Composting Toilet

The few positive posts about composting toilets did not mention what they do with their gray water. I guess that means they just dump it on the ground??

Yes. The Wynns did explain that for composting toilets there is a specify moss that must be used since it is know for its rapid decomposition of waste.

I'm sure it is a major change in lifestyle and one has to monitor the unit carefully, especially the issue of the composte getting too cool for microbial activity to stay optimum.

Looks like there is a variety of portable toilet systems out there...

Naio wrote:
I do have experience.

Something that stores two weeks' worth is not a composting toilet, despite what advertising may claim. It's a chemical free porta potty that you can, if you wish, empty into a composting pile or container.

A true composting toilet stores the waste until it is fully composted. And yes, this takes months or years depending on conditoons. Never weeks.

The porta-potty version could work for an rv if you only take short trips and have a setup for composting poo at home. Many people on this forum travel for longer periods of time, or full time, so our responses tend to assume that.

Above is true ...Plus, in colder weather or colder interior surroundings, composting comes to a virtual halt. Notice that backyard garden compost heaps hardly function at all during colder weather.

No personal experience, but many people are using these on boats including a few friends. They are properly called "desiccating toilets" since little or no composting goes on. The #2 waste is mixed with some organic material which absorbs the moisture and dries it. The resulting mix is disposed of at intervals. It is legal in most jurisdictions to simply put it in the trash (same as a dirty disposable diaper). I think for most people a standard RV or boat toilet is a better choice, but there seems to be growing acceptance of the alternatives.

Thanks GitPicker, Sleepy, CmcDar and many others for the replies. Don't get pissed off if your name isn't listed. I'm hesitant to page back through the replies and potentially lose this edit I'm working on.

as Sleepy has pointed out the issue of power may be a big deal and I suppose those with less solar panels then the Wynns would consider that energy budget an issue in the Winter; I know I will. I do wonder in the Winter how much energy it would take to keep the compost pile viable (the pile will generate some of its own heat tho if kept at operating temps), but having Winter camped extensively (dry) with my old camper it would be nice to have a couple of modern facilities going that. Anyway in terms of energy, how much energy does it take in the basement to keep all the pipes and tanks from freezing for example?

I am planning roof mounted and free standing solar panels with lithium batteries so I hope the power for the pit is the least concern compared to other electrical needs in the Winter. There will be no home except the TC so the pit will have to be functional in the long term.

I wonder how such devices have been improved over the years making them more user friendly and functional(?)

The Wynns had a lot of info and I'm going to glean some gotcha thoughts from this thread and write the Wynns; see what they have to say. I'll report in if they give some interesting retorts.
B

I mentioned these a year ago, and many folks here said I was nuts:)

No problem, but I've had one on my sailboat now for a year, and LOVE it. Much easier than pumping/cleanout stations at the dock.

They use almost no power, the one on my boat is powered by a small solar panel.

By the way, Tiger Adventure Vehicles, which makes some of the finest, most durable off road truck campers in the world offers one.

adambeck7 wrote:
sleepy, i understand it might not be the perfect solution for everyone but that doesn't mean it's a terrible idea for everyone. our trips are usually only 2 weeks maximum. always boondocking. lots of camping during winter too. the fact that i wouldn't have to dump my tank in -10 wind chill and find a dump station open during the winter and hopefully with water is a big plus. a big BIG plus for me.

so after 2 weeks boondocking in the winter you have very cold poop with the consistancy of clay to dump when you get home?

Remember you have to have a reasonably warm system to get biodigesting... or fermentation... or evaporation... when you put mixed liquid/solid waste into your "tank" in winter that is what will still be there 2 weeks later.

I can understand your desire to quit this thread.... with each statement it gets smellier.

An after thought,,, has any truck camper owner on this forum every personally known anyone that has a wood burning heater in their truck camper?

Many of us limit anything that will freeze and burst the pipes and vessels of our truck campers in the winter.... we sleep, eat, and heat with propane when boondocking... any water is carried in bottles and jugs... not in our built in tanks.

I'll try to stop bothering folks on this thread with a thought from my 46 years using truck campers.... "I think that the idea of a composting toilet in my truck camper stinks"

Sleepy

sleepy, i understand it might not be the perfect solution for everyone but that doesn't mean it's a terrible idea for everyone. our trips are usually only 2 weeks maximum. always boondocking. lots of camping during winter too. the fact that i wouldn't have to dump my tank in -10 wind chill and find a dump station open during the winter and hopefully with water is a big plus. a big BIG plus for me.

i get what you're saying about not answering his question directly but looking feasible and being feasible are two different things. i think that's why he wanted the personal experience. i know the wynn's might not be the best example but they are full timing with a composting toilet and claim that they love it. i'm just trying to say it might be more feasible some think.

i've also seen several guys who put wood burning stoves in their TC's who are very happy with them. again, might not be for everyone but it can work.

nycsteve, the fan is just one of those small computer fans that use less than 2ah a day.

anyway, i don't need to keep taking up space in his thread not answering his question so i'll stop chiming in. didn't mean to cause a ruckus.

I lived for 10 years in a cabin with, first a composting toilet, then an electric toilet. They worked to an extent as there was no alternative at the time. Both of these toilets were disgusting to deal with when they did not function properly. I will just leave the rest to your imaginations.

After 10 years for dealing with products that did not perform as was promised, we had a septic system put in.

All that said, I dry camped for a year on some land and was considering one of the newer models of composting toilets. BUT, I was considering setting said toilet in its own "out house".

I do believe composting toilets do offer a needed function - hands down!

I would never have one in my camper.

I have had a camper with "potty smell" that I could not discover the origin. (Turns out it was the toilet itself that began to stink - no matter how much I cleaned it). Nothing ruins "cozy camper" like the smell of an out house.

I will dump my Black water at the same time I dump my gray water (composting toilet does not eliminate the need to empty gray tanks). I did purchase a Black Water Tote so I can empty my tanks without moving my camper.



THAT IS MY EXPERIENCE.

PS: There is a website and apps for your smart phone to help you find the nearest dump stations. Here is a link to the website: http://www.rvdumps.com/

How many places on the road am I going to find that will welcome my partially composted poop above ground?
Im off the grid at least half the time. This setup requires a fan? Wheres the electric coming from? It is in short supply already.
Personally , disposal questions aside, I'll opt for the system that has the least chance of me picking up oders.