Camper Van Toilet Options: Full Comparison Guide

Choosing a toilet for your van is one of those decisions that people overthink or avoid thinking about entirely. But if you are building a van you plan to spend any real time in, you need a plan for this. Driving to a gas station at 2 AM in a campground 30 minutes from the nearest town is not a plan.

The good news is that camper van toilet options have gotten a lot better over the past several years. You don’t need a full RV bathroom with a black water tank. There are simple, compact, and surprisingly not-terrible solutions that work in the space you have. This guide covers the four main types, what they actually cost, the honest pros and cons of each, and what we install in our custom van conversions.

Do You Even Need a Toilet in Your Van?

Honestly, not everyone does. If you are building a weekender van and you always stay at campgrounds with restrooms, you might never use one. Some people go years with a van and never install a toilet.

But if any of the following apply, a toilet is worth it:

• You camp on public land or in dispersed areas without facilities
• You travel with kids
• You do any winter camping (getting dressed and walking to a restroom in the cold gets old fast)
• You plan to live in the van for more than a week at a time
• You park overnight in cities where restrooms are not accessible

For our Standard and Premium builds, a toilet is included unless the customer specifically opts out. Most people who skip it initially end up wishing they hadn’t.

The Four Main Camper Van Toilet Options

There are four types of toilets that make sense in a van conversion. Each has different trade-offs in terms of cost, maintenance, space, and the overall experience of using and emptying them.

1. Composting Toilets

Composting toilets are the most popular choice in van conversions, and for good reason. They separate liquids and solids, use no water, require no black water tank, and when maintained properly, they don’t smell.

How they work:

Urine goes into a separate container in the front through a diverter seat. Solids drop into a separate compartment filled with a composting medium, usually coconut coir or peat moss. A small 12V vent fan runs continuously, pulling air through the solids compartment and exhausting it through a vent hose that runs through the van wall or roof. This airflow dries out the solids and keeps odors from entering the cabin. You turn a handle periodically to agitate the composting medium.

The key is separation. Urine and solids mixing is what creates the bad smell. Keep them apart, keep the fan running, and it works surprisingly well.

The main models:

Nature’s Head (~$960 to $1,050) is the most popular composting toilet in the van conversion world. It has been around the longest, has the most user feedback, and is a proven design. It is larger than some of the alternatives, but the build quality is solid and the handle-crank agitator works well.

Air Head (~$1,000 to $1,100) is similar in concept to the Nature’s Head but with a slightly different shape and a different agitator design. Some people prefer the Air Head’s form factor for certain van layouts. Performance is comparable.

Cuddy (~$400 to $500) is a newer, more affordable composting toilet. It works on the same separation principle but at a significantly lower price point. It is smaller and uses compostable bags for the solids, which makes emptying easier. The trade-off is that it holds less and you empty it more frequently.

Pros:

• No water needed
• No black water tank
• No dump station required
• Works completely off-grid
• Minimal smell when maintained properly
• Solids can go in the trash (in a compostable bag)
• Urine can be dumped in any restroom or on the ground away from water

Cons:

• Highest upfront cost ($400 to $1,100)
• Requires a vent fan installation through the van wall or roof (small 12V fan, similar to a computer fan)
• You have to physically handle the waste when emptying
• Learning curve for maintenance (getting the moisture balance right)
• The urine bottle needs emptying every 2 to 3 days for two people
• Takes up a dedicated footprint in the van

Maintenance reality: The urine bottle gets emptied every couple of days. Solids compartment gets emptied every 3 to 6 weeks for two people using it full-time. The composting medium (coconut coir) costs almost nothing. You add a brick of coir, rehydrate it, and you are good. Total ongoing cost is negligible.

2. Cassette Toilets

Cassette toilets are what you find in most European campervans. They look and function more like a traditional toilet with a small built-in waste tank (the “cassette”) that slides out for emptying.

How they work:

You flush with a small amount of water (from a built-in reservoir or your van’s water system) into a sealed waste tank below the bowl. Chemical additives in the tank break down waste and control odor. When the tank is full, you slide it out through an access panel (usually on the outside of the van) and empty it at a dump station or campground dump point.

Popular models:

Thetford and Dometic make the most common cassette toilets for van and RV use. Models range from basic units around $100 to more feature-rich versions around $300 with electric flush, tank level indicators, and better seals.

Pros:

• Feels most like a regular toilet (sit-down, flush)
• Lower upfront cost ($100 to $300)
• No vent fan installation required
• Familiar and simple to use
• Compact models available for tight spaces

Cons:

• Requires dump station access to empty (or a public restroom if you are brave)
• Uses water, which means your freshwater supply drains faster
• Chemicals add ongoing cost and are not great for the environment
• The waste tank can get heavy when full (20 to 30 lbs)
• Can smell if the seal dries out or chemicals run low
• Permanent installations require an exterior access panel cut into the van

Maintenance reality: You add chemical treatment to the tank, use it like a normal toilet, and empty the cassette at a dump station every few days depending on use. The chemicals run $10 to $20 per bottle and last several tank fills.

3. Portable Toilets

This is the simplest and cheapest category. Portable toilets range from a basic bucket with a seat to a self-contained chemical unit.

How they work:

At the basic end, a bucket toilet is literally a 5-gallon bucket with a snap-on toilet seat and a bag liner. You do your business, add some kitty litter or a gelling agent, and tie off the bag. It sounds terrible, but for occasional emergency use, it works.

At the more refined end, the Thetford Porta Potti (~$80 to $150) is a self-contained portable unit with a freshwater flush tank on top and a sealed waste tank on the bottom. It works like a mini cassette toilet but is completely freestanding with no installation required.

Pros:

• Cheapest option ($30 to $150)
• Zero installation required
• Can be stored out of the way when not in use
• Good backup option even if you have another toilet type
• The Porta Potti is surprisingly decent for what it is

Cons:

• Least comfortable and least dignified option
• Bucket toilets have no odor control whatsoever
• Porta Potti waste tank is small and needs frequent emptying
• Not great for daily full-time use
• Takes up floor space when deployed
• No ventilation system

Maintenance reality: Bucket toilets use bags that go in the trash. Porta Pottis empty at dump stations. Neither requires installation or modification to your van, which is the main appeal.

4. Dry Flush Toilets

Dry flush toilets are the newest option in the van toilet space. The Laveo Dry Flush (~$500 to $600) is the main product in this category.

How they work:

After each use, you press a button and the toilet seals the waste in a section of a continuous cartridge liner, twisting it closed like a sealed bag. The waste is individually wrapped and sealed, then stored in the base of the toilet. When the cartridge is used up (about 15 uses per cartridge), you remove and dispose of the entire cartridge.

Pros:

• No water, no chemicals, no composting medium
• Each use is individually sealed, so smell is minimal
• No vent fan installation needed
• Very simple to use and maintain
• Compact footprint
• Good option for people who don’t want to deal with composting maintenance

Cons:

• Ongoing cartridge cost is significant: ~$20 per cartridge, each cartridge lasts about 15 uses, which works out to roughly $1.33 per use
• For two people using it full-time, cartridge costs can add up to $60 to $80+ per month
• The cartridges are proprietary (only one supplier)
• Battery-powered motor mechanism means another thing that can break
• The per-use cost makes it impractical for full-time van life but fine for occasional use

Maintenance reality: You press a button after each use and swap the cartridge when it is full. Spent cartridges go in the trash. It is the easiest toilet to maintain day to day, but the cartridge cost makes it the most expensive option long-term.

Camper Van Toilet Comparison

Bathroom Layout Considerations

Once you pick a toilet type, you need to figure out where it goes and how the bathroom space works in your van layout.

Wet Bath vs. Dry Bath

A wet bath combines the toilet and shower in one enclosed space. The entire room is waterproof. When you shower, everything gets wet, including the toilet. This is the most space-efficient option and is what we build in most Sprinter and Transit conversions. The space doubles as both a shower stall and a toilet room.

A dry bath separates the toilet from the shower area. This requires more space and is really only practical in longer vans (170” wheelbase Sprinter, extended Transit) or bus conversions. The benefit is that the toilet area stays dry, but you are giving up significant floor space.

For more on bathroom layouts, check out our bathroom design guide.

Ventilation

Ventilation matters regardless of which toilet you choose. If you go with a composting toilet, you need a dedicated vent fan (a small 12V fan, usually 1 to 2 inches in diameter) that exhausts through the van wall or roof. This is a small installation but it needs to be done right. The vent hose should have as few bends as possible and exit where the exhaust won’t blow back into an open window.

Even without a composting toilet, a bathroom area benefits from ventilation. A small exhaust fan or a cracked roof vent helps keep moisture and odors under control, especially in a wet bath setup where humidity from showers can be an issue.

Privacy Solutions

In a van, the bathroom is a few feet from everything else. Common privacy solutions include:

• Accordion doors — fold flat against the wall when not in use, pull across for privacy
• Barn-style sliding doors — slide on a track, look clean, don’t swing into the tight space
• Curtains — simplest option, works fine for couples traveling together
• Solid partition walls — most privacy but takes the most space and adds weight

Gray Water and Black Water: What You Actually Need

One of the biggest misconceptions about van toilets is that you need a black water tank like a traditional RV. You almost certainly don’t.

Black water is sewage — waste from a flush toilet. Traditional RVs have black water tanks because they use marine-style toilets that flush with water into a holding tank. In a van conversion, composting toilets, dry flush toilets, and portable toilets are self-contained. They don’t produce black water. Cassette toilets have their own small removable tank. None of these require a plumbed black water system.

Gray water is used water from your sink and shower. You do need a gray water tank if you have a sink or shower, typically 10 to 30 gallons depending on your freshwater tank size. Gray water is much simpler to deal with than black water. Some campgrounds have gray water drains, or you can dump responsibly.

The bottom line: skip the black water tank. Pick a self-contained toilet and save yourself the weight, space, and hassle.

What We Install at ECB

At Emery Custom Builds, we install composting toilets in most of our Premium builds. The Nature’s Head is our go-to for full-size builds because it is proven, well-supported, and our customers have been happy with it. For builds where space is tighter or the customer is on a tighter budget, the Cuddy is a solid alternative.

For Standard builds that include a toilet, we typically install a cassette toilet or provide a mounting setup for a composting toilet depending on the customer’s preference and how they plan to use the van.

Every toilet installation includes proper ventilation (vent fan for composting, exhaust ventilation for the bathroom space in general), secure mounting so nothing moves while driving, and integration with the overall bathroom layout and plumbing system.

We don’t install dry flush toilets in our builds due to the ongoing cartridge cost, but we can build a mounting space for one if that is what a customer wants.

Picking the Right Toilet for Your Build

If you are still deciding, here is the short version:

• Going full-time or spending weeks at a time in the van? Composting toilet. The upfront cost pays for itself in convenience and the lowest ongoing cost.
• Mostly campgrounds and occasional boondocking? Cassette toilet. Familiar, affordable, and dump stations are everywhere.
• Budget build or just want a backup option? Portable toilet. A Thetford Porta Potti in a cabinet is better than nothing.
• Want the simplest possible experience and don’t mind the per-use cost? Dry flush. Press a button, done.

The reality is that no van toilet is glamorous. They all involve dealing with human waste in a small space. But a good setup becomes routine fast, and having a toilet in your van is one of those things that dramatically improves the experience of actually living and traveling in it.

Planning a van conversion and want help figuring out the bathroom setup? We build complete van conversions in San Diego, CA, and the bathroom is one of the systems we put the most thought into. Call us at (714) 257-5446 or email hello@emerycustombuilds.com to start planning your build.