RV Products and Features

Portable Waste Tanks

This next product story is one we brought you before. And we’re showing it again because we decided that to kick off 2020, we would give away six of these Thetford SmartTote 2LX portable waste tanks again. And we wanted you to learn all about this great prize, so let’s roll the story.

 

We’re here at the campground with Andy from Thetford. Last night we had a really great time with the chili cook-off and the draft beer tasting festival. That’s going to put a real stress on the system here in the trailer.

So, it’s a good thing we’re here to talk about your new SmartTote 2. Portable holding tanks have been part of the RV industry for decades, but you guys have come up with some pretty sophisticated new features from what I understand.

Portable waste tanks have been around for a while. And for those that don’t know, they’re used when you’re at a campsite and there may not be a dump station nearby. So, as you fill up your holding tanks, rather than breaking camp to take your RV to the dump station, you can fill into the portable waste tank, and then take your portable waste tank to the dump station. And Thetford, as the sanitation expert, really takes a close look at what is needed by RVers. We want to make it the most convenient process for the RVers. We recognize that this may not be the most fun thing to do, but we’ve designed it in such a way that it can be easy, and can be very clean and sanitary.

So here we have our 27 gallon LX unit. LX stands for luxurious, if you will. And what it has is it’s got a handle built in and some front wheels, which makes it a lot easier for towing. This is a 27 gallon, so it can be heavy, over 200 pounds. And a lot of people want to be able to use the handle and the wheels to tow it.

There’s a little cutout here that looks an awful lot like the diameter of a hitch ball. Andy: That’s right. So, if you’re not hand-towing the unit, you can mount it to a ball hitch and tow it with a vehicle to the dump station. It’s not built for the Indy 500. You want to keep it within a 5 mile an hour speed.

One of the things that we did with this handle is we made it a telescoping handle. For a tall guy, it telescopes, and you can extend it , and for a guy that’s a little bit shorter like me, if you don’t want to telescope it, you can simply have it telescoped down and I could tow it as well.

So, once we’ve got the unit filled and we’re heading over for the station. Nice turning radius, easy, maneuverable, and you can show off to your campground buddies how well you can back up.

One of the things that’s great about our SmartTote 2 is that it’s got a storage compartment. And inside this storage compartment is everything that you need to fill and empty your onboard holding tank. The hose always stays connected.  You don’t have to store a hose separately. Many of the other tanks on the market don’t have a hose built onboard like this. So, everything that you need is all right here.

Before you fill the SmartTote 2, the first thing that you want to do is open this little compartment door. And underneath this door is a built-in level gauge. All SmartTote 2 LX models come with a built-in level gauge. So, what happens is when you’re filling the tank from the bottom, liquid rises, and that stem pops up, and the water will shut off. The stem will shut off flow, and it prevents a messy overfilling situation.

So, now that you have that compartment door open, you’re ready to fill the tank. Now, you’re ready to take it to the dump station. First things first, open the vent cap. And now–and you’ll let me know if I do something wrong here because this is not a place where I want to make a mistake, okay? If I remember right, we open this up, stretch this guy out.

You’ll take the cap off. Keep the hose elevated. And we’ll pop the dump tube on here and then– That nozzle comes equipped with all LX models.

The 18, 27, and 35 gallon LX all include this sewer nozzle, which is a nice feature. You don’t have to buy anything else. All we do is push down on the hose. Once you have your nozzle in the sewer, you push the hose down just like that, and wait for the holding tank to empty.

Everything inside the tank is meant to have a gravity feed so that all the liquid contents completely evacuate the tank. If you’re on level ground, the tank will completely evacuate.

Another feature that’s built-in is a clean-out port. And when you’re done emptying the holding tank, you can simply open this little door, insert a garden hose, wash out the tank, rinse it completely, and then simply close the doors.

The tanks come in several different sizes. Our 2 wheel versions come in a 12 gallon, 18 gallon, 27 gallon, and 35 gallon. Our LX models, which we demonstrated here today come in 3 sizes, an 18 gallon, a 27 gallon, and a 35 gallon.

And the two wheel versions just have a handle, and you more or less carry them like a luggage in an airport with wheels. It’s a hand tow. We do offer an accessory tow strap that you can purchased separately. That is an option.

They’re very handy, and we sell a lot of them, so it’s been a great product for us. And we look forward to helping people with this situation.

Watch the full Rollin’ On TV show 2020-04 here.