The “toilet revolution” is an important national-led initiative in recent years, and you and I are all beneficiaries of it. As imported RVs are in use, the “toilet problem” has also become the focus, and a “toilet revolution” about RVs is urgently needed.
the whole story
In May 2018, a discussion about the toilet detonated the circle of friends. The reason is that during the Nanjing RV Exhibition on May 1, the well-known player in the RV circle, “China Chaoren” (referred to as “Tideren”) had a discussion with the staff of Jiangsu and Zhejiang agents of Jiangling Motorhomes about what type of toilet should be installed in the RV. up the debate. Because during the exhibition, some RV riders who came to camp directly discharged the wastewater in the black water tank of the RV to the ground of the camping area. “Trendy people” believe that as long as manufacturers install “cassette toilets” when the RV leaves the factory, this problem can be largely avoided, while manufacturers believe that “straight toilets” are more convenient for RV life. Then there are endless arguments between the various camps.
the difference
From the beginning and end of the incident, it is not difficult to see that the main contradiction of the incident is what kind of toilet should be installed in the RV.
Common toilets in RVs are divided into two types: “straight toilet” and “cassette toilet”. The main difference is the way in which sewage is stored.
Straight-line toilets are common in RVs in North America. The overall structure of this type of toilet is similar to the toilet in the family, except that the sewage enters the black water tank in the car through the sewer, rather than the centralized sewage of the city. The storage capacity of the black water tank is relatively large, which can generally reach more than 1/3 of the volume of the clean water tank (60-120L). The disadvantage is that the sewage line in the RV camp must be used for sewage.
Cassette toilets are commonly used in European RVs. The biggest difference from the straight-line toilet is the storage of sewage. The toilet uses its own drawer-type black water tank. After the sewage in the black water tank is full, it is directly removed, and it can be poured into the public toilet. The disadvantage of this toilet is that the volume of the black water tank is generally small (commonly about 20L), and the user needs to perform all sewage discharge operations by himself.
debate
Which toilet is more suitable for RV use? Jiangling’s staff believes that the straight-line toilet not only has a large black water tank storage capacity, but also only needs to open the valve when using it, and does not need to be cleaned by hand like a cassette toilet. “Trendy people” think that straight-line toilets are easy for users to discharge at will when they can’t find a sewage outlet, and even if there is a sewage outlet, it is very troublesome to clean the sewage pipes. Cassette toilets can be cleaned in ordinary public restrooms.
This kind of debate about what is right and what is right is in a state of stalemate, so what is the actual application of users at this stage?
status quo
There are few RV camps in China, and the construction specifications are not perfect, which is an unavoidable fact in a short period of time. In 2018, the latest “Camping Practical Handbook for Car Friends” included 770 RV camps. Compared with the tens of thousands in Europe and the United States, this number can only be described as small. In this small number of camps, the construction of facilities for RV camping is mostly incomplete due to factors such as policies, profit requirements, and RV ownership. It is already a well-equipped camp that can park RVs, not to mention the retention of RV professional equipment such as RV sewage outlets. At this time, talking about the direct discharge of RV sewage has become a joke in many cases. Many RV riders have no choice but to choose to solve it on the roadside when traveling, and some riders even directly discharge it on the road during driving.
choose
From this point of view, the in-line toilet is not optimistic in practical application. The decision of what type of toilet to install in the RV is still in the hands of the manufacturer. In the author’s opinion, the factors that manufacturers need to consider when facing a choice are nothing more than two, installation cost and use cost.
For the installation cost, the author learned from a domestic RV accessories website that the price of the straight toilet is between 2600 and 3800 yuan, and the price of the cassette toilet is between 6200 and 7200 yuan. Such a large price gap seems to provide another reason for RV manufacturers to install straight-line toilets. There are also installation labor costs and other auxiliary accessories. Although the straight toilet requires a separate black water tank and other waterway accessories than the cassette toilet, it still has an advantage in cost.
Compared with the clearness of installation cost, the use cost is much more ambiguous. In addition to the later maintenance costs, other major costs are the user’s own time cost, hands-on cost and environmental cost. The time cost does not need to be explained too much, and the environmental cost is also easy to explain. It is nothing more than the environmental pollution caused by random sewage discharge. Hands-on cost here refers to the need for users to clean the toilet by themselves. The straight toilet only needs to click a switch, while the cassette toilet needs to be disassembled, dumped, cleaned and installed by itself.
Most of the people who support straight-line toilets are talking about the cost of hands, while the more important environmental cost is ignored. Because the cost of use is very vague and there is no need for RV manufacturers to pay anything in a short period of time, some manufacturers are more inclined to in-line toilets in the final choice.
flexible
Similar to the question of what type of toilet should be installed in a caravan, there are also the size of the caravan’s clean water tank, the size of the living battery volume, the installation of an outdoor kitchen, the installation of solar energy, the application of household air conditioners, etc., some of which have been compared. Many people agree, and some are still under discussion and practice. The raising of so many questions also indicates to a certain extent that RVs are gradually maturing in China.
While the industry is maturing, localization is also going on at the same time. Outdoor kitchens, which are seldom used in foreign countries, have become the necessities of RV life in China where there is a lot of oily smoke. The application of household air conditioners and lithium batteries is still under discussion. All major RV companies are cautious due to various considerations, while RV riders are keen to install them by themselves. It seems that the answer to what kind of toilet should be installed in the RV is not difficult to answer. It only needs the manufacturer to properly consider other factors such as the environment and later maintenance while considering economic gains and losses.
At the current stage when the RV industry is temporarily underdeveloped, everyone is groping forward, but it does not mean that some social responsibility issues that are temporarily unclear in law can be ignored. The last thing to say is that RV life is basically composed of daily necessities, rice, oil and salt. There is nothing wrong with social elites pouring the toilet themselves. On the contrary, it should be ashamed to let the sewage flow by itself. Enterprises and car users should encourage each other.
