Pumpout Toilets

[Midnight]

We've had a Sealand vacuflush with a vacuum generator from Leesan for over 12 years and are delighted with it. I was told the vacuum generator bellows would need replacing after a few years so bought a replacement - it's still in the box. Uses a small amount of flushing water something to consider if you have a small holding tank.

[Canal Shop Man]

I'm old enough to remember watching clouds of bubbles floating down the Thames at Kingston and the biggest fish in there was a 6oz Roach. Since then the waterways of Britain have been massively cleaned up. Is the new fashion for composting toilets just going to take us back 50 years?

 

No, the new fashion for composting toilets is moving us forward 150 years from the blinkered view that you can mix it all together with fresh drinking water and either pump it away, or pour it away - whichever, it is still spreading pollution. For those of you who say that sending it to a sewage plant avoids pollution, try checking up on what they do with it, and they are allowed to let 10% of it run away untreated as well!

Pure urine is non-toxic and wouldn't cause a problem even if every boater ran it into the canal, though C & RT advise against this because it causes too much weed growth . . . Pouring it under any nearby bush or piece of soil will improve the environment and enhance said bush, or soil. It is only when you mix it in similar quantities with water and let it stand that you generate ammonia and the associated stink.

Solid waste and toilet paper can easily be composted either on the boat, or nearby, or can be stored until safe and then put in council green bins for them to compost down.

I am pretty sure that all those on this forum who wish to criticise compost toilets have never used one and certainly haven't had one themselves.

There may be a few boaters who have a compost toilet and mis-use it, but then the same applies to users of every product.

I rest my case . . .

[WotEver]

Pure urine is non-toxic and wouldn't cause a problem even if every boater ran it into the canal <snip> It is only when you mix it in similar quantities with water and let it stand that you generate ammonia and the associated stink.

I'm not sure how those two statements reconcile themselves really.

 

As for having bags of poo sitting around the boat whilst they ferment...

 

Each to their own.

[chubby]

 

No, the new fashion for composting toilets is moving us forward 150 years from the blinkered view that you can mix it all together with fresh drinking water and either pump it away, or pour it away - whichever, it is still spreading pollution. For those of you who say that sending it to a sewage plant avoids pollution, try checking up on what they do with it, and they are allowed to let 10% of it run away untreated as well!

Pure urine is non-toxic and wouldn't cause a problem even if every boater ran it into the canal, though C & RT advise against this because it causes too much weed growth . . . Pouring it under any nearby bush or piece of soil will improve the environment and enhance said bush, or soil. It is only when you mix it in similar quantities with water and let it stand that you generate ammonia and the associated stink.

Solid waste and toilet paper can easily be composted either on the boat, or nearby, or can be stored until safe and then put in council green bins for them to compost down.

I am pretty sure that all those on this forum who wish to criticise compost toilets have never used one and certainly haven't had one themselves.

There may be a few boaters who have a compost toilet and mis-use it, but then the same applies to users of every product.

I rest my case . . .

I like the idea of these toilets very much . Used responsibly i think theyre ideal on a boat .

But until they get sold for something approaching sensible prices - ie not £600 plus for a plastic bucket & a computer fan then i ll be using a £40 toilet that cost nothing to empty .

I 'm very much all for " ennvironmental awareness" but i 'm one man , on his own & like everyone i need to use a toilet so i don t feel any guilt about using a " conventional " toilet any more than i feel guily for burning coal to keep warm which i would classify as a basic need .

Until the price comes down ( or i get around to making one ) then for me theyre simply not affordable & so i 'll carry on with my current set up

cheers

Edited January 17, 2017 by chubby

[mross]

There may be a few boaters who have a compost toilet and mis-use it, but then the same applies to users of every product.

I rest my case . . .

Is it possible to use a composting toilet and fully comply with the relevant laws, bye-laws and regulations if you don't have a compost heap on land somewhere? Do CaRT allow you to dispose of semi-rotted faeces in their normal rubbish bins? My understanding is that it can take two years for poo to compost to the point where it is dry, odourless and fit to disperese in ones garden.

[Chewbacka]

Is it possible to use a composting toilet and fully comply with the relevant laws, bye-laws and regulations if you don't have a compost heap on land somewhere? Do CaRT allow you to dispose of semi-rotted faeces in their normal rubbish bins? My understanding is that it can take two years for poo to compost to the point where it is dry, odourless and fit to disperese in ones garden.

I suspect to fully comply with the regs before dumping the compost on the side of the cut would require a massive capacity toilet.

[Nightwatch]

It's a relief to get a pump out tank pumped out. Phew!!

[mross]

I suspect to fully comply with the regs before dumping the compost on the side of the cut would require a massive capacity toilet.

I think you would need several, smaller containers, as a big one will still have lots of fresh poo in it. I really can't see how they can work if you are constantly adding fresh 'material'.

[WotEver]

I think you would need several, smaller containers, as a big one will still have lots of fresh poo in it. I really can't see how they can work if you are constantly adding fresh 'material'.

Hence my earlier comment about multiple bags of festering poo being stored on the boat.

[mross]

I think the composting toilet is a crap idea.

[WotEver]

I think it stinks...

[OldGoat]

Chewbacka, on 18 Jan 2017 - 5:36 PM, said:

I suspect to fully comply with the regs before dumping the compost on the side of the cut would require a massive capacity toilet.

Composting loos were originally marketed for land based installations and I suspect for owners who had plenty of space and could bury the matured output on their own land.

Downsizing to caravans and boats has challenges as discussed and for canal folk where there are no official disposal points and few rubbish bins - which are not intended for that purpose, is even worse.

Better I suppose than dumping raw sewage behind a convenient hedge......

Though of course nobody on this forum would do such a thing....

Pouring the liquid waste into the cut is also antisocial as it can spread disease. In practicality it's a matter of volume, With more and more folks living in the canals there could be a health hazard, especially when the weather warms up.

[MtB]

 

Pouring the liquid waste into the cut is also antisocial as it can spread disease.

 

 

IS that really true though?

 

Canal Shop Man says otherwise, although he would say that as he distributor for several big name brands of composting bog.

 

 

 

 

Pure urine is non-toxic and wouldn't cause a problem even if every boater ran it into the canal, though C & RT advise against this because it causes too much weed growth . . . Pouring it under any nearby bush or piece of soil will improve the environment and enhance said bush, or soil. It is only when you mix it in similar quantities with water and let it stand that you generate ammonia and the associated stink.

[mross]

A Google search suggests that urine is neither sterile nor non-toxic.

[WotEver]

If it's so good for the environment then how come I have yellow patches in the lawn courtesy of our two Yorkies?

[mross]

It will also contain metabolites of any medicines you are taking.

[Edward_M]

If someone dumped their "compost" on my front lawn, I would lose my s**t.

[Naughty Cal]

So there are folk who spend upward of Nine grand a year for a mooring and yet they are throwing piss into thier immediate environment ?

Sounds idyllic - especially if theres a group of them all close together . I am

making an assumption of course , but i really struggle to think what on earth else theyre going to do with it .

Most of the boats in our marina (240 berth) are sea boats with sea toilets. Only about 30% of these (according to the marina staff) are fitted with a holding tank

[mross]

If someone dumped their "compost" on my front lawn, I would lose my s**t.

But gain theirs!

[Edward_M]

Most of the boats in our marina (240 berth) are sea boats with sea toilets. Only about 30% of these (according to the marina staff) are fitted with a holding tank

That's horrible! Are you at least on tidal?

[Naughty Cal]

That's horrible! Are you at least on tidal?

No. It's a canalised river so there is a bit of flow some of the time.

 

Surprisingly the marina water quality doesn't seem to suffer for it and looks and smells no different to the water out on the river.

[mrsmelly]

We could start a poll asking all forum members what type of toilet they have on their boat and why. Composting bogs will be such a miniscule percentage as to be not worth counting. They may have come on leaps and bounds ( I have been hearing that for over twenty years ) but are still a big no no and especialy for live aboards.

There are very good reasons why for instance Thetford sell squillions of their products to uk boaters and Composting bog builders simply do not.

[chubby]

Including the cost .....

[OldGoat]

Mike the Boilerman, on 19 Jan 2017 - 10:31 AM, said:

 

 

IS that really true though?

 

Canal Shop Man says otherwise, although he would say that as he distributor for several big name brands of composting bog.

 

 

Methinks others have answered your question in the intervening posts better that I.

A while ago there was some publicity on research that indicated mutations in fish caused by human hormones.

 

In small quantities - probably a bit of wee does little harm. It's when the quantities increase that the problems begin. With more and more folk living on the water that can only increase as many have no idea / possibly care less (sorry) of what is right and proper to do.

Present company excluded of course.

[Canal Shop Man]

OK, you may choose to ignore me as I sell compost toilets . . .

 

How about Warwick University, who confirmed that it is safer to drink urine than most tap-water?

 

All those who criticise compost toilets a) have never tried one, probably don't realise just how many there are on boats, and c) know nothing about them. They have been blinkered by 150 years of using WCs to think that it's a good idea to pollute drinking water and urine with faeces and pass it on to someone else. They then assume that others will make sure their waste doesn't pollute our planet . . .

 

How does Mr Smelly know that the number of compost toilets is miniscule when he hasn't done said poll?? Mross worries about the metabolites from compost toilets - where does he think they go from other toilets?? Do they just disappear when they go down the sewer? And the mutations in fish were caused by compost toilets were they?? I think that was from sewage actually.

 

It would be good if people only posted on here what they knew to be true, rather than scare-mongering, but I suppose that's too much to hope . . .