# Reusing a Toilet, Without Water, in a Tower



## thelibrarian (Jan 25, 2017)

Hello,

I am hoping to get some advice from some Preppers. 

I'm not prepping for a long-term event, most likely a power outage or an ice storm that would lead to isolation for at most a few weeks. 

I was considering toilet options and it occurred to me, perhaps incorrectly, that a regular toilet itself could perhaps be used as an emergency toilet?sans water.

I live on the second highest floor of an apartment tower and would not intend to leave home during a storm. That being said, I'd like to keep clean and conserve water. 

Have any more-experienced and creative Preppers taken a look at the regular home toilet and considered how to use it like a bucket? What would be potential options for affixing bags to the bowls? Can anyone see any potential problems when comparing an empty porcelain toilet to a 5-gallon bucket system? 

Also, does being in a tower pose any special sewage problems anyone can foresee?

Thanks for your time,
?L


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

thelibrarian said:


> Have any more-experienced and creative Preppers taken a look at the regular home toilet and considered how to use it like a bucket? What would be potential options for affixing bags to the bowls? Can anyone see any potential problems when comparing an empty porcelain toilet to a 5-gallon bucket system?
> Also, does being in a tower pose any special sewage problems anyone can foresee?


You most certainly use a regular toilet just like a bagged 5 gallon bucket. Use it for the solid waste, toss it out the window, use the sink for the liquid waste, cover it with a bag to keep the smell down. Try not to mix liquid waste, it smells more that way.

*Rancher *


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Power outages and iced storms rarely render your civil sewer systems unusable. Some catastrophes, like floods, earthquakes and the like, can.

Just because the water is off doesn't automatically mean the toilet can't be flushed. Just pour water into the bowl and let gravity do the work for you.


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

A tower? OK Rapunzel, gravity is your friend. If you have a conventional commode and water you are good in that department. Fill the bowl with a bucket until it flushes.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Sounds like you are preppin' for a shit storm, huh?


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

A power outage will shut down the sewage pumps, if any, in your waste treatment system. Eventually if people continue to flush it will fill up. In a combined storm/sanitary system such as in many older cities, waste could rise up through low lying toilets and floor drains, especially if it rains hard. Overflow valves may dump raw sewage into the local creeks. It will be a mess.

Living in a tower won't help you if the people downstairs have cholera.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

thelibrarian said:


> Have any more-experienced and creative Preppers taken a look at the regular home toilet and considered how to use it like a bucket? What would be potential options for affixing bags to the bowls? Can anyone see any potential problems when comparing an empty porcelain toilet to a 5-gallon bucket system?


Living in the country & having septic tanks, this is not a problem for me but even then, I have a couple of toilet seats with lids that snap on plastic pails. Most preppers should have things stored in such pails, so to me this makes perfect sense. Main use for me would be to collect the urine for use as garden fertilizer but these can certainly be used for solid waste. You can purchase the bags & chemicals that go with it.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

snow storm and your sewer is out for three weeks....and people say I am crazy for prepping for Biblical events

if that happens - do not start tossing your crap out the window as suggested by one of our usually more level headed folks... it is possible he was drinking


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

azrancher said:


> You most certainly use a regular toilet just like a bagged 5 gallon bucket. Use it for the solid waste, *toss it out the window*, use the sink for the liquid waste, cover it with a bag to keep the smell down. Try not to mix liquid waste, it smells more that way.
> 
> *Rancher *


drinking heavily and posting after midnight is frowned upon by most moderators!!!


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

@thelibrarian Welcome, where in Ontario are you? Hope you stick around after you get your toilet questions answered


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

sideKahr said:


> A power outage will shut down the sewage pumps, if any, in your waste treatment system..........


They usually have pad-mount generators with automatic transfer switches for this contingency.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

TG said:


> [MENTION=21801]Hope you stick around after you get your toilet questions answered


I smiled ... didn't you guys? :vs_laugh: :vs_lol:


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> I smiled ... didn't you guys? :vs_laugh: :vs_lol:


What now?!! I need American humour classes lol


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

Back Pack Hack said:


> Just pour water into the bowl and let gravity do the work for you.





csi-tech said:


> Fill the bowl with a bucket until it flushes.


If you have water to fill a bucket, then the water must be on, just flush the toilet.



Maine-Marine said:


> do not start tossing your crap out the window as suggested by one of our usually more level headed folks... it is possible he was drinking





Maine-Marine said:


> drinking heavily and posting after midnight is frowned upon by most moderators!!!


I come up with my best ideas when I've been drinking, where else are you going to put the crap... in the closet?

And I was not a Moderator (and Super Moderator to you @Maine-Marine ) at the time, my shift had ended and I was drinking heavily, and I thought about throwing the crap at the fan, but that is an old cliche.

*Rancher *


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

If you are in a tall building, it will have booster pumps to get the city water to the upper floors.
Sewer systems frequently have low spots in the street with lift pumps to get the sewage that 
collects in the low spot to the sewage treatment plant.

Now toss in a long term power failure. Generators will shut down, no fuel. If natural gas powered
they may operate longer, but natural gas pipes haves pumping stations to keep the pressure up.
If the power failure is long term they will fail too.
Will you stay in your tower, don't forget, the elevators are out too.

Yes, with an adequate water supply you could flush your toilet by pouring a pail (2-3 gallons) of 
water into the bowl. But once the sewer systems fills up, it could over flow from the toilets/bathtubs
on the first floor of your tower. Give it a week or two and you'll be leaving due to the smell. Stock
pile boxes of plastic bags and as others have said you can put the bag in the bowl to use it. I also stock
RV sewage deodorant to use in the bags. 

I base this on exactly what happened to my X daughter-in-law and grandson in Hurricane Sandy. The area 
they were in only suffered massive power failures. They lived on 13th floor of 16. The apartment building 
had some kind of water storage on the top floor for fire sprinklers. Someone managed to interconnect that
into the fresh water system but told not to drink it. The water had a terrible oily smell when the toilet was 
flushed. They finally left on the fourth day because they were out of food and water. On the way down the 
fire stairs, the smell coming up from the bottom floor was unbelievable. They had to walk thru raw sewage 
water escaping from the first floor apartments. Out side, sewage water was oozing up from manhole covers 
in the streets. 

They managed to drive out of town and head to her folks place in Virginia Beach. Completely relocated back 
to Tampa area and managed to find a job there.


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## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

If you got water pressure you got toilets . Loose water switch to bags for a couple days . Longer than two weeks you most likely got to move for a bunch of reasons.


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## thelibrarian (Jan 25, 2017)

Wow! Thank you very much everyone, you have been most helpful! These things are all very good to know, I hadn't thought of a lot of these things. 

I guess "tower" sounds a bit odd; a "tower block" or "apartment" building is probably more common parlance. Though a legitimate tower would be quite excellent. 

I'm in a city in south western Ontario. I feel like storms are most likely, but I would not rule out other more long-term events, in which case I think I'd leave at the safest opportunity and head to the family farm where relieving one's self in bags is not an issue and we're better equipped to live without assistance.

Thank you again for your answers!

Cheers,
?L


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Bags were mentioned, for solid wastes you can buy cedar chips from farming stores and put some on the bottom of the bag and then after you do #2 you can then cover up with a handful of chips. Keep solid waste separate from liquid waste. The RV deodorant would be good for liquid waste in a separate bucket.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

azrancher said:


> Super Moderator to you @Maine-Marine )


What is the difference between moderator and super moderator??? (joke deleted)


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