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Composting Lavatoirs

Bones

By Bones
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mrsmelly Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, peterboat said:

Another person converted to the world of composting loos. As I have said before my new boat will have one and I have ripped out the pump out to do it. After 6 years of composting I could not face going back to pump out or cassette

But Peter we all know you even think lectric cars are a good idea...............bless ;)

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Bargebuilder Rising Star

Bargebuilder

Posted
Posted

There is a difference between passing on ones experiences and telling others what to do. I'm sorry if you misunderstood my intention, which was to let readers know that a good alternative to more conventional toilets was available, fit for purpose and inexpensive to set up; in my opinion of course.

Haggis mentioned in his post that he moored next to a boat with a composting loo that had a smelly vent. It is, of course, the case that with ones nose directly above the vent it isn't fragrant, but then that is why no smells escape into the bathroom. You never walk into the bathroom after another has deposited something particularly malodorous and wish you hadn't, because the gasses are evacuated from beneath the seat as they are 'produced'.

I do wonder if a lot of the bad experiences that have permanently put folks off of the very idea of 'composting' hark back to outdated designs or poor installations. In addition, the toilets that don't separate the liquids from the solids are doomed to failure, being more likely to produce a stinking mess rather than friable compost. The designs of composting loos that by various methods evaporate urine are going to be the ones with the stinky vents; stale urine.....yuck!

A dog poo on a pavement doesn't smell after a couple of hours, unless of course you step in it. The same is true of human deposits, don't disturb it and any whif is barely noticeable, and even then, only outside the boat because of the extractor fan.

 

 

 

 

 

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cuthound Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

When I worked for BT they employed a "Futurologist", whose job was to imagine what might happen in the future so BT could take advantage of it.

I recall that he had an unerring ability to get things wrong. He foresaw glasses with built in computer screens so you could watch the Internet as you walked along, but missed the Smartphone which does the same.  :D

Not sure if they still employ him now. 

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blackrose Veteran II

blackrose

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 31/07/2017 at 21:22, Bargebuilder said:

A dog poo on a pavement doesn't smell after a couple of hours, unless of course you step in it. The same is true of human deposits, don't disturb it and any whif is barely noticeable, and even then, only outside the boat because of the extractor fan.

But I thought the whole point of a composting toilet was to disturb and aerate the poo? Isn't that what the agitator spindle is for on the Airhead and Nature's head?

image.png.1f9a7396a91b1c4be27776d3bbfb3d6b.png

Edited by blackrose
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blackrose Veteran II

blackrose

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, frangar said:

As I see it a compositing loo on a boat being used for long term cruising is similar to crapping into a Tesco bag and hanging it from the nearest tree.....and that's not acceptable for dog poo let alone human waste......

The ones I've seen are not for me, but I know people who live aboard and get along with composting toilets quite nicely. 

While I have no problem recommending certain beneficial items of boat equipment or consumables to others (e.g. whale gulper waste pumps, marineflex mastic), why anyone feels the need to give such negative feedback and criticise equipment they've never actually used long term I do not understand? 

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frangar Veteran II

frangar

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, blackrose said:

The ones I've seen are not for me, but I know people who live aboard and get along with composting toilets quite nicely. 

While I have no problem recommending certain beneficial items of boat equipment or consumables to others (e.g. whale gulper waste pumps, marineflex mastic), why anyone feels the need to give such negative feedback and criticise equipment they've never actually used long term I do not understand? 

I've had the misfortune to work on a boat with a so called composting toilet installed .....the smell was overpowering as the boat had been shut up for a few weeks.....I hate to think what microbes were in the air

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Mac of Cygnet Veteran II

Mac of CygnetDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Did you know that a world centre of composting (and other) toilet technology is not far from the canal at Loughborough University?  Son No.1 did a degree there in a course called Water and Environmental Waste Engineering - WEWE.  Seriously.

Incidentally the title of this thread always raises a smile when it appears.  I imagine a Victorian lady on a delicately scented seat.......

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rusty69 Veteran II

rusty69

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Did you know that a world centre of composting (and other) toilet technology is not far from the canal at Loughborough University?  Son No.1 did a degree there in a course called Water and Environmental Waste Engineering - WEWE.  Seriously.

Incidentally the title of this thread always raises a smile when it appears.  I imagine a Victorian lady on a delicately scented seat.......

What about Number 2,what was his course? 

Principles  Of Over Powering Organic Odours (POOPOO) 

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peterboat Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, frangar said:

I've had the misfortune to work on a boat with a so called composting toilet installed .....the smell was overpowering as the boat had been shut up for a few weeks.....I hate to think what microbes were in the air

Clearly the fan had stopped working or it was incorrectly installed mine has been shut up for a lot longer than a couple of weeks without any smells

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blackrose Veteran II

blackrose

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, frangar said:

I've had the misfortune to work on a boat with a so called composting toilet installed .....the smell was overpowering as the boat had been shut up for a few weeks.....I hate to think what microbes were in the air

Ok, so because of one smelly toilet (which had been left for a period of time) you've dismissed and now criticise the whole idea? In that case I assume you've never smelled a stinky pump out toilet or cassette? :huh: I've had the misfortune to smell lots of awful boat toilets of various designs, but that doesn't mean I write off the entire concept.

I've never owned one and I don't know, but I would imagine if you're going away and leaving a composting loo for a few weeks unmanaged, it's probably recommended that one empties it beforehand? 

Edited by blackrose
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mrsmelly Veteran II

mrsmellyDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Incidentally the title of this thread always raises a smile when it appears.  I imagine a Victorian lady on a delicately scented seat.......

That's because our " Bones " who started it is a very posh young lady, alas who no longer posts.

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MtB Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

On 7/31/2017 at 23:44, peterboat said:

The future Tim, definitely the future

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

 

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peterboat Veteran II

peterboatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

 

Here's another disappointing electric car lots of people waited a long time for...

 

sir-clive-sinclair_1494610c.jpg

You need glasses Mike thats a bike :giggles::detective:

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Aha! The 'Submit' button wouldn't respond, so I kept on pressing it!

Just now, peterboat said:

You need glasses Mike thats a bike :giggles::detective:

 

Do you not remember Sir Clive Sinclair banging on for years about how he was developing an electric car? Winding the media up with high expectations of a leap forward in electric car technology?

And that is what he eventually produced. He became a laughing stock as a result.

Terrible shame as he'd done a lot of good stuff before.

 

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peterboat Veteran II

peterboatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Aha! The 'Submit' button wouldn't respond, so I kept on pressing it!

 

Do you not remember Sir Clive Sinclair banging on for years about how he was developing an electric car? Winding the media up with high expectations of a leap forward in electric car technology?

And that is what he eventually produced. He became a laughing stock as a result.

Terrible shame as he'd done a lot of good stuff before.

 

I can remember it being on tomorrows world a sure fire way of it never making it!

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dogless Rising Star

dogless

Posted
Posted

As I understand it, from reading, it takes upto 3 months for the solids to fully compost.

Presumably if you are using the loo, you will be adding to the solids on a daily basis, so does that mean, at some point one has to remove a quantity of solids and store it for the requisite time?

And if one leaves the boat for a period, do you have to leave the drying fan running for the process to continue?

Having to dispose of liquids in the usual way, and then gardening and storing one's solids does sound rather labour intensive compared to simply emptying a cassette every 3 or 4 days.

Rog

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peterboat Veteran II

peterboatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, dogless said:

As I understand it, from reading, it takes upto 3 months for the solids to fully compost.

Presumably if you are using the loo, you will be adding to the solids on a daily basis, so does that mean, at some point one has to remove a quantity of solids and store it for the requisite time?

And if one leaves the boat for a period, do you have to leave the drying fan running for the process to continue?

Having to dispose of liquids in the usual way, and then gardening and storing one's solids does sound rather labour intensive compared to simply emptying a cassette every 3 or 4 days.

Rog

I dont get you Rog? I empty the liquids once a week it takes seconds and the solids once every 3 months you however twice a week have to empty your cassettes. So by my reckoning do 23 times more work than me every 3 months think I will stick with the composting loo ta 

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WotEver Veteran II

WotEverDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, peterboat said:

I dont get you Rog? I empty the liquids once a week it takes seconds and the solids once every 3 months you however twice a week have to empty your cassettes. So by my reckoning do 23 times more work than me every 3 months think I will stick with the composting loo ta 

But you didn't answer his question:

38 minutes ago, dogless said:

As I understand it, from reading, it takes upto 3 months for the solids to fully compost.

Presumably if you are using the loo, you will be adding to the solids on a daily basis, so does that mean, at some point one has to remove a quantity of solids and store it for the requisite time?

So does it?

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