A Dirty Topic.... Toilet Paper! What to do with it?

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by BandB

We have one friend who always has at least a partial roll of toilet paper in her purse.

It's the same in Vanuatu carry your personal roll of tp. Or coconut husk it will be.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[IP Man]

I installed a composting toilet about six or seven months ago in a 38' Hinckley. Whomever did the plumbing for the previous electric head should have been hauled.

I installed a Nature's Head and could not be happier.

I live aboard most of the time and have only emptied the business end once and that was mostly just curiosity. The waste just keeps getting smaller and smaller. The liquid container requires frequent emptying but that's no big deal, just carry it in a paper bag down to the dock toilet.

It is essentially a dehydrating system.

I love it and NO SMELL WHATSOEVER!!!

PS Toilet paper goes inside!!!

Do yourself a favor if you are making a change and consider it.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by IP Man

............

PS Toilet paper goes inside!!!

...............................

Clarify please. "Inside" means placed into the composting drum, right?

I wish I could convince my wife of the merits of a composting head!

[BandB]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Clarify please. "Inside" means placed into the composting drum, right?

I wish I could convince my wife of the merits of a composting head!

Wifey B: Why does she oppose one?

[ShaktiGurl]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Clarify please. "Inside" means placed into the composting drum, right?

I wish I could convince my wife of the merits of a composting head!

Yes, we put TP inside the composter. If kept dry properly, there is no smell. It dessicates very nicely and is easy to dispose of off shore or on. Our holding tanks are small and this was the best option for us, although we still have one std head.

The only real issue I could see some having is that the urine must be kept (mostly) separated and some people might have difficulty with that.

[IP Man]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Clarify please. "Inside" means placed into the composting drum, right?

I wish I could convince my wife of the merits of a composting head!

Yes CaptForce, TP goes in the toilet.

Benefits: I believe these far outweigh the faults.

NO SMELL WHATSOEVER
No water usage to flush (very little water to rinse urine only, I use a very small cup)
Low power usage for small fan (moves air across the compost bin)
No Pump out
Very easy to clean

Faults: Minor

I'm told women have difficulty aiming and it's important to not deposit urine in the compost bin. So either do one or the other at one time (open hatch for the business end) or practice aim. My girlfriend loves the head!

The stir apparatus inside the compost bin does not get into corners...I use a 12" wooden shim to bring that material back into the mix so to speak. This is not required very often.

That's it!

Don't know your situation but if it is two aboard full-time and the toilet is used exclusively, I would think it would be important to stir more than recommended and possibly get a second urine container.

I have rented boats in the San Juan Islands and know first hand how fast holding tanks fill up what a pain.

Hope that helps, please feel free to ask anything else.

IP Man

PS Not that this is a problem but I am considering a low cost rechargeable right angle drill to replace the spider handle for turning the compost bin, reach down pull the trigger and hold for a few seconds and done!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: Why does she oppose one?

As she's sitting here next to me, I asked your question and her reply,...

"I'm concerned about the smell,- I don't understand why it would not smell,-I don't understand the complexity of separating the liquid and solid wastes,- I don't see how the disposal of the waste would be simple.... I have not had any experience with composting heads."

Online testimonials will not contribute any influence or sway her opinion.

[Lancerbye]

I have a vacu-flush which I am very happy with. No smell ,no clogs and uses little water. If I had two heads I would consider a composting as a second unit. I have even looked at the them as a replacement for the vacu-flush, because I like the composting idea. However they are built too high and I would need a stool (no pun intended) to get on the head. A major rebuilding of the head area is not in the cards.

[a64pilot]

Whole time I was young, we had a weekend house that had an outhouse.
I have no fond memories of the outhouse.
Basic training in the Army, all the ranges had outhouses, you could smell them from a half a mile away.

I can't get out of my head that a composting toilet is not an outhouse, it's just a psychological thing.

[sy_gilana]

We use no paper. The shower can reach to the potty, and we wash with soap afterwards. When it squeaks like newspaper on glass its done.
Normal TP flushes without any problem, we do have it for visitors who want it.

[hellosailor]

Force-
Look at it this way. An Egyptian mummy doesn't stink. Trust me on that if you haven't spent time with any.
Why doesn't it stink? Because it is dehydrated, desiccated, forget all the prep work that was done, any body left out in the desert would desiccate the same way. And not stink.
You know, dried up stinky stuff of all kinds, generally doesn't stink.

So, a composting toilet? No no no. That's a big hundred foot long thing installed in a fixed location. These are desiccating toilets. They don't make compost, they have nothing to do with compost. Composting takes time and space.

So these desiccating heads work by separating the liquid out and air-drying the solid as it is mixed with more media (i.e. peat) that also helps dry it out. And as it dries...just like the bodies outside Vegas, it don't stink.

It is still sewage, live sewage not compost, and that's still a consideration. But like any other head "as long as it works" that's just fine.

a64-
The Army still hasn't learned about quicklime. Or, it prefers the simpler logistics of not using it. Take an outhouse, dig it deep enough or big enough so it doesn't sit there full of fluid, and toss a handful of quicklime in after every use. Now you've got a Turkish Toilet and it won't stink either. Until you run out of quicklime, or bog it up from too many soldiers in the same place at the same time.

Be glad they didn't issue you khaki-green corks and tell you "This is the Army Way."
(VBG)

[sparrowhawk1]

Sorry to sound like a know it all, but the reason the composter doesn't stink is because of aerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria smells like a forest after a rain. Anaerobic bacteria smells like a swamp or even worse, like a holding tank. Edit there's a thread on adding an air bubbler to holding tanks to make aerobic bacteria in the holding tank. practical sailor did a test where it worked second best the first being a charcoal filter on the vent line

[ShaktiGurl]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

As she's sitting here next to me, I asked your question and her reply,...

"I'm concerned about the smell,- I don't understand why it would not smell,-I don't understand the complexity of separating the liquid and solid wastes,- I don't see how the disposal of the waste would be simple.... I have not had any experience with composting heads."

We have used the Airhead for 6 or so years on two different boats. As stated, it really is a desiccating toilet and we treat it as such. Because the solid waste is deposited and turned in a bowl with desiccating materials (such as coir, peat, etc.), it dries out quickly and it does not smell. Bacteria or not, if you get the contents of the main bowl too wet, it will smell some or a lot. Add more drying material, and it should dry out and alleviate the smell, unless it is too full already.

About the separation....
Separating the liquids from solids is automatic. You urinate with the main bowl trap closed and the liquids accumulate in a smaller container by gravity, which needs to be changed out every couple of days for two. You can drop the tp in the bowl by opening the trap door, or collect them if you don't want to add all the material, whatever you decide. We also hooked up our urine container so that it pumps up into our holding tank. All it does is hold the contents of the small container, so this can last quite a while.

When you need to "deposit solids", you urinate first and let that drain, then you open the large trap door and do your business. It usually works out just fine unless you are having a bad gut day. But even so, some moisture isn't a problem but a LOT of moisture is. Add desiccating material and don't let it get too full!

About disposal....
Well, eventually you change out the contents of the main bowl. It is just a bucket and the contents should be pretty dry if properly monitored. You can have two buckets and change them out, allowing one to break down for a while, or you can empty the contents off-shore, or bag it and throw it away. My husband handles this and I am thankful <3 This IS a consideration, which I consider on par with bagging baby diapers and such.

That is my experience and I do prefer it over our small holding tanks. We have been encouraging our guests to use the composting toilet and the standard toilet, then polling them for their preference. So far, every one said the composter is easier and less smelly than the pump toilet.

[Blue Crab]

I haven't gotten around to installing the vent/fan setup on my C-Head but all I've ever smelled is the medium used. Peat moss seems to me to be the best medium, so far, and reasonably priced but adding TP to the mix interferes somewhat with the covering up/drying action of the medium, takes up space, and is every bit as visually unpleasant as bagging.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Force-
Look at it this way. An Egyptian mummy doesn't stink. Trust me on that if you haven't spent time with any. ...................

There's a misunderstanding here. I accept the advantages of the composting head and I am familiar with the advantages of dessicating waste, aerobic decomposition and decreasing volume.

My lament is my wife's lack of acceptance. No discussion of the processes of organic decomposition will have any effect until she is directly exposed to a well functioning composting head. As I said above, she will not be influenced by online testimonials.