Anyone tried a kildwick compost loo?

[rusty69]

2 hours ago, tomsk said:

After a month or two they invariably fall strangely silent.

I will definitely be installing one then. No more embarrassing farting noises when we have visitors around 

[Bargebuilder]

56 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I will definitely be installing one then. No more embarrassing farting noises when we have visitors around

Plus, any noxious gasses are sucked out from between your legs, so no more "I should leave it 5 minutes!"

A bonus being that if your composter is in the shower room, the toilet's fan continuously extracts humidity, helping to keep windows condensation free, helping to dry the towels and keeping the whole room smelling sweeter and less 'musty'.

[Mick in Bangkok]

12 hours ago, bastion said:

12 hours ago, Ayesha walker said:

 

Yes a Kildwick, no moving parts or water supply to worry about, nothing at all like the air heads or similar, very much a big step forward. You can either go the whole hog and compost to use later or dispose with other refuse, no worse than soiled nappies in fact better as it is already started to compost. I prime the urine bottle with ecover toilet cleaner so no smell

Dare I even ask what would be the penalty for peeing in the cut ?

[bastion]

1 minute ago, Mick in Bangkok said:

Dare I even ask what would be the penalty for peeing in the cut ?

Why? who would pee in the cut?

[Robbo]

It really surprises me on the very high prices of these compost toilets, for what is really just a diverting lid over a couple of buckets/containers.  Cassette toilets are a lot cheaper for what is basically the same design.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Robbo

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Robbo said:

It really surprises me on the very high prices of these compost toilets, for what is really just a diverting lid over a couple of buckets/containers.  Cassette toilets are a lot cheaper for what is basically the same design.

Cassette toilets would never catch on. We would have to build a sewerage system and things called elsan points or something all over the place to empty quickly and easily the contents into. Naaah it would never work.

[Mike Hurley]

10 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Cassette toilets would never catch on. We would have to build a sewerage system and things called elsan points or something all over the place to empty quickly and easily the contents into. Naaah it would never work.

Maybe it would if it was free to empty, that might work.

[Bargebuilder]

3 minutes ago, Mick in Bangkok said:

Dare I even ask what would be the penalty for peeing in the cut ?

I would be astonished if they bothered.

The regulations do not permit the introduction of sewage into the cut. Sewage is that which is transported in a sewer, ie faeces, urine, grey water (bath, washing machine, dish washer etc) in some cases surface water from drains and roof gutters. 

Boaters are allowed to flush some of the above sewage components into canals, so for a prosecution to stand up they would need to make the regulations much more specific.

Would they go to all that trouble to penalise someone for introducing a relatively miniscule volume of an almost sterile fluid containing at worst possibly 50ppm of nitrate. Ones 1.2 litres of urine per day would be diluted almost beyond calculation rendering it entirely harmless to the environment. 

Even if every user of every boat on the cut always urinated over the side, it would not produce an algal bloom or make a measurable difference to pollution levels. In fact, run off from farmers fields is infinitely more damaging to river water.

Not that I recommend it, because there are other regulations that do ban the practice.

[Ayesha walker]

15 hours ago, Bargebuilder said:

The 'littlehouse.co' website describes in detail how to build the same thing yourself from parts available from them or eBay for around £100, depending on how much you want to spend on the airtight housing. It takes just a few hours of simple diy.

For this small investment in time and money, try it and see if it suits you.

Every loo has its pros and cons and some people get on better with some than with others. 

After years of problems, smells and the huge costs of buying and running a macerator, I wouldn't give up my 'composter'.

 

Did you make yours yourself?

[Ayesha walker]

6 hours ago, adam1uk said:

We've had our composting loo for 18 months, and I'm happy to tell anyone how much better it is than the pump out it replaced.

If composters are silent, it's probably because it's a waste of time arguing with people who've never tried one, yet are totally opposed.

Thanks for your feedback! What kind did you buy? And does yours have any kind of fan?

[Bargebuilder]

54 minutes ago, Ayesha walker said:

Did you make yours yourself?

I did.

Separator from littlehouse.

Bucket, Oak toilet seat, compute fan, air ducting, duct outlet grill, all from eBay. 

Some pine tongue and groove all varnished up nicely for the containing box that was left over from cladding a shed.

With wiring, hinges etc the total was a bit more than £100.

I already had a solar panel to replace the power consumed from the battery, so the tiny fan can run almost silently, day and night, 365 days of the year.

One tip - attach the fan to the inside of the box with a built-up bead of silicone mastic. Build up the silicone over a day or two so that it is 2cm thick and seat the fan into it. Don't use the screws provided as this will transmit some vibration. Let the silicone be the only point of attachment to the box so that any sound is almost totally eliminated. Also, look for a fairly good quality fan that is in itself quiet.

Don't listen to the enthusiasts or the sceptics, it is cheap enough to try for yourself so you can make up your own mind.

 

[Ayesha walker]

14 minutes ago, Bargebuilder said:

I did.

Separator from littlehouse.

Bucket, Oak toilet seat, compute fan, air ducting, duct outlet grill, all from eBay. 

Some pine tongue and groove all varnished up nicely for the containing box that was left over from cladding a shed.

With wiring, hinges etc the total was a bit more than £100.

I already had a solar panel to replace the power consumed from the battery, so the tiny fan can run almost silently, day and night, 365 days of the year.

One tip - attach the fan to the inside of the box with a built-up bead of silicone mastic. Build up the silicone over a day or two so that it is 2cm thick and seat the fan into it. Don't use the screws provided as this will transmit some vibration. Let the silicone be the only point of attachment to the box so that any sound is almost totally eliminated. Also, look for a fairly good quality fan that is in itself quiet.

Don't listen to the enthusiasts or the sceptics, it is cheap enough to try for yourself so you can make up your own mind.

 

Excellent advice! Does the fan need to be connected to the outside of the boat in anyway ? Or is it more just a fan within the the box?

[adam1uk]

3 hours ago, Ayesha walker said:

Thanks for your feedback! What kind did you buy? And does yours have any kind of fan?

It's an Airhead, so has a fan to the outside of the boat.

[Bargebuilder]

17 hours ago, Ayesha walker said:

Excellent advice! Does the fan need to be connected to the outside of the boat in anyway ? Or is it more just a fan within the the box?

The computer fan inside the toilet box sucks air out and to the outside via the ducting, thus creating a negative pressure inside the box that sucks air in from the room and prevents any smells from escaping to the inside of the boat. This constant exchange of air also contributes to the drying out process of the soon-to-be compost.

There might be a slight smell if you were to put your nose to this vent, but no worse than sniffing the vent from a black tank and infinitely better than the stench that escapes during a pump-out.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Bargebuilder said:

The computer fan inside the toilet box sucks air out and to the outside via the ducting, thus creating a negative pressure inside the box that sucks air in from the room and prevents any smells from escaping to the inside of the boat. This constant exchange of air also contributes to the drying out process of the soon-to-be compost.

There might be a slight smell if you were to put your nose to this vent, but no worse than sniffing the vent from a black tank and infinitely better than the stench that escapes during a pump-out.

How critical is the fan to the smell? Particularly if the composting toilet is being used more like a desicating toilet. 

[Robbo]

Most of these toilet's mentioned are not really composting toilets, the end output isn't compost!

[Bargebuilder]

13 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

How critical is the fan to the smell? Particularly if the composting toilet is being used more like a desicating toilet.

Well....

I haven't tried it without the fan turned on, but if the smell that emerges from my vent were inside the bathroom it certainly wouldn't be ideal.

Also, it is the dessicating process that reduces the volume, because 85% ish of deposits made is water, and it is the fan that draws out the moisture by lowering the moisture content of the air within the box.

I would say that if your composter was in a drafty shed you could get away with not venting the box, but in a sealed boat you couldn't.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Bargebuilder said:

Well....

I haven't tried it without the fan turned on, but if the smell that emerges from my vent were inside the bathroom it certainly wouldn't be ideal.

Also, it is the dessicating process that reduces the volume, because 85% ish of deposits made is water, and it is the fan that draws out the moisture by lowering the moisture content of the air within the box.

I would say that if your composter was in a drafty shed you could get away with not venting the box, but in a sealed boat you couldn't.

Ta. Might just put my cassette toilet in a box instead. 

[Robbo]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Ta. Might just put my cassette toilet in a box instead. 

Make the box big enough for a couple of cassette storage as well.

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Make the box big enough for a couple of cassette storage as well.

I have, its called a narrowboat 

[Bargebuilder]

8 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Most of these toilet's mentioned are not really composting toilets, the end output isn't compost!

Even garden compost making is an art, you can't just bung whatever you want into a dustbin and expect compost after 6 months.

It is very possible to create toilet compost, you just need to obey the same rules as you would for making good friable garden compost.

Regularly add a variety of perhaps sawdust, peat, or even dry leaves. Use your poo stick to mix every 3 or 4 weeks and hey presto you too can have lovely roses!

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Bargebuilder said:

Use your poo stick to mix every 3 or 4 weeks and hey presto you too can have lovely roses!

........ Place on greased paper and bake at gas mk5, until crisp and brown. 

 

Too much? 

[Robbo]

7 minutes ago, Bargebuilder said:

Even garden compost making is an art, you can't just bung whatever you want into a dustbin and expect compost after 6 months.

It is very possible to create toilet compost, you just need to obey the same rules as you would for making good friable garden compost.

Regularly add a variety of perhaps sawdust, peat, or even dry leaves. Use your poo stick to mix every 3 or 4 weeks and hey presto you too can have lovely roses!

You'll need quite a few boxes to leave for 6 months even for just one person using it!    Majority of these loos the contents will be just bagged up and shoved in the bin to be put in landfill, whilst the liquid part will be just outed into the canal or hedge.   People are just using them because its easier emptying, not because of some green cause composting rose crap.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Robbo

[OldGoat]

39 minutes ago, Robbo said:

You'll need quite a few boxes to leave for 6 months even for just one person using it!    Majority of these loos the contents will be just bagged up and shoved in the bin to be put in landfill, whilst the liquid part will be just outed into the canal or hedge.   People are just using them because its easier emptying, not because of some green cause composting rose crap.

Yours and previous similar comments ha made me realise that that is precisely what will  happen. The majority of folks asking are new CCers who probably don't have any affinity for their environment in general or canals in particular. Rubbish disposal is at best poorly provided and Councils waste management is just not set up to deal with human waste - even where they have a cesspit emptying service. The thought of some poor lorry driver driving over bags of ordure as he dumps his load (sic!) at the landfill site fills me with horror. Dumping even small (relatively) quantities of urine into a hedgerow or worse - into a waterway reduces 'us' into a third world country.

Should I / we be concerned or are just being a bit prissy?

Discuss.  

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Yours and previous similar comments ha made me realise that that is precisely what will  happen. The majority of folks asking are new CCers who probably don't have any affinity for their environment in general or canals in particular. Rubbish disposal is at best poorly provided and Councils waste management is just not set up to deal with human waste - even where they have a cesspit emptying service. The thought of some poor lorry driver driving over bags of ordure as he dumps his load (sic!) at the landfill site fills me with horror. Dumping even small (relatively) quantities of urine into a hedgerow or worse - into a waterway reduces 'us' into a third world country.

Should I / we be concerned or are just being a bit prissy?

Discuss.  

I suggest instead of moaning and hitting the nail directly on the head re newbies fitting " Composting " bogs? you spend your spare time designing something better? Maybe you could design a thing and call it a sewage system and maybe a toilet that has like a large briefcase fitted to it than can be removed in a matter of seconds and disposed of in the sewage system at a set of points throughout the country. You could name them " Elsan " points or something and perhaps " Cassette " or " Porta Bog " for the toilet?