Composting Head Poll

[Talk Story]

I am getting ready to purchase one and I am curious to know which one is the most used here on the forum.

[chris mac]

We have natures head and love it

[Phantom Jim]

It would be informative to add one or two more categories to the poll: other composting toilets and self built composting toilets.

Most will gravitate to a commercial product, but some will wish to make a custom installation and others may not have the available space for the available commercial products.

[chowdan]

Nature's head here. It works great, but gets annoying having to empty urine bottle every 2 days with 2 full time live aboards. Solids is emptied every 3-6 weeks.

Neighbor went to Hawaii from Seattle this year with an airhead and 2 souls onboard. Said it was terrible when they got to Hawaii the solids contain was nasty and did not work like it has when coastal cruising. I question what happened and believe water may have gotten in through the vent and screwed up the mixture.

[Davy J]

I think the largest single factor for deciding one over the other is the space available to mount it.

Fairly certain that the Natures Head is the largest. That's why I picked that brand, and of course, it fits in the space I have for it.

[Mike OReilly]

Another Nature's Head user. But I agree with other comments, that between Air and Nature's, it mostly comes down which fits better. I do think they're fundamentally the same thing.

C-head is a slightly different thing. It is smaller, and is designed to use non-proprietary containers that are about 1/2 the volume of Air/Nature's tanks. This means they have to be dumped twice as often. But since they use standard containers, it's easy to make the swap.

And yes, another viable option that a few here have done is build their own. There's no rocket science with these heads, so making your own is certainly something most of us could do. That said, I've been very pleased with our NH, and would have no hesitation to recommend it to others, and I would definitely install another one in any new boat we get.

There are also a couple of other makers I'm aware of:

Separett: https://canadianecoproducts.com/
Sun-Mar: https://sun-mar.com/urine-diverting-gtg-toilet/

[Pelagic]

I'm considering putting one in the Forward Head, which is all the way forward.

Never installed one before. But looking at YouTube Wynn video, their's has a small computer fan to exhaust the smell.

Is that necessary?
The problem I have is where to run the vent line out onto steel foredeck. (One option is to penetrate collision bulkhead and vent into chain locker and open deck hatch. (Shown on photo)

Any ideas/suggestions?

[Sailing Ohm]

Natures head with dehydrated using coconut coir. It’s Been installed for 2.5 years now and loving it. There is a small learning curve to how often you change it and the ratio but you’ll get it.

I definitely recommend the coconut coir as the medium.

I’ve seen plenty of self made ones, marine and camping, and the nature’s head is worth the cost. It’s a very solid construction and well made/ designed. Makes it easy to use. Also if the fan ever dies (and it will. I was told 6mo-1 yr by nature’s head) they will free ship you a few replacements.

* Fan is necessary as really you could call these dehydration systems. Without the fan your talking a change of compost in a week or two vs 3-5 weeks.

[AA3JY]

Air Head

[Chotu]

Self built.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

I'm considering putting one in the Forward Head, which is all the way forward.

Never installed one before. But looking at YouTube Wynn video, their's has a small computer fan to exhaust the smell.

Is that necessary?
The problem I have is where to run the vent line out onto steel foredeck. (One option is to penetrate collision bulkhead and vent into chain locker and open deck hatch. (Shown on photo)

Any ideas/suggestions?Attachment 227242

Good plan . I expect you'll learn to love it ... as much as one can "love" a head .

As others have already mentioned, the fan is more to do with assisting in the drying/desiccating process than dealing with the smell, but it also helps with that as well. As to whether it is necessary seems to depend on the type or style of composter you choose.

I run a Nature's Head, and I would say the fan is necessary for full-time use. Air Head seems to be the same. But C-Head users typically report no fan use. My assessment is that it comes down to size, and how these two types are used.

Natures/Air are roughly the same size and volume. They tend to allow for about a month's worth of usage between dumps (two adults, full time). This is because the material is dried using -- the fan! C-head, on the other hand, uses volumes about 1/2 the size of the others, therefore requires more frequent dumping. Since you're dumping so often anyway, the fan seems less necessary.

Routing the fan into the chain locker would probably be fine, as long as there is a flow to the outside. You are moving air over dessicating poop, so while there is normally no ugly smell from these heads, I wouldn't recommend concentrating the out flowing air into one confined location. I used my existing deck pump-out fitting as the location for out vent outflow.

[Pegu Club]

We use the Natures head, six plus years, we use coconut coir as our medium, and have two liquids containers. Our fan hose hose runs to the old pump out fitting with a mushroom vent on top of it, Does the trick...

Fair winds,

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Good plan . I expect you'll learn to love it ... as much as one can "love" a head .

As others have already mentioned, the fan is more to do with assisting in the drying/desiccating process than dealing with the smell, but it also helps with that as well. As to whether it is necessary seems to depend on the type or style of composter you choose.

I run a Nature's Head, and I would say the fan is necessary for full-time use. Air Head seems to be the same. But C-Head users typically report no fan use. My assessment is that it comes down to size, and how these two types are used.

Natures/Air are roughly the same size and volume. They tend to allow for about a month's worth of usage between dumps (two adults, full time). This is because the material is dried using -- the fan! C-head, on the other hand, uses volumes about 1/2 the size of the others, therefore requires more frequent dumping. Since you're dumping so often anyway, the fan seems less necessary.

Routing the fan into the chain locker would probably be fine, as long as there is a flow to the outside. You are moving air over dessicating poop, so while there is normally no ugly smell from these heads, I wouldn't recommend concentrating the out flowing air into one confined location. I used my existing deck pump-out fitting as the location for out vent outflow.

Thanks for explaining the Fan purpose.
I do have the two sizeable spurling pipes for the chain going into locker so that should suffice unless I need to close them up for heavy weather

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Thanks for explaining the Fan purpose.
I do have the two sizeable spurling pipes for the chain going into locker so that should suffice unless I need to close them up for heavy weatherAttachment 227401

Yes, I think that would be fine. It's certainly no problem for Nature/Air Heads to have no fan running for hours or even a few days. I have to seal mine off whenever we get into green seas since my vent is located on the side deck, and can take in water if we're awash in big seas.

Love to hear how your project progresses Pelagic. And of course, ask as many questions as occur as you move along. Most who switch to these heads learn to appreciate their benefits, but it can take a bit of time to learn how to use them effectively -- just like any boat skill.