Cassette Toilet vs Conventional RV Toilet

gemsworld wrote:
Out of curiosity, how are cassette toilets cleaned? Do you use chemicals to keep the odor under control?

the Thetford porta-pottie toilet size and looks EXACTLY like the one in the RV's. There is a sealed cassette under neath the bowl.

You can buy 'different size holding tank capacities'. It detaches and you can take it to a public restroom while traveling or a dump station. Has a sealed arm that opens and comes out for pouring it out. Zip zero smell. You use same chems as RV holding tanks.

I use one when traveling from up North to the South because the MH is winterized and I do NOT do public restrooms. I placed it right next to my MH toilet. I dumped it at the CG dump stations.

http://www.thetford.com/HOME/ApplicationHome/RecreationalApplication/tabid/85/Default.aspx



And if you are REAL lazy and don't want to push a lever to flush, they even offer one that has an 'electric' flush!!!! :B

I have had a black tank in TT #1, then a porta potty in #2, then a black tank in #3. A cassette is much like a porta potty. I wish I had the porta potty again, or a cassette. But I camp alone. A family would fill a cassette too fast, I think, to make it practical. I could go a week or more with the porta. And no need to hunt up a dump station or wait in line. Easy to empty in the toilet once I returned home, too.

That's when an APP like sani-dumps comes in handy. They attempt to list every dump site available, pay or free.

The place where I store my trailer has a dump station but it's designed so that you can use it while headed out of the facility! It would be a PITA to have to try and back it into the dump station after returning from a long road trip.

Wish they would change that!

WoodGlue

We debated this and decided on a black tank because you're less 'up close and personal' with the effluent. Next time I'll get a cassette and deal with it.

A big part of getting a TC instead of a TT was that we are more about 'traveling' than 'camping'. We've never stayed more than one night one place, and we like to be able to change plans late in the day without having to find someplace to park a trailer. We've boondocked in parking lots more nights than I've stayed somewhere with full hookups.

That being the case, a black tank is a royal PITA! If you're not paying to camp at a traditional RV site, you're hosed for dumping options. If your last night of a trip is boondocking in a parking lot somewhere to break up the ride home, what do you do with that partially full tank - save it for a few weeks in the summer heat until next trip? And what if you can't (or just don't want to) jerk around hauling your TC all over the county looking for a place that you can dump? And a lot of places charge you to dump - and it costs the same whether you're dumping a family of six for a two weeks vs. two people for a long weekend.

It would (will) be a lot less stressful when I can find any old vault toilet, public restroom, or even my home facilities to dump.

If I had more people using it or stayed parked somewhere with hookups for a week or two, I'd probably prefer a black tank.

You can clean a cassette toilet with water (if some is nearby) as it's a removable unit. Or throw some bleach and water in there and slosh it around before returning the unit to the trailer/TC. The odor isn't usually an issue since you're able to clear it so often.

WoodGlue

Out of curiosity, how are cassette toilets cleaned? Do you use chemicals to keep the odor under control?

Not a TC owner but would prefer a cassette toilet in mine. We boondock a lot and much easier to find a toilet than a dump station.

I haven't had a cassette toilet so I can not comment directly from experience. However, I suspect the answer to this depends on how big your black water tank is. I can easily see that compared to a 6 gallon black water tank the cassette toilet looks good. Our black water tank is 40+ so when I look at them their small capacity looks like a real disadvantage. We have never been limited in our camping trips because the black water tank filled.

We have had both...my vote is for standard toilet. Cassette was only good for 2-3 days with a Family.
Did not like that...regardless of how "convenient" it is to dump.

Black tank lasts us much longer...

My $0.02

Bill

I currently have a conventional toilet/black tank, but I would much prefer to have a cassette in my TC!
I do a lot of extended boondocking… 2+ weeks at a stretch. I carry an external waste tank which is a hassle to empty. If I had a cassette toilette I could dump in any porta-potty, pit toilet, or gas station toilet. I'll probably go through the effort & expense to install a cassette toilet sometime in the near future.
Cheers,
-Mark