Composting toilets?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Attachment 16119


These are only $3.29 at grocery store.

Ask em to quadruple bag everything- FREE BAGS!

[WanderWoman]

Originally Posted by CaptSquid

All for a paltry $590 (+S&H)

So $590 + 3 bag cartridges are $60, so 45 poos for $60, that's $1.33 per poo. If you poo twice a day, you are looking at 730 poos a year x $1.33 = $970.90 for the bag + 590 for the commode = $1560.90 ... that's just one person. I figured in company to come up with my figure... I'm sticking with my Glad Febreeze scented bags

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by WanderWoman

If you poo twice a day, you are looking at

You may want to lay-off the bran muffins....

[WanderWoman]

Originally Posted by Rusty

You may want to lay-off the bran muffins....

LOL, that crap never worked for me [emoji90]I actually eat a Paleo diet, meat, eggs, veggies, nuts, seeds, no gluten or sugar or bran [emoji4]
We're actually meant to poo after each meal, believe it or not. I was pretty surprised when the doc told me that! The poo & seal bags would put me in poverty 🤣


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[Deezl Smoke]

It's great to see more conversation on the topic and that the conversation is going well.

For the people that challenge the term "composting toilet", you are right, no composting happens until the contents are properly put in a composting situation. The term "composting toilet", is simply a more acceptable title for the general public. Kinda like the term "black tank" is a much nicer sounding way of saying s**t tank. Either way, you have to deal with it at some point in time.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by WanderWoman

LOL, that crap never worked for me [emoji90]I actually eat a Paleo diet, meat, eggs, veggies, nuts, seeds, no gluten or sugar or bran [emoji4]
We're actually meant to poo after each meal, believe it or not. I was pretty surprised when the doc told me that! The poo & seal bags would put me in poverty 🤣


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I eat like you do!

[paulnack]

Originally Posted by davisdesigns

...So i just watched a TEDx video on composting leaves and they mentioned coffee grounds being an excellent additive to compost, Yes i understand the 5gal $#!T buckets aren't composting fully before they are tossed in your local USPS blue box addressed to the Clintons... But it gave me an idea some of you trying different things for covering your "modernart sculpture" you are ashamed of and quickly try to cover it up... Go to your local coffee shop and ask for their used coffee grounds, dry them and use as chocolate sprinkles on your "soft serve" I'm sure they would have pails full of it for free.

If they ask what you are using it for just tell them you mix it in with your 5 year olds coco-puffs before the other parents weekly visitation, Wait a second and then tell them you're going to sprinkle it on pooh.
Bet they only freek on the pooh usage...

Thanks for the stand up routine intermission

[paulnack]

Toilet mega thread!! What a wealth of inspirtion. Yep, it will be a dry toilet for me.

One critical piece of data Ive gleamed here is that there is typically not any composting in the 5gal bucket model, as material takes aroud a year to compost. Well, if average 1-person use gets about a month out of a 5gal bucket... would a 55gal drum hold enough to allow sufficient time for compost to occur before emptying??

I've been struck by this idea of incorporating a compost tumbler under the toilet in the bus basement. Potentially this could allow the material to break down, and could even have a screen to allow composted material to sift out. I'm sure you can imagine the benefits, but I wonder what are the pitfalls I am overlooking. Has anyone seen or tried anything like this?? I know Sunmar mfgers a similar all-integrated design, but the reviews I've seen were not great.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by paulnack

Toilet mega thread!! What a wealth of inspirtion. Yep, it will be a dry toilet for me.

One critical piece of data Ive gleamed here is that there is typically not any composting in the 5gal bucket model, as material takes aroud a year to compost. Well, if average 1-person use gets about a month out of a 5gal bucket... would a 55gal drum hold enough to allow sufficient time for compost to occur before emptying??

I've been struck by this idea of incorporating a compost tumbler under the toilet in the bus basement. Potentially this could allow the material to break down, and could even have a screen to allow composted material to sift out. I'm sure you can imagine the benefits, but I wonder what are the pitfalls I am overlooking. Has anyone seen or tried anything like this?? I know Sunmar mfgers a similar all-integrated design, but the reviews I've seen were not great.

Even tumbling it, it takes a long time to compost. I'd rather have a sealed bucket than something that has a stirrer, as that stirrer has to have a seal around a shaft to keep the poo and stuff in, right?
So if that seal goes out its gonna be nasty.
Plus the stirrer will just be another (moving) part to clean. Seems like it would make it way nastier to deal with.
The 55 gallon sounds cool, but that's a lot of poo to shovel in a bus.
Just my immediate thoughts.

[paulnack]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Even tumbling it, it takes a long time to compost. I'd rather have a sealed bucket than something that has a stirrer, as that stirrer has to have a seal around a shaft to keep the poo and stuff in, right?
So if that seal goes out its gonna be nasty.
Plus the stirrer will just be another (moving) part to clean. Seems like it would make it way nastier to deal with.
The 55 gallon sounds cool, but that's a lot of poo to shovel in a bus.
Just my immediate thoughts.

As far as design- I'm thinking a drum on its side that sits on rollers (no thru shaft needed), mounted below the floor of the bus. The tricky part will be making a door that's open during "deposits" and closed during tumbling. It can have permanent fins on the inside to aid churning, and permanent screened sections of the wall to allow exit of composted material and air aeration.

Ideally, I would like to get it to the point where composted output roughly equals fresh input. This way compost continually happens, no matter how long it takes, and I could keep it half full indefinitely. A nearly hands-off system. Maybe this would require a limited-use initialization period for composting to kick off.

[miscrms]

We'll probably end up going the Natures Head route, but here are some thoughts I posted on a possible design for a composting toilet solution in a bus.

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f50/ce...tml#post225675

Having used one of the all-in-one SunMar units on occasion, I do think the negative reviews are a bit exaggerated. One case on Amazon had only 1 verified review which was 5 stars. Many of the negative reviews used highly emotional language and sounded like paid negative reviews to me.

That said, I do think the SunMar's are very expensive for what you get. And any true composting option takes a fair amount of time, attention, and sometimes money for additives to keep working properly. And most are used too heavily for their design capacity. The all-in-one unit is sized for 1-2 people for seasonal usage as I recall. At that rate it should only have to be emptied once a year, allowing for something approaching actual composting. Ideally it still needs to sit in a secondary pile to cook for another year to be really done.


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[BowserJournal]

While many will build their own you can also buy one premade. Here is a good video on the pros and cons of the composting toilet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2xOoNov9s

[paulnack]

Ha! Did you really just post that 2 days ago?! We're basically looking at 2 parallel paths to the same destination. But, what's steering you away from carrying out the DIY solution, and towards a Natures Head?

Solid explanation of the basic physics tho- add heat, aeration to accelerate composting. And I hadn't thought about the bugs... ��

[miscrms]

I'd be all over it. But we've got 6 months to do a years worth of home repairs, get rid of stuff, pack the remainder into storage, sell our house and convert our bus. While working full time and raising three kids. My wife seems to think we should should just buy a damn toilet ;)


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[family wagon]

Keep in mind that if you're continuously adding to the compost bin then it perpetually contains some amount of raw/uncomposted waste. The stuff that went in last year will be composted but the stuff that went in yesterday doesn't magically become compost just because it's blended with the older material. (unless we invoke the "solution to pollution is dilution" rule.)

[TJones]

I have no experience with composting toilets but as part of my landscaping business I have produced several thousand tons of compost from horse manure. The problems I see with actually composting poo on a bus is the time it takes along with the storage. We process compost in batches and each batch will take 6 to 8 weeks to complete. I don't think it would be practical to store poo on a bus for this length of time. If shopping for or building a "composting" toilet. I would look for or build more of a "turd dehydrator". The ideal setup would separate the pee, then grind up the poo and mix it evenly with a porous light weight carbon source. A continuously running vent fan that pulls air down through the shredded poo and venting outside would provide aeration. This process would improve aerobic decomposition and dry up the poo, reducing odor and weight. The dryed poo could then be removed from the bus and composted or disposed. I'm not sure if it can or should be thrown in the trash. I would think that if partially composted and dried it would be less nasty than cat or dog poo and those are regularly thrown in the trash.

[paulnack]

Fam wagon- I'm not expecting any magic A tumbler with a sieve would retain the uncomposted waste, and allow composted, broken down, fine material to fall through and exit. At least, that's the idea.

TJones- Any tips as to how you accelerate the composting process?? Most common estimate I've seen is 1 year.

[brokedown]

I've posted it before but I'll post it again:

A little fabrication will get your $50 worth of parts to work as well as the $1000 commercial units. It took me 3 revisions to get it to where we're happy with it, so I'm out more like $120 but I was designing the thing from scratch.

THe keys to living with a composting bucket system toilet:

1. Separating liquids from solids is a requirement. Otherwise you're making a stew you don't want to be making.

2. Powered ventilation is a requirement. Having a small 30mm fan pulling air from the bucket and sending it outside will keep things dry and divert any odor outside.

3. For the women, if you're just doing a #1, put your TP into a trash container instead of in the bucket. You'll quadruple the time between changes if you aren't throwing paper in it all the time. We got a little trash can about the right size for a walmart bag for this.

4. Having something that stirs the bucket makes a huge difference. I use a bucket inside a bucket for the double walls, and bent a steel rod into a Z shape just like the commercial units have. Do your business, turn the handle a few times, get on with life.

5. The best way to prolong the life of your composting toilet is to use other toilets when they are available. This is easy if you're travelling and spending a lot of time under Walmart signs.

If you're camping in one spot, the system I built will last around a month with 2 people using it as their primary toilet. Being on the road, it's been like 3 months since we changed it last and things are running smoothly.

Last time I changed it out it took less than 5 minutes. It's basically the same as dumping a trash can into a trash bag, you just try to be a bit more careful to avoid spillage. Since we found that Walmarts carry a ready-t-use coconut coir material that's the exact quantity we need it's really simplified that part as well.

[TJones]

Paulnack,

For the fastest composting four conditions must be regulated; carbon/nitrogen ratio, moisture, carbon dioxide and temperature. You want to create the friendliest environment for aerobic bacteria.

The carbon nitrogen ratio is how much carbon and nitrogen are in what you are trying to compost. Ideally you will want to start with a ratio around 30 or 40 to 1. This is determined by the ingredients, the poo and cover material. These values can be found on the inter web.

Moisture content is important it needs to be wet enough to support bacteria but not so wet that it sticks together. It should have a crumbly consistancy.

Carbon dioxide is the enemy of aerobic composting. As the bacteria uses up the oxygen carbon dioxide is produced. Once the oxygen is too low and the carbon dioxide too high the aerobic bacteria slow down and the anaerobic bacteria take over. Anaerobic bacteria are what make the poo smell.

Temperature is important as well. Bacteria don't like to be too hot or too cold. If the other conditions are correct the bacteria will be growing fast enough that they will generate their own heat. When composting your temperatures should get up to 130 F to 150 F to kill pathogens in the compost. If you temps get over 150 F then the composting bacteria start slowing down.

The carbon dioxide and temperature could be controlled by tumbling. This would best be done in batches as continually adding poo the whole batch wouldn't heat up enough.

To speed things up anaerobic bacteria can be added to the mix to help get things moving. It can be purchased or non sterilized finished compost could be added. Also the the poo size is important the smaller the chunks the more surface area for the aerobic bacteria and better aeration. Think of it like a fire, smaller twigs burn faster than big logs.

[rossfree]

All good stuff! I love talking ****!

I tried to type some stuff earlier on my iPhone and lost it... I hate that!

I take pride in saying I'm probably the only one in the world that has an electric composting toilet. Ha! I put a dc motor on the thing to drive the mixer and a timer and position switch to tell it how long and where to stop (so you're not pooing directly on the mixer.

I am still working on the bus so I can't say for sure how it will work but I'm hopeful to get a couple of months out of it or longer on the road with just two of us using it.

I'm using the same diverter as others here. I've posted some links to pics before but this is such a long post I'm posting them again:

Night time view in bathroom:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

Out of the bus:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

Open showing sawdust and drive sprockets:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

Short movie showing mixer in action:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

Some construction details:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3G...ew?usp=sharing

It was a labor of love. I added a push button switch to start the timing cycle. The mixer turns one full revolution and stops in the same location (out of the way) for the next user.

I'm using sawdust and coconut coir. I dampen the mix a bit, mostly to help break down the toilet paper. I will also add a cup of diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs down.

I have a computer fan in the wall behind the toilet that pulls a draft over the compost and directs it to a vertical pvc pipe and exiting a roof vent. I put a speed controller on the fan so I could turn it down and lower the noise. You can hardly hear it running and it runs 24 hours a day. Over a year now in operation.

I'm having a lot of "life" happening around me right now and can't seem to get back to the bus to finish it up. But I'll get it done! I have the tanks to install under the bus and the kitchen sink/stove/cabinet to finish. That will be enough to pass insurance scrutiny and I can finish the little stuff later.

Good stuff on this forum!

Ross