Most people think iPhones, laptops, WiFi, and automatic pet feeders are the greatest advancements of the modern age. But what’s our answer? Porta-potties.
Nope, we’re not kidding. Whether you’re organizing a festival and need public toilets, out on your boat for a full day of fishing, or taking a camping trip in your RV, using a portable toilet with the comfort of four wall protection from the great outdoors is a necessity that makes life so much better.
However, there inevitably comes the question: how to clean a portable toilet? The good news is that port a potty cleaning is a very manageable task if you approach it the right way. So pay close attention and learn how to clean a porta-potty with our handy guide.
Porta-Potty Sanitation System
We’re not going to sugarcoat it: there’s no pleasant answer to how to clean a portable toilet. Portable toilet cleaners have to deal with everything that goes into a portable toilet. What you’ve got to remember is that it’s only going to get worse (and eventually unusable) if you don’t learn how to clean a porta-potty now.
In your new role as a porta-potty cleaner, you may find that there are times you can’t keep your head near the window or hold your breath for quite long enough. For this reason, you must follow good maintenance practices in your everyday use of the restroom. This includes:
- Ventilating the space properly. After use, try to ensure that any windows are open. If possible, the door to the restroom should be open along with other windows or doors that lead outside. For example, if your RV is parked, you can open the restroom window and the doors that lead from the restroom to the outside. This will create a thru-draft that helps eliminate nasty odors.
- Deodorize the holding tank. Pods that help tackle odors in your holding tank are easy to find and make a huge difference in keeping the air fresh inside porta-potty rooms. They work to minimize bad smells and produce a clean scent, especially when you’re on the move and perhaps can’t open all doors and windows.
In An Out Cleansing
Keeping the surfaces in your porta-potty clean after use is an integral part of portable restroom cleaning. This means all the surfaces, including:
- The seat of the toilet
- The sink
- The walls and door (especially the wall behind the toilet)
- The floor
Make sure you scrub the walls at least once each week, too. Walls in a dirty porta-potty are breeding grounds for bacteria that cause bad odors and make your restroom unsanitary if not cleaned routinely.
However, you’re going to need the best porta-potty cleaner if you want the best results. White vinegar is a good choice if you’re just learning how to clean a portable toilet. It’s non-toxic, cuts through grease and grime, and acts as a homemade portable toilet deodorizer. The smell of white vinegar is pungent but is by far preferable to the smell of the toilet. You’ll notice white vinegar cuts through these odors better than most air fresheners. Opening a window afterward will reduce the intensity of the vinegar smell, and the bad odors will leave with it.
Overall, wiping all these areas is an essential part of life for a portable toilet cleaner. However, if it sounds arduous, you can also contact a professional portable toilet cleaner to help clean portable restrooms.
Changing Your Tank
This is the grimmest part of learning how to clean a porta-potty and one we recommend enlisting professional help for. You’ll need to empty the dirty porta-potty tank regularly and try to ensure you do this before it’s full. An overflowing tank leads to problems you never want to be dealing with when cleaning portable restrooms.
You should work with a sanitation company that provides experienced portable toilet cleaners because there are almost no good natural places to empty a holding tank. You can’t just dump human waste in a hole in the ground; it can damage local ecosystems due to the weird stuff we eat. Similarly, dumping in water used to be the leading cause of cholera, which is another big no-no.
Because of this, you need to work with a sanitation company that understands how to clean a portable toilet and its tank. They can provide a suitable place to dispose of the waste and use chemicals to disinfect the holding tank thoroughly.
Bye Bye Waste
You may have been to a public festival before and wondered, “how do they clean porta-potties and their holding tanks?” First, the waste has to be removed. This involves inserting a special kind of suction hose into the tank and drawing the waste out of the dirty porta-potty tank.
The waste passes down the hose and is stored in a sanitation truck designed for this purpose. The truck will transport the waste to a disposal facility where it can be treated as sewage.
In With The New
After waste is removed, your holding tank has to be cleaned. The sanitation company will typically add several gallons of a liquid portable toilet cleaner that acts as:
- A disinfectant to clean the tank — waste build-up in a dirty porta-potty is nasty stuff and needs treating with the proper chemicals.
- An odor mediator to prevent the next load of waste that enters from making it smell inside porta-potty tanks.
This part of how to clean a portable toilet is a specialized process and shouldn’t be attempted by anyone other than trained portable toilet cleaners. All sewage needs treating to prevent harm to the environment, and the process will also keep your porta-potty hygienic and safe.
Restocking Your Potty
You will be responsible for restocking the supplies in your portable restroom, including:
- Toilet rolls
- Hand sanitizer
- Disinfectant
- Paper towels to dry your hands
However, full service from professional porta-potty cleaners will include restocking. A professional porta-potty cleaner can also help with maintenance, such as thoroughly cleaning the walls and ceiling. They can offer tips on the best homemade portable toilet deodorizer and plenty of other helpful advice for tackling a dirty porta-potty.
Need to Keep Up With Your Porta-Potty?
Using a porta-potty doesn’t have to feel like you’re taking a step down from the highest levels of sanitation and comfort. With the proper port a potty cleaning and maintenance, you can help your family, friends, and guests comfortable toilet that doesn’t carry unpleasant smells or harmful bacteria.
However, knowing how and when to contact portable restroom cleaning professionals to empty the tank is equally vital. Wilkinson Portables is a portable restroom rental company in Placerville, CA, that specializes in cleaning and sanitizing porta potties.
