Composting Toilet - Nature's Head

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by boatsail

Have you given thought to c head? I purchased c head and have been using it as much as I have to use it. Seems to work great. Here is what made me pick c head over natures and airhead. Cost was not a factor even though c head was the cheapest.

Main reason. With the c head, you open the top and remove the poo bucket. dump and put back. Both of the other composting toilets need to have the entire bottom portion of the actual toilet picked up. This means the job is not quite as clean. I dislike poo just as much as anyone and more than most. I got the c head for the cleanliness. Also, I can throw away and replace a cheap 1 gal water container used for urine anytime I want. No need to try and clean, scrub or bleach the specially made urine container.

My reasons were totally about lack of me having to touch poo over the price. I did however only pay like 500 dollars for the unit. Great price!

Poo handling as you call it is zero in a diaper pot. Plastic sack in a bucket. Toilet lid on the bucket. Diaper open in the sack. Poo in the bucket, lands on diaper, in sack. Pull sack, tie knot. Double sack. Hands never touch anything. No clean up, no mess. No repairs, no expense really. Dispose of anywhere it is acceptable to dispose of disposable diapers. That is pretty much any dumpster where people live.

For areas where it is acceptable to exit waste in the ocean, just delete diaper and add sea water.

Seems to me, people are thinking if the process is not complex, or does not cost what a good used car costs, it is not acceptable. Kiss.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Legalities aside, pumping human waste overboard is not inherently bad for the environment. Just like with a composting system, if there is sufficient bio-mass in the area, and small amounts of waste, then it will simply decay naturally with zero negative impact on the environment. There is nothing legally nor environmentally inappropriate about this in the right circumstances.

The primary problem with putting human waste in the environment is density. Lots of people pooing in one place is bad. A few pooing in a large area is just fine. A cruising boat's "little deposit" in the right circumstances (key phrase here) contributes nothing to destroying the oceans.

Belizesailor is The voice of reason. By following all the bureaucracy around polution, all we are doing is making a few wealthy, ouir wallets thiner and our boat smell and have less storage.

[capthowes]

I love our natures head. The large seat is comfortable and I can be comfortable while reading. We are part time users and it works out great when I stick my head in the bowl it has a great peat moss smell.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by capthowes

I love our natures head. The large seat is comfortable and I can be comfortable while reading. We are part time users and it works out great when I stick my head in the bowl it has a great peat moss smell.

When I stick my head in the bowl it means I drank too much the night before and there are too many folks on the marina to chunder over the side

[reiner]

We decided on the Airhead unit I did lots of research and for reasons I can't remember we picked that one.
Very happy with it and the smell that used to great us when unlocking the boat is gone. Fantastic.
I fitted ours in February and haven't emptied the compost out so far.
Ours has two liquid bottles with screw top lids so we can empty them when it is convenient . I am still trying to find a way to get rid of the liquids without taking bottles for walks. Has anybody found a good solution?
Cheers
Reiner

[EighthWonder]

Belizesailor

That's the mentality that is destroying our oceans. We tend to forget the 10's of 1000's of boats around the world dumping millions of gallons of raw sewage from their boats straight into ou waters. Add to that the example of the posted link:

Breaking all the Rules, For a Cause | Project AWARE

Many think their one little 20 gallon tank spewed over the edge doesn't matter. That's sad.

But back on topic!! WE GOT IT!

Our Natures Head Composting Toilet arrived in less then a week! Thought Canada Customs would have held it up longer. I'm having my last downsizing yardsale this weekend so won't be installing it. But I'll let the Forum know what we got, and how the install goes.

I'm curious to find out if it works well for a woman too after all the bodily function facts you've shared! Lol

[sarafina]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

Poo handling as you call it is zero in a diaper pot. Plastic sack in a bucket. Toilet lid on the bucket. Diaper open in the sack. Poo in the bucket, lands on diaper, in sack. Pull sack, tie knot. Double sack. Hands never touch anything. No clean up, no mess. No repairs, no expense really. Dispose of anywhere it is acceptable to dispose of disposable diapers. That is pretty much any dumpster where people live.

For areas where it is acceptable to exit waste in the ocean, just delete diaper and add sea water.

Seems to me, people are thinking if the process is not complex, or does not cost what a good used car costs, it is not acceptable. Kiss.

There is kiss and then there is kiss...

Diapers are not biodegradable, and are not cheap, especially if you are cruising out of the US.

And bags of waste are not pleasant to have around and carry up every time you go ashore. I know, we have used wag bags (essentially the system you prefer) at night for years and it's just not convenient or fun. Or cheap.

If it works for you, cool, but there is a reason plumbing was invented... chamber pots suck...

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by EighthWonder

Belizesailor

That's the mentality that is destroying our oceans. We tend to forget the 10's of 1000's of boats around the world dumping millions of gallons of raw sewage from their boats straight into ou waters. Add to that the example of the posted link:

Breaking all the Rules, For a Cause | Project AWARE

Many think their one little 20 gallon tank spewed over the edge doesn't matter. That's sad.

I agree whole heatedly with the article you linked, but it is about plastic (which is truly evil) not small amounts of human waste in remote locations.

If I empty my holding tank offshore and there is not another vessel for 100 square miles -- the negative environmental impact is nil -- it all decays naturally.

Don't want to derail the original topic so I will stop with this post.

[Bruce626]

EighthWonder wrote "We tend to forget the 10's of 1000's of boats around the world dumping millions of gallons of raw sewage from their boats straight into ou waters." ==> Boats??? Boats aren't the problem in most of the world. Here in the Philippines most of the population lives near water as the country is an island archipelago - and most of that waste from most of those (90M?) people goes into the ocean. A few of the bigger cities might have some sembelence of waste treatment - when it works, when it does not flood, when there is money for maintenance. In many (most?) towns that have 'sidewalks' - the sidewalk is actually an open sewer (called a 'canal' locally) which has cement slabs laid over it to make a place to walk. Every couple of meters there is a removable slab with large holes on either end for easy removal (and to provide easy access for the roaches and rats). I suspect that the (lack of) effective waste disposal systems is quite widespread outside of first world countries. Generally the question is "How much expensive plumbing do you want the waste to traverse before it goes into the sea?" - and the answer is "As little as possible".

And yachties are not the problem with plastic either - we tend to watch what we do and take some pains to dispose of things properly. It is the millions of poor landlubbers or even fishermen who tend to throw lots of plastic in the ocean. I was on a ferry here and saw a Filipino finish a plastic bottle of water - he was on the stern leaning on a trash receptacle - but nevertheless tossed the plastic bottle over the stern. And this is not an uncommon attitude in the third world. On the other hand, there is so much poverty here that much of the plastic tends to get picked up by poor kids trying to make a peso, so bottles aren't the real problem as they get recycled - but cheap thin plastic bags are everywhere here with little recycle value.

[sarafina]

Topic at hand: COMPOSTING TOILETS.

Let's all take it as a given that we need some system some of the time and discuss the systems, not the conditions under which we might need them ; -)

[EighthWonder]

All right.....my Natures Head is installed!!
Total time was about 3 hours. That includes removing the Jabsco, capping lines, routing wires etc. It also included having to re-do an re-finish the platform it has to sit on. I bet if I didn't have all the extras if would've been quicker. Overall, it's quite a slick looking unit! The fan is dead quiet. I do have to have a tiny stool for the feet as its higher then the Jabsco in addition to the platform. The doors, levers, etc and liquid separation design all work great do far. And you HAVE to love the elongated seat!!!! Oh...one more thing....quiet!!! No more ungodly Jabsco noise in the wee hours! I'm happy so far. I'll let you know in time how it does with two full-time liveaaboards.

Stay Tuned!

[EighthWonder]

It's been almost a week...so far...I'm happy.

I keep the fan going 24/7 despite that some don't. You can't hear it and there's virtually no draw. I figure three days goes by and on the fourth the pee pail needs emptying. Not really a big deal...you lift the main body for a split second, pull it, cap it, put in the spare (two jugs is best) and off to the marina washroom with it. I sling it in a bag over the shoulder to carry it. After its dumped, a quick rinse, cap it and it's ready to go.

From what I can see...it seems like I won't have to worry about the solids for quite some time yet. I'll keep you posted.

I decided to mix a healthy scoop of cedar mulch in with the peat moss. I just like the smell of cedar when I left the main body of the toilet...not that there's odor. I'm pleased with no odor, no noise and I'm allready forgetting the hassle and expense of pump outs.

The wife loves it..that's a plus. She doesn't mind spinning the mixer handle at all...and we keep lemon fresh wipes handy and use them for cleaning.

Even after one week...I recommend it wholeheartedly.

I'll keep u posted in the solids change up.

[smj]

We have owned two Natureheads and have been very satisfied with them. More importantly we have also been overwhelmingly satisfied with the after sales service. When you call Natureshead you talk to a human not an automated recording. They have been very helpful in the rare instance we have issues and our need for spare parts. It would great to see more companies with this kind of customer service. For their product and after sales service i give them a 10 out of 10.

[reiner]

Originally Posted by EighthWonder

It's been almost a week...so far...I'm happy.

I keep the fan going 24/7 despite that some don't. You can't hear it and there's virtually no draw. I figure three days goes by and on the fourth the pee pail needs emptying. Not really a big deal...you lift the main body for a split second, pull it, cap it, put in the spare (two jugs is best) and off to the marina washroom with it. I sling it in a bag over the shoulder to carry it. After its dumped, a quick rinse, cap it and it's ready to go.

From what I can see...it seems like I won't have to worry about the solids for quite some time yet. I'll keep you posted.

I decided to mix a healthy scoop of cedar mulch in with the peat moss. I just like the smell of cedar when I left the main body of the toilet...not that there's odor. I'm pleased with no odor, no noise and I'm allready forgetting the hassle and expense of pump outs.

The wife loves it..that's a plus. She doesn't mind spinning the mixer handle at all...and we keep lemon fresh wipes handy and use them for cleaning.

Even after one week...I recommend it wholeheartedly.

I'll keep u posted in the solids change up.

We have our airhead for a bit over 6 month now and also very happy with it. What I love most is the no smell at all bonus. Our fan runs 24/7 too but sometimes we have to ad a bit of water to keep it from getting to dry. I am considering fitting a timer in the system.
But in general a composting toilet is definitely the way to go.

Reiner

[sailstoo]

I haen't taken the time to read all the input but I understand there may be issues with composting heads in colder climates. Suggest you ask the folks @ Natures Head (if you haven't already addressed it) how well their heads work when it's cold outside (and in).