RV Toilet Paper vs Regular Toilet Paper

We have been living full time in our fifth wheel for almost four years now.  That means we have been spending too much money on that special RV toilet paper that we are told is the only one that breaks down in our tanks.

After doing many informal assessments (talking to other RVers), I decided to do a super duper scientific test of my own.  It’s basically the same test my dad set up for us many moons ago when he wanted to show us kids that kleenex and tampons don’t break down in our septic tank!

The not-so-very scientific test consists of two clear jars of water and two types of toilet paper. Ok, so it’s not going to win me a science fair project. But, it is an effective method to figure out what I wanted to know.  My question is: Which toilet paper breaks down best for use in a RV holding tank?

We consistently have been buying the Scott Rapid Dissolve RV toilet paper.  It comes in a pack of 4 with each roll having 264 sheets. We have mostly been finding it in the RV section at WalMart or on Amazon.  There are several types of toilet paper made for RVs (and we have tried them all!). However, this is the one that my family prefers because it isn’t too thin and it is fairly soft.  My children have clogged their toilet multiple times with the nasty 1-ply RV toilet paper, because they feel they need to use a gazillion sheets to make a huge ball, since it is so thin. So, it isn’t really a money saver or good for my tanks, since they use three times the amount!  I digress.  We will be using the Scott Rapid Dissolving for RVs and Boats for one of our “test” subjects.

We found another Scott Brand product that says it’s super soft and septic safe. When we first saw it, we also noticed through the package that the rolls have the same quilted pattern as the special RV toilet paper. They also have 264 sheets per roll. But, the packages can come in a bargain saving packs up to 30 rolls. We chose the 12 pack as our tester, which was still a significant savings over the 4 roll pack. 

The cost breakdown according to WalMart in our current area is:

-Regular Scott (extra soft, septic safe) is 13.67 at walmart for 264 sheets, 30 rolls or 5.98, 12 rolls

-Scott Rapid dissolve (for RVs and boats) is 3.17 at walmart for 264 sheets, 4 rolls

For the test, we place one sheet of each type of toilet paper into a small jar of water and let it sit for 2 minutes.  After 2 minutes I stirred them both slightly and took a picture.  

The result is that they both disolved identically.  I covered the tags and had my family guess which was which. No one could tell the difference. I honestly would not be surprised if they were the exact same rolls, just packaged differently.

We are now only using the Scott Super Soft, Septic Free! It saves us a significant amount of money and it is much easier to find when we travel. Our bums are happy and our tanks are happy. What more can we ask for?

UPDATE:

We recently tried the Costco (Kirkland) brand toilet paper. We had heard from several people that it worked for them in their RV tanks.  However, we found the opposite. We had several tank and pipe clogs while using it.  We have not had any issues since going back to the regular Extra Soft Scott brand.