Finding The Best Portable Camping Toilet For You

Article by Peter Smith - Caravans Plus

Read Time: 2 mins

Portable Toilets

Portable toilets can make your caravan or camping trip more civilised while still letting you get close to nature in other ways. There is a huge range of brands and features, I'll discuss the pros and cons together with ECO-friendly options.

The truly portable toilets consists of two main sections that join together to provide an almost standard sized toilet that can be taken anywhere. The seat section contains a water tank that surrounds the bowl. This is the flush tank that contains water for flushing the bowl and can usually be taken to a tap for refilling.

The lower section of the toilet is the waste tank. This is kept closed until required and accepts the waste plus the flush water. The lower section can be removed and emptied at a suitable dump point.

These are ideal for smaller caravans or campervans without built-in toilets and are also great for tents. They come in different sizes to help for storage options and are often used inside a small pop-up shower tent.

We have another article about Cassette Toilets that get built into Caravans and Motorhomes.

We also give a good run down of Chemical Additives and Where you can Empty Your Toilets.

Features to consider

The overall dimensions of the toilet need to be taken into account when deciding what is most suitable. A standard household toilet is about 450mm high so this is ideal. However storing a toilet during travel may dictate a lower toilet - this is especially true if storing a toilet under a caravan bed.

Tank capacity is another important consideration. The flush and waste tank capacity is expressed in litres and you can assume 1 litre is equal to 1 kilogram. You will need to fill the flush tank and empty the waste tank so think of weight while carrying as well as the frequency of emptying.

The next feature to consider is the flush method. Some have a simple bellows style pump, they work fine but will wear out with extended use. Next up the ladder is the hand pump action and lastly is the battery operated electric pump.

All brands use a slide value to open and seal the waste tank during use and transport. Depending on usage, you may prefer to get a brand that offers spare parts for these.

The last main difference is a full indicator. Some display this on a gauge, others don't. Our range of portable toilets including price and stock levels is linked below.