Question on auto antifreeze ?

[NanciL]

Will regular auto antifreeze hurt the seal in a RV toilet?

I am not interested in hearing about RV antifreeze

Jack L

[roadrat2]

OP, just curious...why do you ask? Did you accidently put some in the toilet?

[Community Alumni]

Gdetrailer wrote:

proxim2020 wrote:
Vegetable oil works just fine. I've been doing vegetable oil over the seal for years in trailers. Even after sitting for months I've never came back to something that looks like gear oil. The oil does go rancid, but I don't don't plan on cooking with it. After months of sitting you get a bit of a rancid smell if you stick your nose in the bowl, but the odor isn't strong enough to foul up the rest of the trailer.

Never said it would look like "gear oil".

However, when vegy oil breaks down over time it LEAVES A STICKY RESIDUE behind on any surface it touched.

While YOU may think that is fine and good, it WILL build up and eventually can cause the blade to stick and dislodge the seal, or cause other "stuff" to stick and not clear the seal..

Use oils at your own risk, it won't be me needing to replace parts on my toilet..

If you don't understand the issue with vegy oils, then perhaps you need to go check out what happens at restaurants that use friers.. Granted, the oil there gets airborn via heat but every surface that the airborn oil lands on gets a coating of near impossible to remove greasy build up.. Takes a lot of hard work to cleanup vegy oils residue..

Imagine scrubbing that greasy build up out of your toilet blade and seal (yuck)!!!

I can't figure out why it is so "important" to put ANYTHING in the toilet bowl while not in use or in storage..

I have been allowing mine to dryout over the last 18 yrs and those toilets have NEVER developed leaking issues with the seals.

The RV toilet manufacturers SHIP the toilets with no liquids, those toilets sit for long periods of time in warehouses which often are not climate controlled before being installed in a RV..

Trailer manufacturers ship the trailers with the toilet bowl empty and these trailers often sit on dealers lots for months to even a year or so with EMPTY BOWLS..

RV toilets are not the same as home toilets, the blade/seal take place of the "trap" in a home toilet..

Home toilets MUST have water in the bowl in order to fill the trap and prevent sewer gasses from getting into the home..

RV toilets, no water needed for a trap.

Do yourself a favor, just leave the bowl empty when storing..

You're right, I should believe you over my lying eyes. I've never encountered any of the problems that you have theorized. I've never had any issues with sticking blades, seals that have popped out, or had to scrub off a greasy buildup. The toilet just gets cleaned every once in a while with a toilet brush and cheap bowl cleaner just like at home. I've never needed to replace a blade or a seal.

I completely understand the chemical reaction that takes place when air, water, and heat meets certain oils. This would be more of a concern to me if I used a very small amount or allowed the oil to sit to the point where it dries out via oxidation. So if I use a tsp of oil or planned on leaving it in there for a year then yeah I could see it being a problem. But leaving a cup or so of oil in there while in storage hasn't caused me any problems.

I don't always put my trailer up with empty tanks. In my experience a dry seal and a half full tank in Texas heat equals coming back to a trailer that smells like a science project gone horribly wrong. And it takes days to air it out. If a dry seal works for you then great. I'll keep mine covered.

[trail-explorer]

llowllms wrote:
Where are you with your rig in the winter and why would you want to dump a pollutant in the sewer system?

DItto.

And auto antifreeze costs a whole lot more than RV antifreeze

[NanciL]

Gdetrailer wrote:

proxim2020 wrote:
Vegetable oil works just fine. I've been doing vegetable oil over the seal for years in trailers. Even after sitting for months I've never came back to something that looks like gear oil. The oil does go rancid, but I don't don't plan on cooking with it. After months of sitting you get a bit of a rancid smell if you stick your nose in the bowl, but the odor isn't strong enough to foul up the rest of the trailer.

Never said it would look like "gear oil".

However, when vegy oil breaks down over time it LEAVES A STICKY RESIDUE behind on any surface it touched.

While YOU may think that is fine and good, it WILL build up and eventually can cause the blade to stick and dislodge the seal, or cause other "stuff" to stick and not clear the seal..

Use oils at your own risk, it won't be me needing to replace parts on my toilet..

If you don't understand the issue with vegy oils, then perhaps you need to go check out what happens at restaurants that use friers.. Granted, the oil there gets airborn via heat but every surface that the airborn oil lands on gets a coating of near impossible to remove greasy build up.. Takes a lot of hard work to cleanup vegy oils residue..

Imagine scrubbing that greasy build up out of your toilet blade and seal (yuck)!!!

I can't figure out why it is so "important" to put ANYTHING in the toilet bowl while not in use or in storage..

I have been allowing mine to dryout over the last 18 yrs and those toilets have NEVER developed leaking issues with the seals.

The RV toilet manufacturers SHIP the toilets with no liquids, those toilets sit for long periods of time in warehouses which often are not climate controlled before being installed in a RV..

Trailer manufacturers ship the trailers with the toilet bowl empty and these trailers often sit on dealers lots for months to even a year or so with EMPTY BOWLS..

RV toilets are not the same as home toilets, the blade/seal take place of the "trap" in a home toilet..

Home toilets MUST have water in the bowl in order to fill the trap and prevent sewer gasses from getting into the home..

RV toilets, no water needed for a trap.

Do yourself a favor, just leave the bowl empty when storing..

You are wrong !
Read the manual.
They are supposed to have a cover of water over the blade to complete the seal. If that dries out you are subject to sewer gas

Jack L

[Gdetrailer]

proxim2020 wrote:
Vegetable oil works just fine. I've been doing vegetable oil over the seal for years in trailers. Even after sitting for months I've never came back to something that looks like gear oil. The oil does go rancid, but I don't don't plan on cooking with it. After months of sitting you get a bit of a rancid smell if you stick your nose in the bowl, but the odor isn't strong enough to foul up the rest of the trailer.

Never said it would look like "gear oil".

However, when vegy oil breaks down over time it LEAVES A STICKY RESIDUE behind on any surface it touched.

While YOU may think that is fine and good, it WILL build up and eventually can cause the blade to stick and dislodge the seal, or cause other "stuff" to stick and not clear the seal..

Use oils at your own risk, it won't be me needing to replace parts on my toilet..

If you don't understand the issue with vegy oils, then perhaps you need to go check out what happens at restaurants that use friers.. Granted, the oil there gets airborn via heat but every surface that the airborn oil lands on gets a coating of near impossible to remove greasy build up.. Takes a lot of hard work to cleanup vegy oils residue..

Imagine scrubbing that greasy build up out of your toilet blade and seal (yuck)!!!

I can't figure out why it is so "important" to put ANYTHING in the toilet bowl while not in use or in storage..

I have been allowing mine to dryout over the last 18 yrs and those toilets have NEVER developed leaking issues with the seals.

The RV toilet manufacturers SHIP the toilets with no liquids, those toilets sit for long periods of time in warehouses which often are not climate controlled before being installed in a RV..

Trailer manufacturers ship the trailers with the toilet bowl empty and these trailers often sit on dealers lots for months to even a year or so with EMPTY BOWLS..

RV toilets are not the same as home toilets, the blade/seal take place of the "trap" in a home toilet..

Home toilets MUST have water in the bowl in order to fill the trap and prevent sewer gasses from getting into the home..

RV toilets, no water needed for a trap.

Do yourself a favor, just leave the bowl empty when storing..

[rbpru]

The OPs question was can I use auto antifreeze not should I use auto antifreeze.

Can you yes. Should you no. For the reasons, see above.

[Old-Biscuit]

proxim2020 wrote:
Vegetable oil works just fine. I've been doing vegetable oil over the seal for years in trailers. Even after sitting for months I've never came back to something that looks like gear oil. The oil does go rancid, but I don't don't plan on cooking with it. After months of sitting you get a bit of a rancid smell if you stick your nose in the bowl, but the odor isn't strong enough to foul up the rest of the trailer.

Olive oil..........last longer w/o going rancid

[Community Alumni]

Vegetable oil works just fine. I've been doing vegetable oil over the seal for years in trailers. Even after sitting for months I've never came back to something that looks like gear oil. The oil does go rancid, but I don't don't plan on cooking with it. After months of sitting you get a bit of a rancid smell if you stick your nose in the bowl, but the odor isn't strong enough to foul up the rest of the trailer.

[Gdetrailer]

time2roll wrote:
I have a couple jugs of each. Not sure what was poured in. Probably the alcohol based.

Just wanted to share my experience. Never again.

Alcohol based evaporates faster.

While it does leave a pink stain, it should not "hurt" anything by evaporating. It mainly works by displacing water, no water left, no possible way of freeze damage.

Pink stain left, should be soluble in water.. Run some fresh water and allow to set for a few hrs and stain generally will disappear on it's own.

Personally, there IS NO "NEED" to leave any standing RV antifreeze in the toilet bowl. No harm will happen to the "seals" if let dry, they come that way from the factory and the toilet manufacturers.

I don't bother leaving RV antifreeze sit in the toilet bowl, I do open the gate and dump some into the holding tank just in case there may be a small amount of water in the black tank.. I just try to be careful of splashing it on the bowl.

I would be highly concerned about dumping ANY "oily" substance in the bowl, that includes vegetable oils, nut oils or mineral oils.

Most vegetable and nut oils WILL eventually go rancid when left open to the air and tends to get real thick, gooey and sticky.. Might even attack the seals..

Mineral oils should be a no brainer, typically WILL attack the seals..

[time2roll]

I have a couple jugs of each. Not sure what was poured in. Probably the alcohol based.

Just wanted to share my experience. Never again.

[Gdetrailer]

time2roll wrote:
I used RV antifreeze once. Seemed to dry up and leave a hard pink residue. pitn to clean up.
Sorry I don't recall the brand or mix.

There are two "types" of RV antifreeze.

HERE

[Lantley]

NanciL wrote:
Will regular auto antifreeze hurt the seal in a RV toilet?

I am not interested in hearing about RV antifreeze

Jack L

IT may not hurt the toilet seal but it will hurt everything else. Don'y use it. It is very toxic. There is no good way to dispose of it when you are done. There are other options, but auto anti freeze is not one of them.

[time2roll]

I used RV antifreeze once. Seemed to dry up and leave a hard pink residue. pitn to clean up.
Sorry I don't recall the brand or mix.

[NanciL]

time2roll wrote:
Prestone will not hurt the toilet. I actually use some mineral oil from the hardware store.

Thanks,
I am glad someone answered the question I asked !

Jack L