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larryh
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2010 08:58am
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I have the Human-manure Handbook. It really is fairly light on how people manage a system of a bucket/composting system in cold climates in winter. I do see on the net people who live in climates that have snow in some of the photos so I know people are using them in that situation. Where I live it will be cold from Oct to late April at least. I have an outhouse but never have wanted a bucket with water splashing about for a night time use. So I light my lantern and trudge to the outhouse. Thus the interest in concept of the composting sawdust toilet principle. But the fact that they do not work in cold weather has me stumped as to how to proceed. Some here may live in northern climates and have advice on how you process yours?
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2010 01:58pm
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I believe you keep adding to the compost heap as usual during the colder months. The composting has stopped but will automatically resume when the weather warms.
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bugs
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2010 02:11pm
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Hi Larry
We have not been able to find a good source of sawdust so we are using pet bedding ie aspen shavings. Seems to work quite well so far and is cheap.
As M-O-B mentioned things just stop. However you can extend the season by composting in a black container of some sort so the interior of the container passively heats up. Or, we saw this in the back country of Yoho National Park, where they put in a solar powered heating element to provide some extra heat to the "compost shavings pile" in the composting toilet. But either way if you are in a cold climate -0C and probably even below +10C composting will not be as active or none at all. However I remember on the farm large manure piles (20 cubic feet or so) would steam all winter long so the internal temps generated by the composting inside the pile enabled it to "tick over" all winter.
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larryh
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2010 03:06pm
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Thanks for that information. Yes at the moment I have purchased some shavings for pet bedding. But we have quite a few logging companies not too far from here and they have huge piles of sawdust rotting. I don't know if they would give it away or sell it but I was in a hurry to try the idea and when I got the pieces for some of it at wally world I picked up that pet bedding. Afterwards I did see in the Human manure that they recommended not using dry wood as it didn't do a very good job of keeping the odors in according to the arthur. He says the rotting sawdust type product is best, so eventually I will give that a try.
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2010 06:35pm
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I'm thinking a box with a lid to cover the seat and everything below. Something wide enough to hold the bucket in use and the sawdust bucket, with a side compartment for necessities. Flop the lid down and it will look like a small bench
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larryh
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# Posted: 15 Dec 2010 08:17am
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I got mine made and since its been zero and below the past couple days with highs in the teens I have had an excuse to use test the toilet system. It was funny how I stood there looking at the box for a long time before I could bring my self to actually give it a try. But as others have said, after several days now I have never had any hint that the potty had ever been used. So good so far at least. Now I have to come up with a place to store the contents till summer returns.. I am looking at those galvanized barrels with holes drilled in the sides, they are labeled as composting barrels. I got that idea after seeing several people on the internet who used a series of barrels to store contents for a year or so then moved them to piles to finish the job. May not work but I am going to give it a try. Here is a photos of how it came out. It barely fits between the existing none working toilet an the tub. Neither have running water to since the drains from them are shot..
Composting toilet, made of 1 by lumber and polyurethaned.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 15 Dec 2010 12:39pm
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Nice work! Does the ring sit flat or did you leave the small feet on it?
We plan to use sawdust toilets but we are at least a year and a half from occupying the first cabin. We will start with a composting outhouse.
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larryh
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# Posted: 15 Dec 2010 10:33pm - Edited by: larryh
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I didn't follow the plan exactly for these as some suggested. I didn't like the look of the bucket sticking up above the to of the box like the half inch they suggested it be placed. It is mostly for children to prevent kids from missing the bucket when seated it seemed. So I left the bucket about half way inside the top board. Another thing I didn't like was the higher the bucket the more area around the bucket was left with a opening. it isn't noticeable when the seat is down only up, but its less in appearance with the bucket down within the wood.
One thing about using this system in an outhouse is something I ran into with my pail privy I built and then refused to use. Everything freezes in the bucket if its very cold out which it is here now. So an inside winter set up is almost a must for me, don't know about you.
I went to a farm supply store today where I intended to purchase a composting galvanized can to start emptying into. But again, I balked. it just seemed like it was likely to fill pretty quickly and I really didn't want a big bunch of them sitting to the rear of the yard. I may go with the hardware cloth or wood framed bins? Not sure about having to cover the tops of them though.. I wonder what most people use for their compost system?
Well I see I never answered the question. Yes I thought I was going to have the bucket higher than the top which meant the little feet would have to be turned. They pried off it turned out. I re drilled some holes the same spacing for the pieces to be put on running with the outside of the edge. But as it turned out, with the bucket lower you have no reason to do that.
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bugs
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 01:11pm
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Larryh
We are using large plastic garbage cans with vermin locking lids as our storage and composting setup. We layer each "deposit" from the toilet with leaf litter to aid the composting process. We figure by year two we will take a look in the first one to see how things are going. By then things should be well on their way to soil. I suspect we will have a 10 can rotation.
One thing that works great is using biodegradable plastic bag liners for the pail. We have a sprinkling of kitty litter on the bottom of the pail in case the bag leaks a bit. The bag keeps "things" nicely contained and reduces clean up.
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larryh
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:37pm
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Bugs, thanks for that answer. When I was at the farm store they had some fairly nice large plastic trash cans an the lids seemed pretty secure, the were cheap, 7.99 and may not hold up well but I needed somewhere to dump the potty for right now. I wonder about the bag, while it sounds good I was under the impression it should have venelation from the sides an drain holes in the bottom to help the process? At least I think I read that. I know lots of people are using different systems and that is what I hope to hear is some actual use that will open the ideas possible. I was like you that I sort of thought that it would take quite a few barrels and I wasn't sure I wanted that look or would rather build a round or square more traditional looking compost in the yard. The one I saw I sort of liked that two facing forward and the center on facing the rear, I guess so you could more easily access them from the sides. That way you would have a more normal looking situation that a bunch of cans sitting around. But I do like the idea of the rotating cans too, just trying to figure the good and bad of each. The other downside I wondered was since they want extra mulch between each layer of some other thing, then don't they fill up pretty quickly?
Another thing I have realized now is that when I read one of the reports they mentioned using a little garden digger with bent prongs to push down the pile to preserve space in the bucket in use. I thought, Oh what a mess that would create and how to clean it! But after a few uses I realized that when you cover things with a inch or more of the sawdust chips that you can sort of push it flat without soiling what ever your pushing with. Gee what a bunch of things I really never wanted to know, it seems to be a lesson in Humility...
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PlicketyCat
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 10:47pm
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Hello - just found you guys, what a great forum.
Anyway, we're currently living in a wall tent in Interior Alaska and have been using a Bucket Loo for a year and a half. Since it gets COLD here, we don't even bother using sawdust in the winter since the potty corner stays nice and cool so there isn't any smell.
When the 6-gal bucket gets 3/4 full we put it outside for an hour or so to freeze up a little so it's easier to carry out to our compost heap through the snow. Then just tip the bucket up and the poopsicle just slides out. It all melts up nicely in the spring and virtually disappears. Sometimes we forget about the bucket and it gets frozen solid before we can empty it, then we just take a squeeze bottle of warm water with us to the heap and spray down the outside to get it to slide out.
The bucket loo is really handy for the winter and middle of the night trips, but lugging the full bucket through the snow and woods is starting to become a pain, as well as chainsawing and chipping brush to make summer cover materials (we are 4 hours from the nearest town that has a sawmill).
We're on permafrost, so I really don't want to dig a pit for a latrine/outhouse and I'm not really keen on anaerobic digestion in pits anyway since I don't want to risk polluting my water table. I've been looking into building a mouldering toilet outdoors. Basically you just build an aboveground compost bin and then put your outhouse on top of that. It's a little slower than composting unless you feel like getting in there and stirring it, but it does provide for aerobic digestion and you can put paper and pee in there. If you build 2 or 3 bins under a single platform, you can just slide the outhouse over to the next bin. Plus you can empty your indoor overnight bucket every morning right into the bin.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 11:02pm
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A page with some good info. It doesn't cover cold weather issues though.
Composting Outhouse
I'm going to build something like the dual pit composting outhouse about halfway down the page. I'll use a sawdust bucket in the cabin and empty it in the outhouse. We won't be at the cabin much in the winter but I'll just add it to the outhouse contents during the winter and expect that it will start cooking again in the spring.
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PlicketyCat
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 11:56pm
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Hey Mike, good link! The mouldering toilet is kind of a combination of the compost chamber toilet and the in-ground composting toilet found in the middle of the page. You basically build a nice screened compost chamber above ground where the contents can get plenty of air and drainage, and then put your outhouse on top of that.
You don't have to worry about urine diversion with the mouldering toilet either since it drains naturally into the soil where the ammonia/nitrogen can convert and the liquid evaporate quickly. I truly loathe emptying the pee containers separately, and urinals are not exactly easy for females; or (the worst) getting mid-way through a tinkle and realizing that you really really need to be on the other bucket!
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old243
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2019 11:20pm
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At our hunt camp , in cold weather . Use a plastic bag inside a garbage pail . Have a box built , toilet seat . Try to keep the liquids to a minimum. Use a pee jug at night. Use planer shavings for cover. Don't let it accumulate too much. If the wood stove is going, throw it in, problem solved. Use our outhouse most of the time. old243
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Scott G
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# Posted: 9 Aug 2019 10:13pm
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I have alot of buckets in rotation. Like 25...so I hit winter with a full clean amount and when it gets to -20 temps I can just accumulate frozen buckets.
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ChuckDynasty
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# Posted: 10 Aug 2019 06:22am - Edited by: ChuckDynasty
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How many people? If you're willing to separate the urine you can dump your 5 gallon bucket into a 55 gallon plastic barrel. This is a closed system so nothing leaches out. It would be too wet with urine added for this to work. It would take approximately 10 months for one person to fill the 55 gallon barrel. This may be a good over the winter solution for you. The microorganisms will go dormant when temps are in the 50's F they'll resume when it warms up. I did this for 3 years full time and it worked great for me. I still use this method for composting kitchen waste and have not had one problem with animals in the 5 or 6 years I've been composting this way. If you're interested in trying this method I'll explain further. I'm in the north east U.S.A.
The first year I stored 5 gal buckets over winter like Scott G mentioned, 2nd year had the barrel in an unheated garage that remained about 60F, after that everything stays outside year round.
I found sawdust to be the best carbon/cover to use.
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creeky
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# Posted: 10 Aug 2019 09:09am
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I make birds nests with straw in the winter. Line the bucket with straw. It will make the chickadees laugh when they watch you. But it also makes it very easy to dump.
As for covering with sawdust. I also use animal bedding. Note that I presoak my bedding with bokashi inoculate so its slightly damp.
There is no odor and the waste quickly gets pickled by the bokashi.
Bokashi is also useful for summer toilets to reduce odor and compact the mass.
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