|
| Author |
Message |
bwalker187
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 05:55pm
Reply
I'm curious about people's experience using a Nature's Head composting toilet at a weekend cabin. Is the solid waste able to sit for a few weeks in between visits? Or is it the kind of thing where we'd have to empty it every visit, even though it's not full yet?
|
|
Brettny
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 06:27pm
Reply
If I remember the big issue with them in a weekend cabin is you cant use them in freezing weather.
|
|
gcrank1
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 06:43pm
Reply
How many people?
|
|
bwalker187
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 07:30pm
Reply
Two people
|
|
gcrank1
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 09:12pm - Edited by: gcrank1
Reply
Notice: Not to 'code', but likely the compost unit isn't either.
Lots of info online, look at USDA, Nat. Parks stuff and Peace Corp.
Us 2, since 1983, a simple but sensible pit toilet in good weathers and most of the seasons. It takes a long time to 'fill' from as far as you can dig with a post-hole digger to even 20" below grade. Keep it 100' from a water supply. A lot of info says 50', do 100'.
The 5gal. bucket 'Luggable Loo' in poor. A liner and a disposable baby diaper in the bottom makes for a sanitary unit. Yeah, its baggin it, same as a wilderness area where the rules are 'bring it in/take it out'. Works fine for a weekend.
Ime commercial camper type 'porta-potties are too complicated and a mess to deal with/dump/sanitize. With either the L-Loo or porta-pottie be aware that it is best to not mix the urine and solids (much easier for guys than gals), it is the aging urine that sets up the most stink.
Sprinkle some barn lime (cheap) after each use in the 'in' or the 'out' to keep down odors and flies. Sand or sawdust/wood chips or wood stove ashes work too.
Keep a jug of 'baby wipes' handy along with the TP.
For perspective, much of the world's population doesnt have it that good.
|
|
spencerin
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Jan 2021 11:53pm
Reply
The solid waste is supposed to sit inside the toilet so it can compost - you don't want to remove the solid waste early. If the system is working properly, any stank is exhausted out the cabin so your cabin doesn't stink. Cold weather will slow down or stop the composting process.
|
|
FishHog
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 07:48am
Reply
You won't have any issues. We have one in our camper van and I have left it for months between uses.
If you have a good spot in the bush to dump when full or dig a pit to do so. Alternatively dump into a garbage bag and put it out with your garbage.
Zero smell from our unit. The only downside in my mind is the initial cost as they aren't cheap.
|
|
cjm
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 11:52am
Reply
We have one. We empty the solid bin every 6-8 weeks (which doesn't stink). You have to empty the liquids bin at the end of the weekend/every-other day or so for two people.
We had trouble with fruit flies once but got that solved. You definitely want the exhaust vent installed to outside. The solids can freeze, but it's never been so frozen that I can't get it cranking at some point in the weekend.
|
|
|
Houska
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 01:54pm - Edited by: Houska
Reply
Like @cjm, we have one too. No trouble with it during above-freezing season.
We empty the liquids bin when we leave (weekends), and midweek when up there for a full week. We empty the solids about every 2 months.
Ours is a fully independent, off-grid setup. Exhaust pipe vents through roof, where a boaters' solar vent keeps air moving. Not good enough to connect the Nature's Head fan to a 12V battery setup that is powered only when you're there -- you want solids to continue drying in your absence to avoid odours on your return. We bought the more expensive solar vent that charges its own battery and so keeps turning through the night/when cloudy. You can get cheaper ones that only turn when there's enough sun to be generating electricity; don't know if that would be good enough.
Maybe our place has more severe winters than @cjm, but our solids definitely freeze rock-solid during the winter. We move to a different mode then; no peat moss, no turning, just dispose of in the spring. Might be trickier if you had freeze-thaw cycles, but our toilet is unheated and we're up less in the winter, so this is good enough for us.
Using the Nature's Head makes you realize you could do something similar much cheaper with a homemade composting toilet, maybe with urine diverter. But for us the reduced ick factor has made it worth it.
|
|
cjm
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 02:09pm
Reply
Houska - Without the peat moss, does it smell when the cabin starts to warm up?
Ours does freeze, but if there is a high peat moss to solids ratio, I can get it turning by the second day up there - once the cabin is warm. We go up almost every weekend, so maybe the fresh composting generates a little heat too? Our cabin is in MN, south of Duluth.
This is our first winter with it... so still learning!
I agree that the exhaust set up you have would be ideal. We have a battery pack that will keep ours running for 1 day after we leave and that has worked well enough. But once I have solar installed, I will keep it always running.
|
|
bwalker187
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 03:19pm
Reply
Thanks for the info everyone! I'm planning a camp with a small cabin and a few tent sites for family. I think I'm also going to build a moldering privy so that no everyone is using the composting toilet if we've got a full house  We definitely freeze in the winter, so that will be a component to work out.
|
|
bwalker187
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 03:26pm
Reply
Houska
I know what you mean about a cheaper homemade version, I've been watching some videos of various composting setups. My husband definitely wants something that's as much like a normal toilet as possible and I've promised to do all the emptying
|
|
FishHog
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 04:14pm
Reply
Quoting: bwalker187 and I've promised to do all the emptying
People seem to think that part is going to be a big deal and really gross, but it truly isn't. Its like taking the top off a bucket and dumping out some moist top soil.
There is a lot of fear around composting toilets and I had some as well. Mrs Fishie had them much more than I as she has a very good sense of smell and was concerned. Both of us have been extremely pleased and highly recommend them.
|
|
Houska
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 05:23pm - Edited by: Houska
Reply
Quoting: cjm Houska - Without the peat moss, does it smell when the cabin starts to warm up? Ours does freeze, but if there is a high peat moss to solids ratio, I can get it turning by the second day up there - once the cabin is warm.
My answer is "not applicable", I'm afraid
Our toilet is in a separate, unheated "outhouse shed" (just no pit, of course) a short distance away.
Summer - peat moss and fan dries things out so it doesn't smell.
Winter - frozen so doesn't smell
Spring freeze/thaw - our cabin is temporarily inaccessible, and by the time we can get there, the fan has dried out the (modest) winter remnants enough to no longer smell either.
Who knows, maybe in those crucial early spring weeks, there's a reek strong enough to keep hungry bears away from the cabin!
|
|
Fanman
Member
|
# Posted: 19 Jan 2021 09:35pm
Reply
We have a "Biolet" composting toilet in the cabin. My wife is at the cabin full time usually May through September, I empty it once mid summer, unplug it (has a fan and heater) and cover the bowl opening when we pack up in the fall, then I empty it in the spring when it's completely dry. She's the only one who uses it, I use the outhouse as do all visitors. If it's looking too damp inside the toilet she pees in a can and dumps it down the sink (we have a gray water drain that can't handle solids from a toilet). If she comes up with me in the off season then she uses the outhouse too.
|
|
mj1angier
Member
|
# Posted: 20 Jan 2021 07:42pm
Reply
I thought this was a neat idea. Not sure if it works good or not:
https://www.homebiogas.com/
|
|
scott100
Member
|
# Posted: 20 Jan 2021 11:01pm
Reply
Another one to check out it is the "C-head". We have one that split's its time between one of our boats and the cabin. On the boat it is vented with a passive vent because I thought it just had to be. In the cabin it is not vented and we've never felt the need.
It doesn't hold as much in the solids container as the Natures head, so has to be emptied more frequently (between 1 and 2 weeks for the 2 of us). I like it cause it's simple and designed well. Cheaper than the other brands on the market. Round pail so no corners for stuff to build up. Uses common 1 gal milk containers for urine, so no special urine container to buy if you need another one. They have an optional urine diverter, if you want to drain it away instead of collecting it in the unit. It also uses a normal toilet seat.
So that's my ad for the thing...just a happy customer. We're going to buy another one this spring so we don't have to move it back and forth.
We use coconut coir for a medium and rarely have any issues with odor. Odor issues are almost always related to getting urine mixed in with the solids. Haven't had any odor issues with it when leaving it for a while without dumping it.
|
|
|
