Composting Toilet.

Granty · Senior Member

Composting Toilet.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I will be fitting a Natures Head to our new MH build.
www.natureshead.com.au/
A bit more expensive, a bit heavier, but no water or chemicals required.
Empty every 3 or 4 weeks into a compostable plastic bag which can be disposed of in a rubbish bin or buried.
Cheers,
Peter

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

Hello Peter.

Since you have a composting toilet can you answer some of my questions about them.

Cleaning. With my present cassette toilet I clean the bowl every time I flush it, and if there are any bits stuck to the bowl I simply use the toilet brush and flush them away. How do you clean the composting toilet? How do you wash the part which collects urine? What happens if you have a high fibre meal and get "explosive decompression" out you back end, does the composting toilet "mouth" get dirty (like the entrances of all the long drops I have used)? If so how do you clean it without water? How do you clean the compost collector after you empty the compost into a bag?

Emptying. How often do you empty the urine collection container and where do you put it. If you empty it down the caravan dump point, than how is this different to emptying the cassette tank every few days?

Using. When you use a composting toilet you are supposed to empty your bladder first into one container, then switch to the second container for poos. When I sit down on a toilet everything opens at once. How long does it take to get used to doing the two processes separately? What if you can't control it and everything comes out at once, does this ruin the composting effect by getting the compost too wet?

Smells. Is it true that composting toilets don't smell. My cassette toilet never smells as I make sure that there is always water in the bowl on the valve. I am worried that the urine collector and mouth of the composting container may get dirty and smell in a composting toilet.

Cheers

Derek

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

We don't have one yet. It is planned for the new build. My comments are based on what I have read.
Not sure about bowl cleaning, but reports suggest there is no problem. Toilet paper can be used as it composts.
The composting material is barely damp and is emptied into a compostable plastic bag for disposal. It continues to compost in the bag.
The urine collector can be flushed with water if required. We will be plumbing that to the grey water tank or it could be to another larger container under the floor. There are more opportunities to empty that than a black cassette and the period can be longer.
Faeces and urine are automatically separated as you use it. No special techniques required.
There are no smells. There is a small fan that draws air through the composting section like an SOG on a cassette toilet.
Cheers,
Peter

Optimark · Member

The composting toilet I have used, had a small area in the front that collects urine. There is a small ridge that keeps the urine from spilling in to the solid collection part of the toilet, this can be seen in the link I have attached.

I too wondered how the collection of quite different waste material was to be collected. If manufacturers and resellers were to post pictures of the relevant parts of their toilets, I'm sure many of the questions they seem to get, would be halved.

www.google.com/search

Mick.

Granty · Senior Member

It is certainly a very interesting system for a van or motorhome as it appears they dont have the problems the chemical/cassette toilets have. I find that some of the popular chemicals used have a fairly strong odour themselves and are only active for about 3 - 4 days. I notice the Natureshead one uses a peat brick the same as you use in worm farms.

Wanda · Guru

Friends of ours installed one in the motor home they built, they love it.
As several posters have said, the urine is collected seperately and emptied every day or two, no real issue. The composter does not have to be emptied very often at all, obviously it will depend on "deposits", but in their case I think it was emptied after about 6mths.
Certainly worth looking into I would think
cheers
Ian

peter67 · Guru

Granty, if they are using peat bricks does this mean you can re brick your compost and use it to fuel winter fires? :)

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

We have a Weekend Separette composting toilet in our cabin. (see https://www.meinetrenntoilette.de/product/separett-weekend-7010/?lang=en)

It separates the urine from the feaces but one must sit down to urinate at all times.

We use dried gum leaves in the faeces part and only needs to emptied it every six months. The leaves are meant to soak up any moisture and that's probably what the peat does in yours. It has two buckets so that one can be away from the toilet with a lid on it to compost whilst the other is used in the toilet.

The urine is directed away to the ground but that's probably not what would happen in a caravan. I therefore don't know how often the urine capture container needs to be emptied. We men, usually urinate near a tree but again, that's not necessarily an available option in a caravan.

There is a fan that draws the fumes away from the cabin. It runs all the time and results in no smell at all in the cabin.

Maybe this information is useful for you.