How to have a Home-made Composting Toilet

[akrvbob]

I just did a blog post on a friends home-made composting toilet and I thought some of you may be interested. Find it here:

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/go-bathroom-van-porta-potties-composting-toilets/

Unfortunately I don't have many details. Anyone else doing something like this or have any suggestions.
Bob

He started with a homemade box and 5 gallon bucket:

He uses a fan to vent odors outside.

 

[kyonu]

How would one combat the odor if they pee and poo in the same bucket? I get that there's a ventilation hose, but that will only eliminate so much odor.

 

[compassrose]

Here's another one...
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/RVCompostToilet/RVCompostToilet.htm

It's the toilet set up they used on the BuilditSolar Blog where they are building a fuel efficient and lower emissions RV-Camper Van. Some of you might find it interesting. http://www.builditsolarblog.com/2014_10_01_archive.html

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The van conversion starts here... http://www.builditsolarblog.com/2014_07_01_archive.html

 

[akrvbob]

You don't pee in it. He adds peat moss to it to cover the odor and help it break down.
Bob

 

[compassrose]

You don't pee in it...

Okay, I gotta ask... so where does he pee at and more to the point where does a "she" pee at?

This most definately would not work for me. Thank goodness there are alternatives. "To each, his own" applies here. Aren't we all lucky in that we can choose what we want and need?

 

[kyonu]

Unfortunately I'm one of those persons who pees and poos at the same time, so this one wouldn't work for me either. The store-bought ones are a better function in that regard.

 

[Spirituallifetime]

I've been using a home made composting toilet for 9 years. Without a fan and vent, as long as you cover it with peat moss there is no smell and no flies(pee and poo). But with this method it really doesn't compost in the toilet, I have to dump it into a compost pile and let it compost there. There is a commercial made composting toilet designed for those of us that live mobile lives and cost less than most other composting toilets: http://natureshead.net/ This one separates poo and pee.

 

[Canine]

How would one combat the odor if they pee and poo in the same bucket? I get that there's a ventilation hose, but that will only eliminate so much odor.

I have the Humanure Handbook and set up the sawdust toilet as was instructed in the book. The book states not to separate the poo and pee, but to keep the poo and pee together, so I did- without ventilation. I even went as far to seal the bucket after I had filled it up in an effort to get it to putrefy. After 2 or 3 weeks, I opened the lid expecting some kind of toxic waste life form to attack me, but the opposite happened. I actually had to stick my head into the bucket to get any kind of smell and that was minimal at best. Having the pine sawdust smelled nice even though it was covering up my waste.

I used pine sawdust because that's what the ranchers prefer to keep the flies out of the horse stalls. It takes a couple of inches to provide a good "seal". It's amazing. Mixing poo and pee it works for me; I have no problem with it whatsoever.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

One reason to not mix the poo and pee, pee is more frequent and may be disposed of easier. You compost will not have to be dumped as frequently with just poopoo in it. I think I may switch to pine sawdust. Good idea

 

[GrantRobertson]

I would recommend the Separett if it didn't cost $199. I haven't used it but it comes highly recommended by some in the full-time RV and school bus conversion communities. I'm sure it would be pretty easy to do something similar with an little DIY ingenuity. I envision using an oil bottle with the bottom cut out to catch the urine.

As a side note: All the commercial composting toilets that I have seen separate the urine. It seems to me that all the composting toilet designs which do not require separating the urine are residential units, designed to dump the waste onto a long ramp which leads to a clean-out door outside. In these designs, the urine is used to help move the solid wastes down the ramp and then there is plenty of time and ventilation to allow for that urine to evaporate. In a mobile situation, all the wastes are in a relatively small container, so the nitrogen in the urine feeds the bacteria in the feces and ramps the smell way up.

Heck, separating the urine and the feces for reduced bacteria growth may have been the reason mammals evolved separate holes for each form of waste. I wonder if any evolutionary biologists have ever tackled that question.

 

[akrvbob]

You know you can get federal grant money for that!!
Bob