. When this happens the unlucky rv tech gets to disconnect the plumbing and manually remove the blockage. Yes I have been that unlucky guy! The macerating toilet prevents that from happening (think of a garborator in your sink) without one all that food waste wouldn't get past the trap. An inline macerating pump will also allow you to install waste tanks on the passenger side of the vehicle and transfer that waste to a single discharge on the driver side.
Poop happens!

 

[Iceni John]

This ^ the rv toilet design that the waste discharge is straight down in to the tank is to reduce water consumption, in trying to wash that waste thru a conventional plumbing system you would use much more water. One of the biggest problems with rv toilets and our desire to conserve water is that whithout enough water in the tank you can and will develope the great tower of dry poop directly below the toilet drop. When this happens the unlucky rv tech gets to disconnect the plumbing and manually remove the blockage. Yes I have been that unlucky guy! The macerating toilet prevents that from happening (think of a garborator in your sink) without one all that food waste wouldn't get past the trap. An inline macerating pump will also allow you to install waste tanks on the passenger side of the vehicle and transfer that waste to a single discharge on the driver side.
Poop happens!

I've done several things to address those concerns:
1) Directly above the poo tank's exit to its dump valve I have a water inlet on the top of the tank that allows me to squirt shore water or grey water down onto any Mounds Of Doom that are growing there, and hopefully they will break them up before they become fossilized.
2) I have a transfer pump to move excess grey water into the poo tank (see above), and this will also keep more liquid in that tank to prevent any shitty stalagmites from rearing their ugly heads.
3) I also plan on having a water jetting wand in the bathroom next to the loo, then I can jet water straight down onto any Mounds Of Doom directly under the toilet's flapper valve.

By doing this I hope to gain the benefit of a low-flush toilet like my Dometic 310, yet still prevent Bad Things from happening inside the poo tank. I'm much more likely to fill up the 115-gallon grey tank than the 65-gallon poo tank, hence the transfer pump; when dumping the poo tank I'll probably first completely fill it with grey water so whatever is inside it will flow out with greater force, a veritable crap-tsunami.

John

 

[Oscar1]

I've done several things to address those concerns:
1) Directly above the poo tank's exit to the dump valve I have a water inlet on the top of the tank that allows me to squirt shore water or grey water down onto any Mounds Of Doom that are growing there, and hopefully they will break them up before they become fossilized.
2) I have a transfer pump to move excess grey water into the poo tank (see above), and this will also keep more liquid in that tank to prevent any shitty stalagmites from rearing their ugly heads.
3) I also plan on having a water jetting wand in the bathroom next to the loo, then I can jet water straight down onto any Mounds Of Doom directly under the toilet's flapper valve.

By doing this I hope to gain the benefit of a low-flush toilet like my Dometic 310, yet still prevent Bad Things from happening inside the poo tank. I'm much more likely to fill up the 115-gallon grey tank than the 65-gallon poo tank, hence the transfer pump; when dumping the poo tank I'll probably first completely fill it with grey water so whatever is inside it will flow out with greater force, a veritable crap-tsunami.

John

Top shelf work John
Those are all the exact things that will prevent that sticky mess from happening. It took the rv industry a long time to figure out that they could jet water back up from the dump gate or transfer from the grey tank. Actually they probably knew they just didn't want the extra cost associated with a few extra parts and a pump.
Cheers

 

[Danjo-SKO]

When I ordered the black tank I had them install a jet fitting that I plumbed to a hose connector so I can give it a jet at the dump station

 

[Doktari]

I was wondering why the previous owner installed a garden hose fitting on the side of the black tank.

 

[kazetsukai]

I was wondering why the previous owner installed a garden hose fitting on the side of the black tank.

Yeah, if we don't flush our tank regularly it really starts to stink. You need 3 holes in total for black and grey tanks imo:

• Waste gate hole (3"-6", usually comes with from factory, lowest point of the tank)
• Direct, pressurized water inlet to flush out the tank from time to time (furthest from waste gate hole, often beneficial to install a tank rinser product: https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40126-Tornado-Rotary-Rinser/dp/B000BUU5TU)
• Air vent hole that goes to the roof. DO NOT share this vent with your composting toilet... the moment you get into motion with anything in the tank the little fan for the toilet will not stand a chance at preventing back flow of air as stuff sloshes around.

And place your waste gate valves as close to the tank as possible if you don't want pipes to freeze in winter.

 

[BeNimble]

btw, I thought of an idea to keep the p-trap full while driving..use some thickened water.
How to make such a thing I did not go that far down this path, but it can't be that hard to make.

bbtw,
If my explorer was not sidelined at the moment, I would put a toilet in the back and test out some of this, but I just have my prius to drive and toilet won't fit in the trunk.

bbbtw, I wish I could drive my 98 Rav4 convertible, it idles ok, but missing under a load. no codes except random misfire. I've checked almost everything and its all ok. Replaced fuel pump and check fuel pressure. ok. Checked compression, ok, replaced spark plugs and wires, no diff. Replaced two coils no diff.
Timing belt off? Fuel injectors clogged? all I can think of.
It has 300k miles.