Narrowboat Toilets

[robtheplod]

Just testing the poll feature but thought it would be nice to see in black and white which people definately like and definately don't!

Edited August 23, 2023 by robtheplod

[mrsmelly]

Non would put me off. Its a small part of the boat, I have owned 8 to live on and changed the bogs on several to the type I prefer.

[robtheplod]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Non would put me off. Its a small part of the boat, I have owned 8 to live on and changed the bogs on several to the type I prefer.

ah, but which do you actually 'prefer'?  come on just indulge me on my first poll...

Edited August 23, 2023 by robtheplod

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, robtheplod said:

ah, but which do you actually 'prefer'?  come on just indulge me on my first poll...

Well to be honest its non of the above  The nearest would be cassette but my preference without a doubt as a long term liveaboard was Porta bogs, so closest here is cassette so I will play along and tick it 

[HenryFreeman]

I don't think a composting toilet would put me off buying a boat if everything else was fine. You can just remove them. If I was living on my boat  in London, I'd a pump out but anywhere else I think a cassette, which I'm going to get to replace my composting/separating toilet.

[Momac]

There is a sea toilet option which you didn't include 😁

But I went with pump out as that's what I have. A cassette would be tolerable

 

I know  a lot of folks use no chemicals but I use Odourlos 

which seems to work well and far superior and more economical compared to the Elsan Blue we used previously .

 

I discovered the Elsan Blue stuff contains 20 to 30% Formaldehyde  which is  is harmful , suspected to be carcinogenic.

 

[magnetman]

Instant freeze GPS guided 'out of shite out of mind' mortar lavatories are my favourite type closely followed by incineration in the fire. 

 

I'd not have any of the 3 choices by choice but occasionally circumstances may dictate in which case it is burning. 

 

 

[kris88]

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Instant freeze GPS guided 'out of shite out of mind' mortar lavatories are my favourite type closely followed by incineration in the fire. 

 

I'd not have any of the 3 choices by choice but occasionally circumstances may dictate in which case it is burning. 

 

 

You forgot the wok? 

[magnetman]

Yes. Ash lined wok and bent soup ladle arrr essential parts of the incineration process. Transfer must always be a comfortable experience. 

 

 

*Ash as in the product of combustion not a hand turned hardwood liner. 

[peterboat]

1 hour ago, HenryFreeman said:

I don't think a composting toilet would put me off buying a boat if everything else was fine. You can just remove them. If I was living on my boat  in London, I'd a pump out but anywhere else I think a cassette, which I'm going to get to replace my composting/separating toilet.

I find cassette and pump out a nightmare! Just use up so much space and resources,  composting for me is by far the easiest. I am now regretting fitting the cassette toilet in the campervan should have fitted a composting loo 

[HenryFreeman]

23 minutes ago, peterboat said:

I find cassette and pump out a nightmare! Just use up so much space and resources,  composting for me is by far the easiest. I am now regretting fitting the cassette toilet in the campervan should have fitted a composting loo 

 

Alas now not having a home mooring means I have nowhere to dispose of or compost my waste so it's going to have to be a cassette loo I think. No plans or desire to get a pump out fitted, not when pump out stations are so few and far between around here.

 

Probably be different if I was on a fat boat with a holding tank big enough to last for a month.

Edited August 23, 2023 by HenryFreeman

[peterboat]

5 minutes ago, HenryFreeman said:

 

Alas now not having a home mooring means I have nowhere to dispose of or compost my waste so it's going to have to be a cassette loo I think. No plans or desire to get a pump out fitted, not when pump out stations are so few and far between around here.

 

Probably be different if I was on a fat boat with a holding tank big enough to last for a month.

I can compost easily I suppose, the problem is when as is happening elan points close are become unavailable due to blockages! Sometimes by self pump outs which I have seen 

[HenryFreeman]

1 minute ago, peterboat said:

I can compost easily I suppose, the problem is when as is happening elan points close are become unavailable due to blockages! Sometimes by self pump outs which I have seen 

 

The elsan point in Leeds is famously knackered week in, week out. It became a thing of comedy after a while as it was broken more than it was working.

[Tony Brooks]

I think that there needs to be differentiation between types of pump out toilets. I rate dump throughs on the grounds of simplicity and not needing any electricity to operate. I would rather have a cassette toilet than a pump out that demands electricity.

[jonathanA]

there are so many factors when choosing a boat, type of toilet would not be a deal breaker.  as a leisure user 'near domestic' experience is crucial, so I would go for a macerator PO in preference to a more 'basic' dump through,  a decent thetford cassette would be ok and I could be persuaded on composting.  Ash lined wok would not be acceptable I'd sooner take a trowel and go into the woods. 

[Tracy D'arth]

10 hours ago, peterboat said:

I can compost easily I suppose, the problem is when as is happening elan points close are become unavailable due to blockages! Sometimes by self pump outs which I have seen 

How can a self pump out be responsible for blocking an Elsan pit?  If it goes through a hose, it must go down a 4" drain.

[magnetman]

If I were fitting out a narrow boat and the choice of lavatory was based on there being no existing installations I would have the same setup I have on Dulcinea which is my floating nuclear fallout bunker. 

 

Basically what you have is a household flushing lavatory on top of a holding tank. With a U bend. Then you take filtered canal water (just a simple filter manifold) and pump this to the cistern. 

 

The main holding tank will have a Jabsco macerator pump routed through a Y valve with a 1 inch spiral reinforced hose which passes content to 100 litre tanks. One on each side of the boat somewhere. I'd just use beer kegs although they are only 60 litres. With level gauge and vent pipe through the cabin top. 

The output from this type of loo is very liquid because of the water dilution so it easily goes through a 1 inch hose in fact I am pretty sure it would go through an ordinary garden hose. 

 

Each of the side holding tanks to have individual discharge pumps and small clip-on hose connectors in a depression in the cabin sides. 

 

This would be a self pumpout system using a small diameter hose. I'd like to try it with a garden hose size. I think it would probably work. 

[haggis]

5 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

How can a self pump out be responsible for blocking an Elsan pit?  If it goes through a hose, it must go down a 4" drain.

If the Elsan is not on mains sewerage and the tank is nearly full, the contents of a pump out could be enough to fill it and prevent it taking more input. I had thought this was why self pump outs were not allowed at certain Elsans. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by haggis
missing S :-)

[peterboat]

7 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

How can a self pump out be responsible for blocking an Elsan pit?  If it goes through a hose, it must go down a 4" drain.

To much to quickly is the answer, also some elsans are arnt on mains sewage so you can fill the tank and block it up. I have passed elsans that have signs on them saying no self pump out

[Tracy D'arth]

2 minutes ago, haggis said:

If the Elsan is not on mains sewerage and the tank is nearly full, the contents of a pump out could be enough to fill it and prevent it taking more input. I had thought this was why self pump outs were not allowed at certain Elsans. 

Agreed.

So it does not cause a blockage at all, but an overflow of the cess pit.

It must be a cess pit or tank as a septic tank does not overflow, there is a run off discharge soakaway field taking the "cured" effluent away constantly on a septic system.

[magnetman]

Wasn't there also a problem of the remote end of the hose jumping out of the Elsan hopper due to the action of the diaphragm pump? 

 

 

I know this doesn't block it obviously but it is a clear reason to not be doing that. 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 minute ago, peterboat said:

To much to quickly is the answer, also some elsans are arnt on mains sewage so you can fill the tank and block it up. I have passed elsans that have signs on them saying no self pump out

Understood, but then there is no blockage, simply an over full cess tank!  The same would have happened if several Elsans were emptied!

You cannot blame the pump out boater as he has not blocked anything. If the system is incapable of coping with the projected usage it is the installation that is at fault.

I too have seen signs saying no pump outs on Elsan pits that are on main drainage because they have a lavatory adjoining. Why is a mystery.

I pump out mainly into lavatories as I can do a self pump out for free, never blocked one up or made a mess, they are usually cleaner when I leave  than they were when I arrived.

[magnetman]

1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

 

I too have seen signs saying no pump outs on Elsan pits that are on main drainage because they have a lavatory adjoining. Why is a mystery.

I pump out mainly into lavatories as I can do a self pump out for free, never blocked one up or made a mess, they are usually cleaner when I leave  than they were when I arrived.

I think the reason for the signage is because some people (obviously not you) have been known to cause significant problems when the end of the hose jumps out and they are at the boat cranking the pump handle back and forwards. 

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

3 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Wasn't there also a problem of the remote end of the hose jumping out of the Elsan hopper due to the action of the diaphragm pump? 

 

 

I know this doesn't block it obviously but it is a clear reason to not be doing that. 

Then its carelessness, just like a carelessly tipped Elsan. Don't pillory the self pump out boater, he probably has more experience than the "live in a marina" weekend boater with a cassette.

[magnetman]

 

An elsan hopper by its very nature is a piece of equipment which must have the operator present in order to be used correctly.