Removing the toilet, replacing with PortaPotti - Page 3

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-13-2010, 11:48 AM

First, I would use the toilet a few times before removing it for good. It is amazingly convenient to have one, especially in the middle of the night. The toilet is also quite popular with the women in the family.

If you do remove it:

- yes, you can use the shower without any further modification. They are not connected in any way.
- Nothing will ever come up that pipe. The only thing connected to it is the gray water tank drain, but that is not pressurized. But you may get a little odor from the gray water....you cannot remove that pipe or flange since it is glued into the gray water drain. I'd just cut a small circular piece of plywood and bolt it to the flange. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, super tight, or I don't think even well sealed. Then just throw a rug on top of it.

Dave

07-13-2010, 12:00 PM

Oh, it's not going to be permanent. It will be only for this short 4 day trip, so I can put a port-a-potti I happen to have in its place temporarily (at the insistence of the wife). But I'll also have to put something down to level around the toilet flange. I was wondering about using a "test plug" like are used when testing the plumbing systems in new home construction: it's essentially a rubber membrane with metal plates on top and bottom with a screw type device connecting the metal plates so you can expand the membrane to make a tight seal. Any idea of what the diameter of the sewerage pipe is?

Wavery · 07-13-2010, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EAKlebe

Oh, it's not going to be permanent. It will be only for this short 4 day trip, so I can put a port-a-potti I happen to have in its place temporarily (at the insistence of the wife). But I'll also have to put something down to level around the toilet flange. I was wondering about using a "test plug" like are used when testing the plumbing systems in new home construction: it's essentially a rubber membrane with metal plates on top and bottom with a screw type device connecting the metal plates so you can expand the membrane to make a tight seal. Any idea of what the diameter of the sewerage pipe is?

You may be over thinking this.........

Your Thetford recirc toilet is not hooked up to a sewer, like your home toilet. Once you remove the toilet the hole in the floor just goes to a short pipe and the out dump valve. There is no risk of any smell or anything else coming back up the hole in the floor.

I'd just remove the toilet, clean out that short piece of pipe with a little bleach and water, close the outer dump valve and leave the flange alone.

If the flange sticks up above the floor level. I'd take an appropriate size and thickness of plywood (Probably about 18"x18"x1/2" thick) and cut a hole in the center for the flange. Then, I'd take some 1/2"x1" molding and nail it to the plywood to form a "Saddle" for your porta-potti to sit in. That would keep the porta-potti in place.

I have actually thought of doing that as a permanent replacement for the recirculating toilet. Not that I have anything against the recirc toilet itself. It's just that, if you ever want to stay in one place for an extended time, the toilet will fill and you will need to have a means of dumping it into a portable tank (which does not appeal to me) or fold down and drag the trailer to a dump station (which appeals to me even less).

The cassette toilet is the best solution IMO. However, a decent quality porta-potti, put in place as descried above would be a close 2nd IMO. At least you would be able to remove the holding tank, dispose of the waste properly and recharge it without having to mess with an outside, portable tank or moving the trailer.

We used a Thetford, 5G porta-Portie in our other trailer for years and had no issues with it. It didn't smell, it lasted 4-days without a problem (with the 2 of us) and it was easy to take apart and dump. A quick rinse and it was ready to go for another 4 days.

07-13-2010, 02:20 PM

You couldn't have said it better. We do stay in one place for 20+ days. Didn't want to fold up and take it to the dump station, didn't want to pay to have it dumped, so since we were only a few yards away from the public toilet, it seemed like the thing to do. I can carry it myself without a problem. Works well for us!

07-14-2010, 02:32 PM

My wife is totally grossed out by the recirc toilet and won't use it unless it is a dire emergency. Has anyone figured out where to add a blackwater tank on a 2006 3023?
(I know you are going to tell me to use search but every time I do I get 100's of unrelated hits)

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-14-2010, 05:29 PM

mhatcher - A member here made a black water tank out of several lengths of 4" ABS pipe. You can read about it and see pictures here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...?t=2969&page=4

I know at least a few others have installed traditional black water tanks (member yendor comes to mind), but I don't remember ever seeing any pictures.

Dave

Wavery · 07-14-2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [email protected]

My wife is totally grossed out by the recirc toilet and won't use it unless it is a dire emergency. Has anyone figured out where to add a blackwater tank on a 2006 3023?
(I know you are going to tell me to use search but every time I do I get 100's of unrelated hits)

One thing that one could do would be to install a regular RV toilet where the recirc is. Buy one of those 12G totes and when you get to the CG, hook the tote up to the sewer outlet and slide the tote under the camper. The tote could be used as your holding tank. When it's full, take it to the dump station and dump it.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...2-gallon/33363

You may have to have a 2-3" lift on your trailer to accommodate sliding the tank underneath. I just measured my trailer (I have a 2 1/2" lift). With the trailer level, it's 11" to the bottom of the waste drain on my trailer. It's 15" from the ground to the bottom of the frame. The pictured 12G tote is 10" from the ground to the top of the fill. It should accommodate that type of set-up quite nicely.........and your wife would be quite happy......

What's the difference if the holding tank is bolted to the bottom of your camper or if it's sitting on the ground, with wheels on it.

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-14-2010, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harveyrv

What's the difference if the holding tank is bolted to the bottom of your camper or if it's sitting on the ground, with wheels on it.

The difference is that with the latter, you need to hoist that thing into your car (which also means you must have room for it). First, 15 gallons + the tank is heavy; second, you have 15 gallons of solid waste in your car; third, and to me most important, it's yet another thing to setup and tear down vs. simply pulling a gate valve to a built-in tank to accomplish the same task.

Dave

MariaG · 07-14-2010, 06:43 PM

This is the biggest thing that bugs me about the TM. Not the recirc toilet so much, but the lack of capacity. I tow with minivan and we camp places where the closest dump station is 10 miles away or more, so taking a blue tote and having to dump it somewhere is a bit of a problem. Still working on DH about the pipe idea, but he wants an "exploded view", parts list and instructions. Yeah, not available. We thought about installing a permanent tank, but can't find one the right size, and plumbing it in, again, DH wants instructions. *sigh*

Wavery · 07-14-2010, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

mhatcher - A member here made a black water tank out of several lengths of 4" ABS pipe. You can read about it and see pictures here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...?t=2969&page=4

I know at least a few others have installed traditional black water tanks (member yendor comes to mind), but I don't remember ever seeing any pictures.

Dave

I wonder why he didn't use 6" pipe? That would have doubled the capacity over 4" pipe. I would also have made 2 separate discharge ports (1 for black, 1 for grey) and put them back out of the way of the exploding tires........

Maybe his trailer wasn't lifted and that's what he felt safe with. I just crawled under there and there is plenty of room for 6" pipe. 12' of 6" pipe will hold about 13G of liquid.

Venting that thing would make an interesting challenge on a folding camper. It would be nice to get the vent to the roof. I guess it wouldn't have to be vented. However, the user would have to be careful about opening the toilet valve to relieve pressure before using. It could be really messy if someone filled the toilet then tried to flush with pressure built up in the tank...........