What brand of toilet paper can I use in my TT?

I just grab TP from the house. we've probably used a dozen different brand in the TT. we use the trailer 3 months or more each year for the last 8 years.

I have NEVER EVER had an issue with ANY of the TP brands giving an issue in the black tank. I can see it being flushed through the clear tube, I run it into a macerator pump. And what I can say is all that comes through is very very small pieces of TP.

Doesn't make a differnce if it is a 1 or 2 day trip or 10 days dry camping results are the same.

Okay, I had to look that up here is what it means;

Right Here

If I am reading it correctly, it means if you call it Toilet Tissue, it must be suitable for "that" use. Nothing more, the industry is self governed and we know what that leads to. Septic Safe is not the intended use.

D.E.Bishop wrote:
Does anyone have a definition of either that has been put out buy a recognized authority or manufacturer? :h

That is a good question. A few years ago I looked all over the internet and found nothing but I just looked now and found this. which says:

The US has no product specific regulation, but labelling and packaging is governed by:

- FP&L Act 16 CFR 500/NIST Uniform
Laws and Regulations Handbook 130

- 19 CFR 134

Well as long as this thread was revived, much talk about "Septic safe" and "RV safe or For RV use". Does anyone have a definition of either that has been put out buy a recognized authority or manufacturer? :h

I'm not talking about some body's sewer service or RV expert, EPA or some group similar to the folks that set electrical installation standards or fire resistance standards. Some known scientifically based standard. :?

I spent several hours looking for a standard and it always come back to the old shake it in a jar of water to see if it disintegrates.

Just wondering,

The only brand I won't use is Northern. I prefer it to Charmin in feel, but it doesn't break down quick enough. It has caused blockage in my sewer system (old system) so I know it will cause problems with the RV tank and pipe.

I usually use Angel Soft or Kirkland.

Personally, I find Charmin too thick. With Angel Soft and Kirkland, the same weight of paper gives me a larger "spread" of the paper than the Charmin does.

Don't get sucked in by TP products that say they are "septic safe", "fast dissolving", "RV friendly", etc. Food for thought (sorry it got long):

A few years ago we tested a bunch of brands including some sold specifically for RV use by putting a few sheets in a jar and seeing how long, or if, it breaks down. What we found is that some retail store brands break down quickly and some didn't break down at all. Most interesting was that some RV TP didn't break down AT ALL and some did and quickly too. IIRC, it was Thetford's TP that did not break down. We ended up buying ordinary cheapo Costco Kirkland TP and it breaks down very well. What they charge for any RV safe TP is total ripoff.

The thing is, there are NO regulations covering TP and disintegration and a manufacturer can say whatever they want about their product(s). *IF* you think disintegrating TP is important, you want it to disintegrate to mush or small pieces like in the 1st photo below and not remain intact like the 3rd photo. Note that in the 2nd photo it appears that the TP breaks down enough but when you lift it out, it sticks together. The 3rd photo shows TP that doesn't break down at all and remains in a long string of it. It should only take a min. or two for TP to disintegrate and waiting a few hours or more makes no difference.

If you really want to know that it breaks down, buy a roll or two of a few retail or RV brands and do a test in a jar yourself. There's lots of youtube vids with RV TP tests.

For those thinking that the black tank's contents will break down for the period it's sitting in the tank, it won't. It takes around a few weeks or even longer overall for anaerobic bacteria and microorganisms to digest and break down the contents, and that's after a tank has been in use for a while so that bacteria and microoganisms have had enough time to establish themselves. Temp. is a factor too. Non-dissolving TP won't undergo a digestion process by bacteria/microorganisms present in the tank.

RV-ers normally use their tank right up to the point where it requires dumping so some of the contents will be quite fresh and won't have broken down at all. Not sure how many days RV-ers typically get from a black tank on avg. - maybe 7 days?? So it could take around a month for the contents to fully break down. You *could* always take the contents home and let it sit there for a few weeks and then dump, lol. :B I have not heard of anyone doing an actual test on an RV holding tank to see how long the contents in a black tank need to digest the contents.

If you have TP that doesn't break down, is it a problem? If you happen to drop some pretty big "logs" into the tank the size of a Mr. Big chocolate bar, a wet blob of TP is small in comparison and should easily get flushed out. Do a test yourself and see! :)

Does TP in itself have an affinity for sticking to the walls of a tank? I doubt it and if it remains in a tank, it's more likely because the tank wasn't rinsed adequately after dumping and/or inadequate water was used during the tank's use. Will thorough rinsing remove all traces of TP? Likely not but a tank should still get a good rinsing to flush away as much of everything as possible. Don't worry about false readings from a tank monitor, that is normal and not caused by the wrong type of TP.

The most important thing of all is to use adequate water during use of the tank and do a thorough rinsing/flushing when dumping and leaving for home or next leg of a trip. That means putting in 3-5 gallons before using it and not skimping on water each time you flush. In the beginning, we tried to conserve water and only got 2-3 days out of a 32 gal. tank and once we used more water, we started to get about 7 days use. Flushing/rinsing is easier too.

So, does it matter if TP breaks down or not? Personally I don't think so and have never read about anyone plugging up an outlet pipe under the tank or the hose with TP. Tanks come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and outlet pipe locations and some are easy to dump and flush and some aren't. The one in the photo below is one that would be more difficult to rinse for ex. Get a clear elbow for either end of your hose and you can see what's coming out and if contents are flowing okay.

Lastly, Good Houskeeping did a test of 20 different brands of household TP and lists the ones that dissolve quickly in this article. Quite a few household brands actually do dissolve quickly so you don't need to spend a fortune for it. Don't waste your $$ on the "RV safe" stuff.

JMHO, YMMV. EOM...

Same stuff we use at home which we buy in bulk at Samsclub, if we happen to run out while on the road we pick up whatever the DW prefers. IT has nothing to do with the price of RV toilet paper, just the lack of comfort and effectiveness that makes it unusable for us.

Use whatever brand your wife likes. It all sticks to the tank sensors anyway ;)

Probably something white!

If you use a single ply TP, be sure that it has some type of quilting to prevent the water's capillary action from holding the TP on the side of the tank and sensors. Flat, single ply TP that dries to the side of the tank (or sensors) will never disintegrate and flush out of the tank.