Author Topic: Composting toilet review: 1st season  (Read 1609 times)

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chibear

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Composting toilet review: 1st season
« on: September 11, 2005, 02:59:43 PM »
Well the Sun Mar 3000 has been running since April (2005) and we're going to keep it. I can't say that I can recommend it to all people. It depends on your level of squimishness.


First the good points:



  1. Since April the output of the unit has been 0. That's right everything just composts down to nothing. Some weekends we had up to 10 guests and the unit never overloaded, nor was there excess effluent that collected in the collection bottle...nada. Also no water was used in the system
  2. Through all that time we have not even gone through 1 bag of bulking material. I have also experimented with making my own with some success (I'm a amateur woodworker and I now save my planer shavings for the toilet)
  3. The above-ground part seems to be easier to keep clean than a normal toilet (according to the wife.
  4. The grandkids love it, especially shining a light down the toilet to look at the results of our collected donations.


Now for the bad points:


  1. The unit is marketed as odourless. Well that's true at a stretch. With the fan running, no problem inside. If there is a power failure or when turning the fan off when leaving, the toilet must be covered or you get instant odour in the bathroom. If there is a quick change of pressure in the house (someone slams the basement door) you get odour. Outside, even though the stack is 2' above the peak, if the wind is from the wrong direction, there is odour present. This is the main problem with the system and one we can live with. You just have to be careful.
  2. Flies. If the compost is allowed to dry too much you get flies; not the normal house flies, but little ones. I think the eggs are in the peat mixture. I had to kill them off with 2 treatments of malathion. You have to keep the moisture levels up.
  3. If something falls down the toilet (like toys), well.....
  4. Some of our more citified friends absolutely refuse to use it.


All & all I would have to give the unit a positive, but not glowing review.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2005, 02:59:43 PM by (unknown) »

georgeodjungle

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11th season
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2005, 12:03:38 PM »
we have a envirolet for all most 11 years now.

i don't know about the love part but,

we found it to tall so i sunk it in to the floor to the lip.

just right!

it's a little harder to clean it out so i don't unless i have to.

it been only one time so far.

i think your house might be to air tight.

theres a turbine thingy that goes over the vent that might help.

maybe run a fresh air vent ?

crack a window.

there's no smell unless your up one the roof.

and your totaly right about the "flat landers" thay will not use it but the'll us a stinky port a potty.

maybe it's that pretty blue stuff there attracted to.

any ways,, when we get flys we have a spray bottle with white vinegar,just a fine mist every time for a cupple of days untill gone.

we don't use the fan all the time.

once in a wile i'll have a fan die but i use a muffin fan.

not the right kind i know but there every where and free.

one other good point is i kind of like the breeze between the thighs on a hot day.

cools ya right down.

one other bad piont is the breeze on coold days.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2005, 12:03:38 PM by georgeodjungle »

hiker

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Re: Composting toilet review: 1st season
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2005, 01:23:15 PM »
mobile outhouse-powered by natural gas..    ;}

« Last Edit: September 12, 2005, 01:23:15 PM by hiker »
WILD in ALASKA

nothing to lose

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Re: Composting toilet review: 1st season
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2005, 04:12:40 PM »
It's hard to get people to try new things. Especailly things that involve doo doo, but they walk around with a pooper scooper for the dog and use portajohns at carnivals just fine, YUCK! :)


Well something on my to do list is a composwt toilet of types also. This is the really cheap version and requires just a tad more work.

 First you build a nice place to sit like a bench seat with a hole in it, place 5 gallon bucket under hole, take the little feet off the toilet seat so it sits flat and not the normal gaps. Sprinkle  a little sawdust into the bucket so "stuff" does not stick to bottom of bucket. Now when you need to go you go as normal. Instead of flushing it you springkle sawdust over it. Saw dust prevents smells and keeps out the flies etc.. so just cover the mess. Use till as full as you want to carry, then carry it outside and dump into a compost pile and cover with leaves and/or grass clippings.

Rinse bucket if needed. Let compost sit 1 full year or more. Each time you empty the bucket dump it into the middle of the pile and cover. Dry leaves work great.

Animals do NOT get into it, it does NOT smell, it IS sanitary. Using loose  covering of leaves and grass clippings the pile does NOT need turned to be airiated.


It is best to have 2 or 3 piles going at once. 1 you use for dumping for six months and then forget for a year, the second you start after six months and use for six months then let sit a year. the 3rd you start after a year, use six months, forget for a year. Rotate the piles. I colder climates you may want to let them sit 18 months for composting.


Composting builds heat in the pile and that heat is high enough to kill the pathogens and such that everyone is so paraniod about. The leaf covering as you are building the pile is loose enough it traps air so no turning is needed. There is enough moisture in the bucket from pee and such the pile does not dry out. You don't want it to dry out, you want it to compost!


There is really no difference from this compost and kitchen waste compost after composting and it is the best fertilizer you can get, although I still think I would not use it for growing food. One of those parts that I still get yecky about, but great for flowers and trees and really no reason than the thoughts about it as to why I would not use it for food.


I knew people doing this and it works as stated, they used it for growing food plants also and never made them sick. I also read a large artical awhile back written by someone doing it as discribed and they said they had done it about 30 years I think and they have the best tomatoes around. Said everyone loves the tomatoes untill they are told about the composting, then they shy away sometimes, but knowone ever got sick eating them.


Couse this takes a bit of room, not much, not really for city people or apartment dwellers, but those living in the country with a little space it works great. How much space depends on size of family and normal usage, but it is little space.

« Last Edit: September 12, 2005, 04:12:40 PM by nothing to lose »

chibear

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Re: 11th season
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2005, 02:59:12 PM »
Thanks, George....


"i think your house might be to air tight." That occurred to me, but it was summer. Patio doors & windows open, and there is a fresh air intake in the basement for the hot water heater.


"when we get flys we have a spray bottle with white vinegar" I never thought of that. Your method is a lot more evironmentally friendly then malathion. Did you ever run into problems composting because of the change in PH from the vinegar spray?

« Last Edit: September 13, 2005, 02:59:12 PM by chibear »

chibear

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Re: Composting toilet review: 1st season
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2005, 03:02:14 PM »
better start saving some of that for the winter
« Last Edit: September 13, 2005, 03:02:14 PM by chibear »

georgeodjungle

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Re: 11th season
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2005, 10:54:40 PM »
don't seem to have any problems with the ph.never checked it,,,not gonna.

we don't spray alot, just a fine mist...seems like just in the spring time for like less than a week, but not every year.i think.

we'll have to keep a log to see.

we also have a regular composting pile that fat,ink and yeast don't go in to.

it's kind of funny to ask the house sitter to feed the toilet when we'er gone a wile.

ya.ya the other problem was ice on the vent pipe there's a kit for that to.

but i just made a dubble wall vent, witha 6" abs pipe over the 4" like a dubble wall for a chimmeny.

could that be it? what size is the vent pipe?

just a thought.

woa,, reading back on this i left my self open on some puns.

« Last Edit: September 13, 2005, 10:54:40 PM by georgeodjungle »