Cleaning/Sanitizing a Friend's Portable Toilet
October 12, 2019 8:55 AM Subscribe
During the recent Northern California blackout, I was without power and water (my home is on a well). An awesome co-worker loaned me a Thetford Porta Potti portable toilet. Yay! Now I have power back, so I want to return the toilet. What the hell is the appropriate level of sanitation/cleaning required, both in terms of "You loaned me something to poop in" and "This is a semi-specialized piece of camping equipment that probably requires some amount of babying"?
When she gave it to me, she said, "Just clean it with some bleach or something," but her partner is really more the camping-gear person in their family, plus the toilet was brand-new and so neither of them would have had a great deal of experience with any cleaning requirements yet, so I'm worried that bleach will either be bad for the plastic or interfere with the enzyme/deodorant stuff when they use it in the future.
On the other hand, she's a co-worker, not a close friend or family member, so I feel a reasonable obligation to sanitize the thing as much as possible.
I have emptied the toilet and rinsed it with a lot (a lot!) of water. Not sure about next steps. Willing to buy specialized products if necessary as long as they're not ruinously expensive.
Help!
Putting this in "Sports, hobbies & recreation" but also trying to address it as a work question...
When she gave it to me, she said, "Just clean it with some bleach or something," but her partner is really more the camping-gear person in their family, plus the toilet was brand-new and so neither of them would have had a great deal of experience with any cleaning requirements yet, so I'm worried that bleach will either be bad for the plastic or interfere with the enzyme/deodorant stuff when they use it in the future.
On the other hand, she's a co-worker, not a close friend or family member, so I feel a reasonable obligation to sanitize the thing as much as possible.
I have emptied the toilet and rinsed it with a lot (a lot!) of water. Not sure about next steps. Willing to buy specialized products if necessary as long as they're not ruinously expensive.
Help!
Putting this in "Sports, hobbies & recreation" but also trying to address it as a work question...
A quick google suggests there is even an official YT video, so it would probably be best to follow the official manufacturer guidance?
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:10 AM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:10 AM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Youtube is a good resource for this, as the Thetford and similar are popular in the vanlife crowd. At a glance, it looks like a mild spray cleaner would suffice.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:10 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Lyn Never at 9:10 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Yeah, I've looked at the YT videos. I'm just dubious that any sort of mild cleaner is really enough, but like I said, I also don't want to do something that's going to create a problem for future use.
posted by lazuli at 9:21 AM on October 12, 2019
posted by lazuli at 9:21 AM on October 12, 2019
Follow the manufacturer’s directions and then tell your friends that you did that.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:26 AM on October 12, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by bluedaisy at 9:26 AM on October 12, 2019 [10 favorites]
It's pretty likely that there will be more blackouts. Are you planning to stay in your home for a while? I would consider buying a new toilet, if you can afford it, and giving that to the coworker. Obviously, you don't have to go this far...people let people use the toilets in their homes all the time, and this isn't that different! But it's a good excuse to get prepared for the next time this happens, either because the utility is trying to prevent disaster or because disaster has already happened.
posted by pinochiette at 9:48 AM on October 12, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by pinochiette at 9:48 AM on October 12, 2019 [7 favorites]
After you've cleaned it, use diluted bleach to sanitize. I would follow the CDC recommendations.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Grumpy old geek at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
Pinochiette has the best suggestion. Porta-pottys are amazingly convenient.
You should have been able to use your toilets, even if you are on a well. Fill them up and let them stink until you can't stand it anymore, and then flush it: you get one free flush without power, from the water in the tank. Refill the tank from your emergency water. This won't work if you have a sewage ejector based septic system.
The Porta-potty is a plastic toilet, so that's why you don't use any scouring powders (not even Bon Ami) or nylon scrubbing pads: they'll scratch it, for sure.
Clean the outside with an ammonia/water cleaner, and a sponge.
Clean the inside with a bleach solution, like GOG suggested. I'd use the 1 cup bleach to 5 gallons ratio. Make a gallon's worth (so 2 oz bleach/gallon), put it inside, close the ports, and slosh it around every few minutes for a total of 10 or 15 minutes. When you open any port, shield your eyes, face, and clothing: it may outgas and carry droplets of bleachwater with it. Empty the gallon outside, on some plants that you want to die: septic tanks don't like bleach.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:23 AM on October 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
You should have been able to use your toilets, even if you are on a well. Fill them up and let them stink until you can't stand it anymore, and then flush it: you get one free flush without power, from the water in the tank. Refill the tank from your emergency water. This won't work if you have a sewage ejector based septic system.
The Porta-potty is a plastic toilet, so that's why you don't use any scouring powders (not even Bon Ami) or nylon scrubbing pads: they'll scratch it, for sure.
Clean the outside with an ammonia/water cleaner, and a sponge.
Clean the inside with a bleach solution, like GOG suggested. I'd use the 1 cup bleach to 5 gallons ratio. Make a gallon's worth (so 2 oz bleach/gallon), put it inside, close the ports, and slosh it around every few minutes for a total of 10 or 15 minutes. When you open any port, shield your eyes, face, and clothing: it may outgas and carry droplets of bleachwater with it. Empty the gallon outside, on some plants that you want to die: septic tanks don't like bleach.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:23 AM on October 12, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'm just dubious that any sort of mild cleaner is really enough
They aim to crap in it, not eat their dinner off it. A mild detergent will be fine.
Clean it up, dry it off, and if it still smells faintly biological instead of powerfully of whatever hideous deodorizing chemicals portable toilets are normally full of, leave it outside to air for a day or two.
I'm worried that bleach will either be bad for the plastic or interfere with the enzyme/deodorant stuff when they use it in the future
Bleach is fine on plastic, and cleaning out the tank with bleach won't leave enough behind after it dries off to affect the intended chemistry next time it's filled. But what bleach will potentially damage is rubber. So if you're going to go with bleach, don't slosh it about with wild abandon; confine it to a bleach-soaked cloth so you can keep it away from the seals.
Next time you have a blackout you don't even need anything as complicated as a camper van chemical toilet. When I renovated our little house's only bathroom we had no toilet in there for a week. What we used instead was a sturdy 25 litre plastic bucket (like this, but ours was free from a skip, having originally held mayonnaise for a caterer) with the seat and lid from the existing toilet bowl just sat on the top. Prefilled with four inches of barely-damp sawdust and with enough barely-damp sawdust scooped in after each use to cover what we'd just left inside, it didn't smell at all and at the end of the week the whole lot just went on the compost pile. Worked brilliantly. Added bonus: easier than a porta-potty to sanitize after we'd finished with it because good access and no seals.
posted by flabdablet at 11:28 AM on October 12, 2019 [14 favorites]
They aim to crap in it, not eat their dinner off it. A mild detergent will be fine.
Clean it up, dry it off, and if it still smells faintly biological instead of powerfully of whatever hideous deodorizing chemicals portable toilets are normally full of, leave it outside to air for a day or two.
I'm worried that bleach will either be bad for the plastic or interfere with the enzyme/deodorant stuff when they use it in the future
Bleach is fine on plastic, and cleaning out the tank with bleach won't leave enough behind after it dries off to affect the intended chemistry next time it's filled. But what bleach will potentially damage is rubber. So if you're going to go with bleach, don't slosh it about with wild abandon; confine it to a bleach-soaked cloth so you can keep it away from the seals.
Next time you have a blackout you don't even need anything as complicated as a camper van chemical toilet. When I renovated our little house's only bathroom we had no toilet in there for a week. What we used instead was a sturdy 25 litre plastic bucket (like this, but ours was free from a skip, having originally held mayonnaise for a caterer) with the seat and lid from the existing toilet bowl just sat on the top. Prefilled with four inches of barely-damp sawdust and with enough barely-damp sawdust scooped in after each use to cover what we'd just left inside, it didn't smell at all and at the end of the week the whole lot just went on the compost pile. Worked brilliantly. Added bonus: easier than a porta-potty to sanitize after we'd finished with it because good access and no seals.
posted by flabdablet at 11:28 AM on October 12, 2019 [14 favorites]
I'd use a bucket of water with a quarter cup or less of bleach and a slug of laundry or dish detergent. And since fire and power issues are likely to continue, fill large containers with water. I save large jugs for laundry detergent and stuff in case of emergency. The Red Cross recommends cleaning 1 and 2 liter sodapop bottles to store water. Esp. for flushing, water doesn't really go bad if it's in a clean container.
posted by theora55 at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2019
posted by theora55 at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2019
We use composting toilets full time and have friends that do as well. The typical method I've seen and also use is to clean with Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and a brush and leave out in the sun to dry and continue to disinfect. Store the unit so that it is exposed to air when not in use.
posted by 10ch at 2:06 PM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 10ch at 2:06 PM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hoyland at 9:07 AM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]