Narrowboat handymen

[Kiwidad]

Once all the fun and games are over, can I recommend Matty40s (should be 50!) as s great person to contact for both advice and assistance 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Kiwidad

[mrsmelly]

56 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I apparently needed a pass word to get onto facebook (whatever that is)

First of all you need a twelve year old.......

1 minute ago, Kiwidad said:

Once all the fun and games are over, can I recommend Matty40s (should be 50!) as s great person to contact for both advice and assistance 

No cos he's an Eeeeeejut ?

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Fat boats of the world unite...and take over....

You lot keep craning them in ??

[Kiwidad]

13 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

 

No cos he's an Eeeeeejut ?

Well tough! Because I recommend him anyway ?

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, Kiwidad said:

Well tough! Because I recommend him anyway ?

??

[Guest]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Oh you've got a fat boat you shouldn't be allowed to post innitt ?

Hells teeth I'd forgotten you sewer tubers had exclusive rights on here ................. Oh well I've started now so I'll carry on posting ?

[Alan de Enfield]

2 hours ago, Neil2 said:

I don't do Facebook either nor have I any intention of joining - does it take long to explain what the three bucket trick is?

 

2 hours ago, Neil2 said:

I don't do Facebook either nor have I any intention of joining - does it take long to explain what the three bucket trick is?

I think its the same as the shysters 'a pea and 3 cups' - you just keep moving them around until you find somewhere to empty them when no one is looking.

[Clodi]

2 hours ago, Neil2 said:

I don't do Facebook either nor have I any intention of joining - does it take long to explain what the three bucket trick is?

It may be better to refer to composting toilet systems as water-less toilets. Essentially the faecal matter is kept dry, urine does not get mixed in with the poo. This usually is managed by a separator that diverts the piss into a soak-away or, in the case of boats or vans a pee container that is disposed of as you do with cassettes. I order for the separator to work it means that both male and female( + any gender fluid) need to relieve themselves sitting down.

The fan (if used) is to assist the drying process  & not to remove smells as, somewhat surprisingly there isn't any of note. Poo is covered by a small amount of sawdust, cat litter, coir etc sometime perfumed with essential oils. Toilet paper use is kept to a minimum, washing is encouraged instead. Defiantly NO wet-wipes.

The poo container sometimes has a stirrer built in, or the contents can get mixed by a 'shit-stick' to encourage the composting process. Once the bucket is deemed full it is either emptied into another bucket with air holes around the base and left to carry on composting. The container must be kept dry although some moisture is required often supplied by a hand sprayer. The  bucket is a reference to the approx amount of small containers required by a couple of people over the year , 1 in use, I composting and 1 ready to be mixed with general use compost, soil etc and ready for your Tomato plants ?

This is-just a simplistic explanation, there are many variations, some use fungus, add worms, mix in general green waste etc. It's quite an eye-opener how little 'brown-waste' is generated by a couple over the year once the liquid is removed.

It is bloody ridiculous that we, in this country spend a fortune cleaning water, adding chemicals bringing it up to to a drinking standard then flush our waste away with the same water, madness.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Clodi said:

Essentially the faecal matter is kept dry, urine does not get mixed in with the poo. This usually is managed by a separator that diverts the piss into a soak-away or, in the case of boats or vans a pee container that is disposed of as you do with cassettes.

 

In which case what on earth is the point? Why not dispose of the shyte the same way?

 

The answer is the pee is poured in the cut and the shyte is put in the bin after a token 'composting', surely?

[Clodi]

3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

In which case what on earth is the point? Why not dispose of the shyte the same way?

 

The answer is the pee is poured in the cut and the shyte is put in the bin after a token 'composting', surely?

I thought even the luddites on here would see the advantage of number one conserving water and number two using no harmful chemicals simple really

Pun intended ?

[Clodi]

Just because you & others do not see it's possible to do things properly without resorting to lazy illegal shortcuts is not a reason to disparage those who try and care for the environment and tread lightly on the earth.

[Robbo]

2 hours ago, Clodi said:

Just because you & others do not see it's possible to do things properly without resorting to lazy illegal shortcuts is not a reason to disparage those who try and care for the environment and tread lightly on the earth.

I don’t really see any environmental benefit from double bagging half composted poo in plastic to put in a bin that will end up in landfill over my current toilet solution where it gets sucked out of a tank to be processed by a well established system where the solids get used in fertiliser. 

[Clodi]

18 minutes ago, Robbo said:

I don’t really see any environmental benefit from double bagging half composted poo in plastic to put in a bin that will end up in landfill over my current toilet solution where it gets sucked out of a tank to be processed by a well established system where the solids get used in fertiliser. 

Double bagging and putting it in the general rubbish IS NOT Composting. The point of a COMPOSTING WATERLESS SYSTEM is to COMPOST.

As has already been mentioned, some people dump their piss in the canal and put their waste in the bin. I would suggest to them that they change their ways and adopt a proper waterless, chemical free COMPOSTING TOILET Regime

 

17 minutes ago, Robbo said:

I don’t really see any environmental benefit from double bagging half composted poo in plastic to put in a bin that will end up in landfill over my current toilet solution where it gets sucked out of a tank to be processed by a well established system where the solids get used in fertiliser. 

[Robbo]

16 minutes ago, Clodi said:

Double bagging and putting it in the general rubbish IS NOT Composting. The point of a COMPOSTING WATERLESS SYSTEM is to COMPOST.

As has already been mentioned, some people dump their piss in the canal and put their waste in the bin. I would suggest to them that they change their ways and adopt a proper waterless, chemical free COMPOSTING TOILET Regime

 

I agree it’s not composting, but it’s what CRT recommend you do and if you don’t have land it’s the only real legal convient option and it’s what probably 99% of how these “composting” toilets will be used.

 

The only additional chemical my toilet sees is Dihydrogen monoxide plus Tesco’s basic toilet paper.

 

and please stop calling them composting toilets, composting toilets you get compost - they exist but cost a bit.  The toilets most people refer to as composting are seperating toilets, where pee and poo are just separated.   The composting can be done elsewhere, but usually isn’t.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Robbo

[LadyG]

Are folks suggesting we collect fresh poo in the bog, add kitty litter and after a few weeks transfer it in to another [ventilated] bin which is kept on the towpath until such times as this bin is full. It is left to compost, say 3 to 6 months while the next compost bin is started. Boaters will be transferring these two/three/four bins every time they move. What do they do with the stuff when it is composted, they don't know if it composted at a temperature high enough to kill pathogens,

I do several gardens which have had LA "compost bins" for about five years, none of them have produced garden compost. The three bin garden compost system takes three years to work, and only accelerates if the compost is turned.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wooden-Garden-Composter-Compost-Outdoor/dp/B00B2KL25Y/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1534832985&sr=8-16&keywords=compost+bin+garden x3

 

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Robbo said:

I don’t really see any environmental benefit from double bagging half composted poo in plastic to put in a bin that will end up in landfill... 

That is at the very least distasteful, but I'd have thought it presents a health hazard - is it even legal?

[Clodi]

Please everyone, if you are rally interested in composting toilets do take some time and read-up on the various systems. LadyG this is the first time I have heard of bins placed on the tow-path. I thought the only thing we should place on the tow-path were our mooring pins. Mind you a bucketfull of shit may deter speeding cyclists ?

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

That is at the very least distasteful, but I'd have thought it presents a health hazard - is it even legal?

If you read the Environment Agency notes it's classed as 'Domestic Sludge' and bagging and binning is, in fact, their instruction.

[Robbo]

57 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

That is at the very least distasteful, but I'd have thought it presents a health hazard - is it even legal?

It’s on CRT’s website so I presume it’s legal to do so.

54 minutes ago, Clodi said:

Please everyone, if you are rally interested in composting toilets do take some time and read-up on the various systems. LadyG this is the first time I have heard of bins placed on the tow-path. I thought the only thing we should place on the tow-path were our mooring pins. Mind you a bucketfull of shit may deter speeding cyclists 

 

There not composting toilets.

 

Note I don’t have a problem with people using separating toilets and even bagging it for the bin.   But most who use composting throw the term around like it’s a tick box for their green credentials where in fact they are just bagging it for landfill.   I have a pump out, it’s environmentally friendly.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Robbo

[Sea Dog]

16 minutes ago, Clodi said:

If you read the Environment Agency notes it's classed as 'Domestic Sludge' and bagging and binning is, in fact, their instruction.

 

6 minutes ago, Robbo said:

It’s on CRT’s website so I presume it’s legal to do so.

 

Oh heck - twice!  And to think folk baulk at the idea of a pump out!  

[MtB]

5 hours ago, Clodi said:

Just because you & others do not see it's possible to do things properly without resorting to lazy illegal shortcuts is not a reason to disparage those who try and care for the environment and tread lightly on the earth.

 

You are completely misunderstanding my position. I am willing to accept it technically possible to compost human waste, but I hold that a proportion of separating toilet owners will get lazy and pour their wee in the cut and put the poo in the bin after drying it for three months or a month and eventually just a week. 

 

I’m not saying they can’t be used properly, but that in some cases they won’t be used properly. 

[Neil2]

I think we should maybe give Clodi a break, I applaud anyone who makes a genuine attempt to live in a more sustainable way and he has made it clear, to me at least, how you go about recycling waste correctly.  It may encourage others to have a go but the worry is that the majority of buyers of "composting" loos will not be so thorough in their management of the end product.

 

I know when I looked into this some years ago what did concern me was that in their efforts to market these products, the manufacturers skip over the issue of actually composting the waste, giving the distinct impression that what comes out of the bin after a few months you can just sprinkle on the roses.   I experimented with a dog waste composting bin years ago and though it's not quite the same thing I know how difficult it is to achieve a satisfactory result. 

 

Fortunately "composting" loos are still very expensive, which suggests to me that the only people likely to buy them will have sufficient motivation to use them properly, or am I being naive?

Edited August 21, 2018 by Neil2

[Athy]

15 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

 

 

Fortunately "composting" loos are still very expensive, which suggests to me that the only people likely to buy them will have sufficient motivation to use them properly, or am I being naive?

Possibly. One would think that, because brand-new narrowboats are very expensive, the only people likely to buy them would have sufficient motivation to use them properly. Yet we've all seen adverts for craft "two years old, barely used, as new condition" for sale.

[Clodi]

37 minutes ago, Athy said:

Possibly. One would think that, because brand-new narrowboats are very expensive, the only people likely to buy them would have sufficient motivation to use them properly. Yet we've all seen adverts for craft "two years old, barely used, as new condition" for sale.

The term 'More money than sense' comes to mind ',we looked at one, custom built for the owner with a view to CC.

As soon as one got  aboard it was blindingly obvious that unless they had 'staff' following along in a butty to do the necessary working of locks, mooring pins, plank and storage it was only good for short holidays. they had  3 tv's on board each of them bigger than the one we have in the  house.. The Kitchen ( I still call that area the Galley ) was fully equipped, every gadget including a double oven ( FFS ) but no work-top to speak of. 2 HUGE easy chairs in front of a Morso but with no-where to store any fuel.

The asking price exceeded £120000! when we saw the vendor I realised that the most likely reason for the 'change of plan' was probably their designer had made no allowance for the couples size, They had trouble passing down the corridor by the guest bedroom . They blamed the builder ?

[Athy]

A different interpretation of the phrase "Widebeam owners".

[George and Dragon]

15 hours ago, Clodi said:

Once the bucket is deemed full it is either emptied into another bucket with air holes around the base and left to carry on composting.

What happened to the rest of this sentence? The either should have an or. Or the either shouldn't be there at all </grammarnazi>

[Clodi]

8 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

What happened to the rest of this sentence? The either should have an or. Or the either shouldn't be there at all </grammarnazi>

Oh sorry sir.

It all depends how many  actual toilet buckets are in use, some toilets have a handle on the outside that mixes the contents, these are emptied into another bucket. I should have mentioned that you can get bio-degradable liners for the buckets that makes emptying easier. That system does not really help with composting though as, if you know about composting you don't really want the 'bin' to be too clean as you'll lose the helpful bacteria.

We have 3 buckets so just rotate them around.

If you really want to find out more there's loads of info on the web.

I really don't understand why people who obviously love the canals are so anti anyone who actively want to avoid nasty chemicals and conserve water.