Question 1

What is a sewer connect portable toilet?

Accepted Answer

A sewer connect portable toilet looks like your normal toilet at home with a cistern and porcelain pedestal. It requires a water source and connection to a sewer, septic tank or separate holding tank. This unit does not have its own built in water tank or waste tank.

If you don't have access to a water source or somewhere to connect the waste pipe then you should look at our holding tank toilet range.

Sewer connect toilets are very popular with builders in the construction industry where a sewer connection is easily accessible. It lowers overall costs as you don't require a weekly or fortnightly service pump out as the waste is disposed of directly in to the sewer line. It is also popular as an additional toilet around an entertainment area or pool where a sewer line is present.

It is easy to clean with a floor drain for easy wash down. All our toilets are made from hard wearing plastic with long term life spans.

Question 2

Why has my portable toilet stopped flushing?

Accepted Answer

Your flush pump has a number of parts that will require replacing over time. We carry spare parts for all our pumps and most likely you will require a diaphragm, inlet and outlet valve for a hand pump. Some foot pumps require a new boot/diaphragm.

Our main pumps are the Whale Compac hand pump (silver handles with a rubber grip) in the Executive and Ultra. Our foots pumps have changed over the years with early models (before 2016) with a rubber cover and internal diaphragm, inlet and outlet. Our recent pumps install with a Merlin Pump have a boot diaphragm.

Our early toilets have a Chimp Henderson pump with a red handle and octagonal diaphragm, inlet and outlet valve.

Question 3

What is the life span of a Merlin Portable toilet?

Accepted Answer

Our early model toilets have been in the market for over 25 years now and they are still in good condition. We would expect a life of up to 20 years from our Ultra series toilets and approx 15 years on our other models. This lifespan is achieved through using our extensive range of spare parts. Raw plastic product is the same – the difference is the UV stabiliser used to provide resistance to the sun and UV. Most imported product are not stabilised to same level as our product. Most imported toilets on the market today have approx 5 – 8 year lifespan.

Question 4

How do you empty a portable toilet?

Accepted Answer

The bowl assemblies on the toilets flip up to give full access to the waste tank and the vacuum pump can then remove the waste. The toilets can be fitted with a Rear Evacuation valve which enables the toilet to be emptied over a dump point. Some units (older fibreglass) will have an access point next to the toilet seat.

Question 5

How often should portable toilets be emptied?

Accepted Answer

On commercial building sites the toilets should be emptied every 2 weeks. In situations where usage is minimal if the correct treatments are being used then you only need empty them when the tank is full. The fresh water tank will need to be filled up regularly.

Question 6

Can you lay down the portable toilets for transport?

Accepted Answer

We would not recommend it. However, yes you can transport the toilet lying down.

The toilets have a number of parts which are designed based on the toilet being in an upright position. So transporting them over a long distance may cause damage. We are unable to suggest what may happen as we have never tranpsorted them lying down.

Transporting the units lying down may result in the cabinet being marked.

Question 7

Does Merlin Rent or Hire their portable toilets/showers, waste tanks etc?

Accepted Answer

No, we dont hire or rent our products. We are a wholesaler/retailer - we sell our products to both individuals and businesses.

We dont hire our equipment as the majority of our customers are hire/rental companies and we do not wish to compete with our customers.

Question 8

How can I tell which Merlin product / model I have?

Accepted Answer

Please refer to our product pages or take a photo of your Merlin Product and we can assist you to identify your model.