Urine diversion - The Movie

[Mauth]

Hello everyone. So my wife and I are to the point of plumbing, and we're having a discussion regarding your in diversion in our composting toilet. The question isn't whether we want to use an alternate tank to the provided one, we definitely do. The question is whether we can divert you're into a gray tank that is being filled by both kitchen sink and bath water, or if we should dedicate a secondary tank to just urine.

While trying to search both these forums and google, I kept finding an inconclusive results. Lots of people say they would never go back, lots of people say they would never do it, and I'm just left wondering.

My wife is very environmentally conscious and wants to make sure that whatever decision we make won't hurt the area we're at, cause bad odors, and otherwise be a good camp person, even if we are out boondocking by ourselves in the middle of nowhere

I'm looking for thoughts, concerns, or ideas that anyone might have. I'm also looking for your own personal experiences with either doing the diversion or not. What is your take on odor when mixed with a gray tank, about how much wastewater is produced per day per person, all the fixings.

Thank you all in advance for your information! I love this forum and I've learned a lot and I'm looking forward to learning this little bit more.

[Drew Bru]

We'd considered diverting our urine to the gray tank or to a larger urine jug but we never got around to it. We used the Natures Head jug that's about 2 gallons, and we 2 adults filled it in about a day and a half. We didn't want to fill our gray tank any faster, since our 65 gal gray tank got filled in about 7 days with just kitchen and bath wastewater. If we were to divert it, we'd probably get a 5gal yellow diesel jug and mount it under the bathroom area and divert into that....easy to take out to the woods and dump it where the deer, bears, cattle, etc. do their thing. Maybe spread it around a little so as not to overwhelm the ecosystem? I dunno how much urine is safe to put in any single spot but any tank less than 5 gallons seems pointless (might as well just use the Natures Head jug) and anything more would be pretty heavy and probably needs to be dumped at the dump station like gray water.

[TJones]

I'm am also contemplating a separate pee tank. My thought is the pee tank could be chemically treated like a port a potties so it doesn't stink and then dumped in an RV waste station with the gray water.

Ted

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by TJones

I'm am also contemplating a separate pee tank. My thought is the pee tank could be chemically treated like a port a potties so it doesn't stink and then dumped in an RV waste station with the gray water.

Ted

Distilled white vinegar seemed to work pretty well in our pee jug. I think we put probably a cup or so in the 2 gallon jug.

[TJones]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Distilled white vinegar seemed to work pretty well in our pee jug. I think we put probably a cup or so in the 2 gallon jug.

That would be much more environmentally friendly.

Thanks

Ted

[Mako]

We have a 115 gallon fresh tank and a 97 gallon gray tank. I have a composting toilet and will be diverting to the gray tank. I hate black tanks. I will not be dumping on to the ground so I see no issue whatsoever as to diverting to the gray. Actually it makes a lot of sense. one thing I will be doing is probably adding those cleaners/sanitizers to my gray just to keep it smelling better and cleaner. Other than that, I think the diverter is the way to go. It's not hooked up yet so we have a 1 gallon milk jug and let me tell you it fills up quick. We were camping last month and my wife got up to use it and I forgot to check it and, well let's just say my wife woke me up and said "honey the floor is wet". Not a fun night!

[Seb1]

We have 90 gal fresh water and 70 gal grey water into which urine is diverted to. Works well. Lasts us a week for 5 of us. Of course when we dump at station it stinks, but not in bus as grey tank is ventilated thru roof and we have hepto drain.

[Dbacks2k4]

I'm diverting to grey tanks. Technically I think that makes them black in some places and results in legal dumping restrictions in terms of dumping to ground. But few states allow that anyway, so not a big issue in my opinion.