Office Trailer Holding Tank Rental in Philadelphia

Philadelphia regulates holding tanks. The Department of Public Health's Environmental Health Services issues a combined Portable Chemical Toilet or Holding Tank Permit, and the city says that if you want a storage or holding tank for sewage waste on your property, you must apply for one. The application asks for the site, the dates and the company servicing the tank.

Allow time for it. The city says its portable toilet permits take about 10 to 14 days to arrive, and the permit has to be kept on site. Apply as soon as the trailer's delivery date is set, and we'll give you the details the application asks for about the tank and the service.

It comes down to how many people use the trailer and how much water goes down the drain. A site office with a super and a project manager fills a tank slowly. A trailer that's also the crew's restroom, or one with a busy sink, fills much faster. A tank that's pumped on a schedule never gets close to full; a tank that's pumped when someone notices is a problem at the worst time.

We set the schedule from the people who'll use the trailer and adjust it after the first few visits, when the actual fill rate shows. The goal is a tank that's always well short of full when the truck arrives. For a big crew, the better answer is usually porta potties for the crew and the trailer's restroom for the office.

The holding tank sits on level ground as close to the trailer's drain as it can, so the drain line has a steady downhill run with no dips where waste can settle. The service truck has to reach it, so the tank goes on the side of the trailer the truck can get to, not behind the material storage or the dumpster.

Philadelphia winters are the real test. A drain line or a fresh water line that freezes stops the trailer's restroom cold. Lines get insulated and kept short, the tank goes where it's protected from the wind, and the trailer's skirt keeps cold air off the plumbing underneath. If the trailer's heat goes off over a long holiday break, tell us before you lock it up.

A trailer with a holding tank is the office. The crew still needs porta potties in the numbers OSHA sets for the crew size, a hand wash station where they mix and finish, and on a tower, high-rise units on the working floors. Add a roll-off dumpster and a storage container and the whole site is on one quote, one invoice and one service schedule.

Job site offices are the most common use, but they aren't the only one. A builder's sales trailer at a new townhome development, a modular classroom while a school is renovated, a church's temporary office, a security post at a large site or a field office for a utility project all have the same problem: a trailer with a bathroom and no sewer. A holding tank and a fresh water system make any of them usable for as long as the trailer stays.

Long-term trailers are where the pumping schedule matters most. A trailer used by a sales team six days a week fills a tank at a steady pace, and the schedule is set to that pace. A classroom trailer used weekdays only can go longer between visits. We set it from the people who use the trailer, not a standard calendar.

A holding tank is sealed, so whatever goes in stays until it's pumped. Wipes, paper towels, rags, grease and anything from the job site, like paint rinse, joint compound or concrete washout, can clog the line between the trailer and the tank or the hose on the service truck. Toilet paper and hand soap are fine.

A sign by the trailer's sink and toilet saves a service call. Paint and mud washout belong at a hand wash station or a washout area outside, not in the trailer's sink, and job site debris goes in the dumpster.

A holding tank goes in right after the trailer is set and leveled, so the easiest jobs are the ones planned together. Before delivery, it helps to know where the trailer's drain outlet is, which side of the trailer the service truck can reach and whether the site has city water or needs a fresh water tank.

Send the trailer's size, the number of people who'll use it and the dates, and we'll send the tank setup, the pumping schedule and the information the city's permit application asks for, so the permit is filed while the trailer is still on its way.

The holding tank's job ends when the building's own utilities are in. Once the trailer can tie into a sewer line, or the crew moves into finished space with working restrooms, the tank gets a final pump-out, it's disconnected and it's picked up. Call when the plumber gives you the date and the pickup is scheduled around it, so there's never a day with no restroom in the office.

On long jobs the trailer sometimes moves partway through, from the front of the lot to the back as the building fills in. The tank moves with it: pumped, disconnected, set at the new spot and reconnected on the same visit.