Hey folks, today I'm talking to you about
how to choose your camp toilet.
Let's get into it.
Ben from Snowys here today.
And I want to run through today with you
the range of portable toilets available to you
if you're just setting up your campsite.
I'm going to jump straight into it.
Starting with the basic, these guys are just frames,
toilet seats that sit over the top of a hole
that you dig wherever you set up your campsite.
Preferably in a more remote location.
I like this set up because you can dig a hole
with a location, if no one's around,
you've got a toilet with a view.
And that's one of the freshest smelling
toilets you'll ever use.
Where it can get a little more complicated
is when you move onto porta potties like these guys here.
They cost a little bit more,
there's a few extra features to think about,
and I'm going to run through that with you right now.
Down in front of us here, I've got a few examples
with a few different features on it to show you to now.
I've got the Dometic and the Thetford brand here,
now there are cheaper brands in the market as well.
Toilets are one of those things that
if you go for a cheaper brand
you can end up with leaks when you don't want leaks,
and you'll be wishing you spent just that little bit
of extra money up front to make sure
you've got no bad smells where you don't want them.
These guys are made with good quality materials,
you can get spare parts to replace anything that breaks
or breaks down, and the units on the bottom where
the wastewater sits are what's called hermetically sealed.
So they're actually airtight, reliably airtight,
so you're not going to get any leaks while it's in storage
in particular if it's sitting in your car.
Now just looking at the basic differences here
between the three, obvious one is the height difference.
So we've got these two are Thetford here,
two different models, two different heights.
So obviously the taller people
are going to appreciate a taller toilet like this.
And the Dometic one over here is a very small version,
and very low to the ground.
So if we come down to the front of the units
here to look at one of the main differences.
Starting at the bottom on the waste holding tank here,
now some of them will have a little waste indicator
to show you how full the tanks are.
There's one up here on the Thetford here,
this one here does not have the waste indicator tank.
So you find you pay a few extra dollars for one of these,
but it can be pretty useful because it's a little bit nicer
to look at this than it is to actually look inside
the unit and see how full it is.
Second, as we move up the unit,
they've all got this lever here,
which serves to open the little valve inside here,
which seals off the waste water tank
at the bottom from everything else.
So when that's pushed closed, that hermetically seals
this waste water tank on the bottom here.
So looking at the lid, they're much the same.
Once again, they've both got a lid that goes over the top
and a folding seat in underneath that as well.
And all the brands have their own version
of a little flush sort of nozzle here,
so that when you use the pump,
it pumps the water in around the basin
to wash the waste down into the water water tank.
So far, not big differences between the brands.
Where the differences do come into play
is at the rear of the toilet here.
So the unit's turned around here,
now you can see the fill ports on the top,
it's the top right hand side of each unit here,
as I'm standing.
That's to fill the flush water tank
in the top of the unit here.
And on the other side, is the pump
to pump the flush water tank into the bowl
and wash the waste down into the waste water tank.
Now this is where the differences come into play,
so looking at this one here in the basic model
in the Thetford, this is what's called a bellows pump.
This requires a little bit of muscle to pump,
but basically we push this up and down, it forces water
into the bowl, in under here, to flush the waste down.
Now this is the cheapest way to buy it,
these are replaceable but they can breakdown over time,
if you can imagine there's a lot of sort of moving plastic
in there and that's the part that probably needs
to be replaced after significant amount of use.
This one here is a piston pump.
This is the most popular option.
It's much easier to use, you just pull this up and down,
it forces water into the bowl inside
and pushes the waste down into the waste water tank as well,
so much easier to use.
You can also replace these,
but don't need replacing as much as the bellows pump.
One other version, is what Dometic use here,
which is a system whereby you pump this up.
Now they do say you have to do this a number of times,
so you're pumping this up probably 15-20 times,
it's creating pressure in the bowl at the top here,
then the grey bottom round the front of the toilet here,
we press and it actually releases the air,
pushes the water into the bowl and flushes it away.
So, it requires a few more pumps,
but kind of gives that impression of a normal, I guess,
flush at home when you press that button,
the water goes into the bowl and everything disappears.
So just moving down further on the back of the units here.
Now both Thetfords have the same waste water tank
on the bottom here, so I'm just going to compare
the Dometic and the Thetford here for ya.
At the back here, Thetford have got this little lever here
that we pull to release the top unit.
And Dometic have another slightly different lever
that you can pull that also releases the top unit.
Now you can transport these separately like this,
if you like, but the main idea of this
is that you can leave this at your campsite
and this is your waste water tank that you can take
to the sullage point to get rid of your waste.
Now you can see that this one is considerably bigger than
this one here, it's the benefit of using a larger toilet.
I mean, firstly you've got a larger thing to transport
but you've also got a lot more waste
before you need to empty it.
So that's another difference that you probably
want to consider with your purchase.
Now these are pretty much the same thing,
they're hermetically sealed, so they're airtight,
they've both got a handle on the back here,
so it's easy to carry this
to your waste water point to get rid of it.
And then both have a little breather port,
so that when you spin this around and take this cap off
either of these and tip it out,
the breather port allows air to come in the top here
and a nice clean flow of waste out the end here.
You don't really want that splashing
too much when you're standing there.
Now Dometic use a little switch here,
open close switch is a breather to allow that air
to escape in as the waste is poured out.
Whereas Thetford use a little push button here,
that you got to hold in as you're tipping everything out.
Now the other thing that you'll need to consider
if you're using this type of toilet
are the chemicals you're going to put in there.
Now there's chemicals that go in the flush water tank,
so this goes in the fresh water
that flushes the waste down into the waste water tank.
This helps to keep things clean, smelling nice,
and also lubricates the seals
and everything on the bottom unit.
You'll also need chemicals for the waste water tank.
Now Thetford have two different types here,
and Dometic also have their own versions of these.
So there's a waste water tank one
and a flush water tank one there.
Now the waste water tank actually breaks down the waste
that's in there and makes it easier to dispose of later.
There are also tabs available depending on how you want
to travel and there are other products on the market.
So you can check a heap of them on our website
at snowys.com.au
Another thing to consider might be a carry bag,
these are canvas carry bags, these one here are nice,
stiff one here with a PVC base,
they're good to store your toilet,
also if you get a few leaks or anything,
if it does happen, they're contained within the bag there.
It's got a PVC base so it's easy to clean.
I hope that helps you in your endeavours
to choose a camp toilet for your next outing.
You can grab all of these products you've seen today
and more on our website at snowys.com.au
If you've got any questions,
let us know down in the comments below.
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