Composting Toilet - Nature's Head

[Fluenta]

Eighth wonder,



Thanks for starting this thread. Did you guess it would go for 26 pages !


How did your composting head handle the colder weather ?


After a seven year loop with our family of five through the South Pacific and Micronesia we are heading back to Canada via Alaska to be "liveaboards" in a marina for a few years. Replacing one of our heads with a composting head seems to make sense where we will be mostly static at a location without a pump out. We will still have the direct discharge aft head which is in a better location for rough weather when operating offshore beyond the three mile limit.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Fluenta

Eighth wonder, Thanks for starting this thread. Did you guess it would go for 26 pages !

How did your composting head handle the colder weather ?

After a seven year loop with our family of five through the South Pacific and Micronesia we are heading back to Canada via Alaska to be "liveaboards" in a marina for a few years. Replacing one of our heads with a composting head seems to make sense where we will be mostly static at a location without a pump out. We will still have the direct discharge aft head which is in a better location for rough weather when operating offshore beyond the three mile limit.

I’ve mostly cruised in cold water (Lake Superior, now Newfoundland). Our composter works just fine, but I suspect it would be even better in hotter climes. So I don’t think the temperature will be a problem. But I’d be worried about the number of people suing the head.

The three main commercial composter heads (Nature’s, Air, C) are all designed for two, perhaps three adults for full time use. You can certainly have more people using it for a short time, but five people would overwhelm the system pretty quickly if it is used full time.

[Fluenta]

Thanks Mike. Having worked off Newfoundland on ship and sailed during the summer to St Pierre Miquelon I would say that you are in colder waters than I will be in with Victoria in the winter. I am in Alaska now but heading south in October.



The number of users is our concern too but two of the kids will be going ashore for high school and I will be going back to work so there are three poopers off the boat for much of the day. We will also need to set an SOP that daytime poops are done ashore in the marina's facilities unless an emergency.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Fluenta

Thanks Mike. Having worked off Newfoundland on ship and sailed during the summer to St Pierre Miquelon I would say that you are in colder waters than I will be in with Victoria in the winter. I am in Alaska now but heading south in October.

The number of users is our concern too but two of the kids will be going ashore for high school and I will be going back to work so there are three poopers off the boat for much of the day. We will also need to set an SOP that daytime poops are done ashore in the marina's facilities unless an emergency.

Oh yes, definitely colder over here. Temperature won’t be a problem. It sounds like you’ve got a good sense of the number of poopers that the system can manage. I’m sure you can make it work, but you will have to be vigilant.

[Fluenta]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Oh yes, definitely colder over here. Temperature won’t be a problem. It sounds like you’ve got a good sense of the number of poopers that the system can manage. I’m sure you can make it work, but you will have to be vigilant.

To misquote Thomas Jefferson, "Eternal vigilance is the price of reliable plumbing".