Toilets are wondrous mysteries to most people. You do your business then press a button and whoosh, it’s all out of sight and out of mind. But what about portable toilets? Where does everything go when you flush? And why they don’t smell? No really, if the person in charge of hiring the portable toilets has done their maths and got their toilet hire numbers correct there is nothing smelly or gross about portable toilets. But just how do they work?
The modern magic of the holding tank
As late as the 1950’s Brisbane could rely on the dunnyman to come and cart away the unmentionables from backyard outhouses or dunnies. When flushing toilets became the norm and the dunnyman finally retired, someone had to come up with an alternative form of toilet for building sites and other places where there was no access to the marvels of modern plumbing, and so the chemical portable toilet was born.
The magic of the chemical portable toilet is in its massive holding tank. Massive is not an exaggeration, the holding tanks are typically capable of holding 180-220 litres of liquid. That’s an awful lot of ‘liquid’.
What is the blue liquid used in portable toilets?
The secret to dematerialising the smell in chemical portable toilets is all in the blue liquid. Well, mostly in the blue liquid, the position of the toilet seat also helps but we’ll get to that.
When you flush a chemical portable toilet, initially you get a mix of water and chemicals but over time the waste in the holding tank also begins to recirculate with each flush. While this may sound pretty gross, the blue liquid has been specially formulated to break down the waste in the holding tank and keep the portable toilet fresh for up to 14 days. In the old days, chemicals such as formaldehyde and bleach were used to sterilise and help overpower the stench but things have improved a lot since then and we no longer use embalming fluid in chemical portable toilets.
Putting it in simple and easy to understand terms, the blue goo literally eats the bad smells thanks to its biocides which destroy the bacteria responsible for the odour. Other ingredients include blue dye, fragrance and emulsifier to keep everything well mixed. And no the blue dye will not stain your bottom like a Smurf if you’re unfortunate enough to be the victim of splashback!
Don’t leave the toilet seat up!
When you’ve finished your business on a portable toilet it’s good practice to pop the lid down. We don’t say this to nag, there is a real and very scientific explanation behind this. There is ventilation at the top of the toilet and a vent pipe for the holding tank. As wind blows over the vent pipe it creates a low-pressure area which helps to suck out any gross smells from the holding tank. Leaving the lid up reverses this action and smells are pulled into the portable toilet instead.
How are chemical portable toilets cleaned?
At Dinkum Dunnies we clean our portable toilets for you every fortnight so they’re always fresh and hygienic. The best part about hiring from us is that you never have to worry about cleaning out the holding tank. In fact, you don’t even have to think about what’s going on down there. You just do your business and then flush it out of sight and out of mind. We’ll do the dirty work for you.
Hiring chemical portable toilets in Brisbane and Sunshine Coast
Dinkum Dunnies are the Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich specialists in chemical portable toilet hire. We’ve got the good blue stuff to keep your building site, festival or event smelling sweet. Need to hire portable toilets? Contact us for a quote.