Keeping a Jobsite Toilet Usable Through a Butler Winter

Butler averages 35 inches of snow and January lows around 17 °F. A porta potty does not mind either, as long as three things are handled: the tank, the access and the placement.

The tank: brine

From November through March every unit leaves our yard with a brine charge: salt water plus the usual deodorizer, which keeps the tank contents liquid to about 0 °F so the pump truck can empty it on service day. Brine is recharged at every weekly visit, costs nothing extra, and is pumped out with the waste to the treatment plant. In a stretch below zero we top it off mid-week.

The access: plowed or skipped

The service truck needs to get within 25 feet of the unit on firm ground. If the site is not plowed on route day, the driver skips it, texts the site contact and comes back on the next route day at no charge. A unit that is full and snowed in gets a special trip once the path is open, billed as an extra visit. The simplest fix is to put the unit by the site entrance where the plow already goes.

The placement: out of the plow's way

Every winter a unit gets pushed over by a plow that did not see it at 5 AM. Set units where the plow pushes snow away from them, not toward them, and stake them on open lots; wind off the ridges around Butler tips an unstaked unit in winter more often than in summer.

Which units not to use

Flushable units freeze; their fresh-water tank is the problem. Deluxe units run with the sink drained. Handwashing stations work with non-toxic antifreeze in the fresh tank, which is how winter jobsites meet OSHA's handwashing rule. Standard and accessible units run all winter with brine.

Small things that help

• Face the door away from the west wind so snow does not drift against it.
• Do not put a heater or torch near the unit; the plastic cracks when heated locally in the cold.
• Keep the vent stack clear of snow; a blocked vent is the usual cause of winter odor.
• Tell us when the crew size changes; a 60-gallon tank with 15 users fills in 4 days regardless of the temperature.

Full details on the winter rental guide and the construction rental page.