toilet blue

[smokeyfruitbat]

we use elsan blue in our cassette but have noticed how the price is going up, we normally get a few boxes in to keep the cost down. someone mentioned the other day that bw sell their own brand, which is much the same but cheaper, but i cant find any mention of it anywhere.

 

can anyone recommend an alternative?

[blackrose]

we use elsan blue in our cassette but have noticed how the price is going up, we normally get a few boxes in to keep the cost down. someone mentioned the other day that bw sell their own brand, which is much the same but cheaper, but i cant find any mention of it anywhere.

 

can anyone recommend an alternative?

 

Have you ever tried Odorloss or one of the other biological, non-formaldehyde based alternatives to Blue?

 

Before the advent of Odorloss etc, I was told by Lee Sanitation that they don't recommend the use of any additives in any of their toilets as they produce sludge formation within the tank. However, that's ok in theory but when you have a stinking toilet you need to do something. Many smells are the result of the anerobic decomposition of the waste in the tank and blue just pickles the shit and masks the smell (if you're lucky!) LeeSan now sell a bio additive themselves.

 

The biological additives seem to aerate the waste so that it degrades aerobically - or perhaps I've got that bit wrong? Anyway, there's no smell from my cassette now and I use so little that it's very economical. I'd estimate that a £10 bottle gives me about 40 fills into a 17 litre cassette. (I knew a couple with a dump-through pump-out who used to use a whole bottle of blue in every tank to kill the smell - and it still didn't work!)

Edited November 11, 2008 by blackrose

[Marc Harris]

All the other types of blue we've tried have been a lot thinner than the nice thick elsan stuff. We tended to need more in the cassette than the elsan stuff, so even though it was cheaper, we were using more per month.

 

Can't remember the names of the other brands, but would certainly be interested in hearing of a good alternative.

 

Marc.

[wonderdust]

Have you ever tried Odorloss or one of the other biological, non-formaldehyde based alternatives to Blue?

 

Before the advent of Odorloss etc, I was told by Lee Sanitation that they don't recommend the use of any additives in any of their toilets as they produce sludge formation within the tank. However, that's ok in theory but when you have a stinking toilet you need to do something. Many smells are the result of the anerobic decomposition of the waste in the tank and blue just pickles the shit and masks the smell (if you're lucky!) LeeSan now sell a bio additive themselves.

 

The biological additives seem to aerate the waste so that it degrades aerobically - or perhaps I've got that bit wrong? Anyway, there's no smell from my cassette now and I use so little that it's very economical. I'd estimate that a £10 bottle gives me about 40 fills into a 17 litre cassette. (I knew a couple with a dump-through pump-out who used to use a whole bottle of blue in every tank to kill the smell - and it still didn't work!)

 

With the Odourloss did you have to prepare the tank in anyway, if you have used one of the formaldehyde products?

[Denis R]

I've tried the cheaper alternative and it's a very poor imitation of Elsan Blue. Extremely unimpressed and the odour after a very short while was pretty repulsive, irrespective of how much I used. I tend to overdo the blue in my Thetford by about 50% as it keeps the odour down better.

....But, best I've found by miles is the double strength Thetford green, unfortunately it's not on the shelves locally so it's a search it out job.

[debbifiggy]

I've tried the cheaper alternative and it's a very poor imitation of Elsan Blue. Extremely unimpressed and the odour after a very short while was pretty repulsive, irrespective of how much I used. I tend to overdo the blue in my Thetford by about 50% as it keeps the odour down better.

....But, best I've found by miles is the double strength Thetford green, unfortunately it's not on the shelves locally so it's a search it out job.

We recently tried a cheaper alternative to Elsan Blue and have found that you have to use an awful lot more so whilst it was cheaper to buy it doesn't last as long and emptying has been quite whiffy on occasions.

 

I have been trying to persuade my other half to let me use a more environmentally friendly alternative such as yeast tablets (which apparently work if you dose every day) or one of the new eco alternatives. Guess I'm going to have to take unilateral action and impose a change as Blue is getting rather pricey and I hate what Blue does to the environment. However, if the alternatives are going to be whiffy all the dunny emptying duties are going to end up being mine.

D

[blackrose]

With the Odourloss did you have to prepare the tank in anyway, if you have used one of the formaldehyde products?

 

I think you'd just have to give the cassette a good rinse. If it's a holding tank that might be easier said than done.

 

LeeSan are now doing this crystal type bio-treatment. It's for holding tanks rather than cassettes.

 

http://www.leesan.com/news.php?id=88

 

I can't find Odorloss on the interweb but it's in many chandlers now.

Edited November 11, 2008 by blackrose

[sueb]

We used to use yeast so had no problem changing to biomagic which we think is brilliant. No smells and not expensive. We buy a large container of the stuff and decant into the smallest size bottle and use one of these to each tank 50 gal tank of effluent.

Sue

[Pie Eater]

Midland Swindlers sell Elsan Blue in 25 litre drums :-

 

25 litres @ 24% concentrate - price on website - £101.80

 

25 litres @ 12% concentrate - price on website - £61.33

 

A further 20% discount is available if you wait for a "Freaky Friday" sale.

 

Steve

[smokeyfruitbat]

many thanks to all

[saltysplash]

Forum Members Neil and Kath Corbett have just moved over to biomagic

 

Their blog explains all here

 

http://nbherbie.blogspot.com/2008/11/bio-m...ial-report.html

[Dutch]

Forum Members Neil and Kath Corbett have just moved over to biomagic

 

Their blog explains all here

 

http://nbherbie.blogspot.com/2008/11/bio-m...ial-report.html

 

We are just at the end of 4 months of trials using bio magic and we are switching back to blue,found that bio magic breaks up the solids better but when you empty the smell is worse the when using blue

[saltysplash]

We are just at the end of 4 months of trials using bio magic and we are switching back to blue,found that bio magic breaks up the solids better but when you empty the smell is worse the when using blue

 

Cheers, ill mention it next time i see Neil

[Tonyl]

Further to this subject, is it OK to put this Elsan Blue directly down the bowl of a pump out toilet to get it directly into the tank or is it better to put it to the pump out emptying deck cap outlet as indicated on the bottle of said stuff ?

 

Tony

[ditchcrawler]

Further to this subject, is it OK to put this Elsan Blue directly down the bowl of a pump out toilet to get it directly into the tank or is it better to put it to the pump out emptying deck cap outlet as indicated on the bottle of said stuff ?

 

Tony

If you do, rinse it off the bowl so as not to stain

[rover220]

can put into the bowl no problem, but its much the same as putting it down the tube. still reaches the same tank and does the same job!

[blackrose]

Forum Members Neil and Kath Corbett have just moved over to biomagic

 

Their blog explains all here

 

http://nbherbie.blogspot.com/2008/11/bio-m...ial-report.html

 

We are just at the end of 4 months of trials using bio magic and we are switching back to blue,found that bio magic breaks up the solids better but when you empty the smell is worse the when using blue

 

I guess some people like the bio-treatments better than others - personally I don't care too much about the smell when I empty my cassette, it's the smell on the boat I don't want.

[Tim Doran]

Is there a reason why you are not susposed to put the loo blue in the flush part of the loo? My brother put some in the top flush bit by accident when he stayed last. I have actually found this to be much better as it tops up the blue as you go along.

 

Tim

[blackrose]

Is there a reason why you are not susposed to put the loo blue in the flush part of the loo? My brother put some in the top flush bit by accident when he stayed last. I have actually found this to be much better as it tops up the blue as you go along.

 

Tim

 

I thought you were supposed to flush most treatments down the loo (blue & bio) because it lubricates the rubber seals? That incidentally, is why you shouldn't use bleach - it destroys the seals over time.

[Neil Corbett]

I guess some people like the bio-treatments better than others - personally I don't care too much about the smell when I empty my cassette, it's the smell on the boat I don't want.

 

 

I wondered where all the hits on my blog were coming from! Toilet talk never fails. Anyway, to the point. Yes there is more smell when you empty the cassette, but the lack of blue smell on the boat is worth it, and emptying and rinsing is real quick with BioMagic because its just liquid.. We notice that if we empty the cassette promptly, the smell is less anyway. Of course that depends on the availabilty of a sanitary station. If you have to keep a full cassette for a while, you need to add some more biomagic to kep the microbes at it.

 

Above all, avoid Thetford green. Its disgusting!

 

Neil

[pwl]

When we got the boat the pump out had been using Blue. We gave it a good clean at its first pumpout. Switched to Bio Magic and yeast. It took a few pumpouts to settle down because of the traces of Blue in the tank but there is no real smell now even if we have not been to the boat for a few weeks.

 

P

[saltysplash]

I wondered where all the hits on my blog were coming from! Toilet talk never fails.

Neil

 

 

Gotta keep you in that top 100 Neil

[RichardN]

When we got the boat the pump out had been using Blue. We gave it a good clean at its first pumpout. Switched to Bio Magic and yeast. It took a few pumpouts to settle down because of the traces of Blue in the tank but there is no real smell now even if we have not been to the boat for a few weeks.

 

P

 

We have had much the same experience with odorlos. It took 2 or 3 pump outs before all the blue was fully out of our system or perhaps the bugs were fully working but we think it is better than Blue.

 

When we are cruising we get no smell and it works really well. Like Herbie says you seem to get more liquid rather than sludge.

 

Sometimes it is months between pump outs and then we need a pump out as it starts to get a bit smelly. Could be that we dose less? After that it seems to take time to settle down

 

Some marinas don't like you using blue as it messes up their reed bed sewage systems so that is another plus.

 

Big minus is that not many people stock it. The bigger bottles seem very rarely stocked - we always stock up at Thames & Kennet Marina when we are passing.

 

Richard

nb Indigo Dream

[dor]

I was told once by an experienced broker that he could always tell as soon as he went on to a boat whether it had a cassette or pump-out toilet. Pump-out boats always had a characteristic odour.

 

When we say our toilet tanks don't smell, do occasional visitors agree (if they were being honest, rather than polite!)?

[Night Hawk]

Yeah - toilet talk!

 

We went down the eco route with our pumpout and only notice the occasional wiff...Not nearly as obtrusive as, how shall we say, our narrowboat bathroom in the minutes post-evacuation from family members.

 

My contribution to this thread is concerned with loo paper. When our pumpout tank is nearly full, we could often see a plug of undissolved loo paper floating on the top....My question to the group is what brand of loo roll do you use?

 

The posh triple-ply as advertised by cute puppies seems to remain intact down in the depths but the ASDA smartprice loo roll (10p a roll) seems to suffice and breaks down into slush. We've started using the cheap stuff now with no pumpout problems!

 

What do you use?

 

A x