Author Topic: Composting loo - our experience so far  (Read 9554 times)

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Offline KeithB

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #25 on: March 16, 2021, 10:06:18 AM »
We have a little squeeze bottle of water which we use to flush the loo down the wee drain after use in hot weather.
If I put a cap of Napisan down the wee drain in the bowl and flush it away an hour before emptying through the grey water hose, the wee comes out of the drain hose yellow, but totally odour free. If I leave it for 12 hours after applying the Napisan, the stink comes back with a vengeance.
Napisan is an oxidising agent and vinegar is a reducing agent. Seems funny to be that they both seem to work so well.
Keith
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Offline DandyD

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #26 on: March 16, 2021, 11:12:56 AM »
That's interesting about urine being acidic. I assumed it must be alkaline because the vinegar works.

I also read something about muriatic acid being good for dissolving the crystals in the pipes. I'm not going to Google where I can buy it. I might end up on a list somewhere.

Offline KeithB

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #27 on: March 16, 2021, 12:55:53 PM »
That's interesting about urine being acidic. I assumed it must be alkaline because the vinegar works.

I also read something about muriatic acid being good for dissolving the crystals in the pipes. I'm not going to Google where I can buy it. I might end up on a list somewhere.

You can buy Muriatic (Hydrochloric) acid at any hardware store. But it is very concentrated.
When you dilute it, be sure to add the acid to water, not the other way around, or it could heat suddenly, which is not nice.
Keith
200 Series 2008, bull bar, Airmax snorkel,rack with 200 watt solar, third battery, winch, 33's with 2 spares, long range tank, drawers & barrier, bash plates, lifted & locked, Richards transmission lockup plus plenty of dings. Now towing the new Off Road Glamper.

Offline austastar

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #28 on: March 16, 2021, 04:51:46 PM »
Hi,
   Diluting acid trick.
Stir in some ice cubes till you get the acid at the wanted specic gravity.
Cheers

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Offline DandyD

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #29 on: March 16, 2021, 07:09:22 PM »
You can buy Muriatic (Hydrochloric) acid at any hardware store.

We had a clampdown on acid sales here because there was a spate of acid attacks. It was the favoured extreme revenge method for a certain sector of the community. Hydrochloric does still seem to be available though.

Offline KeithB

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #30 on: April 15, 2021, 01:44:38 PM »
We took Danny's advice and started using a little white vinegar in our wash bottle which we use to rinse the bowl with after peeing. It is much better and cheaper than Napisan, kills the odours like a beauty and keeps the bowl nice and clean.

The last fill of our composting loo lasted 28days. It could have gone on a bit longer but we were in a convenient spot to empty it and to dispose of the compost properly. This last fill was one and a bit coir bricks, 1.4 litres of water and 200ml of Bunnings liquid drain enzyme. We are using the toilet pretty much full time with occasional trips to caravan park amenities and public loos along the way.

We have found that if it looks to be getting a bit full and the handle gets harder to turn, it seems to return to normal if you give it a few days break. At this more recent empty, the compost came away cleanly and there was no smell at all. With the little heater element running full time, the compost was quite warm - about 40 degrees or so I'd reckon. I'll take a measurement at the next empty. The last month has been mostly cool nights (12-15 degrees) and days in the mid 20s.

So we refilled it as before, but have cut the water back to 1.2 litres with 200ml of enzyme. We'll see how this goes. The American instructions say to cut back the water for full time use.

We have been travelling with a couple who have a 9 year old son and have been spending a lot of time together off grid. He has a conventional dunny with a removable cassette.  He has to go off to town every couple of days to find a dump point. Give me a composting loo any day. But it would be a pain without plumbing in a drain to the wee bucket.

If I was to go again with composting loo, I am pretty sure I'd go with the new Separett Tiny, although I haven't looked at it in detail yet. It would be nice to have a loo that you don't have to modify.

Keith

« Last Edit: April 15, 2021, 01:46:45 PM by KeithB »
200 Series 2008, bull bar, Airmax snorkel,rack with 200 watt solar, third battery, winch, 33's with 2 spares, long range tank, drawers & barrier, bash plates, lifted & locked, Richards transmission lockup plus plenty of dings. Now towing the new Off Road Glamper.
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Offline Fizzie

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #31 on: May 19, 2021, 10:13:08 AM »
Just spotted this if anybody is interested ???

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cuddy-the-best-portable-composting-toilet

$640 AU though ::), & probably half that price again to actually get it here :o, so you'd want to be dedicated!
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Offline DandyD

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Re: Composting loo - our experience so far
« Reply #32 on: May 29, 2021, 08:43:29 PM »
Just spotted this if anybody is interested ???

It still has the poop stirrer paddle. I'll give it a miss.

We emptied our Separett yesterday. Everything contained in a biodegradable bag made things easy with nothing to clean out.

We did have slight problem with ours in that the fan stopped working. It baffled me at first as there was 12V volts getting to the fan supply socket but it dropped to 1.5 volts when connected. It turned out that the inline fuse holder on the supply had fallen to bits and the fuse was barely making contact. Of course, I only found that out after taking the whole bog to bits.

I'm also going to fit a voltage regulator to the circuit to keep the volts down to 12. Our batteries are primarily charged by solar and when the sun shines (yes, it does sometimes) the voltage tops out at 14.7 volts. The fan spins faster and the increase in noise is noticeable. Particularly as it starts something resonating somewhere.