AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Toilet Chemicals Explained in Detail

Without doubt the most popular toilet system fitted to motorhomes in Australia is the American Thetford. These come in several types including the Porta Pottie, cassette type and drop type using a fixed holding tank. All systems need chemicals and there is not a great deal of choice chemical wise. Before we start you should be aware that some chemicals sold for toilets are formaldehyde based. This is a deadly poison and if dumped into a septic system will completely ruin it very quickly. It is mostly sold in brown bottles (marked poison!) Here we will only cover the environmentally friendly solutions. THe two market leaders are Bio Magic and Thetford. The most hassle free method for adding chemicals to any system is the Thetford powder system pictured below. All you do is empty your tank in the normal way, then add a sachet of powder via the toilet bowl and flush once. The product is called Aqua-Kem Dry Holding Tank Deodorant. It comes in small boxes of eight sachets. These are fairly hard to source in the country, but Camec and Spares at Winnebago always have them at around $20.00 a box. This works out at $2.50 per treatment. It should be noted that this is the ONLY chemical that Thetford will allow you to tip into the bowl. The chemicals used are sodium chloride (salt) and Bronopol. We have used this product and it works OK but you do get a definite "chemical" smell in the bathroom. A bit of info on the active ingredient Bronopol. The crystalline and liquid formulation of Bronopol can be used as a preservative, bactericide, microbicide, biocide, slimicide, odor controller, and anti-fouling agent. It is approved by the W.H.O.. Despite being more expensive than liquid, the sachets are very convenient to use and very easy to store in the bathroom. Coloured liquid solutions could leak and stain and the sachets have the added advantage of being a measured dose. In the USA you can also get single dose tablets that can be dropped in via the toilet bowl - called Aqua Chem Toss Ins. We haven't come across these in Australia just yet. Thetford also sell a much cheaper brand known as Campa Chem. Again this doesn't seem to be available here. The most worrying thing on Thetford products is the cancer risk warnings that recently appeared on their website. There are no similar warnings on Australian product distributed by Hayman Reece. The website doesn't go into any detail at all.

By far the most commonly used chemicals are the One Litre Aqua-Kem bottles pictured below. You can pick these up at just about all camping shops, but the price varies enormously from $8.00 (Brisbane metropolitan) to $16.00 a bottle (NSW country). Most cassette systems take 150 mls. Now there is a measuring cap built into the cassette lid but sadly it wont measure 150 mls in one go! We find this rather odd and really poor design! This works out a lot cheaper than the powder method, but there is more messing about and it could stain your clothes being a very bright green. This works out at an average of $1.33 per treatment. Under no circumstances must you tip raw chemical into the bowl as it could stain. Some toilets require TWO chemicals. The "pink" Aqua-Kem is a deodorant used in the flushing water. This is always the same price as the "green" meaning that your true chemical costs can be double! Now the interesting thing is about a third of all Thetfords in motorhomes use a system whereby the flushing water is drawn directly from the main water tank. This means that no chemicals are added to the flushing water. Thetford claim that the chemical makes the bowl more "slippery". Well we have used all types and have found that the extra chemical makes just about zero difference - except in hard water areas such as most of South Australia. We are making NO SUGGESTIONS here but on our built in flushing tank Thetfords we ALWAYS drained the flushing water before storing when not using "pink". Now if you don't the water will get algae and every time you flush tiny black flecks will remain. On units without a flushing tank we found putting a couple of tablespoons of cheap olive oil into the bowl after each empty worked wonders. This stopped that dreadful white crusty deposit sticking on the shutter.

Bio Magic - Simply the Best!

Like most CMCA members we are extremely conscious of caring for the environment, so our preferred chemical is Bio Magic. This product works on an entirely different principle than straight out chemicals which are usually simply preservatives or "masking agents" in the form of strong perfumes. Bio Magic adds oxygen and accelerates the breakdown thereby markedly reducing odours. It works out at about the same cost as the popular Thetford products even though less quantity is needed. It is odourless, but if you wish you can get a version with a slight fragrance. We absolutely recommend this product and have successfully used it for 18 months with zero problems.

Making Your Own

For those on a super tight budget you could try mixing your own. There are thousands of motorhomers out there doing just this and it works out at about 20 cents a treatment. All you need are the simple products pictured below available from any Coles or Woolies to make up a massive five litres. Some old hands add salt and some use salt water in lieu of fresh.

The following “recipe” was posted on the CMCA Bulletin Board and could be of interest to those on a tight budget. (from Rob Gray) “Motorhome toilets need chemicals to break the waste down into a slurry that's easy to dispose of. You can buy this chemical for about $50.00 per four litres, or you can make your own for about a tenth of that price. It is most unwise to empty this "brew" into a septic system and it would be 100% illegal to dump it into a long drop National Parks toilet in NSW ($2,000.00 fine!)

Ingredients

250 gm powdered Borax - $2.42
600 ml cloudy ammonia - $1.36 or $1.97 for lemon
1 bottle MYO (200 ml) - $1.28 for apple or pine fragrance

Procedure
Use as much hot water as required to dissolve the Borax. Add MYO and ammonia. Add cold water to take the total to five litres. We got this recipe from Adrian & Carol Capel but it, and ones like it, have been around the traps for years. We use 250 ml of this mixture in an 80 litre black water holding tank and it seems to do the job. NOTE: MYO (stands for Make Your Own disinfectant) is a brand of concentrated disinfectant available (as are all the other ingredients) from Woollies/Coles and probably all other major supermarkets”.

We tried this using normal ammonia as we find it a bit better than cloudy, as it can be used for other purposes such as taking the sting out of sandfly bites and general cleaning in the motorhome. Of course you could also save by locating your own supply of Bronopol. In the USA it can be bought via Agriseek etc.

Budgeting

If you are retired and on a strict budget it is a good idea to allow for weekly chemical costs. A cassette toilet needs emptying every 3 to 4 days with sensible use. By sensible use we mean using public toilets or "a tree" whenever possible. If money is no object initially you could think about using the new chemical free Thetford system sold by Aussie Traveller in Australia for around $300.00. The SOG Toilet Ventilation System. This is claimed to be the "most pleasant" to use system as odours are sucked outside via the toilet bowl using an electric fan activated whenever the trapdoor is opened. (pictured below) To empty there is one extra step of removing the air hose and popping in a stopper. If you hunt around this website you will find several DIY versions of this system. Paradise Motorhomes on the Gold Coast in Queensland also have an excellent method. There are several examples of DIY methods in the Innovations section of this website.

TIP: Spraying olive oil on the trapdoor keeps everything working smoothly. We do this with the cassette in situ as the overspray makes the bowl walls very slippery. You must ONLY use olive oil or the special Thetford product.