Toilet Cleaner On Broads Boat

[Mattlab]

What cleaner does everyone use in their toilet that wont effect the blue chemical in the holding tank ?

Is elsan caravan toilet cleaner ok ?

[CambridgeCabby]

Yes , is formulated to not counter the effect of the blue 

you can also use ecouver which costs less

[Meantime]

Also when having your tank pumped out, it is well worth asking if rather than pouring the dose of Blue into the pumpout fitting, would they mind if you poured it down the toilet instead. Took me a while to realise that the pump out pipe goes into the bottom of the tank and when they pour the Blue in, it just sits in the u bend of the pipe. The next pump out and the first bit comes out Blue where it had never actually reached the tank. Pumping it in through the toilet ensures it gets to work straight away and is actually in the tank.

[Mattlab]

The missus did wonder about the ecover stuff.

Good call on the pump out, although most do rinse with a bit of water afterwards so im guessing that will push the blue into the tank. 

[vanessan]

1 hour ago, Mattlab said:

What cleaner does everyone use in their toilet that wont effect the blue chemical in the holding tank ?

Is elsan caravan toilet cleaner ok ?

Jabsco toilet cleaner is good. 

 

57 minutes ago, Meantime said:

Also when having your tank pumped out, it is well worth asking if rather than pouring the dose of Blue into the pumpout fitting, would they mind if you poured it down the toilet instead. Took me a while to realise that the pump out pipe goes into the bottom of the tank and when they pour the Blue in, it just sits in the u bend of the pipe. The next pump out and the first bit comes out Blue where it had never actually reached the tank. Pumping it in through the toilet ensures it gets to work straight away and is actually in the tank.

We found that too. I think the boatyards we use are getting used to us making that request! 

[Oddfellow]

1 hour ago, Meantime said:

Also when having your tank pumped out, it is well worth asking if rather than pouring the dose of Blue into the pumpout fitting, would they mind if you poured it down the toilet instead. Took me a while to realise that the pump out pipe goes into the bottom of the tank and when they pour the Blue in, it just sits in the u bend of the pipe. The next pump out and the first bit comes out Blue where it had never actually reached the tank. Pumping it in through the toilet ensures it gets to work straight away and is actually in the tank.

They should always put a flush of water into the pump-out to wash the blue in. Also, there should not be a U bend in your pump-out hose. Maybe a slight low point, but not a bend. 

Putting it into the loo bowl directly is best, but have you ever tried to get that blue stain out of a carpet? 

[Meantime]

4 minutes ago, Oddfellow said:

They should always put a flush of water into the pump-out to wash the blue in. Also, there should not be a U bend in your pump-out hose. Maybe a slight low point, but not a bend. 

Putting it into the loo bowl directly is best, but have you ever tried to get that blue stain out of a carpet? 

Fortunately my carpets are Blue, but I know what you mean about the way it stains. 

[ExSurveyor]

Don't use the blue own brand from the Blowfield camping centre, it is thin and useless. After the last pumpout from Brooms the container of blue seemed smaller. I always add extra blue but the own brand is ineffective. I will be stocking up on a premium brand before I go back up.

They may have weakened the formulation in camping shops as they are emptied more often or just started running short of ingredients.

[Heron]

Cannot agree with the above post, always use it and it does the job it is meant to do. Premium brands are rarely worth the money.

[MauriceMynah]

My loo flushes using river water. I mix 1 part blue with about 10 parts tap water. When I flust the loo, I put about an egg-cup of the diluted blue in the bowl with the flush water.

Firstly it means thepipe to the tank is treated and secondly, the loo doesn't smell.

Works a treat!

[stumpy]

MM - we do the same - washing up liquid bottle of dilute blue beside the khazi, a quick squirt does the job.

[Ray]

We have been doing this too but didn't someone say the Blue can harm the seals? Something like that (I don't know much about the toilet - but I'm looking into it 😁)

I wasn't sure if I should stop putting dilute Blue in the pan or not?

[Oddfellow]

15 minutes ago, Ray said:

We have been doing this too but didn't someone say the Blue can harm the seals? Something like that (I don't know much about the toilet - but I'm looking into it 😁)

 

Don't feed it to seals then..... 

I am unaware of blue being a problem for toilet seals. At Freedom, we used less and less blue over the years, opting for a bio-friendly product most of the time. OneChem. Because we pumped out every week, it wasn't a big issue, but it isn't as good on odours as blue, but our blue planet does need saving. 

 

[Ray]

52 minutes ago, Oddfellow said:

Don't feed it to seals then....

LOL I could put a fish down the loo a couple of times a day! 😁

Thanks for the info and good point about the planet 👍

[Malanka]

Best cleaner for any toilet is water and a loo brush. Anything else  just creates a problem only solved by the use of more cleaning agents. Fiona and I (both Microbiologists) use water and a brush that's it.

 

The smell is caused by bacteria eating the spills and splashes, mop em up and no issues, try and remove them with a cleaner just kills the good bugs that stop the bog bowl smelling in the first place. All detergents kills bugs by the way.

 

M

[Scotty]

We use this blue for the toilets on the coaches but I not keen on it has it stains the toilet if white personally I try and use zafora every now and then while flushing the system out then add more to keep in septic tank does keep the smell away 

[wooster]

Not sure if I should start a different thread for this but does anyone feel Blue isn't a good solution to the toilet problem? I have read on other forums that Blue is fine if used on a hire boat when it is pumped - out every week but on other boats, bio stuff is much better as it kills the smelly bacteria and promotes the non-smelly digesters ( you can tell I'm a biochemist can't you?)

It seems that there is fairly amount of support for this point of view among the liveaboard community on canal forums.

I hadn't considered this until recently and now I'm pondering .....

[BrundallNavy]

On canal boat composting toilets are popular but they don’t seem to be the toilet of choice on the broads. When you read the blurb they look ideal. 

[MauriceMynah]

Composting toilets are OK, but it seems to take an age for the porcelain to rot down.

 

[wooster]

What I'm wondering though is whether the more common ( at least on the Broads ) pump-out toilets benefit from some other form of treatment other than Blue due to the bio action?

[Malanka]

Unless there is some warmth applied there isn’t going to be much digestion of the sludge in your black water tank. Don’t forget the secondary digestion of human waste in the intestines does a fair job. Most of the bugs in human faeces are relatively harmless but the idea of killing one bug and leaving another alive is a false assumption. How digester systems work is by out competing other bugs not killing them.

 

By the way 70% by volume of your poo is human gut bacteria and epithelial cells actual food waste is minimal by volume, so I’m not really sure what the canal folks are suggesting is being digested. 
 

May give them a try and report back