18 replies to this topic

[shepherdscove]

Hi all. Can anyone offer advice on composting toilets please. In particular versus septic tank. Cost, ease of use. I saw a post from J&H on another thread and they say it's easy. And cheap. Both sound good. Plus I like the idea of the waste, well not being wasted! Thing is, the only one I've used was in a shed outside! Call me a prima donna but I do not want to step outside every time I want a tinkle! Also, there were two toilets... one for each "number" you do! Thing is, no smell from no.2, but no.1 is a bit whiffy!
Anyway, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences please.

[j and H]

at 1st we where a bit worried about smells etc etc ..and used a port potty…we both hated digging the holes and emptying the thing

 

totally blown away with this compost toilet….its a B&Q orange bucket, sits inside a wooden box with a toilet seat….soooooo easy to empty into a designated compost bin…( not for food plants, but christmas trees and hedging ) and today, i added 250grm of composting worms.. 

the sawdust can be collected for next to nothing….or you can buy a bag cheap enough…..

 

on the plus side too…not wasting water…will end up with great compost, and it takes up no more room than a conventional toilet

 

 

we do add some nice pine fresh toilet cleaner in the bucket….this is one that is designed for septic tanks.. and  safe to compost...

 

both pee and poo go in…honest..no smells at all, apart from the nice pine scented wood chips 

[Tom Bombadil]

You can buy a unit for indoors if you want.

They are electric or not (winch) and they hold a weeks worth or a months worth depending if you are full of sh!t or not.

They 'flush' by tipping the poo and pee into the hopper. You just turn the hopper every day or so. Idealy the pee should remain seperate and they do this by having a weep hole into another internal pot.

They use a simple tiny computer fan to keep smells up the long pipe, and you empty it into your place of choice when you like.

About 1k in price though. They can be got cheaper though. Visit the lammas site as they have one for sale, unused.

[adrian007]

http://www.axeheadfa.../?s=compost loo

 

 

http://www.diyhouseb...et-toilets.html

 

 

1st link is ours, second link is 'all you need to know'.

 

You may think you won't play 'How High can you go'... but you will :-) 

 

We throw some straw in the bottom, then use ours like normal but sprinkle sawdust over number 2's.

 

We buy sawdust by the bale and we are creating a run of wheelie bins for the waste. We think 6 bins will be enough for an annual rotation.

 

There is no smell apart from the immediate smells you would get anyway. Didn't know you could get compost friendly pine fresh!

 

Micro cheesemakers get their milk delivered in large lidded buckets -   5 gallon I think. We got 5, the advantage of them over buckets is you can take the full bucket out and replace with a new one, stick a lid on and leave it, to deal with at your own convenience (sorry :-) ) also, they are white, which feel hygenic.

 

If you build your framework around the bucket, you want to be sat at 17 inches high :-)

 

Also, if you build your frame, men and boys will be sat peeing. Put a pee guard on the font of the seat that drops into the bucket - you don't want an risk of pee leaking over the top into the frame - boy issue :-) We fashioned one by cutting a section out of a bucket and screwing it under the rim of the seat.

 

Go for it, I say :-)

[shepherdscove]

Lol. Thank you. Apart from Tom's comments, are any of the others designed for indoor use? I don't mind changing out a bucket/container every few days (if the full ones can be fairly nearby so I'm not lugging them to the other end of the field) but I don't want to go outside at all! Our current situation is that we're in a touring caravan until next Summer when hubby can get here full time and then we'll get a mobile home. So I'm pretty over the whole "take the cassette up to top of field and empty into chemical waste point every other day" it's flippin hard work!

[shepherdscove]

UODATE... Just read Adrian's blog. I love it, your handiwork. Well, Di's! She's a real master craftswoman!

[j and H]

Di is fantastic and a great person too..as is adrian …it was her blog that changed our minds, and it really works

[Greenbeast]

I've just bought the parts to build one, a couple of buckets and a urine separator from here:

 

http://www.littlehouse.co/

 

I've just got to find the time to put a box together for it. Charley wants to spend loads of money on a fancy plastic version of the same thing (£600!!!), for when we have guests (i literally cannot remember the last time we had a guest)

[shepherdscove]

Thanks GB. Is a separator necessary? Some have them, some don't. I was thinking: drill couple holes in bottom of 200l bin that the bucket gets emptied into, that sits over a hole dug in the ground so liquid will pass down through the compost/sawdust, through holes and into ground. Obviously it would be placed on waste ground! Would that work?

[Greenbeast]

i gather if you don't separate then the container fills up a lot quicker and you need much more 'soak' material (sawdust, etc), also much more likely to get smells. When 2's are kept dry and allowed to dry further, there is no smell

You can divert urine off outside using standard pipework, either direct to a soakaway (ground permitting) or to a sealed container that you can move and empty 

Ultimately it all could go to same compost but for convenience and pleasantness of use it might be best to separate

[j and H]

the urine doesn't seem to be an issue with us…unless we have lost our sense of smell  we do empty once a day, and throw a few mulching leaves into the compost…no big deal really...

the worms seem to have settled in nicely 

[shepherdscove]

Where do you buy sawdust? I've been searching online and can't find any anywhere!

[Sunnysouthdevon]

Mole valley sell sawdust

[shepherdscove]

Thank you! I'd looked on their website, I'll go instore. Cheers!

[Sunnysouthdevon]

Patch and acre formally known as Cornwall farmers also sell it, few of my friends purchase it from there in 25kg squares for bedding in chicken sheds

[Tom Bombadil]

I found the units I was thinking of here http://www.toiletrev...posting-toilet/

 

Yup, they are more expensive but the units that have a large collector at the bottom was what appealed to us.

 

Not having to collect the waste too often too.

 

 

One thing that we are learning here at our farm is that it is nicer to have a taller bucket!!

You can get a five gallon bucket toilet lid that sits on a standard five gallon bucket that you use in the same way as the shorter buckets.

 

Our chem. toilet broke down on our last visits (I am happy of this as it makes us have to go in the composting direction early) so we ended up using the compost bog.  MUCH better.  It felt good inside knowing that our poo and pee is going to do good for us down the line.  But it is outside the caravan and its warmer inside!!

 

I will rip out the chem. toilet inside the caravan and seal the base of the toilet room with a glass-fiber 'tray' and start the room off again!  It will increase the size of the showering area too.

 

Good luck on your poo-e adventure shepherdscove.

[j and H]

we just put a shelf  inside the box to keep the bucket higher….

[Tom Bombadil]

we just put a shelf  inside the box to keep the bucket higher….

 

Theres that I suppose! 

[Chris1]

Mornin' (just)....  If any of you cut your logs as I do, (with a chainsaw quite often), if 'splits' (Y-type junctions) you will amass a large quantity of chippings. These are brilliant for composting, and would be good bog-type material.