HotelonWheels- Tank Capacities & Bathroom Location

[Margali]

I'm set on having a toilet and leaning towards a shower in our hotel on wheels. Family of 5 with kids ages 5, 2, and 1. We mainly do 3 -4 day weekends right now at relatives without guest facilities or campground with basic water & electric. Toilet would be midnight and toddler emergencies. Shower would be mostly sluicing off the mud monsters.

Do you think the toilet/shower combo pans with 19gal black water would be big enough? How much grey and fresh would you recommend? I'm trying to figure out if bathroom in Vnose will work or I need everything back closer to the axle. I've been searching forum but most bathroom forwards designs I'm seeing are porta potty or no shower.

[hankaye]

Margali, Howdy;

I'm set on having a toilet and leaning towards a shower in our hotel on wheels. Family of 5 with kids ages 5, 2, and 1. We mainly do 3 -4 day weekends right now at relatives without guest facilities or campground with basic water & electric. Toilet would be midnight and toddler emergencies. Shower would be mostly sluicing off the mud monsters.

Do you think the toilet/shower combo pans with 19gal black water would be big enough? How much grey and fresh would you recommend? I'm trying to figure out if bathroom in Vnose will work or I need everything back closer to the axle. I've been searching forum but most bathroom forwards designs I'm seeing are porta potty or no shower.

With a gravity discharge Black tank you need MORE water to ensure you have a good dump.
How often do you think you use the toilet each day, I talking everybody. How much water
does you commode at home use for each flush???
On to the gray tank, Have everyone use the shower one day to see how much water all use.
How, well, use a 5 gal bucket to fill your tub wit, mark each 5 gal with a sharpie then drain it. Then
get the kids in there with the stopper in the hole get them all nice an clean then you then the spouse
one at a time, someones got to watch the kiddos. See how full it is. then drain and clean it up. Should
give you an idea of what your requirements may be.

hank

[Iconfabul8]

I also built with the hotel on wheels mindset. I don't have a v front but I did put the shower and toilet in the front. I am liking it a lot. My build link is below in my signature. I can take a quick 4 min shower and it uses about 8 gal (2 gal/min) If you do the navy shower thing you can obviously use alot less water. I have 33 gal of fresh water and wouldn't want any less. The water tank is over the axle and the gray water tank is just in front of the axle. What size trailer do you have and how many axles?

[KTM_Guy]

Get a composting toilet and no need for black water storage.

[Iconfabul8]

Get a composting toilet and no need for black water storage.

You might want to read this on composting toilets in RV's I think I will stick with my black water tank.

[Padilen]

You can use a waste tote https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Sewer/Tote- ... 4sQAvD_BwE
Keep black and grey separate.

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[hankaye]

Iconfabul8, Howdy;

Nice link, he does have some useful ideas and solid experience to back it up.
Some of my experiences are similar, some differ, but nothing is the same for
everyone.
If the OP has their own yard then a few days out some cedar chips or pine
chips to help solidify the remains and mask the odor then they could add to
or start their own compost pile in their yard. As a fulltimer, I got no use for the
composting commode, I'll continue to dump my Black tank each and every Sat.
morning.

hank

[Margali]

We currently rent a house with tiny yard in an HOA. *shudder* So a composting toilet is out. The trailer has not been ordered yet- looking to get it for fall build out. I currently looking at 7'x16' floor plan but we will order next size up as people recommend.

The youngest two are still diaper bottoms but I'm wanting to get a good 5 years out of this build. That is why I'm concerned about black water tank size. I found an Icon 32"x32"x9.5" 25 gallon black water that would fit above floor but under short toilet like Padilen's design. I hope that would be big enough with one of the flush jet nozzles. @hankaye, is there a rv toilet that is not gravity discharge? If so, what kind?

[McDave]

Welcome Margali,
How much is enough is a tricky question. Here's what I know. I have a combo shower/toilet pan approx. 3' x3' or what is called a "wet bath" style. These are used in truck campers and small RV's. I have a 25g fresh tank and a 29g Black tank. I have a tankless water heater and a vent/fan/light combo in the bath as well. The water heater has a wand with a on/off control, so "Navy" showers are how it is done. I seem to use about 2.5g-3.0g per shower. YMMV. How much per flush? As much as it takes! So, 1 adult male can go for 5-6 days/showers pretty easily. You will note that black tank is greater volume than fresh... to prevent "overages" and allow for solids. I drink bottled water but fresh tank is potable. I have the bath in the front of a 6 x 12 flat nose and both tanks are mounted under the floor. Gravity does indeed handle the evacuation process for the black tank, and as Hank would say "Water is your friend when it comes to black tanks." That is why I chose to use only black, no grey tank. Shower water goes into black tank. I have used this for a couple of years now with zero problems or odors. With a "vee" nose you could have more room for a bath and that would be nice for handling kids.
Ok, that's all I got for you, Good Luck!

McDave

[Socal Tom]

Typical urine volume per day is about 2 liters https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003425.htm
So if its just night time, then assume 1/2 of that each, that puts you at a little over 1 gallon per day.
Then for showers, most RV pumps push about 2 gallons per minute. How long will it take you to rinse your mud-monsters? With a 19 gallon tank 4 days would use about 5 gallons for potty visits, and leave you 7 minutes of shower time.

With little ones, I think I would use the bath/shower approach. Get a small tub/tote that you can put a couple of gallons in. Use that to do the major mud removal, then do a quick rinse with the shower. Option 2, would be to put an external shower on the trailer, so you could do any major hose off outside on the ground and save the tank for when you need modesty. If you do option 2, 19 gallons will go a long way.
Tom

[McDave]

Here is a pic of the toilet/shower pan combo that I used before shower walls etc. were installed.


McDave

I also have a diverter valve that will drain shower to the ground to save space in black tank, then I use 5gal water cans to refill fresh tank. This way you could easily go for a week or more before dumping tank.

[ris]

I think it is nuts to decide you do not like something if you have never used one. On our boat we went to a composting head and love it. We lived on our boat for 10 months doing the great American Loop and used the composting head the whole time. We liked it so much that we are using it in our Cargo trailer build. Check it out under 2017 ris build. Down the page. For the two of us we had to empty the liquid tank every two days and had to empty the solids every 2.5 to 3 weeks. I can tell you the solids do not smell any worse than wet or moist dirt. Just put a 12 gallon trash bag over the solids box, turn it over hit the bottom of the box with your hand and it all falls out into the trash bag. Will only fill the bag maybe 8 inches. Then just throw it in the dumpster. They throw baby diapers in the trash, it is the same stuff. The liquids tank smells a lot worse than the solids. We use the Natures Head. Have no opinion on the other brands. We have not finished our trailer but we only have a 12 gallon gray water tank for the 2 sinks. We have a 12 gallon roll around tank for the shower if we cannot drain it directly on the ground. It can also be used to drain the gray tank if you are in a campground, then take it to the dump station. If we are in a campground we would use all of their facilities. Feel free to ask questions or PM us.

Richard

[Padilen]

The diaper comment made me think of something. When my little sister came to being. The disposable diapers had been invented. But we had cloth too, we dumped the solids in the toilet and flushed from both types. Recently I changed a baby's diaper. I carried diaper to the toilet and dumped the solids. The babies mother asked what I was doing.
Sorry for the derail, just got me thinking of how things and people change.

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[Margali]

Paliden No worries about hijacking. I cloth diapered with first two until they started solid food around a year old.

I have no one in family network with experience with composting toilets. Standard RV toilet lots of help for any issues in setup or use. Another point I didn't mention above is my 5yr is on the autism spectrum. Toilet training was an ordeal so keeping the RV toilet as similar to home one is GOOD. He does fine with grandma's RV push button rv toilet. The aunt's foot pedal one, well he didn't get the pedal fully up and the flapper shut. I got to mop.