Composting toilets

[rowdyhillrambler]

Shitty question-wocka wocka

Anyway, I own some land where folks go rock climbing and I am building an off grid cabin for them to stay in. It will be a sustainable endeavor that’s minimalistic. Still gonna need to do the thing. I’ve never had a need for a composting toilet but want something nicer than an outhouse.

Ideas? Recommendations on what to do or not doo? All the puns-

Brands?

[Mabouya]

How many people, and how often will they "go" (i.e. be there)?

I'm no expert, but I'm sure that will have some effect on what's most appropriate for the job.

[j44ke]

Churchtown Dairy, a local regenerative agriculture project headed by Abby Rockefeller (yes, that Rockefeller) on 250 acres, is set up with composting toilets by a company called Clivus Multrum Inc. I know very little about them except that Abby Rockefeller is a big proponent of the brand. And I've visited them on occasion, and they seem like nice toilets.

The cheese from the dairy is great, so if there is something in the water, then it is working out well for the cheese.

[rowdyhillrambler]

That’s a good question.. how does one rate a composting toilets usage? Shits per week?

I’m imagining that the toilet might ‘see action’ and or be called into duty 6-8x per week?

I need to do the math-

I’m a welder/contractor and have built most everything.. I’m finding my lack of composting knowledge exciting.

[bigbill]

We have a similar setup with a large tall Tuffshed with a sleeping loft and campstove. We use a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat and wood shavings in a plastic bag. Either burn it in the trash barrel or pack it out. I've been looking for a burlap type bag for the wood shavings so I'm not burning plastic, but nothing yet. Our next investment will be in a septic tank/leach field followed by electricity.

I looked at composting toilets, they were pricey and had to be used correctly. You still have to do something with the compost.

[Mabouya]

but want something nicer than an outhouse.

This looks very nice to me:

https://www.dwell.com/article/how-to...house-11faca2d

[rwsaunders]

The brand that Jorn mentioned has been well established and is almost like the Xerox of composting toilets. There is still some maintenance required and I believe that the system requires electricity for a fan and possibly a pump.

[rowdyhillrambler]

This looks very nice to me:

https://www.dwell.com/article/how-to...house-11faca2d

That’s almost perfect and the article has good info. I like that style and it seems like it’s easy enough to do. That’s super helpful.

[rowdyhillrambler]

Those Clivus Multrum toilets seem like the berries, I mean if it’s good enough for a Rockefeller’s ass, then it’s probably good enough for me. I sent them an email about pricing for just a toilet.. I’m almost afraid to hear back from them.

[j44ke]

This video gives a good sense of the day to day of a composting setup. Cabins built on rock shore of lake where all waste must be retained. The owner has installed a vacuum flush system setup.



You might also consider a propane-powered incinerating toilet. A rocket in a box so to speak. If you are installing a propane tank already, that might be an option.

[rwsaunders]

This video gives a good sense of the day to day of a composting setup. Cabins built on rock shore of lake where all waste must be retained. The owner has installed a vacuum flush system setup.



You might also consider a propane-powered incinerating toilet. A rocket in a box so to speak. If you are installing a propane tank already, that might be an option.

Wasn’t there a toilet/gas episode featured on Mythbusters?

[j44ke]

Wasn’t there a toilet/gas episode featured on Mythbusters?

If there is a myth about toilet gas explosions, then it was definitely on Mythbusters.

OT: While they were at the height of their popularity, I found myself attracting way too much attention from construction workers while walking around NYC. Beautiful woman walks past construction site "Woohoo!" I walk past a construction site "Woohoo!". Then finally one day one of them yells "Hey John Smith!" or whatever the name of the red haired horn-rimmed eyeglass wearing guy was on Mythbusters. I had to look it up then and cannot remember it now. But turns out, I was famous on TV. Or my supposed doppelgänger was. White guy, reddish hair, safety glasses - that's enough similarity for most people evidently. I can see how they fall for all that other crap now. So anyway, for a while I'd get "Hey Mythbusters" and similar.

Then in 2007 I went to Cuba to help the National Museum of Natural History on an ornithological survey. Bird count in other words. We'd get up early, bird all day, and then stay in some hotel in the middle of nowhere as the only guests. Our guides were from the museum, both in their 20's. One was a brilliant ornithologist, and the other was obviously the government man. They were really awkward around me though for some reason. I could see that they wanted to ask me something, but the time never seemed right. Then one day on the way back to our bus (driven by El Duque's cousin, also a pitcher!) the government man said, "Can we ask you something?" I figured an international incident was in the making but what the heck "Sure!" The ornithologist started, "There's this show in America, ..."

So evidently I am famous on TV in Cuba also.

But to bring this story all the way around - the government man, in a moment of frankness about the failing national infrastructure, said that if tomorrow the embargo was completely cancelled so all the US tourists they dreamed of having for years and years finally came to Cuba, and everyone of them went into the bathroom of their hotel room and flushed the toilet, the entire island of Cuba would explode.

[rowdyhillrambler]

That story just kept getting wilder!

[ides1056]

I used a five gallon bucket for some years after buying our first place: ten acres, well and electric. Boiled the proceeds when necessary and put it on the compost pile. Never had a problem.

[thollandpe]

Those Clivus Multrum toilets seem like the berries, I mean if it’s good enough for a Rockefeller’s ass, then it’s probably good enough for me. I sent them an email about pricing for just a toilet.. I’m almost afraid to hear back from them.

I operated a building for two and a half years that had eight toilets dumping into two Clivus Multrum units. The bins were in the basement, each had a sump pump that would discharge the liquid effluent into a holding tank that we’d have a septic company pump out twice a year. This was a high-traffic college admissions and classroom building with a coffee shop. There was a “spritz” valve that would open on a timer to keep the contents sufficiently wet. Our custodian would throw a scoop of pine shavings down each hole, once a week.

There was an exhaust fan on a 6-inch duct that exhausted each of the bins, which also exhausted the bathrooms.

I don’t know if you’d need the spritz valve, the sump pump, or the fan in a residential application. We had a service contract with Clivus, they’d come out once a month to make sure the chemistry was working. They key is to keep the whole thing operating with aerobic bacteria so they turn the turds into CO2, and no anaerobic bacteria that make methane. Methane stinks, is harder on the environment, and yeah it’s flammable. Note we never even flirted with going anaerobic. And note that in two in a half years we never stuck a shovel in either bin, no solids were removed. All the poop and paper turned to CO2. Remarkable.

Also remarkable that the bins had an openable hatch, which we’d regularly open on tours to show people the wood chips inside. The basement did not stink. The bathrooms did not stink. Only two things were actually weird. One, you did not want to accidentally drop anything into these toilets. Two, there was an acoustic connection to the other toilet rooms. You could hear their business hit the hopper down below while you did your business.