Level Up Your Boondocking - Composting Toilet Install

[Rocinante]

Perhaps you can also merge your black and grey tanks via a connector, especially if you've yet to christen the black tank, as it were.

[Hittenstiehl]

That's what we think. Extra grey tank volume sounds good. And of late the composting toilets are getting good feedback. Well see how it works out. We have yet to come up with a floor plan.

[BoldAdventure]

We dumped our first batch yesterday. Faster and easier than dumping a black tank, that's for sure. So we lasted for 3 weeks with two adults.

The consistency of the material, it looked like dirt. No visible human waste signs. Also smelled like damp dirt.

[Hittenstiehl]

That's great information thanks for updating.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by BoldAdventure

We dumped our first batch yesterday. Faster and easier than dumping a black tank, that's for sure. So we lasted for 3 weeks with two adults.

The consistency of the material, it looked like dirt. No visible human waste signs. Also smelled like damp dirt.

Thanks for the update. How long had it been since your last deposit of solid material into this first batch? Did you let it sit for a while? Also, curious where you dumped it (or buried it).

Thanks.

[KJRitchie]

What is the volume of the composting toilet? How much of it do you fill with the composting agent to start off with.

Showed my wife the composting toilet and she said "no way".

Maybe if these toilets didn't look so "butt" ugly I might bring her around eventually.

Are you going to run a pipe between your gray and black tank so you have one large gray tank or just keep it as it is in case you want to put the Airstream on the market and restore the wet toilet.

Seems a great solution for full timers like you who are off the grid.

Here's one persons review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ih17XFOkSc

Kelvin

[BoldAdventure]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Thanks for the update. How long had it been since your last deposit of solid material into this first batch? Did you let it sit for a while? Also, curious where you dumped it (or buried it).

Thanks.

We last used it probably around 8pm and dumped it this morning at 7am.

And here is what it looks like
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCJF-FpP...=boldadventure



It's in a compostable bag in my truck, awaiting a dumpster run. I'm in the desert, and there is nowhere friendly to bury. Maybe if I was in a forest with good soil and things to continue the process. But not here. So it's going to the landfill.

[Rocinante]

Wow, that video shows one nasty-looking toilet. Looks like she doesn't haven enough coir in the poop compartment and well, the regularly overflowing urine container, just nasty. I'm kinda thinking that one's not representative of most users...at least I hope not!

[J. Morgan]

Lol, no.... Thank you anyway.

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

What is the volume of the composting toilet? How much of it do you fill with the composting agent to start off with.

Showed my wife the composting toilet and she said "no way".

Maybe if these toilets didn't look so "butt" ugly I might bring her around eventually.

Are you going to run a pipe between your gray and black tank so you have one large gray tank or just keep it as it is in case you want to put the Airstream on the market and restore the wet toilet.

Seems a great solution for full timers like you who are off the grid.

Here's one persons review

Kelvin

Talis gentium ceciderunt.

[BoldAdventure]

Yea I noticed that, I don't think she cleans. That was gross. Her's looks really damp, like overly damp. Also, problems we don't have. How hard is it to dump the pee container? Seriously. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'd take more photos but not trying to gross you out.

[J. Morgan]

Honestly I stopped watching as soon as she took the top section of the devise apart.

It was,,,,, well, it looked kinda NASTY.

I guess a person could take that thing outside and hose it out after dumping? If that thing requires scrubbing by hand...

I am not a fan of poop, that job would bring on a very deep gag reflex on my part.


Talis gentium ceciderunt.

[xrvr]

Looks like another example of not following instructions and little common sense. I believe these things will work, some people can mess up anything.

[BoldAdventure]

"It keeps overflowing", you're supposed to empty it before then dingbat! That's user error, not product design.

[xrvr]

Post 152

[Greenfire]

of all the compost toilet videos out there, that one is the ONE video that absolutely shows them at their worst, and she totally turned me off the Nature's Head version... but it's not the toilet, it's her! It's so freaking nasty, I'd rather have a home depot bucket and just not stir it. User error? How about user terror??? I know plenty of people with composting toilets and several even with this version, and not a single one of them has ever complained about the nature's head (though one has complained about the sun mar one) Seriously, if you wanted to choose one video to make people think, thanks but no thanks, you hit on the right one. (agenda??)

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by Greenfire

of all the compost toilet videos out there, that one is the ONE video that absolutely shows them at their worst, and she totally turned me off the Nature's Head version... but it's not the toilet, it's her! It's so freaking nasty, I'd rather have a home depot bucket and just not stir it. User error? How about user terror??? I know plenty of people with composting toilets and several even with this version, and not a single one of them has ever complained about the nature's head (though one has complained about the sun mar one) Seriously, if you wanted to choose one video to make people think, thanks but no thanks, you hit on the right one. (agenda??)

I think his intent is fairly obvious.

[Ted S.]

Even if I wasn't married I know I would not date the girl in that composting toilet video.

[InterBlog]

The video simply illustrated the difference between theoretical and real-world outcomes. If someone is operating in isolated conditions and can rigorously control the composting toilet, all should be well. But there are no forgiving margins. Throw a small party, or take a few Girl Scout Daisies on a trip and yes, you can count on user error by definition - because those types of participants have neither the training nor the motivation to use the device in a manner consistent with its design (and even with training they will quickly default to plumbed porcelain toilet operating assumptions by virtue of life-long habituation). And then things rapidly get very nasty from there.

That's the same result I encountered while trying to use a portable marine toilet while group camping. One thinks to oneself, "How much mess could a few little kids possibly make with this?" Answer: A mind-blowing amount. Enough so that one is not inclined to ever repeat the experiment.

[OTRA15]

Well said!

[Greenfire]

Using that real world analogy will also apply to a regular plumbed in toilet in a house, but it doesn't mean it is a good example of what actual real world use would be. Ever use a public bathroom that hasn't had its hourly (or even daily) cleaning? Ever work somewhere that you were the one to have to clean the bathrooms? What you would never expect in a real world situation in your home, with your regular home use, is often seen in these kinds of bathrooms, because yes, there are pigs out there who just don't know how to clean. Doesn't matter if it's a composting toilet, a regular RV toilet, or a plumbed into the wall and city sewer toilet, if you have a pig using it, and not keeping it clean, it's going to look like a mess.

Using that kind of example, of any kind of toilet as what you can expect... in your own house? Well, maybe our standards are a little higher than yours? I keep my house cleaner than that, your mileage may vary, and if you really think that's acceptable and to be expected, perhaps you might want to up your own standards too.