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How much blue chemical to use in Thetford365 porta potti?


Salopgal

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Feel a bit of an idiot asking this question, but the online manual doesn't help so I'm asking you guys!

 

I have been left a Thetford 365 electric porta potti on the new boat, but I don't know what quantity of the blue chemical to put in the lower section of the cassette. Please could you advise? Thank you!

 

One other thing, I don't know how old it is so how and when should I check relevant seals to make sure they are OK and can they be easily replaced?

 

Thanks one and all - as always...

 

K

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Can I suggest that you use a green alternative, blu uses formaldehyde amongst other nasties. Google a product called odorlos which works well and will have the instructions on the bottle.

 

Make sure your cassette is properly clean and don't use standard house hold cleaning products as it will kill the good bacteria that you want to promote whilst using a green product.

 

Some people use brewers yeast or bio washing powder for similar effect, others only use water in their cassette.

 

Hope that helps

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Thanks for the green advice.

 

I've actually got a bottle of stuff the previous owners left and it does have instructions on it, but I don't know the litre capacity of the bottom tank, so I don't know what quantity of chemical to use in either case. Thought that someone might have a 365 themselves and know the exact quantities I should use.

 

Thanks!

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Hi, We have a 365 (6 yrs old) and use Elsan blue,the quantity we use as a rough guide is with the slide shut pour approx 1 inch high and flush down,job done. It is still on the original flush batteries and has never needed any spares to date. Hope this helps. Just remembered, on our original tank (we carry a spare also)the screw cap on the discharge tube has a measure where our spare does not. The tank capacity is 21 lts.

Edited by Geoff Taylor
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Hi, We have a 365 (6 yrs old) and use Elsan blue,the quantity we use as a rough guide is with the slide shut pour approx 1 inch high and flush down,job done. It is still on the original flush batteries and has never needed any spares to date. Hope this helps.

I thought the usual advice was never to tip "Blue" down the bowl?

 

I'm not sure why though, unless the fully concentrated stuff is felt to be harmful to the seals until diluted by some water.

 

If you mean 1" on top of the flap before you pull the slide and flush it, that sounds FAR more than is needed to me though.

 

I don't understand why the CS200 cassette toilets come with a filler cap that also doubles as a measuring container for the "Blue", whereas the freestanding Porta Potties like the 365 just have a simple cap that can't be used a a measure. Seems like such a small money saving thing in the production, it is a shame they don't provide it on these too.

 

AFAIK the threads are the same, so you could change a 365 to have a measuring cap like this, I think.....

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Hi

The bottom (waste) tank is 21 litres and the top (flush) tank is 15 litres according to the specs. Are there not marks on the side of the blue fluid bottle? I just bung in one measure = the amount of fluid between the marks. I don't think it needs to be particularly accurate though. except the the damn stuff is hugely expensive. I use cheapo bio washing liquid because someone on this board said it does the same job as the blue but less dangerously. Bottom line is that it degrades the poop but not the paper, well it doesn't do much for the paper in mine anyway.

 

Not sure about seals. When I tried to replace mine the lot fell apart. It's supposed to be easy! I did not find it soand ended up buying a new one from Aldi at a third of the price luckily because Aldi had them on offer at the time.

 

Pete

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We've just poured about 2 seconds worth whenever it's needed it. 5 people using it for 2 years and no problems. We definately never measure it...lifes too short for that :) ....but we empty ours every 48-72hrs.

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I was always under the impression that contact between the blue and the seals was to be avoided. I was told it damaged the seals. It would appear not from your admirable record.

Unless it was you who told me (!), it seems I'm not imagining it then!

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Unless it was you who told me (!), it seems I'm not imagining it then!

My understanding has been the same ever since we started using Thetford products in the mid eighties.

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We've just poured about 2 seconds worth whenever it's needed it. 5 people using it for 2 years and no problems. We definately never measure it...lifes too short for that smile.png ....but we empty ours every 48-72hrs.

Except that if you are using "Blue" it is a pretty nasty substance, so any randomness that uses more than you need is even worse environmentally.

 

If you are emptying hundreds of times a year, its a good reason to use the minimum that will do the job, I would have thought.

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I've just acquired a new Porta Potti with starter kit of chemicals with it. Instructions were to use 100ml with 3 litres of water for the waste tank. Thing is, the bottles were 150ml themselves so a not enough for 2 doses and too much for just the one!

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Aha! The forums favorite subject. I stopped using Formaldehyde blue of any sort years ago, the stuff was getting dearer and dearer and seemed to be getting weaker and weaker or I may have been eating things that disagreed with it like lots of eggs and it just gave up trying to dissolve all the poo.

Without using any chemicals or deodorizers at all in it means you have to carefully balancing the pee to poo ratio for during the winter too much poo and not enough pee makes it difficult to empty, even with shaking the cassette violently it clogs up and blocks the swiveling pipe and you sometimes have to resort to blowing and sucking it to encourage the contents out..

During the summer its much easier and you can eat as many eggs as you wish and not have to bother so much about the poo-pee ratio as the summers heat breaks the poo down nice and naturally and makes it empty just like diarrhea. It might pay you during the winter months to eat plenty of really old out of date grub so as to keep you in a perpetual state of being ''food poisoned'' which will keep it all nice and runny and so empty easily.

It will only pong when you empty it, simply fixed by popping a peg on your nose. It won't smell on the boat as long as you keep the seat and lid down.

Apologize for the slightly over descriptive descriptions and you don't find it too nauseating but its the truth and will save you a lot of dosh in the erm ''long run''. Hope this helps. closedeyes.gif

Edited by bizzard
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We've just poured about 2 seconds worth whenever it's needed it. 5 people using it for 2 years and no problems. We definately never measure it...lifes too short for that smile.png ....but we empty ours every 48-72hrs.

Seconded. just what we do and in the summer to stop smell we just throw a bit more in. We use blue or green whichever is to hand they do a similar job. Its not realy to kill any smell in the boat as a cassette doesnt smell in use its for when I empty it at the elsan so it doesnt stink to high hell for the next user. There are many times I follow other peeps in who dont use anything and the elsan stinks rotten for me, quite a selfish set of peeps realy.

 

Tim

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We have an electric-flush 365 on 'Trojan'. It is usually emptied every day. After emptying and rinsing it, we add a little fresh water to help dilute the cleaning product. We use Green Loo (can't remember the brand name) and more or less echo Dean's method: tip the bottle, go sloosh, stop tipping the bottle. Then close the slide and flush some water into the toilet bowl, leaving it there until the loo is next used; this will clean and disinfect it.

As a rough guide, when you empty the cassette, if its contents are deep blue you're probably slooshing too much. if they are, shall we say, natural in colour, you are not slooshing enough. Your eyes and nose will help you find the crappy happy medium.

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I've just acquired a new Porta Potti with starter kit of chemicals with it. Instructions were to use 100ml with 3 litres of water for the waste tank. Thing is, the bottles were 150ml themselves so a not enough for 2 doses and too much for just the one!

If they seriously suggest you preload the waste tank with 3 litres of water it sems to me it is already about 15% full before anyone pres in it. That means 15% of the way to needing to empy it again. We usually only put a couple of pints of water in, then hope enough other liquids go on that solids still stay fairly well covered.

Anybody else still breakfasting?

 

Should have read PEES in it.......

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We use odorlos with our pump out tank and we use maybe 30 mil(measured cup) per tank until its due to be pumped out, so very liiitle really.

 

The other comment about blue and green. If u use blue it will render the enzyme based green ineffective and you will need a good clean and rinse before you can use green (odorlos) effectively.

 

We have experience much better smell management with odorlos than with blue (no business connection with either).

 

Swmbo is a bio-chemist and is dead against blue given its chemical make up.

 

Regards

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We had a Thetford on our boat and found that the best results were based on the old recipe for making tea , one spoon per person and one for the pot, does that make sense?

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Thanks for that bizzard!.....you do realise I catch up with what's happened on the forum since I went to bed over breakfast the next morning don't you.......

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

My pleasure old bean. But I'm afraid not a patch on that tea-time TV program a few years ago where that strange and macabre woman Dr Gillian McKeith poked poo around with a stick to find out what folk had been gorging on. smile.png

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So quite a few different opinions/ideas - but all helpful and informative so thanks!

 

Methinks I need to experiment with quantities, as it's only me onboard anyway. Perhaps need to find a happy medium between neat blue in lower tank and up to 3 litres of water added to the blue! Thanks one and all though, it's been interesting reading...

:)

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The sooner they ban blue, the better.

 

As someone who deals with this subject rather more than most, may I add that the biggest problem with any type of containment device, is a lack of liquid. Solid poo will not only smell, it is also harder to shift, and is the main reason for smelly pumpouts, or diminishing periods between emptying. Some proudly proclaim to last months between emptying, because they 'only do no 2's in the tank. That is very wrong, on almost every angle.

 

Blue is a preservative, make of that what you will.

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