Toilet Additives

[JohnMD]

All,

As promised, here is our assessment on the Inca Gold products (using original recirculating toilet). We were at our first campsite for five nights and at our second site for six nights. For the first half, we used the sample powder packs and for our second half we used the liquid samples. I am not sure there is a noticeable difference between the powder and the liquid, though the powder seems nicer to store and handle to me. Our impression is that it works slightly better than the new Aqua-Max at controlling odor. As such, I will probably finish off my supply of Aqua-Max and switch. However, before committing to an order of Inca Gold, I see somebody else (in a reply to an older thread: https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ghlight=toilet) recommended the Walex Porta-Pak, which our local Walmart lists as in stock. We have another trip next week, so I will plan to try out the Walex Porta-Pak. I'll try to report back on our assessment.

Also, something else I've noticed, and perhaps you have as well -- When returning from a trip, I give the toilet a nice cleaning by charging and flushing with clean water and a little bit of chemical. I then run just clean water through as a final rinse. However, when I am at parks with no hook-ups, I dump with my tote and recharge after a few days, but I was not doing any "cleansing charges" to flush out residue in between. As such, I notice that my first charge seems to last longer before we notice and odor. Moving forward, I plan to to a "cleansing charge" as well.

Take care,

John

[commodor47]

As Bill has eluded to, be careful when purchasing products advertised as Aqua Kem. I recently ordered a 32 oz bottle of Aqua Kem from an Amazon seller only to have the product arrive as Aqua Max. I contacted the 3rd party seller and received a quick reply. They apologized for the inconvenience and agreed to refund the purchase price but said it was not necessary to return the Aqua Max. Their excuse for sending the incorrect product did not make any sense. Something to the effect; a mismatch, where the website misreads our suppliers inventory and uses the wrong product description.
Dick

[inghamm]

Funny thing. The gallon size one I ordered on Amazon came today. I opened the box and found Aqua-Max. So I put in for an Amazon return. It was non-returnable, so instead I got a refund - so basically free Aqua-Max that was this link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
A few weeks ago I did get the real Aqua-Kem on Amazon, albeit at a pretty expensive rate for the equivalent of 4 little bottles:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have not opened the bottle but it says Aqua-Kem and “contains formaldehyde”

[Bill]

Idaho, you make some good points, and I am not in disagreement with any of them. Your analysis of review dates is especially interesting - good catch. I'll say it again - I don't know what is going on. What I do know is that Amazon still has a listing for a product called Aqua-Kem Original. The listing text says "Original" but the bottle in the picture does not say Original. There is no picture of the back of the bottle where the contents are listed. The text in the listing says 100% biodegradable. But the text also omits the big claim, Formaldehyde-Free! which is featured in the text in most other non-Amazon ads. So whatever is being sold, does it have formaldehyde? Can't be sure.

I can find a number of internet sites that say formaldehyde is biodegradable. Others say that at some concentration, it kills fish and marine life as it degrades. A number of sites say that formaldehyde has not been banned, though this is often said in the context of the glue in the plywood that is in your home's walls. California says it is a biodegradable carcinogen, and in 2007 asked that it be banned on the carcinogen basis. Is it banned today? I don't know.

What I do know is that like the rest of us, I'd like to find a good toilet deodorizer. I am personally not having any luck with that quest, but I keep trying. I hope someone will find a good product, and let us know what it is.

I'm tired.

Bill

[Idaho Adventurer]

It's all very interesting and confusing at the same time. Thanks for you're willingness to go back and forth, Bill My goal in life is to try and determine the truth in all matters from toilet chemicals to the meaning of life. To be wrong in either will leave you in a stinky mess in the end

As of right now, I got a sample of the Inca Gold and plan to use it on a week long dry camping trip near the end of July, and I will provide feedback on how well it seems to work.

Thanks, Kyle

[JohnMD]

All,

I recently contacted Inca Gold(Douglas Products) and they sent me some free samples to try. We received four 2-oz bottles and four powder packets. Our next trip is in July and we plan to see how we like it. Previously, we've been using the Cypress scent AquaMax with our recirculating toilet. We like the cypress scent, but it seems to start smelling bad after two to three days, depending on use and temperature. There are just three of us and we limit use to liquid waste only and try to use campground facilities during the day.

For those interested, attached are the product information and pricing sheets that I received from the company.

I also will try to report back with feedback on what we think.

Aslo, I read somewhere (probably on the Facebook page) that someone uses Pine-Sol. I was wondering if anyone here has tried that. Perhaps that could be a complementary additive to support the Cypress AquaMax.

John

Inca Pricing Effective 05-01-22.pdf

F204 liquid gold Appl. Inst..pdf

Port. Toilet Appl. Instr. Powder.pdf

[Shane826]

You also need to remember whatever you use as a toilet additive should also be septic safe. Otherwise you’re effectively nuking the campground’s septic system when you dump your tanks. That’s why formaldehyde based toilet treatment chemicals have been outlawed in several states, which is why Thetford appears to have discontinued Aqua-Kem without saying they’ve discontinued Aqua-Kem, which then probably led to them discontinuing the recirculating toilet.

[JohnMD]

Yep..the Inca Gold products are formaldehyde-free.

John

[Idaho Adventurer]

As the one who started this thread, I apologize for not coming back with my verdict at the end of last summer's camping season. I ended up getting some samples of both the Inca Gold liquid and powder. I used the liquid on a 7 night dry camping trip with our church, in which we only used the toilet at night for #1. I did add the Inca Gold at double strength because I new it would be a long and hot week for it. In conclusion, it held up as well as I could expect from any products. For the most part, it was always just the strong fragrance that would hit you every time you lifted the lid. This was a far cry better than my experience with the Aqua Max that we used earlier in the spring. After a couple of nights in much cooler weather and using the toilet in the same manner, the smell was unbearable.

Also, I tried Happy Campers on a much shorter weekend trip at the end of the summer. I like how there's no smell (not even a fragrance), but because the product has no die in it, the look of the liquid after a while is enough to make someone queasy.

For those reason, I believe the Inca Gold will be what we stick with for now. I'm not overly fond of the strong fragrance smell, but I installed a toilet vent fan, as some others have done on here, which I'm hoping will help with that.

Incidentally, If anyone is interested in trying out the Inca Gold products, just give the company a call and ask for samples. They seem to be very accommodating to this.