This field report is about the BoKlo Emmy urine-diverting toiletversion "L" in the colour white. We bought the separating toilet directly from the manufacturer Boklo in August 2022 for the price of €699 at the time. In this report, we will give you our Experience with the product in the Practice and the later necessary Complaint from the manufacturer. This report is not an advert and we do not receive any commission.

Why the BoKlo urine-diverting toilet

We completely rebuilt our old Mercedes 709 in 2022. We also wanted a spacious wet room on board and a suitable urine-diverting toilet, as we wanted to do without chemicals. Now we were faced with the choice of which separating toilet was right for us. We wanted to use as little plastic as possible, so the only option was Material only one model from Wood to choose from. After a lot of research, we decided in favour of the Emmy model from BoKlo. The white, round design matched the white aluminium dibond panelling of the wet room perfectly. We chose the largest version with a 10-litre solids container and urine tank to ensure sufficient capacity. The exterior of the urine-diverting toilet consists of an HPL coating and is therefore waterproof. The manufacturer also states that it is sealed with oil. Finally, it is made by hand and also directly from Germany. So what more could you want?

Installing the BoKlo urine-diverting toilet

Installing the toilet was quite simple. We placed the toilet in the designated place and carefully screwed it to the floor. We sealed the joints at the transitions to the wet room with silicone so that no water can flow under or behind the toilet when showering. If you place the toilet flush with a wall without a gap to the rear, the toilet lid won't stay in position but would tilt down again. For this reason, we helped out a little and ordered a set of latches from Amazon. Here is the Link (advertising). If you now fold the lid upwards, simply press the locking mechanism downwards and the lid will now sit securely on the wall.

The BoKlo urine-diverting toilet in practice

In November 2022, we now began our major Journey with our camper and we were very excited to see how it would be in the Practice with the stylish separating toilet. What can we say, we were absolutely thrilled. It's comfortable to sit on and the height is ideal. The design is classic and fits in perfectly with the rest of our wet room. The Waste disposal of the tanks does not cause any problems. Open the lid, put the toilet seat to one side and remove the separator attachment. There are two small notches at the back into which the separator can be inserted vertically. This way it doesn't get in the way. The urine tank can now be removed from the handle and the bag can then be removed from the solids container. The urine tank can be emptied into a conventional toilet or simply into a manhole cover. The bag with the solids can be disposed of with the normal residual waste.

Our experience with the BoKlo urine-diverting toilet

Now we were travelling and were quite happy, but after a few weeks we suddenly noticed a slight Mould inside the toilet on the upper edge above the solids container. We were amazed, somehow thought it was an accident and removed the mould with a damp cloth. But after a day, we realised that the mould had Mould again formed. So we removed it again. But after a short time, the same thing happened again. Over time, it got worse and worse and at some point the entire interior was mouldy. We were shocked at how something like this could happen. We don't even need to go into the health aspect. Fortunately, we still had enough face masks with us from the coronavirus era. And as a reminder: the manufacturer assures us on its website that the product has been sealed with oil. So we had no choice but to complain to the manufacturer about the situation.

Furthermore, the silicone ring on the lid of the urine tank has rotted after six months of use. The silicone ring was cleaned regularly. The dirt cannot be removed even with a strong cleaner. The silicone ring is not available as a replacement directly from BoKlo, but must be ordered from a third-party retailer. The pack of 2 costs €14.90 plus €6.90 shipping.

The complaint to the manufacturer BoKlo

At the end of January 2023, while we were travelling in Spain, we wrote a polite and extremely factual email to BoKlo with a friendly request for a statement. Here is the original extract from our message:

As the attached pictures show, mould began to form on the inner, upper edge of the urine-diverting toilet after around four weeks of use. After the mould was removed, new mould formed immediately, within one day. Even treatment with vinegar did not help. The inside of the urine-diverting toilet is absolutely dry, no liquids have run next to the container or the tank. The bathroom where the urine-diverting toilet is located is regularly heated and ventilated. In the meantime, mould stains have formed that can no longer be removed. We use standard cat litter as a binding agent, as you recommended. We see the cause here: The wood of the separating toilet is completely untreated and rough on the inside. Treatment with oil etc. as with the toilet seat does not appear to have taken place. The attached pictures were taken after we had not removed the mould for three days.

We were eagerly awaiting an answer that might give us a reason for the Mould problem but this did not materialise for the time being. The days passed and after a week we politely asked and requested that our enquiry be processed. And lo and behold, on the same day, it was almost night, the manufacturer's reply came directly from the boss himself. We are now reproducing the approximate wording of the reply here, but in full.

Mould is not a reason for complaint. The toilet was certainly not delivered with mould. I suspect a Application error and the mould is caused by a persistently too high Air humidity may occur, for example due to incorrect scattering in the solids container. I would like to point out that this can also happen due to diarrhoea or urine in the solids container. The complaint will not be recognised.

Okay, now we had to take a deep breath and collect our thoughts. What was this, what can we best call it, a pesky answer supposed to tell us? Let's let our minds wander a little here:

• We did not - of course - say anything about a mouldy toilet being delivered to us. This is hardly possible and if this had been the case, we would certainly have complained about the toilet on the first day after delivery.
• The moisture cannot have been caused by incorrect littering. We had already explained to the manufacturer in the first message that we use enough standard cat litter. Just as the manufacturer recommends on its website
• The way in which mould develops is also known, namely through moisture. However, how this moisture develops is another matter. There were no liquids in the solids container. Nor did any liquids "spill". None of this should therefore be a reason for mould formation.
• A certain amount of moisture always occurs in a urine-diverting toilet due to its design, as there is no seal between the separating attachment and the urine tank.
• Our separating toilet is located in the warmest and driest place in the camper. The main heat supply for the auxiliary heating is via the wet room. The shower itself was hardly used and no water got inside the toilet.
• And finally, why does the wood go mouldy? A brief explanation. All the furniture in our camper is made of wood. Every single board has been sawn to size, sanded and treated several times with a high-quality hard wax oil. There are places inside the camper that are not heated and where moisture forms due to condensation (heat inside, cold outside). There is no sign of mould, as the wood has, as you may already know, been treated properly.

Well, you're right, we've come a long way now. But what happened next? We sent the above points to the manufacturer in exactly this form as a reply, with a request for an inspection. We wanted to know exactly how mould gets into a place where there should be no mould if everyone has done their job correctly.

We are still waiting for an answer from the manufacturer in April 2023, eight weeks later.

We still assume that the wood was not treated with moisture protection before the toilet was delivered. No high-quality hard wax oil was available to us in Spain. We treated the interior of the toilet with an inferior oil, which partially reduced the formation of mould. We will be back in Germany in May to sand the toilet at our own expense and treat it with the right hard wax oil. We will provide you with an update here.

Update August 2023: After we treated the interior walls with OSMO hard wax oil in May, the mould has now disappeared to 90%. We will treat the surfaces again in autumn and hope that the mould will then be completely gone.

And the manufacturer Boklo? It supplies a beautiful product that you can certainly enjoy for a long time if, and only if, mould does not form. Otherwise, and this is our very personal opinion based on our experience, we have to advise everyone against buying a urine-diverting toilet from BoKlo. The communication and service are poor and you get unobjective, even embarrassing answers from the head of the company, who responds to purely factual arguments directly and unobjectively, or not at all, and doesn't seem to take the customer, who has spent a lot of money on a product, seriously at all.

We have refrained from using a lawyer. In case of doubt, an expert would have to inspect the product and determine whether there is a fault. This would be rather difficult for us at the present time, as we are permanently travelling abroad. We have therefore written this experience report so that future prospective buyers can incorporate our point of view into their purchase decision.

Conclusion BoKlo urine-diverting toilet

Based on our own personal experience, we can recommend the BoKlo Emmy none I would recommend buying it. It has a beautiful design, is functional, made of wood and is manufactured in Germany. However, the serious contrasts. Massive mould growth became noticeable inside the separating toilet after four weeks of use and returned again and again after removal. This is harmful to health. Complaints about the problem were rejected by the manufacturer BoKlo. E-mails with factual arguments are not answered.

Pro:
	Attractive, timeless design
	Made from wood
	Easy to empty
Contra:
	Massive mould growth inside the urine-diverting toilet after 4 weeks of use
	When mounted directly on the wall, the cover does not hold in an upright position
	Plastic feed-through to the urine tank already rotten after half a year
	Service from the manufacturer
	Price-performance ratio

You can find out more about our campervan conversion here here.