Composting toilet: rules, regulations, and "real life" use etc.?

[davil]

Originally Posted by CGirvan

I would like to think you are correct. I don't have the regulations in front of me but I thought that the reason the composting head fell under the status that it does is because it doesn't have any permanent outputs to thruhulls.

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I believe you are right,so,if am in a restricted,non discharge area,and I am boarded the small manual pump little handle will be locked somewhere and the valve sealed,as for the solids,their storage in the composting toilet has not changed,no disposal of contents modified.
I believe I will satisfy both the letter and the spirit of the regulations.
And not risk falling down on my way to the cockpit carrying my precious yellow elixir.

[CGirvan]

Originally Posted by davil

===========================================
I believe you are right,so,if am in a restricted,non discharge area,and I am boarded the small manual pump little handle will be locked somewhere and the valve sealed,as for the solids,their storage in the composting toilet has not changed,no disposal of contents modified.
I believe I will satisfy both the letter and the spirit of the regulations.
And not risk falling down on my way to the cockpit carrying my precious yellow elixir.

I wasn't trying to be an ass, I was just hoping to make people aware that even though they have a composting toilet that if they make this mod that I think in the eyes of the law the status has changed. This would mean as you say in non discharge areas locking the throughhull and using a pumpout station to empty. This I feel negates one of the advantages of having a CH. I would love to be proven wrong about this

[davil]

Originally Posted by CGirvan

I wasn't trying to be an ass, I was just hoping to make people aware that even though they have a composting toilet that if they make this mod that I think in the eyes of the law the status has changed. This would mean as you say in non discharge areas locking the throughhull and using a pumpout station to empty. This I feel negates one of the advantages of having a CH. I would love to be proven wrong about this

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you are not an ass,interchange of ideas bring other views and light.
I really appreciate your taking the time,I have been known to master the art of complicating the most perfectly otherwise simple and efficient whatever..
take care

[Jim Cate]

Seriously, are you all telling me that cruising yachts with CH on board are REALLY carrying jugs of stored urine ashore for disposal?

This seems almost unbelievable, but I suppose that in this world of poorly written and researched legislation, nearly all things are possible.

Is this really happening, and do folks think it is important?


Jim

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Seriously, are you all telling me that cruising yachts with CH on board are REALLY carrying jugs of stored urine ashore for disposal?

This seems almost unbelievable, but I suppose that in this world of poorly written and researched legislation, nearly all things are possible.

Is this really happening, and do folks think it is important?

In my case the answer to your questions are: No & No.

I have never carried jugs of urine around beyond the one that is in use. I do carry a spare jug, but in going on seven years of use, I've never had to resort to it.

Most of my cruising has been in the Great Lakes, which is a zero discharge area. So yes, I pee over the side, but in 2 gallons batches.

My understanding of the legal (at least in CND & USA) is that CHs are considered Type III marine heads. In other words they're just holding tanks, much like other marine sewage systems.

So if you set up a direct discharge system, you have to disable it while cruising in zero discharge areas -- just like other Type III systems.

[rsn48]

So I'm posting these two videos for newbies. The Wynn's had an RV blog and used the compositing toilet in it, as seen in the background. Video one is them discussing why you should use one, video two is the nuts and bolts of setting one up for use.

"Gone with the Wynn's - composting toilets" (They use Nature's Head)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2xOoNov9s

How to prep and dump the composting toilet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYR6GPmDzVM

I found their third video - "The big and dirty Questions about composting toilets:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CdnVZkCKXU

I bought the Air Head. You will see in the above videos the top container tilts back which requires more room in an area challenged location. The Air Head measures something like 17 1/2 inches long, whereas the Nature's Head is roughly 19 inches long, but then you have to add the tilt. I like the feature with the Air Head that you don't have to stare at the upper tank full of urine, just a tube to let you know how full the unit is. The Nature's Head with its upper portion kind of translucent show more of the yellow stuff.

[owly]

Originally Posted by SVTatia

I know this site well and their newsletter, Carolyn is great.

I just think its interesting to use the term composting toilet and boat galley in the same sentence...

What goes in must come out, just as what goes up must come down ;-) All living things are designed to convert food to s__t ......

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by owly

What goes in must come out, just as what goes up must come down ;-) All living things are designed to convert food to s__t ......

don't you mean food to fertilizer.

[owly]

Urine concentration / evaporation seems a logical thing to work towards to reduce quantity and frequency of emptying the containers. On a multihull it makes sense to have a "direct deposit" head through the bridge deck, at least for peeing overboard . My take is that once captured urine magically becomes "waste", and cannot be dumped over the side within 3 miles of shore, but it may be directly deposited legally. Urine is considered quite sterile for the most part. It's not an environment that is conducive to microbial growth.... at least not in the body. It's very high in nitrogen.... which is not a good thing (algal blooms and such). It seems a terrible waste to mix it with water as we typically do and flush it into the waterways while using natural gas to make nitrogen fertilizer to apply to farm fields.


I've discussed "direct deposit" before, and most people seem to find the idea horrifying..... even at sea. It's what fish and marine mammals and birds do.......Jim Brown suggested a direct deposit opening on the Searunners "gentlemen please be seated".



Complete dessication and mixing with the medium followed by combustion as someone else suggested makes sense to me. I'm curious how many folks simply row ashore in some remote location and bury the contents of their air head or c head in a "shallow grave". I personally would do this any day in preference to throwing it into a dumpster to be buried forever along with toxic stuff in one of those giant toxic raviolis they call landfills. At least depositing it in the woods it will go back to nature quickly.


A bit of humor.... back in the '70's, I was hiking in Tetons, and had to take a dump desperately while on top of a high rocky ridge. Not having a shovel, I went around looking for a suitable rock to make my deposit under..... well away from the trail, the idea being to flip the rock and return it for "cover". Nearly every rock I turned had toilet paper under it ;-) Must have been something about the vista that stimulated the urge to void one's bowels. I could understand that if one was overlooking LA, but remote Wyoming???


H.W.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by owly

... I'm curious how many folks simply row ashore in some remote location and bury the contents of their air head or c head in a "shallow grave". I personally would do this any day in preference to throwing it into a dumpster to be buried forever along with toxic stuff in one of those giant toxic raviolis they call landfills. At least depositing it in the woods it will go back to nature quickly.

This is what I do most of the time. Just did it a few weeks ago in fact, since we’re currently cruising Newfoundland; lots of wilderness here.

When offshore I dump over the side. Dumpster is my third — least desirable — option. I’ve only had to do this a few times now.

[john61ct]

In arid or otherwise very fragile ecosystems, even pure organic fertilizer from outside is pollution.

But usually if very infrequent, low impact.

If lots of visitors, then problematic.

Using dumpsters is like a drop in the ocean.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by john61ct

In arid or otherwise very fragile ecosystems, even pure organic fertilizer from outside is pollution.

But usually if very infrequent, low impact.

If lots of visitors, then problematic.

Using dumpsters is like a drop in the ocean.

in my area it's actually a bit better than the ocean. Our landfills are bioreactors
They collect the methane and burn it to run small scale power plants .

[melissajenks]

Originally Posted by CGirvan

We only get about 2 weeks before the solids bucket needs emptying and that is with my wife rowing ashore to the bathroom more often than not. She's not a great fan stating often than it was obviously designed by a man for men. Be interesting to know if other female owners think similarly....

Really dismayed to find this post this evening--we installed a C-Head on our Mao Ta 36 this summer and I've been pysched about the composting toilet idea for a long time but I am having great challenges with the conjunction of female anatomy and the C-Head specifically. Our choice of the C-Head was a combination of the price, the smaller size, and also the non-proprietary containers, but the smaller size also means the urine-diversion apparatus is much more complicated to use. After a week of constant use I have been unable to get 100% of my urine into the diversion tank, and the small amount of backdribble means that our compost does not smell like compost but like holding tank. What's worse is that the hole for poop does not seem large enough for my average poop--I'm hitting both sides and most recently dropped a huge load right on top of the urine diverter.


Is the C-Head just too small for women? Is it designed by a man for men?
The literature on their website says most people figure it out in 1-2 uses--am I an outlier or their other women out there who are just silent in their unhappiness with the system, or worse yet, rowing ashore to poop?



The only possible solution I can think of is separate giant funnels on top of the toilet--lined with what? Greased paper?



Scooping poop by hand out of the urine funnel--one time was enough. Feeling extremely frustrated.

[Mike OReilly]

Sorry to hear about your challenges Melissa. I hope fellow C-head users will jump in. I’ve never used a CH, but most owners seem satisfied. Although I have heard of others having issues with the diversion channels.

I can tell you Nature’s Head seems to present no challenge for females, or males. Things just flow where they’re supposed to, with no real effort. And the larger holding tank, and electric vent, means the time between dumps averages around four to six weeks, which is one of the main reasons I went with NH over CH.

[smj]

My wife and I have never had a problem with the C-Head though I’ve heard that some women have. Call Sandy at C-Head as I believe he will send you the solution.