How Do You Prep Coconut Coir?

[Chotu]

I usually use peat moss in my head.

it wasn’t available where I am so I decided to order some coconut coir.

how do you use this in your composting/desiccating head?

I currently have bricks. I don’t know how to turn that into a soft fluffy thing like peat Moss that will work

[fxykty]

Big bucket, remove the plastic wrap from the coir brick and put it in the bottom of the bucket, add water. Wait until it fluffs up and stir until it’s all fluffy. The amount of water is approximately half as much as what the directions say for using it as a potting mix. You need enough water so that it all fluffs up, but not so much that it’s wetter than just barely moist.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Big bucket, remove the plastic wrap from the coir brick and put it in the bottom of the bucket, add water. Wait until it fluffs up and stir until it’s all fluffy. The amount of water is approximately half as much as what the directions say for using it as a potting mix. You need enough water so that it all fluffs up, but not so much that it’s wetter than just barely moist.

ah ha!!

Half of the water they recommend. That must be the trick.

thank you very much.

I need a nice dry substrate to do a lot of absorbing of course. I was confused how adding water gets me there

[John_Trusty]

Good videos on YouTube. We use 1 liter boiling water per large coir block as we find hot water speeds the absorption. We break our block up with a wood chisel like the sheets of a book before pouring on the water. Cover with a plastic bag to retain heat while it softens, about 15 min and work on cleaning out the waste. We use 1.5 blocks of coir for an airhead, but you can adjust for your usage rate.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by John_Trusty

Good videos on YouTube. We use 1 liter boiling water per large coir block as we find hot water speeds the absorption. We break our block up with a wood chisel like the sheets of a book before pouring on the water. Cover with a plastic bag to retain heat while it softens, about 15 min and work on cleaning out the waste. We use 1.5 blocks of coir for an airhead, but you can adjust for your usage rate.

The airhead is a true composter, though, correct?

i have a desiccating head. I have used kitty litter in it in a pinch. it worked great but was very heavy. mine works on a “bury it and dry it” principle

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Chotu

The airhead is a true composter, though, correct?

i have a desiccating head. I have used kitty litter in it in a pinch. it worked great but was very heavy. mine works on a “bury it and dry it” principle

NO, IT's NOT! None of them are.

So-called 'composting' marine toilets aren't really composting*, they are desiccating the waste.

Once the waste is desiccated, the odour is gone, but it's NOT compost.
Unless you carry your poop around, for 1.5 years, in the ideal conditions, you’re not composting anything. So please, properly dispose of what empties out of your “composting” toilet.

“Dissecting the Desiccating Head” ~ by Darrell Nicholson, for Practical Sailor
➥ https://www.practical-sailor.com/sys...siccating-head

“... A true composting toilet, as defined by NSF/ANSI standard 41, Non-Liquid Saturated Treatment Systems, provides actual composting and will reduce coliform bacteria to <200 MPN/100ml. This takes months of holding capacity, venting, controlled temperature, moisture, aeration, and mixing, and a lot more space and power than any boat can afford.
Dry toilets, more accurately referred to as desiccating toilets, take a different approach, eliminating odor by separating the urine from the solids, and then drying the solids to form a dry crust..."

* According to the composting council: “Compost is the product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of organic material that has been sanitized through the generation of heat and ‘processed to further reduce pathogens’, as defined by the U.S. EPA, and stabilized to the point that it is beneficial to plant growth. Compost bears little physical resemblance to the raw material from which it originated. Compost is an organic matter source that has the unique ability to improve the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of soils or growing media.”

In a study, done at Woods End Research Laboratory, samples, taken from composting toilets, that had a 1.5-year retention period, passed the EPA’s pathogen test rules. It could potentially be quicker if ALL the conditions are perfect.
But if a ‘composting’ toilet can only hold a month’s worth of poop, there is no way that poop is actually composted, to safe pathogen levels, by the time the toilet needs to be emptied.

[Chotu]

thanks for clearing that up, Gord.

I was thinking because they have those rotating components that fluff and mix everything that it was somehow a true composter.

thanks for setting that straight.

In my case, the waste is emptied every couple weeks and ends up as a double trash bagged, air-tight sealed (with a zip tie) bag that ends up in the dumpster

[Mike OReilly]

My technique is to put a coir brick in a zip-lock bag, add about a cup, to a 1.5 cups of water (I don’t measure), Then I seal the bag and leave it under the dodger, in the sun. After a few hours the water has permeated the coir. I then mechanically tear apart the brick with my hands, or use a blunt knife to pry apart the tougher bits.

The objective is to separate the coir, but keep it as dry as possible.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

My technique is to put a coir brick in a zip-lock bag, add about a cup, to a 1.5 cups of water (I don’t measure), Then I seal the bag and leave it under the dodger, in the sun. After a few hours the water has permeated the coir. I then mechanically tear apart the brick with my hands, or use a blunt knife to pry apart the tougher bits.

The objective is to separate the coir, but keep it as dry as possible.

Thanks for jumping in. You are one of the first people I remember using this stuff so I was hoping you might.

I’m going to try to make some up today

[MWGDVC]

2 Years with an Airhead. I have read of some coir having insect larvae from purchase, so when I made a bulk purchase from Tractor Supply (cheapest I found at the time) I first froze the bricks for a week or so to hopefully kill any eggs, then vacuum bagged individually for storage.

Touch wood, to date no insect problems, or any other problems with the system for that matter.

[AA3JY]

My Latrine Queen states:

“ I use a two gallon zip lock bag. I usually do two bricks at a time adding about a pint of water in the bag and lay it on the deck in the sun. As the coir softens with the water, I can crumble it in the bag by flexing and crushing lumps thru the bag. If more water is needed it goes in. The two bricks give you plenty to replace after emptying the solids tank plus extra that can be added as time and use requires.
We use the Air Head Toilet. Doesn’t truly compost but provides an odorless tank for human waste. I do use 409 spray plus Oxyclean in the urine tank to help keep that less pungent and as white as the day it was new. I also add Fungus Gnat Control to the coir to prevent bugs. We have used our composting head for six years. No issues. “

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Thanks for jumping in. You are one of the first people I remember using this stuff so I was hoping you might.

Thanks Chotu. Always glad to help if I can. I’ve been using our Nature’s Head for over a decade now. I’ve always, and only, used coir. The aim when preparing it is to add just enough water to moisten the brick enough so it can be broken apart. You get the feel for it after a while.

If you do add too much water, and the coir ends up being too damp, you can always just dry it out before loading it into your head. This has happened to me a few times. I just spread it out and let it air out in sun.

I’ve had bug problems two or three times over the years. I can’t say if they originated with the coir, or somehow migrated into the head. In two of the cases I know it was because I pushed the pile too long, and allowed it to become too moist. The other time I came back to the boat after a couple of weeks being away. I found the little fan had died, which allowed the pile to stay damp.

Good luck. Don’t over-think it. If you add too much water, it’s easy to dry it out. If you don’t add enough water, you won’t be able to separate the brick. You’ll quickly find the Goldilocks amount of water 😉.