Toilet questions

[Jon57]

13 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

Still not sure why it's not a great idea? It does need more space as you need to carry it around until it composts fully, but not being tied down to the schedule of emptying your tank or walking to an Elsan is great. When I had a pump out, sometimes we'd empty it even when it's not full as we were passing a pump out point and weren't going to be passing one in the next move.

Picked up a tyre in the prop last year on the GU which damaged the engine mounts and gearbox, I was stuck for almost a month waiting for parts miles from an Elsan, having to empty the toilet would have made the situation even worse!

 

Not with a cassette and a shovel. 

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

I've just had a little Google and this suggests that a human produces only about 10kg of (dried) poo each year (this feels low to me?).

This suggests we produce an average of 400-500g of poop per day, and the poop is around 70% solids and 30% liquids, so on that basis the dry weight total for a year should be more like 10 times your figure.

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

Putting part composted crap into the bins and hence landfill is not good. This really is using a composting bog as just a short term separating bog with low cost/convenient disposa (at somebody else's expense)l. It really should go back onto the land in a safe and sustainable way

If it were going straight to landfill that would not be a mega problem as it is tipped out of lorry then spread by bulldozer then covered with soil, having been mixed with all sorts.

The problem was that the Biffa Bins, for example sometimes go to re cycling where poop obviously contaminates everything. Humans are involved, attempting to pick valuable waste.

I see bins marked general waste and bins marked dry recycling, and I see the same black bins being put in each. I have no idea if the bins are separated,but I think it is a lost cause. 

I find it incredible that people are now encouraged to add dog poop to litter bins, though I know this has been practiced for years by LA, using the same lorry for both.. I consider that litter bins are more likely to contain potential recycling material than anything else. I often use litter bins rather than the Biffa bins whenever I am disposing of recyclable waste because I think it is more likely to be recycled.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by LadyG

[dmr]

8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

This suggests we produce an average of 400-500g of poop per day, and the poop is around 70% solids and 30% liquids, so on that basis the dry weight total for a year should be more like 10 times your figure.

I used this:

 

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Daily-wet-and-dry-mass-of-feces-produced-by-human-populations-g-cap-day-Outliers_fig1_276831063

 

if I read it correctly its 29g/day dry and 128g/day wet. Trying to visualise this I reckon even my dog exceeds this. Also the wet/dry ratio looks wrong.

We have a kitchen electronic scale but I think there might be an objection if I use that for my own experiments.

[cheesegas]

Hardly a direct comparison, but a year's worth of moist, composted poop/toilet paper/coconut coir mix for two people who liveaboard is about the volume of a little Zanussi washer. Heavy though, the styrofoam composter is probably around 30kg when full.

Edited January 4, 2023 by cheesegas

[MtB]

57 minutes ago, dmr said:

It is a worry, I dunno how high a rat can jump 😀

 

A rat can jump higher than a house.

 

Because..... 

 

 

Anyone??

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

mix for two people who liveaboard is about the volume of a little Zanussi washer

 

 

Thats about :

 

 

Specifications

Installation	Freestanding
Panel colour	White
Net Weight	75.5
Dimensions (mm) (HxWxD)	850x600x660     Thats about .333 cubic metres

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

A rat can jump higher than a house.

 

Because..... 

 

 

Anyone??

 

 

 

 

A house doesn't have legs ?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

29g/day dry

Which is also the smallest weight tobacco pouches are sold in shops.

well, near enough, 30g to be exact.

and come to think 🤔 of it my mates tobacco smells rank,

and he gets through a pouch a day,

..maybe he’s found the answer 

 

 

 

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

A house doesn't have legs ?

 

Close enough. 

 

Because a house can't jump! 

[booke23]

1 hour ago, cheesegas said:

Still not sure why it's not a great idea? 

 

I detailed that in post #4

 

1 hour ago, cheesegas said:

When I had a pump out, sometimes we'd empty it even when it's not full as we were passing a pump out point and weren't going to be passing one in the next move.

 

Ahh more of the CMer than a CCer 😉

[cheesegas]

3 minutes ago, booke23 said:

I detailed that in post #4

 

Ahh more of the CMer than a CCer 😉

Ah, forgot about that post earlier on. Maybe you don't spend as much time out of towns as me, so it didn't work for you...works great for some people though. Burying compost in the woods is way easier.

 

Ha, that old chestnut. Not sure sure why you think that...I work from home a lot of the time, but will do a big hop to get near a station if I need to travel for a few days running. Generally stay in one place for around a week, the tank lasted 10-12 days, do the math. Moving just to empty the tank after being moored for a couple days is a pain so we'd sometime pump out a half full tank.

[dmr]

46 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

Hardly a direct comparison, but a year's worth of moist, composted poop/toilet paper/coconut coir mix for two people who liveaboard is about the volume of a little Zanussi washer. Heavy though, the styrofoam composter is probably around 30kg when full.

You wash your poo in the washing machine????

 

So are you saying that two people produce 30kg of dried poo a year? If so thats a useful figure. Thats not too far off the 10kg/person/year figure and surprisingly low.

44 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Which is also the smallest weight tobacco pouches are sold in shops.

well, near enough, 30g to be exact.

and come to think 🤔 of it my mates tobacco smells rank,

and he gets through a pouch a day,

..maybe he’s found the answer 

 

 

 

 

I have a plan for a new bussiness venture.

[ditchcrawler]

Did anyone watch Slumdog  Millionaire when he dropped through the carsay 

[cheesegas]

Just now, dmr said:

You wash your poo in the washing machine????

 

So are you saying that two people produce 30kg of dried poo a year? If so thats a useful figure. Thats not too far off the 10kg/person/year figure and surprisingly low.

Ha, the actual inside bit of the composter is a tall, slim box but my washing machine next to me served as a good comparison.

 

The poop/coir/toilet paper is broken down noticeably in volume by bacteria, I don't know how much the weight changes though. It's also moist in there...only a little dryer than a food waste compost heap. 

 

For anyone wondering on the cost of coir, I get it from Amazon, six bricks for £12. It's dehydrated, each brick expands to about 5-6 litres in volume and 1 brick lasts a month.

[booke23]

13 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

the tank lasted 10-12 days

 

Very poor capacity for a pump out....unless you have 8 people living onboard! Is it just you on the boat?

[cheesegas]

Just now, booke23 said:

 

Very poor capacity for a pump out....unless you have 8 people living onboard! Is it just you on the boat?

Two of us working from home a lot...the tank wasn't very big but I bought the boat expecting to get rid of it as the whole tank sat above the floorboards, contained fully within the bathroom so it didn't need a radical refit. Had a brand new drop through toilet on top, seem to remember the tank was about 60cm x 30cm x 2m.

[LadyG]

24 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Did anyone watch Slumdog  Millionaire when he dropped through the carsay 

Khasi

Edited January 4, 2023 by LadyG

[MtB]

46 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Very poor capacity for a pump out....unless you have 8 people living onboard! Is it just you on the boat?

 

Agreed. I know some boaters who can get that time between emptying from a cassette!

 

 

[Tgno3]

On 29/12/2022 at 17:11, squid said:

Hi

Not sure if this has been answered on another thread as it seems like a basic question. But what are people's experiences with composting toilets on boats, especially if you're continuous cruising? I've lived with composting toilets before, but on land with places to store the barrels while they compost and not sure how it will work on a boat - do you end up storing barrels of waste on the roof while it's composting? I'm looking to move onto a boat early next year and will be continuous cruising, so I won't have a regular place to empty the compost. It will be just me most of the time, sometimes with one other person. The last boat I lived on had a casette toilet so I know a bit about what that is like. The boat I'm looking at buying currently has a pump out toilet that needs fixing.

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Hi, got carried away reading the replies, if ever I’m having a bad day I’m going to read this thread.

 

so where will you be continuous cruising ? For instance if in Ldn, there is a small company who provide a compostable toilet collection service specially for boaters. They collect via bike and trailer from Tottenham lock on the Lea to Kensal rise on grand union. 
 

you have to pay for it almost like a subscription. Cant remember the prices but they provide tubs and collection service based on how many collections/ how much waste you want collected.

 

it’s a very good idea, I slightly resent paying to have my shit carted off so I’m a cassette kinda gal. On other boats I often see butts on the front of boats which I assume are for composting. 
 

anyway here is the company https://www.circularrevolution.org/

quite interesting either way

 

 

 

[Jon57]

9 hours ago, cheesegas said:

Two of us working from home a lot...the tank wasn't very big but I bought the boat expecting to get rid of it as the whole tank sat above the floorboards, contained fully within the bathroom so it didn't need a radical refit. Had a brand new drop through toilet on top, seem to remember the tank was about 60cm x 30cm x 2m.

Rather a large cassette then😂😂but no wheels. 🤣🤣

[tree monkey]

11 hours ago, dmr said:

I think NBiffa clain to hand sort/recycle the stuff from CRT bins so I can see why they are not happy.

 

Landfill is a precious resource so even if poo is an ok thing to put into lanfill (even beneficial), it means needing more landfill sites so spreading our plastic waste out over even more land area.

I've just had a little Google and this suggests that a human produces only about 10kg of (dried) poo each year (this feels low to me?). Thats really not much, it can't be that difficult to dispose of it correctly.

The problem with waste disposal in landfill is the decomposition is anaerobic and produces methane, plus other unpleasant byproducts, so arguably putting any waste into landfill that can be disposed of in a more appropriate way is daft.

 

Properly composted human waste spread in an appropriate location is far superior to landfill, its the properly composted and appropriate location thing which is key, personally I don't think a random bit of countryside is appropriate 

[cheesegas]

8 hours ago, Tgno3 said:

Hi, got carried away reading the replies, if ever I’m having a bad day I’m going to read this thread.

 

so where will you be continuous cruising ? For instance if in Ldn, there is a small company who provide a compostable toilet collection service specially for boaters. They collect via bike and trailer from Tottenham lock on the Lea to Kensal rise on grand union. 
 

you have to pay for it almost like a subscription. Cant remember the prices but they provide tubs and collection service based on how many collections/ how much waste you want collected.

 

it’s a very good idea, I slightly resent paying to have my shit carted off so I’m a cassette kinda gal. On other boats I often see butts on the front of boats which I assume are for composting. 
 

anyway here is the company https://www.circularrevolution.org/

quite interesting either way

I'm around the south, from the top of the Lea/Stort through to Leighton Buzzard usually but we tend to go through the Stonebridge-Kensal bit quite quick as it's too busy. Better sense of community than anywhere else though.

 

I've heard of them, prices are about the same as a pumpout I seem to remember. Good idea though if you want to compost but don't have space for a composter.

9 hours ago, MtB said:

Agreed. I know some boaters who can get that time between emptying from a cassette!

Dehydrated boaters, or those who wee in a bottle and chuck it in the cut? Two of us produce 26 litres of urine of wee a week alone! That's more than a wheely cassette can hold.

[IanD]

12 hours ago, cheesegas said:

Still not sure why it's not a great idea? It does need more space as you need to carry it around until it composts fully, but not being tied down to the schedule of emptying your tank or walking to an Elsan is great. When I had a pump out, sometimes we'd empty it even when it's not full as we were passing a pump out point and weren't going to be passing one in the next move.

Picked up a tyre in the prop last year on the GU which damaged the engine mounts and gearbox, I was stuck for almost a month waiting for parts miles from an Elsan, having to empty the toilet would have made the situation even worse!

 

 

The highlighted bit is why it's a bad idea *for most boaters*, especially narrowboaters who are short of space. If you're on a wideboat (lots more space) or on your own permanent moorings like Peter-- or in a house, or you... -- then a composting toilet is a great eco-friendly idea, but in reality most boaters with them don't have the space or time or inclination to do the composting (and use the result) properly -- or certainly didn't before CART banned bag'n'binning, which is what the majority of compost toilet boaters did according to survey data.

 

Since then I believe many have removed their composting toilets because they can't compost and dispose of the waste properly, those remaining must either be doing what you and Peter do and compost properly, paying to use the composting waste disposal company, or still disposing of the waste illegally -- and for obvious reasons there's no data about how many fall into these two categories...

Edited January 5, 2023 by IanD

[booke23]

1 hour ago, cheesegas said:

or those who wee in a bottle and chuck it in the cut?

 

You mean like compost toilet users do? 😉 

[magnetman]

10 hours ago, Tgno3 said:

Hi, 

 

On other boats I often see butts on the front of boats ...

 

 

 

Well I suppose that's one approach. 

 

"Oh dear, this thing is too big to fit in the boat. I know what, let's put it out on deck and use it there."