The new Thetford Indus toilet system

It may be the way in the future, but what if you have just emptied the system, then need the loo. With the grey tank empty, you have no flush. You could well be travelling with no grey water, as no showers or washing up done, but the toilet being used en-route. Do you HAVE to charge the grey tank with fresh water, just so you can flush the loo? I would also like to see a much longer emptying hose, or at least a means of fitting an extension, for those times when there isn't easy access to a suitable point. Does it need some form of annual (or sooner) maintenance, or flushing out? Is there a means of adding fresh water, but not via the chemicals, to give the occasional extra clean-out? Any food waste that gets down the sink, is this maserated too, or just settles in the grey tank, with the risk of blocking the pump-out system?

Not for me - not until there are future improvements, I'm afraid.
 
TR5 said:
It may be the way in the future, but what if you have just emptied the system, then need the loo. With the grey tank empty, you have no flush. You could well be travelling with no grey water, as no showers or washing up done, but the toilet being used en-route. Do you HAVE to charge the grey tank with fresh water, just so you can flush the loo? I would also like to see a much longer emptying hose, or at least a means of fitting an extension, for those times when there isn't easy access to a suitable point. Does it need some form of annual (or sooner) maintenance, or flushing out? Is there a means of adding fresh water, but not via the chemicals, to give the occasional extra clean-out? Any food waste that gets down the sink, is this maserated too, or just settles in the grey tank, with the risk of blocking the pump-out system?

Not for me - not until there are future improvements, I'm afraid.
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Agreed . Cba watching video but , for me , seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist
 
Cheaper and better for long term use to change to an incinerator toilet rather than the Indus system. I wonder how much they pay these people who sit dreaming up ways to fleece us
 
I have huge concerns about this system and I'm shaking my head wondering "Why?" I saw Andrew Ditton's YT video last night and my immediate thoughts were:
  1. The system seems overly complicated with too many things to go wrong.
  2. I don't want to give Thetford (or whoever else is responsible for the app) my personal data, nor do I want to be obliged to have a smart phone. The need to have BT active also concerns me.
  3. I can't figure out why on earth would I want to fork out thirty quid for 28 nights-worth of chemicals rather than three quid for 38+ nights-worth of bio laundry pods and a fiver once a year for a bottle of 'Zoflora' -- especially when I can buy the stuff I'm currently using in just about any town while I'd have to make special arrangements to be able to receive Thetford's chemicals by post.
  4. I would be unable to use this system on the campsites I typically use. These have a septic tank for black waste and ask you to chuck the grey into the boundary hedges. Also, the CDPs tend to be behind a toilet block or somewhere else 'out of range' of an Indus discharge hose.
Taking the above into consideration, having an Indus system would be a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't want a motorhome with one.
 
GeoffL said:
I have huge concerns about this system and I'm shaking my head wondering "Why?" I saw Andrew Ditton's YT video last night and my immediate thoughts were:
  1. The system seems overly complicated with too many things to go wrong.
  2. I don't want to give Thetford (or whoever else is responsible for the app) my personal data, nor do I want to be obliged to have a smart phone. The need to have BT active also concerns me.
  3. I can't figure out why on earth would I want to fork out thirty quid for 28 nights-worth of chemicals rather than three quid for 38+ nights-worth of bio laundry pods and a fiver once a year for a bottle of 'Zoflora' -- especially when I can buy the stuff I'm currently using in just about any town while I'd have to make special arrangements to be able to receive Thetford's chemicals by post.
  4. I would be unable to use this system on the campsites I typically use. These have a septic tank for black waste and ask you to chuck the grey into the boundary hedges. Also, the CDPs tend to be behind a toilet block or somewhere else 'out of range' of an Indus discharge hose.
Taking the above into consideration, having an Indus system would be a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't want a motorhome with one.
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Yes I agree with your comments, but its good that you watched the video.
I do think that one day cassettes will be history, but not replaced with this system.
 
It's just the latest gimmick to sell to people who don't want to smell anything let alone touch anything that touches anything else. Next will be an automatic bottom wiper. The toilet will have a body-temperature upward spraying shower which starts with warm soapy water, then changes to warm clear water which then changes to blowing warm air-conditioned dry air. When the damp sensors decide that the bottom has dried, a soothing tune will play over the toilet loudspeaker. . . . . ah, there. I've only gone and done Thetford Development Department's next three years work for them.

The fact is that this system will only ever be any use on hugemobiles, which by definition will need to edge their way into huge camp sites, doing twenty point turns to get past the entrance gate. It doesn't and never will feature in any of our normal motorhomes, and the people who buy these mobile palaces won't be on this forum anyway so we just point and gawk and marvel that the people at Thetford Development Department have found something to do after they have finished multitudinous think tank meetings scoffing coffee and doughnuts. Also of course by definition any mobile home with this system will be in excess of 3500kg and so won't be driven by anyone over 70 who isn't medically fit enough to lift a cassette to empty it. Furthermore any driver of a van with this system will need a special sat nav which includes the few camp sites which have a ground-level drain to dump it into. I can't imagine being allowed to dump it into a grey water drain, even though that drain does inevitably connect to the sewage system. The pong would drive other camp site users away.

I suppose when the system goes wrong, the half-millionaires who bought the thing in the first place will just go to the nearest dealer and trade it in. The dealer will smell it coming from half a mile away and knock £5000 off the valuation in order to pay an otherwise-unemployed person who is starving and has been thrown out of their house to clean it out and get it working again.
I predict that it will go the same way as those motorhomes with full rear panels that opened up as a huge tailgate. Twisting bodies resulted in squeaks and leaks which resulted in the owners trading them in pretty soon.
 
Nabsim said:
Cheaper and better for long term use to change to an incinerator toilet rather than the Indus system. I wonder how much they pay these people who sit dreaming up ways to fleece us
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I've looked at the incinerators Neil and they look a good solution, still hellish expensive though and quite heavy on LPG.
 
I suppose the system might suit some, after all some vans already have fixed black tanks, (almost universal in the US) but it does strike me similar to printers where the manufacturers try their hardest to tie you in to expensive replacement cartridges.
 
colinm said:
I suppose the system might suit some, after all some vans already have fixed black tanks, (almost universal in the US) but it does strike me similar to printers where the manufacturers try their hardest to tie you in to expensive replacement cartridges.
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The US has a network of roadside RV dump stations that UK doesn't, and (unlike UK) pretty much all camping grounds are geared up for black and grey tank emptying via discharge hoses. Even so, many RVers carry a "Blue Boy" (Wastemaster on steroids) to take black and grey waste from their rigs to dump stations. To me, a cassette toilet seems a much better solution as I really don't want to find space for or deal with the hygiene issues associated with carrying around a "Blue Boy".
 
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