Toilet Additives

[Idaho Adventurer]

Last fall we made the plunge and bought a 2006 Trailmanor, and thanks to this forum and info on YouTube, we have been able to make a lot of improvements and repair to it through the winter months. Just last week we got back from our maiden voyage trip with it to Yellowstone. We love it, and everything worked well except for one thing: The toilet stinks!

It has the standard recirculating toilet, and this is new to me. Before our trip, I did enough research to realize that no one seems to make an additive with formaldehyde in it, which seems to be the secret ingredient to recirculating toilets. With not knowing what else to try, I decided get and use Aqua Max. Thank goodness I had our portable dump tank with us, because after two day of only going #1 with a family of 5, the smell was unbearable.

In the past, with our old travel trailer black tank, I used "Happy Campers" with great success. Would that work in a recirculating toilet? Or is that not enough? With everything now being "formaldehyde free" what are you all using with success?

Thanks for your great wealth of experience and knowledge. -Kyle

[Shane826]

I have a stockpile of single serving Aqua-Kem 6-packs from when they were on clearance at WalMart. Aqua-Kem was the toilet chemical that Thetford recommended for the recirculating toilet. Yes it has formaldehyde. I now have the SeaLand toilet and I think I want something that will liquify waste instead of keeping it solid so it stays in the recirculating toilet’s wire cage. Let me know if you’re interested in some.

[Idaho Adventurer]

Thanks Shane. I just PM'd you.

[TMfor4ofus]

I'll take a 6 pk of aqua kem if available. I'll gladly pay you for some.

[marend37]

You asked about Happy Campers. We are now trying it. We used it a few times last season and now 2 trips this year. It is the best product so far of the ones without formaldehyde. It doesn't have a perfume smell. There is still a not so pleasant smell with #2s.

We tried the Camco TST single use bottles, and Pure Power Blue. Both were not very good. The Pure suggests 2oz, we ended up using 8oz on the last trip with it and that still didn't seem to be enough.
We are using the rest of the TST bottles to freshen up the toilet after we dump. Mix in with 8-9 gals of water, run the pump a little, dump, then close up.

You do need to spend some time dissolving the Happy Camper. I use a pitcher filled with water and slowly sprinkle it in. Then rinse the pitcher a couple times and the toilet is almost at the charge level.

There are two other products we have heard about and plan to try after the Happy Camper is done: Bio-Kleen M01709 and Inca Gold..

Mike
2005 3124KB

[Idaho Adventurer]

Originally Posted by marend37

There are two other products we have heard about and plan to try after the Happy Camper is done: Bio-Kleen M01709 and Inca Gold..

Mike
2005 3124KB

I looked into the "Inca Gold" and was pretty intrigued by what I read, as it seems to be designed for use in recirculating toilets on a commercial level, but can be purchased from a few places on a consumer level. We have a week long trip coming up near the end of July, so I ordered an over priced sample of it off ebay to try. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for the ongoing replies. I'm sure all this info will be helpful for a good number of folks who still use the recirculating toilets.

[Shane826]

Guys remember if you use the Thetford recirculating toilet you want a toilet treatment that keeps solids pretty solid (like formaldehyde) so the solids stay within the cage. Using things like Happy Camper or enzyme based treatments dissolve solid waste and TP into a sludge, which can either get gunked up in the wire cage or worse pass through the cage and then get sucked into the pump. Ew.

[commodor47]

Shane - I think you may have found the reason Therford stopped producing recirculating toilets. Without formaldehyde the screen and pump may become a warranty issue for the company.
Dick

[FlyboyTR]

Originally Posted by Shane826

Guys remember if you use the Thetford recirculating toilet you want a toilet treatment that keeps solids pretty solid (like formaldehyde) so the solids stay within the cage. Using things like Happy Camper or enzyme based treatments dissolve solid waste and TP into a sludge, which can either get gunked up in the wire cage or worse pass through the cage and then get sucked into the pump. Ew.

Shane,
Thanks for the comment about solids staying solid... We have used Happy Camper for years in our motorhome and the TM's. It honestly never crossed my mind that breaking down the stool was a problem. You are, however, correct! We always just rinse the bowl down with a splash of water from our bidet nozzle...that gets rid of the "brown water" that we pump.

Now...to find a deodorizer that won't break down the poo!

[Shane826]

That is 100% my theory.