Making My Own "Composting" Head

[SURV69]

Has anyone done it?

Care to share any personal information on what design considerations that the commercial systems don't offer?

I want my system to be based on cheap, readily available 5 gallon buckets and covered over in a wood enclosure ... not that sickly bright white ...

I want my system to be of the dry variety, with small fans and maybe a way to get hot summer air into the system to help in the drying process.

I hope to use a corn-based kitty litter(very lightweight).

I also wonder, if urine ... or some portion of urine can be mixed in, as long as the drying process is adequate ... anything to extend the collection of ALL the waste while in transit.

Let me extend my thanks to anyone who wants to enter into this dirty talk.

[Kenomac]

Apparently... it's been done.

[SURV69]

Kenomac:

I did a search, and I found a number of threads, but none about building a "composting" head ... would you offer up a link?

thanks

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by SURV69

Has anyone done it?

Care to share any personal information on what design considerations that the commercial systems don't offer?

I want my system to be based on cheap, readily available 5 gallon buckets and covered over in a wood enclosure ... not that sickly bright white ...

I want my system to be of the dry variety, with small fans and maybe a way to get hot summer air into the system to help in the drying process.

I hope to use a corn-based kitty litter(very lightweight).

I also wonder, if urine ... or some portion of urine can be mixed in, as long as the drying process is adequate ... anything to extend the collection of ALL the waste while in transit.

Let me extend my thanks to anyone who wants to enter into this dirty talk.

If you haven't already searched the internet, you will find more than you could ever read abut DIY composting heads. [...or at least more that I would be willing to read...]

One of the best and qualified sources who also sells a product similar to what you are describing is C-Head.

RE: Adding urine to the solids: In our experience with our Nature's Head, that defeats the purpose on the liquid separating designs, and causes issues regardless of how much drying power you have...

Best wishes with your project.

Cheers!

Bill

[panfiltp]

Check out my YouTube video on my homemade composting heads:
http://youtu.be/5rr8Tm63Pl8


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[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by SURV69

Kenomac:

I did a search, and I found a number of threads, but none about building a "composting" head ... would you offer up a link?

thanks

It just looks like a simple wood box with a hole on top, a toilet seat attached, surrounding a five gallon bucket filled with cat litter. Very low tech.

[panfiltp]

Here is another video. Go to 15:30 minutes for installing the new composting toilet:
http://youtu.be/ODWrKRIGXbY


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[newhaul]

Great Composting Toilet Plans For Easy Building this is what I based mine off of however I use the smaller square buckets which allowed my enclosure to fit in my smaller space.
Definitely separate as much of the urine as you can. I even built a urinal from 2 liter soda bottles. They make a double female screw unit to put two bottles together. http://www.amazon.com/TEDCO-Tornado-.../dp/B000GYSZOI Just cut one with a urinal shape and add a ping pong ball to act as an automatic valve to seal off the collection bottle. When it gets full just unscrew and cap it and put another in its place. Carry the bottles onshore to dispose of or wait until you are 3 miles out and dump them.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

It just looks like a simple wood box with a hole on top, a toilet seat attached, surrounding a five gallon bucket filled with cat litter. Very low tech.

Here's another view. Not sure it's something that you'd want in your boat if you expect company.

You might want to go with more of a higher quality, low-tech device like the Airhead which looked well-built when we saw it at Annapolis a couple of years ago.

[goat]

Check out raindog's blog. They did exactly what you're talking about. Sorry I can't post a link but I'm on my phone in a hostile environment.

goat

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[redhead]

We bought an Air Head and made one of our own. They are both functioning just fine. I don't know about the corn product, we're using coir. The Air Head has an agitator arm which our home made one doesn't have and that definitely speeds up the project. We have two computer fans on the home made one.

I think the whole process would be a "waste" of time (sorry for the pun) if you mixed in the liquid. The longer it's wet the slower the whole process is and I'm pretty sure as the warm weather approaches that it would draw those damn flying gnats I hate so much. Just my 2c. Good luck.

[first wind]

Originally Posted by SURV69

Has anyone done it?

Care to share any personal information on what design considerations that the commercial systems don't offer?

I want my system to be based on cheap, readily available 5 gallon buckets and covered over in a wood enclosure ... not that sickly bright white ...

I want my system to be of the dry variety, with small fans and maybe a way to get hot summer air into the system to help in the drying process.

I hope to use a corn-based kitty litter(very lightweight).

I also wonder, if urine ... or some portion of urine can be mixed in, as long as the drying process is adequate ... anything to extend the collection of ALL the waste while in transit.

Let me extend my thanks to anyone who wants to enter into this dirty talk.

working on building my own. one point: the whole idea of the composting head is to separate the urine from the feces. by keeping them separate and taking measures to facilitate drying or the fecal matter, you avoid the build up of the nasty micro-organisms that make sewage stink and waste management such a problem.

in answer to your question: no. you can not mix urine in with the feces.it defeats the purpose.

if, by in transit, you mean on an extended passage in international waters, why would you care about collecting the urine and storing it for longer term than the usual urine separator would allow? just dump it over the side when it gets full.

however, if you really want to collect ALL of the wastes, pipe the urine from the urine collector to a holding tank. it won't fill nearly as quickly as one used in a standard head set up and you could pump the contents when you reach port. since urine is a liquid, you wouldn't have to use water (fresh or outside) to 'flush' the urine down.

[alansmith]

If u r properly hydrating and eating it is normal to defecate 1-2 times a day depending on how much vegetables/fruit you use. It is normal to urinate almost 1500-2000 cc/ 24 hr. This is normal. If u drink more or drink very little it will affect that number. So, u can understand very easily that 1500 cc of urine mixed with a couple of cups of poo... Will never dry out. That is why the composting heads divert the urine.

Secondly, men don't like to sit to pee. When I get the boat I will convert to composting. I will do one of those porta-potti attachments to the wall with tubing to the canister. Fans and some way to stir the desiccant and poo. Da da !!!

[tstano]

Here you go.

All U Get

[dick sargent]

Have experience with both Air Head and Nature's Head. Not a whole lot of difference. The exhaust fan seems to be the most critical part. Happy pooping.