Elkmont flush toilet

[Wavery]

The amount of water that it takes to flush depends on how long you hold in the flush button. It doesn't have a fresh water "Tank", like your home toilet.

Your home toilet needs at least a gallon (or more) of water to get the refuse past the trap and into your sewer drain pipe.

The Elkmont toilet flushes directly into the holding tank so your only concern is to empty the bowl. That could take 1 cup of water if the bowl is clean to start with.

Here are a few tips for conserving flushing water:

Wax the inside of the toilet.
Wet the bowl before using.
Put a layer of TP on the bottom of the bowl before using.
You could also use teflon spray before using.

If you're careful, you should get 10-15 flushes from a gallon of water.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by harveyrv

If you're careful, you should get 10-15 flushes from a gallon of water.

If that is indeed accurate, that doesn't make for a good argument to use a Thetford recirculating toilet. Since the charge is about 3 gallons, that would give you a quota of 30-45 flushes on the conventional toilet before the Thetford becomes more efficient on water.

Since we typically fill the Thetford in about 8 person days (more if I find some nice trees), that would give an average of about 4-6 flushes per person day on a conventional toilet. Only if the toilet is used more than that does it seem that the Thetford starts saving water.

And of course, this presumes one is conservative with the water in the conventional toilet, which might be difficult for some folks, and especially kids.

Dave

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

If that is indeed accurate, that doesn't make for a good argument to use a Thetford recirculating toilet. Since the charge is about 3 gallons, that would give you a quota of 30-45 flushes on the conventional toilet before the Thetford becomes more efficient on water.

Dave

The water saving grace of the Thetford toilet, is that 2 1/2 to 3 gal. charge can be done at home, and then you would fill your fresh water tank. Any flushes done on a conventional toilet at a campsite would use a pint or 2 of your fresh water supply........even more for solid waste, as you need to put water in to bowl before the deed.

I now have a conventional RV toilet in my Surveyor TT. The jury is still out with me concerning which system is best. If I were to order a new Elkmont, I believe that I would order the Thetford recirculating with the holding tank.....seems like the best of both systems. You would have to use fresh water for your 2nd charge, but that could come from any source...... a gallon water jug filled from a creek or like place. Also, sometimes I did not bring my Thetford up to pump level, and used water from a milk jug to flush until the level came up high enough to flush. I did that several times on 6 nite boondocking camping trips, and didn't have a problem.

I have had good luck using Rain-x ( Windshield Spray) on the bowl of my Thetford. When it is clean and I am packing the TM for a trip, I spray a little rain-x on the bowl. It keeps things very clean once you start using it. If you use it sparingly, it is not damaging to the bowl.