Ice in your Thetford ?

Thought I'd share something I heard today at an RV center while shopping for a flange seal. One of the repair tech's said he dumped any "left-over" ice from his ice chest (at the end of his trips) into his Thetford before leaving for home.

I suppose there would be some limit to the amount of ice one might consider adding. and the amount would have to correspond to how full the Thetford actually was upon leaving. I understand that most prefer to travel with only a small amount of liquid to avoid splashing -- so I would think that most -- if not all of the contents should be drained if one were to do this "ice thing" -- which I am only discussing -- not advocating.

But the idea seemed to be -- the ice would move and slide around with the trailer's movement on the road. This would, theoretically, agitate the contents within the screened enclosure and accelerate the breakdown of solids.

Would or could it dislodge the screen (which seems prone to letting "stuff" slip underneath) -- I'm not sure!

Could the movement of the ice accelerate the breakdown of solids -- maybe but I'm not sure!

I thought it was an interesting notion. It has no real benefit to me -- cause our Thetford is not used for solid waste, but I thought share it with forum members.

Eric

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by Goodyear Travels

This would, theoretically, agitate the contents within the screened enclosure and accelerate the breakdown of solids.

I doubt that would be necessary. I have seen some remnants of broken down waste after dumping (and taking apart the toilet), and they are already pretty small. I took a picture of this, which is in the "Virtual Tour" toilet thread.

Originally Posted by Goodyear Travels

Would or could it dislodge the screen (which seems prone to letting "stuff" slip underneath) -- I'm not sure!

It won't dislodge the screen because the screen isn't attached to anything.

Bottom line: I don't think it would do any harm, but I'm not sure it would help, either.

Dave

Interested in what others think, but I am not inclined to put anything like ice into the Thetford to do potential damage. After a thorough cleaning at the dump station, my drill is to add a bit of dishwasher detergent into a couple of gallons of water and let that slosh around on the way home. I will then use a SewerSolution to clean and dump at home. I also read that water softener helps keep stuff from clinging to the inside and I am going to try that on our next outing...

[mcgyver210]

We always do a minimal charge with chemical (we have changed to a new one that works awesome) when heading home & it seems to finish decomposing everything well since we recently had to change the Thetford out for a new one due to many issues. Accept in the winter I just leave a charge in it.

Also the three of us really use ours when camping.

Ice down the toilet of a conventional RV toilet is used to clean the level sensors, which have a tendency to read incorrectly due to solids sticking to them. In the case of a recirculating toilet, I don't see where there would be a big advantage to using ice there, and might actually damage the screen ?? Just speculating there.

So, Billy Hicks, what is this new chemical that works awesome? We've been using the Thetford brand with good results.