Composting Toilet

smarty wrote:

Horsedoc wrote:
foolish

Horsedoc this is probably the type of response that one should not post?

You do not know anything about me and my wife and for you to tell us we are foolish also demonstrates your ignorance and arrogance.

Of course you are right ;) I know nothing about you and was not referring to you. I have the opinion that hauling around a bucket, box or container of urine and poop is not a really wise thing to do. You of course have different opinion and apparently enjoy or at least think it is a good idea.
As a kid, I grew up in the South on a farm with no indoor plumbing and a outhouse that was quite odoriferous in July and August. I got enough of that back then and still have no desire to poop and pee in a bucket and haul it around with me. I guess you do or at least think it is a good idea. Have at it.

Horsedoc wrote:
foolish

Horsedoc this is probably the type of response that one should not post?

You do not know anything about me and my wife and for you to tell us we are foolish also demonstrates your ignorance and arrogance.

Thanks for your comments (at least most of them, Horsedoc for example). We boondock exclusively and live in our RV full time. Spent a few years on a sailboat so have extensive experience with this type of toilet. Also don't get wigged out over cleaning this sort of item.

As I said, that is fine for ruminants. Things like sheep and cows and horses. But if you look into it you'll find that human poop is different.

Naio wrote:
I grew up on a farm and I currently teach small-scale farming.

The farmers I know do compost their manure until it is safe. That time frame is, of course, different for ruminants or birds than for human manure.

You sound like your knowledge mostly comes from YouTube. Don't forget to get both your hepatitis vaccines.

I grew up on a farm in Iowa, and composting was an unknown word back then. You mucked out the barn in the summer/fall/winter, and used that manure on the fields in the spring. It sure didn't sit for no two years.

When I camp in cold weather I just use of of those port-potties and a bag. Maybe that would work for you.

Some of the Live In My Cabin In The Woods videos that I watch when I'm bored say that saw dust in a bucket works better then a composting toilet. Then you just throw away the saw dust. But, I have never tried it.

Eliminating a black tank to install a composting toilet has a inconvenient factor of 8 and a yuck factor of 9!

I would go with a composting toilet if it was a last and only option.

I grew up on a farm and I currently teach small-scale farming.

The farmers I know do compost their manure until it is safe. That time frame is, of course, different for ruminants or birds than for human manure.

You sound like your knowledge mostly comes from YouTube. Don't forget to get both your hepatitis vaccines.

Naio wrote:
Municipal laws that allow composting toilets usually require a two-year period of composting for any sort of animal waste, including composting toilet contents.

A skilled composter, using the right inoculants, huge quantities of poo, and operating in a warm climate, could probably get compost much more quickly than that.

But in a cool climate, and in quantities produced by just a few people, it takes some time before you get a product that is safe to put on your salad greens. And that's when compost is finished -- when it is safe to handle and use in a garden without burying it.

If you want to use it in a vegetable garden maybe (I said flower garden). Of course that's municipal rules where they really don't want to encourage anything but a flush toilet. Plus finding the room to store several months waste is a lot easier in a residential building, so there was no point in pushing back even if the rule was silly.

Doesn't take much "skill" to compost. An RV in use is plenty warm and every time you sit down, you add "innoculants".

I'm guessing you grew up in the city. Farmers certainly don't wait two years before putting manure on fields.

Naio wrote:


I don't ever plan to put a black tank in my van. Seems like too much work for not very much benefit. But I might use it if I had boughv a pre-made RV.

Back when we had our Class C; and then a 5er, returning to Michigan during bitter cold was just simpler to keep the RV fully winterized, and use the good ol' Luggable Loo when needed.

The last time we shopped for an RV, we realized that manufacturers were ignoring the all-important ease-of-winterization. A few models, even the dealers couldn't explain how to winterize :-(

As we pondered our cargo van conversion, one feature we absolutely wanted was "no winterizing". It's nice to not haul around gallons of antifreeze.