Here is a nice little Widebeam liveaboard.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, GingGangGoolie said:

I may have missed something but what happens to the "solids" in these digester toilets? I know it's says the run-off water is suitable for irrigation but it doesn't seem to mention what happens to the remaining solids.

 

They get 'eaten' just the same as in a cesspool.

We had a cesspool at our old family home, it was never emptied in the 20 years I lived 'at home' and I don't think it was afterwards.We did occasionally have to throw in a dead pheasant (other options are available) if it started to smell. This would 'reactvate' the microbes if they had been killed off by too much bleach.

 

Bio-digesters are a totally maintenance-free system, which don’t require any sewage system. The inoculums bacteria used in these bio-digester procreate & generate new bacteria in an anaerobic environment & does not require repeat dosing.

Some systems are based on anaerobic biodegradation of organic waste by unique microbial consortium and works at a wide temperature range. The bacterial consortium degrades night soil at temp as low as -20 degree C .............................................

Edited February 21, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[GingGangGoolie]

Thanks Alan. Seems like a good solution for canals, assuming they can be made small enough to fit. Water suitable for irrigation would be clean enough to dump in the canal along with your grey water I would assume.

[Chagall]

Not too expensive when you compare to a compost loo, it even includes a mini gas stove to cook on! .. https://www.homebiogas.com/Products/HomeBiogas_Toilet   but siting the gas tank outdoors might be a problem. 

 

Interesting concept for a land property though.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Chagall
added the important "land" bit!

[matty40s]

9 minutes ago, Chagall said:

Not too expensive when you compare to a compost loo, it even includes a mini gas stove to cook on! .. https://www.homebiogas.com/Products/HomeBiogas_Toilet   but siting the gas tank outdoors might be a problem. 

 

Interesting concept though. 

So if the gas runs out while you are halfway through dinner, you just get the whole family to go for a crap...

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

So if the gas runs out while you are halfway through dinner, you just get the whole family to go for a crap...

 

You do come up with some sh$t  !!

[Guest]

If you really do want the 'movable' version with an engine.

 

These have been around on the Broads since the early 70's.

 

 

[Mike Todd]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I dont think it does.

Basically it is exactly the same chamber-system as our commercial seawage treatement plant but incorporated into a single toilet. Ours has a number of toilets, and grey water connected to it.

 

The reason that we have to have our solids emptied is the fact that bleach and washing powder etc (via the grey water) kills off the bugs that eat the solids.

If it was simply toilet(s) connected then it is suposed to never require emptying.

 

The article suggests that you can pipe-it into an irrigation system for watering plants etc.

In this case the water output is probably far cleaner than the 'grey water' running out into the marina from the boats.

Certainly that was traditionally the difference between a septic tank (which never needed emptying) and a cess pit (which did). We had a cottage for a few years with the former and it worked really well even with the use of (then) the normal level of detergents except that as it was a weekend cottage it did not have a washing machine (nor even a dishwasher!). It was already in place and working so we did not need to 'start' it but we were told that the traditional practice was to toss in a dead rabbit at the outset and that primed it for indefinite use. It was also made clear to us that getting in an emptying contractor was 'a bad thing' as it removed all that active biology and would need re-starting. The output went happily into the local ground water. But all that was over 40 years ago so regs may well have changed all that . . .