Best Camper Van Toilet

Downside of Dry Flush Toilets

While the dry flush toilets are the best option for campervans, they are also the most expensive option. Both the Wrappon Green and the Laveo start at around $1000.

Plus, you have to purchase the refill cartridges and the coagulant at an additional cost. And, you’ll need to have power to “flush” these toilets. Both toilets come with a battery, but you’ll need a way to power that battery.

Composting Toilets

Composting toilets are also expensive and require more contact with your waste. The advantage of the composting toilet is that, like the dry flush toilet, no water is needed.

This means you don’t have the inconvenience and weight of hauling around the extra water for a toilet and you won’t need a waste tank. Plus, you can stay off-grid in your van longer when you don’t have to carry as much water. And, the water you do carry can be used for things like dishes and showers.

A composting toilet has two compartments. One compartment is for urine and the other is for, well, the other stuff. So men, yes you have to sit down while you pee unless you are very, very on target.

Unlike the dry flush toilet, the composting toilet requires a vent. The fact that you aren’t mixing the dry and the wet waste helps keep odors down, but not completely. That’s where the vent fan comes in. You’ll also need to get electricity to the vent fan, which relies on 12 volt power.

The urine compartment can be dumped into a toilet, a dump station, or in the wilderness. Most people urinate into holes that lead to the urine receptacle. After that, they use a spray bottle filled with vinegar to spray the toilet in order to reduce the urine smell.

The urine tank will need to be emptied every 2-3 days for one person and every 1-2 days for two people.

The dry waste container can be filled with damp coconut fiber or peat moss. However, coconut fiber is a more sustainable product than peat moss since it is a waste product of the coconut industry. After you do your business, turn the hand crank on the toilet to mix the poo with the coconut fiber.

In reality, composting takes a lot longer than the amount of time that the waste will sit in the tank before disposal. You will have to empty this compartment about every 1-2 months. When you do, you can place the waste in a trash bag and throw it in the trash.

Adding toilet paper to the dry waste portion of the toilet increases the frequency that you’ll need to empty the dry waste container. But if you throw the toilet paper in the trash, then you have smelly toilet paper sitting around.

They are not my favorite for two reasons. First, you have to manage the waste. Then you have to modify your van to accommodate a composting toilet.

Even though the supplies for a composting toilet are inexpensive, the composting toilet itself is comparable in price to a dry flush toilet. Plus, they take up more room than a dry flush toilet.

There are many brands of composting toilets, but Natures Head and Air Head are two of the most popular ones.

Natures Head

Installation of the Natures Head toilet is very simple. You just install two brackets to the floor and attach the toilet to the brackets. The Natures Head has a large molded one-piece plastic seat that is different than the seat in your household toilet.

The vent fan on the Natures Head is inside the unit whereas the Air Head vent is on the end of the hose that vents to the outside of the van. The liquid waste bottle on the Natures Head toilet is slightly larger, at 2.2 gallons than the waste bottle on the Air Head, which is 2 gallons.

Of the two toilets, the Natures head is slightly larger than the Air Head, so it takes up more room. You have to lift the top compartment to get the urine container out. Every time you do this, you are exposed to the solid waste in the bottom of the toilet.

To remove the dry waste compartment, you have to slide it off the top of the toilet base. In a small space, like a van, you may not have the room for this maneuver. Plus, there is a pin that you have to line up to get the compartment back on, so it’s a little complicated to get the dry waste compartment back on the base.

Air Head

There are a few things that these toilet owners like over the Natures Head. One is that there is a vent screen. A common problem in composting toilets is that bugs like to fly down the vent and join the party. This is not a fun experience while you are doing your business. The vent screen on the Air Head toilet prevents bugs from entering.

Another advantage of the Air Head toilet over the Natures Head Toilet is the fact that the Air Head has an opaque urine receptacle. The last thing you want to do when you are dumping the urine container is to call attention to yourself as you carry a large clear container of yellow urine. Although the Air Head urine tank is opaque, it still has an indicator on the receptacle so you can see when it’s full.

The toilet seat on the Air Head, while smaller, is similar to the seat that you have in your home toilet. On the marine version of the toilet, the lid has a seal and the seat is smaller than the lid on the household version of the toilet.

The dry waste container on this toilet has handles, so it’s easier to carry and dump. Plus, it comes with a cover that you can place on top of the dry waste compartment, which seals the compartment for transport.

The handle on the urine container of the Air Head is metal, while the handle on the Natures Head is a rope-like fabric. I have a couple of problems with the fabric handle. For one, the handle can get urine on it. Plus, the Natures Head handle doesn’t seem as sturdy as the metal handle on the Air Head.

While you have to be very accurate peeing in the Nature’s Head toilet, in the Air Head toilet you don’t have to be that accurate. Air Head claims that men can pee standing up in their toilets.

While I wouldn’t prefer a composting toilet, if I had to choose, I would go with the Air Head toilet.

Urine Diverting Toilets

A urine-diverting toilet is another option for your van. The toilet collects the urine in one tank and the poop in a different container.

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