Composting toilets

[simon.r]

MrsR has had a 'home office' built at the bottom of the garden, which she intends to use to carry out counselling.

She'd like to install a toilet near the office, probably in a small, purpose built 'hut', but connecting it to a sewer would be very difficult. She's talking about composting toilets, but neither of us have any knowledge of these.

Has anyone got any experience / tips / recommended links etc etc?

 

[slowmotion]

I used one while staying in a remote cabin in Canada. It was really just a seat over a ten foot pit. After doing the needful,you sling in a bit of water and some vegetable matter. It didn't smell too bad, but it certainly wasn't fragrant. I spent as little time using it as physically possible. I had heard stories of cougars leaping up from below and (literally) biting you in the bum.

 

[RichardB]

I had heard stories of cougars leaping up from below

I may be spending too much time on the internets, but that phrase means something completely different to me.

(Edit: damn, beaten to it.)

 

[simon.r]

[QUOTE 4034922, member: 76"]Not of the loo thing, but I have done quite a bit of counselling in the NHS and in private practice, all I can say is has she thought this through? Counselling in a shed at the end of the garden, and sending them to the bog in a shed 10 yards away with a long drop loo! Couldn't she get a room in a therapy centre?[/QUOTE]

Yes, it's been thought through. At great length, believe me! It's a bit more sophisticated than you suggest and for various reasons she doesn't want to rent a room.

I'm not thinking long drop, more something like this: http://www.littlehouse.co/product-category/separett-compost-toilets/complete-units/

 

[gaz71]

Wouldnt a bucket be cheaper and easier?

 

[slowmotion]

If I remember correctly, there was a brief bit in one of the Tom Sharpe Wilt novels when Wilt regrets his wife's enthusiasm for all matters ecological. He described the eco-toilet as a turd-encrusted drainpipe with a dustbin on the far end.

 

[Fnaar]

Have used them in Finland... they do it well, so no particular strong smell, used to bung sawdust on the shite, and bob's yer uncle.

 

[slowmotion]

Here's one for £1400 or so. It's a "two holer" so business need not be interrupted by comfort breaks.
https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/eco-composting-toilet?gclid=CJTEuIaRvMkCFYoBwwod5PINcw

I'm getting a bit uneasy about the Urine Diversion System and the rubber seal to reduce pongs.
I have no idea how far your wife's office is from the house, but could I suggest a less radical alternative, alas without the prospect of insatiable cougars? Just install a pipe for a water supply, a cable for some electricity, a Saniflo macerator, a pipe for the slurry, and conventional lavatory pan. You can pump the muck quite a distance, uphill and down dale, back to your house's soil system.

Here's some Saniflo stuff...
http://www.saniflo.co.uk/upload/pdf/040104-manual_domestic-range-brochure.pdf

 

[pawl]

MrsR has had a 'home office' built at the bottom of the garden, which she intends to use to carry out counselling.

She'd like to install a toilet near the office, probably in a small, purpose built 'hut', but connecting it to a sewer would be very difficult. She's talking about composting toilets, but neither of us have any knowledge of these.

Has anyone got any experience / tips / recommended links etc etc?

Tried to compost my old toilet but it wouldn't fit in the compost bin.

 

[Fnaar]

Haddaway and shite

 

[raleighnut]

If I remember correctly, there was a brief bit in one of the Tom Sharpe Wilt novels when Wilt regrets his wife's enthusiasm for all matters ecological. He described the eco-toilet as a turd-encrusted drainpipe with a dustbin on the far end.

Which then later exploded and covered the terrorists (who had been holding his children and the old lady from next door hostage) in its contents.
The Wilt Alternative.

 

[Dayvo]

I've used them in Sweden and they are very affective. After the deed is done, wood and bark chips are thrown down on top, aiding in the breaking-down process.

IIRC, Jack Hargreaves said in one of his books, the depth needs to be 14' so as to prevent any smell rising to nose level.

 

[Tim Hall]

Here's one for £1400 or so. It's a "two holer" so business need not be interrupted by comfort breaks.
https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/eco-composting-toilet?gclid=CJTEuIaRvMkCFYoBwwod5PINcw

I'm getting a bit uneasy about the Urine Diversion System and the rubber seal to reduce pongs.
I have no idea how far your wife's office is from the house, but could I suggest a less radical alternative, alas without the prospect of insatiable cougars? Just install a pipe for a water supply, a cable for some electricity, a Saniflo macerator, a pipe for the slurry, and conventional lavatory pan. You can pump the muck quite a distance, uphill and down dale, back to your house's soil system.

Here's some Saniflo stuff...
http://www.saniflo.co.uk/upload/pdf/040104-manual_domestic-range-brochure.pdf

Friends don't recommend saniflo to friends.

 

[Fnaar]

In Finland, on the compost toilet at the place we stayed, there were two shitters side by side, literally, no partition of any sort. I have had a shite next to my brother in law. Good job we get on well and are both open minded. It has become the stuff of family legend.

 

[raleighnut]

In Finland, on the compost toilet at the place we stayed, there were two shitters side by side, literally, no partition of any sort. I have had a shite next to my brother in law. Good job we get on well and are both open minded. It has become the stuff of family legend.

I'm pretty sure one is for liquids and the other for solids (they need different bacteria to break each down) not for use as communal crappers.