Your questions about our Composting Toilet

[grannyred]

I installed a Nature's Head composting toilet in our 59 Flying Cloud because the 59 had no waste tanks and I am not a plumber. Two weeks ago I return from a three week boon docking trip. I did not empty the composting toilet. The trailer has been sitting in the hot Texas sun for the past two weeks. I went out to the trailer today and opened it up. I was really prepared for the worse but to my surprise the only odor in the trailer was a faint smell of peat moss. Just that earthy odor and not offensive at all.

Some methods to use to keep from "staining" toilet bowl, line bowl with paper, place coffee filter in bowl, open trap door for direct deposit, etc. just keep a supply of sanitary wipes for clean up for whatever method you use.

If I ever have any problems with the toilet and black water tank system in my 2002, I would not hesitate to converting it to a composting toilet. Lets keep it simple.

Ken

[BrianD.]

@ Grannyred:

A few questions for you

1. How did you install it as far as fastening it to the floor?
a. What kind of bolts/nuts were used?
b. How did you cover up the hole leading to the black tank where the previous toilet was?


2. How did you hook up the vent pipe?


3. What did you have to do to set up the power to the fan?

Thanks,

Brian

[FLYNCLD]

Originally Posted by BrianD.

@ Grannyred:

A few questions for you

1. How did you install it as far as fastening it to the floor?
a. What kind of bolts/nuts were used?
b. How did you cover up the hole leading to the black tank where the previous toilet was?


2. How did you hook up the vent pipe?


3. What did you have to do to set up the power to the fan?

Thanks,

Brian

Hi Brian,

I may be able to help with some of these questions as well.

The NH toilet comes with the brackets you need to attach it to the floor. We then used a couple of large stainless steel self-tapping screws to attach the brackets to the floor.

The hole in the floor was easily covered with a plywood patch prior to installing the new flooring

The toilet also comes with a flexible hose to attach to your vent pipe. It is just a matter of inserting a fitting into your vent stack and using a hose clamp to attach to it.

The fan runs on 12V, so I just ran a wire from the nearest source.

I do have some pics, but need to dig them out as we are traveling!

FLYNCLD

[2vets]

The idea of no black tank is appealing! Right now our 1960 tradewind is completely gutted and the black tank we pulled out is marginal.... do you think we have the space for a NH toilet? See photo of toilet below before we gutted her! Part of the black tank extended into the adjacent closet.

[FLYNCLD]

Originally Posted by 2vets

The idea of no black tank is appealing! Right now our 1960 tradewind is completely gutted and the black tank we pulled out is marginal.... do you think we have the space for a NH toilet? See photo of toilet below before we gutted her! Part of the black tank extended into the adjacent closet.

Should be no problem, but you can get the exact specs off the NH website.

Nature's Head Composting Toilet - Installation Instructions and Users Guide

FLYNCLD

[grannyred]

Brian, I basically used the same method as Flyncld. I had a piece of thin aluminum which I applied construction glue to and covered the the old toilet hole. I placed the composting toilet on top of the metal patch.

vent pipe - there was a small hole in the floor which fit the exhaust tubing perfectly. The toilet is vented through this hole which leads to the outside.

fan - i ran a wire to my 12 volt distribution block and installed a switch so that i can turn the fan off. the switch has a small led light in it so that I can tell when the fan is on.

hope this helps

Ken

[NJtoNC]

wow, this is a great thread. who knew we didnt need a black tank?

re: the finished compost - google "humanure handbook".

one question over here - where do you get the peat moss, and is it easy to find on the road? do you keep a supply with you?

[2vets]

You can get peat moss at any garden supply center including Home Depot and Lowes. It comes in huge bags so I would imagine one bag would last you for years!

[2vets]

Audiobox-did you install the natures head toilet yet? How did it go?

[barts]

We installed ours in late July... seems to work just fine. Haven't emptied the solids yet.... will post pictures when I can...

- Bart

[2vets]

Hey Barts-please post photos when you get a chance!

[audiobox]

Originally Posted by 2vets

Audiobox-did you install the natures head toilet yet? How did it go?

Suplementary wiring, inner skins re-install, paint, cork floor, galley, then bathroom. In roughly that order. Work should start on the wiring the in early 2011. So, the Nature's Head will be in its box for awhile yet.

[BrianD.]

I also installed one several months ago and am currently living full time in my Argosy. For me in the metro Atlanta area, I had to contend with some little gnats flying into the hole where the city water inlet is located and where I had placed the vent tube coming out of the toilet. That was a jury rigged hole though that somebody made for the inlet tubing to come into the trailer. So perhaps others don't have this problem with where they put their vent tubing from the toilet.

I just took the whole thing outside, and soaked it all in some Bronner's soap and rinsed it real good and started over.

I really like my toilet, it doesn't really smell, just a kind of peat moss smell. It does get a little messy when having a whole big bottle of pee to pour in a nearby house toilet. I just have to pour it slowly into the house toilet so it won't slosh out. I wait until it's completely full so others don't have to wait that long. On the way carrying it to the house toilet, I put a cap on it that came with the bottle. I can only smell the urine when I take it out and am pouring the whole thing into the toilet and then for about a day when urinating when it is filling back up. .

Besides those bugs it's been great. I talked to one of the owners of the company and he said he has heard of such a problem, but it's not a regular kind of thing he hears from customers.

I would recommend this if you don't mind changing your habits a little on how you deal with your waste. I'm new to trailers and haven't experienced taking a trailer to a dump station, or hauling the waste in a portable container to a dump station.

I bought this toilet, because I didn't want to deal with that all the time.

I'm also glad that it's all not going back into being processed to a waste water treatment plant. I will just dump it into my outside food composting pile which isn't used in a garden.

It's really not that much trouble I think. I think it will take a while until I will need to dump this peat compost out. The longer you let it sit the better until the toilet is 3/4 full. I haven't had to dump this second compost out yet since dumping the last one about a month or so ago. I'm the only one using it so I don't know how long it would take to fill up with more people. I still think it would take months before having to do so.


Brian

[Globie64]

Thanks for all the great info- I'm this close to purchasing either a NH or an AH for my '64 Globetrotter, and I wanted to make sure it was the right decision, not for me but for my other, doubting, half. One thing though, reading about the Air-Head, it seemed like the ease of removing the pee bottle was a compelling reason to spend more. I'm curious to know what others think. Got to get this done for Casini Ranch rally in April!

[BrianD.]

I've been using the NH since last summer living in my 76' Argosy full time.

It's not a problem for me to just unlatch the top part on both sides, lift the whole bowl up about two or three inches, have my urine container cap handy, and then just pull the jug out and cap it.

What I would be concerned with is male urinating.
I would see what the reviews somewhere are for peeing in the other toilet.

I had to put my toilet up on a raised platform in the bathroom of the trailer because of the black/grey water tank below. So, it was always a bit of an effort to do the recommended "sit down each time you pee" kind of thing since it was up level with the sink where I sit. So, I found that I just stand up and aim for one of those drain holes.

I did notice it is easy to have splash away when sitting or standing if you are not aiming for the wholes because of the way the front of the bowl curves back to allow for draining. I would think that women couldn't aim as well so there would be even more backsplash They may argue that point

The backsplash would then go over that hatch that you use the lever to slide back to open up the toilet bowl to poo.

I have found that even though that piece of plastic lid is long enough for the supposed urine to go forward to the urine drain area, I still notice some dripping down into the solid waste area over time.

This is the main thing with this whole set up is not to mix the solid and the liquid. So, that bothered me that this keeps occurring. Perhaps it's just me.

So, those are the rather straightforward descriptions of the mechanics of emptying the urine jug and the results of urinating in it constantly over time as a male.

brian

[FLYNCLD]

We do not find the removal of the jug to be an issue on the NH. We have compared the NH to the AH and found the quality of the NH to be superior for less money. As far as sitting down to pee you might enjoy my blog on the subject!

The Flying Cloud Eco-DiscoveryTour: Pee Like a Girl

[aluminomad]

I've been trying to follow this thread as the idea of a composting toilet intrigues me, but I have 2 questions:
has anyone experienced getting sick in one?
& am I getting this correct: you have to separate the liquids from solids when emptying out the pot?


[FLYNCLD]

Originally Posted by aluminomad

I've been trying to follow this thread as the idea of a composting toilet intrigues me, but I have 2 questions:
has anyone experienced getting sick in one?
& am I getting this correct: you have to separate the liquids from solids when emptying out the pot?


The toilet does the work of separating the liquids.

As far as "hugging the porcelain throne" is concerned, this one is plastic and Iv'e never had occasion!

[aluminomad]

'twas BrianD's post on the pee subject that had me thinking I'd have to separate the two... aiming for holes etc... very confusing... I just want to be a green camper not a poopologist good to know... I'm sure there are ways to manage bugs... extra peat moss perhaps or a lizard

[Trex]

I have a compost pile.... does that count?