You must have seen portable restrooms and toilets at many events and public places. They are convenient, clean, smell-free, and sometimes, a real blessing when you can’t see a public toilet in sight. But despite seeing so many portable toilets and even using them so often, not many people have been able to figure out how they actually work.

Do you ever wonder how a portable bathroom can function despite being a small stall with no sewage pipes connecting them – and despite its usage, it still remains clean and odorless? Well, if you are curious to know, let’s find out.

How Do Portable Bathrooms Work?

The Main Components

A portable toilet has four key components that allow it to function:

• The toilet seat
• Flushing mechanism
• Holding tank
• Pressure system

The Process

Unlike conventional toilets we find in our houses that send the waste to a sewer, these toilets store the waste in their holding tank, which is set under the toilet seat.

This holding tank contains various types of chemicals that allow the breakdown of all the solid waste and also kill the germs and manage the smell. This also helps reduce the use of toilet paper.

These toilets flush using two things – either the water from the hidden water tank or the chemicals from the holding tank. Since the tank holds all the waste and liquids, there is no need for main draining or water supply in a standard portable toilet.

The flushing system is either operated by hands or foot, and the pump flush system creates a pressure that  allows water or chemicals contained in the tank to circulate around the toilet. This creates a mix that can then be transported from the toilet through the pipes to the toilet pan.

Bottom Line

Portable toilets have a proper mechanism that allows them to function and remain clean. However, it is important to maintain these toilets to make sure there is no smell due to accumulated waste, and for that, it is best to rent portable toilets from companies that also offer cleaning services, such as YML Portable Restrooms.