Composting Toilet - Nature's Head

[Reiheld]

Got mine through Amazon.com, from a company called The Worm Factory, ~$23 for five bricks. Sawdust is also said to work, though I've not tried it, but around here the price is right! In part, I expect, you are paying for the convenient compressed size for storage.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Reiheld

Got mine through Amazon.com, from a company called The Worm Factory, ~$23 for five bricks. Sawdust is also said to work, though I've not tried it, but around here the price is right! In part, I expect, you are paying for the convenient compressed size for storage.

Thanks Reiheld, I may go the Amazon route. I also see that Home Hardware lists it in their online inventory. I suspect it's a seasonal item though.

[Ram]

how far will 1 brick go

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Ram

how far will 1 brick go

I'd like to hear the answer to this one as well. How many fills, so to speak, do one of these 650 g coir bricks accomplish? One? More? Less? I guess it will become obvious, but it would be great to hear from those with experience.

[ranchhand]

Great discussion and info. I saw very little mention of urinals. They would seem to make a lot of sense for both composting and traditional heads since males make up at least half the crews of almost all boats.
I´m building one into my composting system and see no problem in direct discharge, legal or not. Urine is sterile and the nitrogen impact is virtually zip. Combine that with separate bagging of paper and a composter should work great without urine diverters or complicated storage systems.

[Reiheld]

In essence, what you get with the production model "composting" toilet is the old cedar bucket and a urinal, all wrapped into one. As noted, sitting is required for proper aim with these things. But sterile or not, at least around here, you'd best not get caught dumping pee, i.e. sewage, out of any container, and the infamous red dye had better not show up in the water. The fines are draconian, and our water cops aren't noted for their reasoning ability. For the half of boating crews who are male, the world is already your perfectly legal urinal. Why bother with the plumbing and cleanup chores? For the rest of us, your fixture wouldn't do us much good, anyway.

[Ram]

just a Bump - ?

[Ram]

What about standing and peeing ?

[Reiheld]

'Composting' heads are designed to direct the urine into a forward-facing built-in funnel, which leads to a jug. If you are standing, and thus aiming toward the back, the liquid will naturally want to pool in the rear, where the solid waste is collected. The two expensive heads have a trap door, which may deflect some, but perhaps not all the liquid. All of them that I have seen have a shallower bowl design than porcelain household toilets, and spattering can be a problem. The trap-door design requires more attention to cleaning, a NH owner complains, and says that the inevitable moisture build-up in her NH solids container leads to a peat-caking problem that is a real pain to clean when the time comes. She is considering swapping brands, but is reluctant to lose her original investment. Maybe she would like to sell her now-clean NH for enough to buy another, cheaper, simpler brand that will work better for her needs? Interested in a nice previously-owned Nature's Head for half-price? I can inquire and refer.
As for standing up to urinate, this Gandmama's grumpy suggestion to landlubberish males who feel their entire self-concept is tied to their ability to pee facing the wall, that they find themselves a nice kitty-litter jug of their very own. I can provide this item. Sigh. roll eyes. WhatEver. There is also the lee rail. Everybody else, including any seasoned mariner of either persuasion, and anybody who must clean his own head, SITS to eliminate while on a boat.

[Bluemansailor]

If she is seriously interested in sell her NH toilet I maybe interested in buying it!

[Sluce]

Originally Posted by Ram

What about standing and peeing ?

The short answer is don't.
Not only does it defeat the purpose of separating the liquid from the solids, but the bowl itself is much shallower than a plumbed toilet, and it isn't filled with water. In other words, a lot of splashing will occur.
Not to mention the possibility of losing your balance in any kind of seaway.

[Tallswede]

How do you handle the toilet paper when using the C-Head or other composting heads. I didn't see anything about that in C-Head's FAQ page. What do you folks who are using them do. I'm very seriously thinking of putting one in my boat and my little camper trailer. Thanks.

Kevin

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by Tallswede

How do you handle the toilet paper when using the C-Head or other composting heads. I didn't see anything about that in C-Head's FAQ page. What do you folks who are using them do. I'm very seriously thinking of putting one in my boat and my little camper trailer. Thanks.

Kevin

Goes in the crapper

[clockwork orange]

Well, I just bought an Airhead on ebay a couple of days ago for a very reasonable price, its new, still in the box for $425 incl shipping, this is the second one ive bought from someone whos plans changed and they never installed it, the last one I paid under $200 for 6 years ago and installed it in my Mac 36 cat but unfortunately the boat burned up in a warehouse fire before I had the pleasure of giving it a test run. If this one hadn't come along I was going to buy a C head which looks like very good value to me. If you are serious about changing to a composter but don't need to rush into it, it is well worth while to do regular searches on ebay,craigslist etc.

Steve.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Reiheld

'Composting' heads are designed to direct the urine into a forward-facing built-in funnel, which leads to a jug. If you are standing, and thus aiming toward the back, the liquid will naturally want to pool in the rear, where the solid waste is collected. The two expensive heads have a trap door, which may deflect some, but perhaps not all the liquid. All of them that I have seen have a shallower bowl design than porcelain household toilets, and spattering can be a problem. The trap-door design requires more attention to cleaning, a NH owner complains, and says that the inevitable moisture build-up in her NH solids container leads to a peat-caking problem that is a real pain to clean when the time comes. She is considering swapping brands, but is reluctant to lose her original investment. Maybe she would like to sell her now-clean NH for enough to buy another, cheaper, simpler brand that will work better for her needs? Interested in a nice previously-owned Nature's Head for half-price? I can inquire and refer.
As for standing up to urinate, this Gandmama's grumpy suggestion to landlubberish males who feel their entire self-concept is tied to their ability to pee facing the wall, that they find themselves a nice kitty-litter jug of their very own. I can provide this item. Sigh. roll eyes. WhatEver. There is also the lee rail. Everybody else, including any seasoned mariner of either persuasion, and anybody who must clean his own head, SITS to eliminate while on a boat.

I would like to buy the used one for half price if its possable- - My boat is a charter boat so I have a lot of folks coming onboard who are not used to being onboard, nor are they used to marine heads, or composting heads