I used an Elsan for the first time today...

[Arthur Marshall]

You do seem to have been using only aquakem green, which i think is just a deodoriser that goes in the flushing tank. It doesn't break down the stuff in, as you might say, the bottom. That needs blue - you need both.

[Guest]

You do seem to have been using only aquakem green, which i think is just a deodoriser that goes in the flushing tank. It doesn't break down the stuff in, as you might say, the bottom. That needs blue - you need both.

You are thinking of pink.

[magnetman]

Where do you think people put disposable nappies?

Yes I know about nappies having changed a lot of them on my children when they were babies - you throw a disposable in the bin. So yes I see your point as in human waste going in a bin is ok. Obviously.

 

But

 

Most adults don't wear nappies.

 

A small bag of -insert own word here- is completely different to a full nappy !!

Maybe wearing a nappy is a viable option for people who object to cassettes and don't want a pumpout or a bear toilet.

[Starcoaster]

 

Gypsy / Travellers will not have a toilet in their caravans - when they buy a new 'van' they take out the toilet. It is considered very unhygienic and unhealthy to have 'sewage; hanging around in your 'house'.

 

This is very true... When I was a kid, I remember the social coming round to find out what we did for toilet facilities and being amazed that they were so fecking nosy!

[Guest]

 

Gypsy / Travellers will not have a toilet in their caravans - when they buy a new 'van' they take out the toilet. It is considered very unhygienic and unhealthy to have 'sewage; hanging around in your 'house'.

 

Far better to 'do it in the woods' , or on some unsuspecting Farmers land.

Reminds me of my Grandfather. He was horrified that people had toilets in their houses. He used to say that when he was young, the toilet was in the garden, and they ate in the house. He then went on to say that these days they c*ap in the house, and eat in the bloody garden.

 

On the subject of emptying the Elsan, we tried many of the chemical things in ours, and it smelled. We have used biological washing powder for a few years and little or no smell. It did take a few treatments with powder to "kill" the previous chemicals. I have also found that the seals last far longer with washing powder/liquid.

[magnetman]

. He then went on to say that these days they c*ap in the house, and eat in the bloody garden.

 

Thanks for that

 

A good observation

[Starcoaster]

I'm using bio washing powder at the moment due to a lack of blue. I find that as good as blue, but I empty after three days and use about half a pint of powder, so it's not that economical a solution!

[churchward]

You do seem to have been using only aquakem green, which i think is just a deodoriser that goes in the flushing tank. It doesn't break down the stuff in, as you might say, the bottom. That needs blue - you need both.

Actually traditional blue is formaldehyde based with strong disinfectant and deodorisers. These products do not break down the poo etc. it does the opposite and stops any decomposition. The solid matter will turn liquid anyway. It is also not great for the environment.

 

We use a bio fluid (bio magic) and it works well for us. I have no issue with emptying the cassette.

Edited October 5, 2016 by churchward

[deckhand]

Well I don't know what the new stuff is like but I haven't used that for about twenty years because I never rated it.

 

I understand the environmental issues but I find only good quality blue in the right concentration cuts the mustard. Not the already watered down stuff that some chandlers and caravan dealers stock either.

 

Others will of course disagree.

I fully agree with you, the green was never a contender for us. Blue everytime

[Odana]

Two of the three boats I've bought in my lifetime have come with full portapottis. That's what comes of buying cheap probate sale boats wot have been sitting around for months/years..!

 

The second had the added bonus of being a portapotti with no cap on the base, as I discovered when I went to move it. This was ..... no, I really can't describe it. Luckily all the carpet and flooring was coming out anyway.

 

I would still rather deal with those than the current situation of knowing I'm sleeping on top of 300 litres of raw sewage. Whatever the convenience (my butler insists on managing the emptying while I go to work and ignore the process), sleeping on shit is just plain wrong.

[Starcoaster]

My first time bog emptying, I didn't have the cap on the tube. I'd put the thing together from out of the box and thought the tube cap sat on top of the cap for the flush water, for some unknown reason.

I lugged the cassette the ten minutes to the elsan in an old wheely suitcase to stop it spilling on the way (a suitcase I binned when done!) and things were, shall we say, not pleasant.

I went into forum chat and started kicking off about how fecking stupid it was that the company don't send a cap for the tube, and was swiftly informed by Monkey et. al. that they did, and WTF? We then established that the cap thing I thought sat on the flush cap to no logical purpose was actually for the tube.

 

Oh, and I actually thought that if the flush tank holds 15 litres and the waste tank 21, this means that logically the bog makers know that for every 15 litres of flush water you get through, you will have pee'd about 5 litres, and that I could use the flush water level as an indicator of when to empty it.

That did not work, I found out-too late.

 

My first week on the boat was a disaster.

[Guest]

My first time bog emptying, I didn't have the cap on the tube. I'd put the thing together from out of the box and thought the tube cap sat on top of the cap for the flush water, for some unknown reason.

I lugged the cassette the ten minutes to the elsan in an old wheely suitcase to stop it spilling on the way (a suitcase I binned when done!) and things were, shall we say, not pleasant.

I went into forum chat and started kicking off about how fecking stupid it was that the company don't send a cap for the tube, and was swiftly informed by Monkey et. al. that they did, and WTF? We then established that the cap thing I thought sat on the flush cap to no logical purpose was actually for the tube.

 

Oh, and I actually thought that if the flush tank holds 15 litres and the waste tank 21, this means that logically the bog makers know that for every 15 litres of flush water you get through, you will have pee'd about 5 litres, and that I could use the flush water level as an indicator of when to empty it.

That did not work, I found out-too late.

 

My first week on the boat was a disaster.

I do love a good "toilet woe" story

I took one of ours on the trolley once with a bin bag around it. Hadn't shut the thing properly, and it had leaked inot the bin bag when I got to the disposal. What a mess! At least it wasn't in the boat

[Starcoaster]

You want to see the YouTube video of two camping Welsh girls trying to empty a cassette into a bin bag, for reasons unknown and inadvisable...

[sharpness]

to slice up your turdilies into little bits.

Have a word with Tree Monkey of this parish, he might have a log chipper you can borrow

[pquinn]

OPTION NUMBER 2. for the op.

As you can see, quite tastfull if not a little snug but this should remedy your elsan retching problem for a while.

[pearley]

Went to a family party at the weekend. My nephew is a CPO on submarines. He told me a story of having to strip the macerator down whilst on patrol. Turned all the valves off and removed the unit when someone opened the wrong valve and he, and 3 artificers, were sprayed with crap. 'Luckily' the showers were next door. He said you could see the outline of four bodies on the walls of the plant room.

[Murflynn]

Reminds me of my Grandfather. He was horrified that people had toilets in their houses. He used to say that when he was young, the toilet was in the garden, and they ate in the house. He then went on to say that these days they c*ap in the house, and eat in the bloody garden.

 

we had an elsan in a garden shed when I was a lad in the 50's. my dad put a product called elsanol in in - I seem to recall it had the consistency and smell of creosote.

all very nostalgic

[MtB]

I can remember going on holidays as a child in rented caravans on sites near the sea, and these had Elsan buckets with the same black oily contents.

 

I was always terrified of 'splashback' when using one - I really didn't want and of that oily muck on my butt...

[dogless]

As one of six kids asleep in a caravan at Chapel St Leonards many, many years ago, we were woken in the night to cries of pain and anguish.

 

My old Dad had been fumbling about in the dark (so as not to wake us - that worked well) and had managed to trip, falling to bang his head and upturn the pee bucket. He split his eye open, had a big black eye, and was showered in pee. Furthermore, he had six wide awake kids,all hysterical with laughter.

 

Happy days. Well maybe not for Dad

 

Rog

[QCat]

 

I would still rather deal with those than the current situation of knowing I'm sleeping on top of 300 litres of raw sewage. Whatever the convenience (my butler insists on managing the emptying while I go to work and ignore the process), sleeping on shit is just plain wrong.

NOT a problem... my poo tank is under the dinette not the bed. Sitting on shit to eat is way more hygienic than sleeping on it :-)

[john6767]

NOT a problem... my poo tank is under the dinette not the bed. Sitting on shit to eat is way more hygienic than sleeping on it :-)

Nothing like a romantic meal to the background of sloshing sh*t, nice....

[system 4-50]

As I've said before, never mind sitting/sleeping on it, you are carrying some of it inside yourself at all times. Properly tanked, it is just as easy to ignore as it is inside you! What you (generic) are whinging about is a mental picture of it, not the actuality (whatever that means) itself. I expect you are afraid of the dark as well.

[Chertsey]

As I've said before, never mind sitting/sleeping on it, you are carrying some of it inside yourself at all times. Properly tanked, it is just as easy to ignore as it is inside you! What you (generic) are whinging about is a mental picture of it, not the actuality (whatever that means) itself. I expect you are afraid of the dark as well.

Ah, but the difference, as I mentioned a few pages back, is one of freshness....

[Alan de Enfield]

Rabbits eat their own droppings - their stomachs / digestive system only coverts a very small portion of the eaten grass into 'energy', the rest passes thru their gut. The Rabbit will then eat the droppings and extract some of the remaining 'goodness' before passing them thru the gut again.

 

Saves them having to go trotting across the fields in search of new grass.

[Guest]

As I've said before, never mind sitting/sleeping on it, you are carrying some of it inside yourself at all times. Properly tanked, it is just as easy to ignore as it is inside you! What you (generic) are whinging about is a mental picture of it, not the actuality (whatever that means) itself. I expect you are afraid of the dark as well.

Isn't everybody?!