What brand toilet paper to use?

Tom Hoffman said:

My brother use to by that from Costco in a Gross (144) roll quantity.  I was staying with him for a while and it favorably substituted for 220 grit sand paper. ;D ;D ;D

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Not been been my experience as I just used it to clean the LCD on one of my radios.  On the other hand I have had experience with Sears, Wards and Spiegel catalogs so maybe I have no feeling there!    ;D

Jim Godward said:

Not been been my experience as I just used it to clean the LCD on one of my radios.  On the other hand I have had experience with Sears, Wards and Spiegel catalogs so maybe I have no feeling there!    ;D

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I know those catalogs as well, they were our first reading materials back on  the farm in Iowa in the 40's.  Had to save them as Grandma ordered all of our clothes and many farm implements as well.  Grandpa preferred freshly shelled pink corn cobs for the job in the outdoor loo'. 

Back then we didn't have NAMED snow storms.  Of course we didn't have idiot talking heads competing with each other to see who could say the most stupid inane statement while standing outdoors showing us how brave they were all the while giving us "tips" to keep us safe.

It is amazing that any of us survived to reach old age with out their guidance. 

Oh' well, have to visit head now Ta Ta.... 8) 8) 8)

Tom said:

Quilted Northern still works for us, in the RV, on the boat, and in our stick house. Retest to your heart's content.

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Tom, can you please take a sheet of the Quilted Northern and do a test?  That was the same brand I was using and right now I just checked it after 24 hrs. and it is still just a big glob. It may be starting to break down a little but not very much. Thanks.

SeilerBird said:

I think Catblaster should do some TP testing.

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I tested some early this morning....not much to report.....I can't see it dissolving from here, wipes clean, and finger doesn't poke thru. Everything I ever wanted in TP.

But seriously....If you really want some TP that dissolves readily..go by the construction sites and get the extra rolls they leave in the porta-potties, they are huge and have to dissolve so the tankers can suck-em-up....

catblaster said:

I tested some early this morning....not much to report.....I can't see it dissolving from here, wipes clean, and finger doesn't poke thru. Everything I ever wanted in TP.

But seriously....If you really want some TP that dissolves readily..go by the construction sites and get the extra rolls they leave in the porta-potties, they are huge and have to dissolve so the tankers can suck-em-up....

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What brand did you try testing?

Tom Hoffman said:

WalMart carries RV TP in the RV section works fine.

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X2

Tom said:

Check out the TP test/results in our forum Library (button in the toolbar above). The winner was repeatedly Quilted Northern.

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Tom, I couldn't find it in the library. HELP!!!!!

I used the Search button in the Library (not the Search button above), and the article popped right up - here.

Here is some info on dissolving times of some brands. Unless you dump very soon after using the toilet it looks like any brand will be okay since the worst ones dissolve in less than a couple of  minutes.
The info is a several years old now. It came from a Better Homes and Garden web site that is no longer there.

It does help if you use a fair amount of water. We add water to the bowl and double flush. No problems after 11 years full timing using whatever TP my wife likes.


Brand...........................................Dissolving Time in Seconds
(lowest is best)
Charmin Plus 1-Ply..................................9
MD 2-Ply...................................................9
Coronet 2-Ply..........................................12
Angel Soft 2-Ply......................................12
Scott 1-Ply..............................................17
Soft 'N Gentle 1-Ply ...............................18
Soft Weve 1-Ply.....................................20
Marcal 1-Ply...........................................20
Soft 'N Gentle 2-Ply...............................21
Seventh Generation 2-Ply.....................21
Quilted Northern Super 2-Ply ...............69
Charmin Ultra 2-Ply ..............................77
Cottonelle 1-Ply ....................................96
Charmin 1-Ply .....................................180

The TPs with an Excellent disintegration rating from a Aug 2000 Consumer Report article are:

Albertson's Soft Choice Ultra
Safeway Select Softly Ultra
Quilted Northern Ultra Soft
Quilted Nothern Soft Prints
Target
Kroger
Angel Soft
Charmin Plus with Unscented Natural Aloe
SoftWeve

Thanks Clay,
I did a test starting yesterday with a sheet of Quilted Northern 2 ply. I left it in a cup of water for 24 hrs and it was still in one piece this morning. It did break up when I stirred it with a fork very aggressively. They may have made some changes to the material content recently as compared to 14 years ago when the survey was done. I know I won't be using it anymore.

UPDATE:  We went out and purchased some Charmin Ultra Ultra Strong Mega Roll 2 ply TP and did the water test. After being in the water for 3 hrs., the paper completely dissolved and I mean completely. It made a believer out of me. I will never use anything else except Charmin and would highly recommend every RVr use the same. Before everyone goes out to buy some Charmin, please give me a couple of days so I can buy some stock in Charmin. Ha Ha!!

Thanks to everyone who had some input  in ths official unofficial survey. If someone finds something better than Charmin, please let me know.

PS: It's also very kind to my Hiney!!

We recently (October 2013) did the test with four common brands.

Charmin Ultra Soft was certainly the fastest dissolving brand.
Followed closely by Angel Soft
Then the Thetford RV/Marine
And Quilted Northern was in a far-distant, dead last.  In fact, you could wring it out and use it again.

We posted a video of the test on our blog, if you want to see what toilet paper mush, combined with cute grandchildren, looks like.

We just did our own test this weekend. We tested Cottonelle against Charmin Ultra. Cottonelle dissolved in 40 seconds and Charmin Ultra starred  to breakup at 70 seconds.  We use Cottonelle at home because with a septic system we were told to use 1 ply.

Here's what I wrote in another toilet paper discussion.

I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd have a use for the table I cut out Consumer Reports, May 2012, "Ratings: Toilet Paper" on p. 47.  Their Excellent ratings for Disintegration were #1 Walmart's White Cloud 3-Ply Ultra Soft & Thick followed by #3 Walmart's Great Value Ultra Strong, #4 Walmart's White Cloud Soft & Thick, and #5 CVS Premium Ultra.  All of those are three- and two-ply.  For one-ply, the best for Excellent Disintegration are #12 Angel Soft and #13 Scott Extra Soft.  The Scott Rapid Dissolving rates #14 overall and even though the Disintegration may be excellent, Softness is good, Strength is good, and Tearing Ease is very good - but it costs more than most of the others.

The #2 Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is three-ply and rates "only" very good for Disintegration.  The #20 Quilted Northern Soft & Strong is two-ply and only rates Fair in Disintegration.  They only tested those two Quilted Northerns.  A while back I decided to try a pretty good dissolving two-ply (don't recall which one) and Jerry asked me not to use it after one roll because he thought it might be starting to cause a problem so I've reverted to one-ply.

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If it says it's safe for septic tanks it probably will also be good in RV waste tanks.

ArdraF

Man, I just buy the RV toilet paper at Wal-Mart.  A little more expensive than regular tp but it dissolves quickly.  Trust me, you don't want to have to clear out a black tank manually.  As someone commented on another thread, it can be a really sh___ty problem! 

We'll be doing a TP test in Quartzsite. Hopefully, the group will provide a variety of TPs to test. We'll provide cups and stirrers. Details will be provided at Happy Hour, results will be posted on The Forum.

I believe the results are actually inconclusive without the inclusion of fecal matter...It has the intestinal bacteria necessary to speed up the process also urine has ammonia that helps break down cellulose......now watcha gonna do??

A few years ago, I tested several brands of TP, first with plain water and then with a 5% ammonia solution. The difference in the ammonia solution was pretty dramatic in most cases, resulting in faster breakdown times.

Wendy said:

We'll be doing a TP test in Quartzsite. Hopefully, the group will provide a variety of TPs to test. We'll provide cups and stirrers. Details will be provided at Happy Hour, results will be posted on The Forum.

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Wendy, what is Quartzsite and when will this happen?

Quartzsite, AZ is a small town a little over 100 miles west of Phoenix (about 20 miles from California) along I-10. In January and February there are (literally) thousands of RVs in the desert surrounding QZ to see (among other things) the world's largest flea market. This web page, maintained by Bob Buchanan, one of our members here, contains a list of expected attendees from the forum, a history of the forum's rally there, and much more.

In addition to the flea market, during this time there are gem amd mineral shows, car shows, RV shows, etc. It's quite a place. In the Rallies, Shows, & Events section of this site there is a topic pinned at the top for information about and signup for this rally, which this year "officially" runs from January 18-26 -- I put "officially" in quotes, because it's a rather loosely organized/disorganized gathering and the "official" dates just serve to give folks a target date to attend with the other "framily" that attend. The signup is just to keep track of when you expect to arrive, though there's no requirement you actually sign up -- you can just show up if that's your preference.

Thanks for the reply Larry. It sounds like a real good time with a bunch of great people from this forum. Maybe next year. I just dropped a hint to DW and she kind a just shrugged her shoulders at 1st but then it got her thinking.  We'll see. It would be a good time to visit some of the things I only dreamed about seeing in the past. We're not getting any younger.