Can You Clean An RV Toilet With Bleach?

Do you want to know if you can clean an RV toilet with bleach? This may seem like a dangerous idea. We have researched all of this have learned how bleach can be dangerous for cleaning your RV toilet and could also damage your toilet mechanisms. 

You cannot clean an RV toilet with bleach. Bleach can damage a plastic toilet bowl and dry out the toilet valve seals, keeping them from functioning correctly.

Bleach can also kill beneficial bacteria in the black tank, which helps to reduce the smell. Also, when bleach reaches the black water tank and mixes with ammonia, it creates toxic gasses that can be hazardous to your health.

In this article, we'll discuss more about RV toilets and bleach. We will also look into other RV toilet-related questions. Keep reading to learn more.

Inside of RV with washroom toilet sink shower cabinet, bleach bottles. Can You Clean An RV Toilet With Bleach

Can You Clean An RV Toilet With Bleach?

It would be best if you never used bleach to clean an RV toilet. Several things can go wrong if you use this harsh cleaner.

Damage To The Toilet Bowl

Most RV toilet bowls are made of plastic. This is because they are much lighter than porcelain, and weight is at a premium in an RV.

Bleach can damage these plastic toilet bowls. Bleach can interact with plasticizers in plastic and change some of the characteristics of the plastic. This can reduce the life of your RV toilet. This is the first reason you don't want to use bleach to clean an RV toilet bowl.

Drying Out The Toilet Valve Seals

Bleach can interact with the rubber in toilet valve seals reducing their integrity. This can cause leaks and ultimately cause damage that can be expensive to repair. This is another reason not to use bleach to clean your RV toilet.

Killing Beneficial Bacteria

In the black tank of an RV, bacteria begin to break down waste that can cause foul odors. When bleach is introduced, it kills this beneficial bacteria, and the black tank may have foul gasses leak out of the toilet.

Be sure to eliminate the odor with chemicals that won't kill beneficial bacteria that aid in breaking down waste.

Harmful Gases

The final reason you shouldn't use bleach to clean an RV toilet is the most critical to your health. When bleach mixes with ammonia, it can create poisonous gasses that can be hazardous to your health.

Bleach reacts with ammonia to create hazardous gasses called chloramines. Exposure to chloramines can cause various symptoms, including coughing, nausea, shortness of breath, watery eyes, chest pain, irritation to the throat, nose, and eyes wheezing, and pneumonia.

To prevent damage to your RV toilet and your body, never clean your RV toilet with bleach.

Can You Use Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner In An RV Toilet?

close up of a people hand cleaning toilet seat. Can You Clean An RV Toilet With Bleach

Using Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner in an RV toilet is a bad idea. Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner contains bleach. Like any other cleaning product containing bleach, you don't want to use it to clean an RV toilet. This will lead to all the above-listed problems with using bleach to clean an RV toilet.

Instead of bleach, you will need to use a cleaner that doesn't react with ammonia. Next, we will discuss some alternatives to bleach that won't damage your RV toilet or your body.

Can You Put Vinegar In An RV Toilet?

Vinegar is the go-to home cleaner for RV toilets. There are several important reasons why vinegar is a better RV toilet cleaner than bleach.

It's Less Corrosive

Unlike bleach, vinegar won't damage your plastic toilet bowl. Vinegar won't react with plastic but will still soften up grime in the toilet bowl. Using vinegar instead of bleach will extend the life of your RV toilet bowl.

Vinegar also isn't going to dry out your toilet valve seals like bleach does. This will keep the valve seal's integrity high.

Doesn't Kill Beneficial Bacteria

Bleach is like a biological nuke for bacteria. This dramatically slows the decomposition process. Vinegar is gentler to many beneficial bacteria keeping your black tank's ecosystem healthy.

Doesn't Create Toxic Gases

Vinegar won't react with ammonia the same way bleach will. This makes it a safe alternative to bleach. Next time you want to clean your RV toilet, don't reach for the bleach; reach for vinegar.

Baking soda lemon vinegar

Can You Put Baking Soda In An RV Toilet?

There is another secret to cleaning your RV toilet with vinegar. You can also use baking soda to increase its effectiveness.

Start by spraying your toilet with a water-vinegar solution. Now sprinkle baking soda around the inside of the toilet bowl. Be sure to get it on any tough spots you want to remove.

You also should add baking soda to the toilet brush. Then when you scrub with the toilet brush, the baking soda in the bowl and on the brush with react with the Vinegar in the toilet water, and the resulting bubbles will help break up grime and clean the toilet bowl very effectively.

How Do You Stop An RV Toilet From Smelling?

Keeping your RV toilet from smelling is as simple as knowing the proper way to keep one clean and odor-free. We will now tell you the most important things you can do to keep your RV toilet from smelling.

Keeping The Toilet Clean

One of the most important things to keeping your RV toilet from smelling is to keep it clean. When your toilet is dirty, it can be smell worse than if you clean it regularly. Be sure to clean it with chemicals that won't react with ammonia and be harmful to your health.

Keep The Toilet Lid Down

RV toilet lids click down to lock out foul-smelling methane gas. If you forget to close the RV toilet lid, you may notice a smell similar to rotten eggs. To prevent this foul-smelling gas from filling your bathroom, keep the lid down.

It is also possible to attach a vent system to your black tank. This will vent methane gas and prevent it from coming back up your toilet.

Combining these two methods can help reduce methane gas from leaking in your bathroom and making the room smell terrible.

How Do You Get Rid Of Sewer Flies In Your RV Toilet?

You can find this product here on Amazon.

This product is known as an enzyme cleaner. It uses enzymes to break down organic films in the black tank that the larva eat to grow into sewer flies. This will clean your drains and prevent sewer flies without killing beneficial bacteria that help break down waste.

There are people online who claim that you can remove sewer flies with a bleach solution and water. This is true, but it will also kill any bacteria that are helping to break down waste. That is why you should opt for a bleach-less alternative cleaner.

How To Replace A Damaged RV Toilet

camper van RV bathroom with wooden accents

If you have used bleach on your toilet and have damaged the plastic of the bowl, or if your toilet is very old, it may be time to replace it. This can be a reasonably easy procedure if you know what you are doing. Here we will look over the main portion of the process and give your a step-by-step guide so you can do it yourself.

Turn Off And Disconnect The Water

First, turn off the water to the toilet. This can either be done by pressing a button on a control panel in your RV's bathroom or turning a valve handle that feeds water to the toilet.

Then make sure that the water pressure built up in the water supply line is released. Drain any water in the water supply line into a bucket.

Remove The Toilet's Bolt Down Nuts

Use a wrench to loosen and remove the bolt-down nuts that hold the toilet to the ground in your RV. Once you have loosened and removed these nuts, you will be ready to lift and remove the old toilet.

Removing The Old Toilet

Now that the old toilet is not secure to the ground, you should be able to lift it off the hold-down bolts. Lift the toilet off of the bolts and remove it from the RV.

Now that the toilet is removed, you will want to clean up the area for the new toilet.

Preparing the Area For New Toilet

Start by removing the old hold-down bolts from the old toilet. This will clear room for the new hold-down bolts.

You will also want to clean the floor flange so that it is free of debris and sealant from the old toilet. It is best to use a rag and good old-fashioned elbow grease to complete this step.

Installing The New Toilet

The next thing is to add the new hold-down bolts onto the flange. Once the hold-down bolts are secure, lift the new toilet into place, being sure to align the toilet bolt holes with the hold-down bolts attached to the flange.

Once properly aligned, you will now be ready to tighten the toilet to the ground with nuts.

Securing The New Toilet In Place

Start to tighten the nuts onto the hold-down bolts a little at a time, alternating side to side. This will keep the toilet from sliding out of alignment while securing it in place.

Once the nuts are tightened and the toilet is flush with the ground, your job is finished. The new toilet is now correctly installed.

If you would like to see a video on how to change an RV toilet RV Education 101 has a great tutorial on the subject.

Final Thoughts

Today we learned it is not a good idea to use bleach to clean your RV toilet. If you need to clean it, vinegar and baking soda are a safer alternative for your RV and your health. Keeping it clean is also the best way to prevent unpleasant odors. We also covered the steps to replacing a damaged or old RV toilet.

We hope you enjoyed this article. If you would like to learn more, check out some of these other posts.

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