Tiny Towable and Camper Toilets
Towable tiny houses are built like an RV. There are two kinds of bathrooms on RVs. Larger RVs can have a bath that is more like a bath in a house. A wet bath is the entire bathroom inside the shower. When you take a shower, everything gets wet.
This is a wet bath. Everything is really compact. The shower curtain can keep some things dry, but the walls are all waterproof.
This bathroom is very small in the center of the camper.
You can see the controls and the shower sprayer.
This is another wet bath.
There are shower curtains for both sides to keep some of the water in the walls. The floor drains just like your house shower into a grey water tank.
This is a dry bathroom. There is a separate shower and the rest of the bathroom doesn’t get wet.
RV Tanks
There are three kinds of RV tanks.
- Fresh Water Tank: Fresh water
- Grey Water Tank: Waste water from the sinks or shower
- Black Water Tank: Septic water from the toilet
Not all RVs have all of these tanks.
RV Toilets
If you have a toilet, waste has to go somewhere. These are the options;
- A liner bag
- A removable waste tank on the toilet
- A removable waste tank accessible from outside
- A black water holding tank
Some toilets are permanently mounted to the floor. Some can be attached to the floor with a mounting bracket. Some are completely portable.
Dry Toilets
Dry toilets don’t flush with any water at all.
Every time you flush, the barrier material lining in the bowl is collapsed and twisted, effectively sealing the waste and compressing it into the bottom of the container.
Every 15 or 20 uses you throw away the full bag and install a new one.
Porta potti in Winnebago Solis
Portable Toilets
- You can take a portable toilet anywhere.
- A carrying bag may be available.
- Some of them can be mounted to the floor.
Portable toilets have two tanks, a flush water tank and a waste-holding tank. Fill the top tank with water and an additive.
Thetford Aqua Rinse Plus is a highly effective, fresh smelling fluid for the flush-water tank. It enables a more effective flush by adding a protective coating on the toilet bowl. The formula is environmentally friendly and makes the fluid septic tank safe.
There is a “blade” that closes the waste holding tank. To flush, open the blade and flush the toilet. The waste goes into the tank at the bottom of the toilet. There is an indicator to let you know when the tank is full.
The waste tank comes off the toilet and you empty it into a dump station or a toilet.
Some hold only a small amount so you have to empty them frequently.
Others hold more. There are other options, too. This one has a rotating pour spout to empty it, a piston pump flush and a removable seat and cover for easy cleaning.
You can see on the box how the bottom comes off to dump the contents.
This Porta Potti is tall, more like a normal toilet height. It has a battery-powered electric flush with a flush lever.
Portable Toilet Prices and Options >
Cassette Toilets
A cassette toilet is installed and can be the same size and height as a regular house toilet. It has a waste-holding tank that is not the bottom of the toilet. It is a “cassette” or separate holding tank. You access it from outside the camper.
There are two tanks, one for flush water and additive. If you have a central water tank on your camper, it can refill the toilet tank like your toilet at home.
Cassette toilets are not portable. They must be fixed in place.
Open the blade that closes the space between the toilet bowl and the waste tank, then flush the toilet and close the blade.
There is a level indicator that lets you know when the tank has to be emptied.
These tanks hold a lot more than the tank on a portable toilet. They have wheels and a handle, just like a rolling suitcase (full of waste). Empty the tank into a dump station, sewer or septic system.
Cassette Toilet Prices and Options >
Permanent Toilets
Some campers have their own permanent waste-holding tank, a black-water tank. Permanent toilets are connected to the fresh water tank for flush water. Then the waste goes into a black water tank, more like your home toilet.
The toilet in this Thor Sequence has a black tank flush system. These toilets are fixed in place. They cannot be moved.
Thor Sequence RV has a Fresh Water Tank and a Black Tank Flush System.
Thetford makes different permanent RV toilets with fresh water flush.
Aqua-Magic Residence has a Pedal Flush.
It is a premium lightweight RV toilet with a comfortable, full-size residential seat. It is more like sitting on the toilet you have at home.
Thetford Aqua-Magic V is available with hand or pedal flush.
Thetford Aqua-Magic VI has a foot flush. It is a smaller, lighter toilet that can be permanently installed where space and weight are an issue.
Thetford Aqua-Magic Style II has a China Bowl and Pedal Flush.
Thetford Aqua-Magic Style Plus Residence has a China Bowl and Pedal Flush.
They call it a Hybrid RV Toilet because it has a Ceramic Bowl on a Polymer Base.
These are both Ceramic toilets that are about as close as you can get to the toilet in your house.
Dometic 310 Ceramic RV Toilet
Gravity toilet, ceramic bowl, standard height
Revolutionary PowerFlush technology, a slow close seat that prevents slamming, and a full-size ceramic bowl to deliver the comfort and beauty of a residential toilet.
Dometic 320 Ceramic RV Toilet
Gravity toilet, elongated ceramic bowl, standard height
Elongated, deep ceramic bowl and enameled wood seat
Pressurized full-rim flush delivers a bowl-clearing rinse every time.
This is a bathroom with a separate shower and a toilet that flushes into a black water tank. This camper has a slide out.
You don’t have to have a slide out to fit a larger bathroom into a camper.
This camper doesn’t slide out and has room for a corner Queen bed and a 24″ x 36″ shower in the bathroom.
This is the bathroom in the middle of a Mercedes RV. It is closed in behind two solid doors. This shows them both open. It has a porcelain toilet that flushes into a 14 gallon black water tank.
This camper has a macerator pump with power gates and power hose reel. Macerator systems grind the contents of the black water tank so that you can empty it further or through a smaller hose.
Changing the toilet in a camper
Adding a Dry Toilet or Portable Toilet to a camper is simple. You can install some of them with a floor bracket to make them more stable.
Portable Toilet Prices and Options >
You can add a Cassette Toilet to an RV if you are handy or you can have it done at an RV Center.
Types of Cassette Toilets, Prices and an Installation Video >
You can change from one kind permanent toilet to another relatively easily, but you cannot put a permanent style toilet into a camper that does not have a black water tank. You can add a black water tank, but this is not a small project.
Aqua Magic Style II RV Toilet
Thetford 42058 Aqua-Magic Style II RV Toilet
Thetford Aqua Magic Bravura RV Toilet
Thetford Aqua-Magic Bravura RV Toilet
Thetford Aqua-Magic Residence Water Saver High Profile, Bone RV Toilet
Thetford 1223.1308 Aqua-Magic Residence RV Toilet
Thetford Aqua-Magic Residence RV toilet
Toilet Paper
Normal toilet paper can clog up camper plumbing.
They make special toilet paper for campers that dissolves quickly in the camper waste-holding talk.
