Disposing of Solid Waste From a Dessicating Toilet

[fourlyons]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

You are in a "Desiccating toilet" thread. It's in the title. Since you clearly know nothing about the subject, but are only here, tossing insults about being "goodie" or accusing people of "virtue signalling (whatever that means), or now how gross it all is.

I own, and have operated, one of these heads for over a decade now. I like to try and help others who are new with these tools. That's why I post in these threads. I have no idea why you're here.

Pretty obvious who is obsessed .

Well said.

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

…
I’m happy you didn’t go into detail about what you do with the urine wipes, but I find all this urine and solid waste bottling/hauling pretty gross

….

The definition of a holding tank.

But I think this is the fundamental problem, the gross factor. People that have never been without modern ‘out of sight out of mind’ conveniences find the whole idea gross and, because gross (disgust) is a deep emotion, feel the need to voice it.

No one who has ever dug a hole, pooped in said hole, then filled it back in, has ever felt grossed out by a composting/ desiccating toilet. Anyone who has ever gone on a half decent (by my standards) camping trip has had to do that by day two (three if you’re stubborn). You get used to it very quickly. It’s just not that big a deal. You aren’t going to get cholera.

[Fore and Aft]

For anyone interested I took a photo of a real composting toilet that we installed in our house in 2007. The second photo is the result from 12 months in the toilet chamber then at least 12 months in a compost bin. That is a real compost toilet. You might notice in the photo a plastic pipe at the bottom which is for liquids and goes to a soak trench. We only installed our compost toilet because we live in a low rainfall area.
From what I am reading on this thread you may as well do away with the fancy plastic catcher and just use a bucket with a bin liner and pee into a coke bottle. I also read that some members empty their compost toilet over the side, so why not cut the BS and just bucket and chuck it straight away?
Cheers

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

You are in a "Desiccating toilet" thread. It's in the title. Since you clearly know nothing about the subject, but are only here, tossing insults about being "goodie" or accusing people of "virtue signalling (whatever that means), or now how gross it all is.

I own, and have operated, one of these heads for over a decade now. I like to try and help others who are new with these tools. That's why I post in these threads. I have no idea why you're here.

Pretty obvious who is obsessed .

I came here to be convinced to buy “desiccating” toilets. It didn’t take long before I was grossed out enough to start designing a new kind of holding tank. And now I’m staying here mainly for moral support during the design work but also to find inspiration and come to a better design. The tow rag has been on my mind for days but for now I decided that a washlet is still a better design.
I hope you find new angles to discuss, the coke bottles with urine steered me convincingly and also when I see people hauling large urine containers to the marina bathrooms, something that makes me appreciate what we have so much more, especially since we don’t have to use those marina facilities after they are done dumping their load

Originally Posted by wyb2

The definition of a holding tank.

But I think this is the fundamental problem, the gross factor. People that have never been without modern ‘out of sight out of mind’ conveniences find the whole idea gross and, because gross (disgust) is a deep emotion, feel the need to voice it.

No one who has ever dug a hole, pooped in said hole, then filled it back in, has ever felt grossed out by a composting/ desiccating toilet. Anyone who has ever gone on a half decent (by my standards) camping trip has had to do that by day two (three if you’re stubborn). You get used to it very quickly. It’s just not that big a deal. You aren’t going to get cholera.

You have something there. See, I get the dig a hole in the ground and filling it back in, that isn’t the problem. It is more the imagination of what people do with their urine wipes, how and where they store their urine bottles and this hauling of gross containers to bathrooms that gross me out

[smj]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I came here to be convinced to buy “desiccating” toilets. It didn’t take long before I was grossed out enough to start designing a new kind of holding tank. And now I’m staying here mainly for moral support during the design work but also to find inspiration and come to a better design. The tow rag has been on my mind for days but for now I decided that a washlet is still a better design.

I hope you find new angles to discuss, the coke bottles with urine steered me convincingly and also when I see people hauling large urine containers to the marina bathrooms, something that makes me appreciate what we have so much more, especially since we don’t have to use those marina facilities after they are done dumping their load







You have something there. See, I get the dig a hole in the ground and filling it back in, that isn’t the problem. It is more the imagination of what people do with their urine wipes, how and where they store their urine bottles and this hauling of gross containers to bathrooms that gross me out

Seeing how you appear to have a weak stomach when it comes to human waste, I would recommend you stick to designing your new holding tank system and leave all the installing and maintaining to someone you hire.
I’m a DIY kind of guy, and unlike some on here I’ve owned both desiccating and the traditional holding tank head, and the holding tank head no doubt brought me into contact with human waste in a much less desirable way.
We all make our own choices for our own reasons, and BTW I don’t use urine wipes or bidets.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

Seeing how you appear to have a weak stomach when it comes to human waste, I would recommend you stick to designing your new holding tank system and leave all the installing and maintaining to someone you hire.
I’m a DIY kind of guy, and unlike some on here I’ve owned both desiccating and the traditional holding tank head, and the holding tank head no doubt brought me into contact with human waste in a much less desirable way.
We all make our own choices for our own reasons, and BTW I don’t use urine wipes or bidets.

Same here. I have had both.

And there’s no doubt the one that got me more into contact with raw sewage was the standard marine head and plumbing.

Whenever I would tell people about what my worst experiences were running a charter boat, “elbow deep in other peoples sewage” is in the top 2.

I’m forgetting the details probably due to trauma, but if I remember correctly somehow the entire hose or fitting broke and emptied half the holding tank into the bilge.

I heard something happening and I rushed over and the best way to stop it was to actually just reach down and stop it. Otherwise the rest of the tank would’ve ended up in there with it.

Fixing standard marine heads and plumbing has to be one of the worst things in life.

Pretty good niche however for making money while you travel. As long as you are up-to-date on your shots. Ha ha

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by smj

Seeing how you appear to have a weak stomach when it comes to human waste, I would recommend you stick to designing your new holding tank system and leave all the installing and maintaining to someone you hire.
I’m a DIY kind of guy, and unlike some on here I’ve owned both desiccating and the traditional holding tank head, and the holding tank head no doubt brought me into contact with human waste in a much less desirable way.
We all make our own choices for our own reasons, and BTW I don’t use urine wipes or bidets.

Yes, recently someone posted with the subject “why am I covered with effluent” which was all about holding tanks and had censored parts to limit how gross of an experience it was! That sounded very bad

Considering I didn’t have anyone doing work for me aboard Jedi for the past 20 years, having dealt with replacing toilets, holding tanks and even two of those Lectrasan treatment plants; imagine how much work I must have done on those and I still get grossed out about stories of storing urine in bottles, urine wipes who-knows-where, and storing bags of poop to be thrown in public garbage cans later! This shows that there are many levels of grossness and I limit myself to barely touching where others boldly go

I think I’m gonna do very well with my new design holding tank and your post reminded me to make sure I paint it opaque so that we don’t have to watch whatever is in there

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Yes, recently someone posted with the subject “why am I covered with effluent” which was all about holding tanks and had censored parts to limit how gross of an experience it was! That sounded very bad



Considering I didn’t have anyone doing work for me aboard Jedi for the past 20 years, having dealt with replacing toilets, holding tanks and even two of those Lectrasan treatment plants; imagine how much work I must have done on those and I still get grossed out about stories of storing urine in bottles, urine wipes who-knows-where, and storing bags of poop to be thrown in public garbage cans later! This shows that there are many levels of grossness and I limit myself to barely touching where others boldly go



I think I’m gonna do very well with my new design holding tank and your post reminded me to make sure I paint it opaque so that we don’t have to watch whatever is in there [emoji3]

Would be interested in your design for holding tank. On another forum, a prolific poster regularly advocated for RV style gravity drop holding tank which makes a ton of sense, though given most boats have heads in very low locations, highlights a challenge compared to an RV.

I consider a compost head to be high maintenance but predictable maintenance. Holding tank systems are low maintenance but highly unpredictable and impactful when needed. Neither is perfect. I'd prefer a holding tank in a perfect world but the episodes of failure have been very traumatic and worrisome. Frankly, there's a strong case to be made for cruising only in areas where direct overboard is permitted and going that route.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Would be interested in your design for holding tank. On another forum, a prolific poster regularly advocated for RV style gravity drop holding tank which makes a ton of sense, though given most boats have heads in very low locations, highlights a challenge compared to an RV.

I consider a compost head to be high maintenance but predictable maintenance. Holding tank systems are low maintenance but highly unpredictable and impactful when needed. Neither is perfect. I'd prefer a holding tank in a perfect world but the episodes of failure have been very traumatic and worrisome. Frankly, there's a strong case to be made for cruising only in areas where direct overboard is permitted and going that route.

I will open a separate thread when my design gets to the “discussion stage” so that people don’t get upset about thread drifts
I have learned from RV systems and will certainly incorporate some of it, like a spray nozzle for automatic cleaning/flushing

[Mike OReilly]

I used standard marine holding tank systems for over a decade on my boats. I never had a lot of trouble with them. The occasional poopy situation, but certainly nothing catastrophic.

I didn’t switch to a composter because of the weaknesses of the standard marine head. I switched because of the benefits the new system offered.

All marine heads need maintenance, and must be operated as per their design specs. Most of the problems of standard marine heads can be avoided if they are maintained properly. So to with a composter (more accurately a desiccator).

One of the benefits of the latter is that there is simply waaaaay less maintenance required vs the former. And if things go wrong, the consequences are far less — dire, shall we say.

Those who are so squeamish about their outflows could arguably do better with a desiccator vs the standard setup. But that’s up to the individual to know.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

For anyone interested I took a photo of a real composting toilet that we installed in our house in 2007. The second photo is the result from 12 months in the toilet chamber then at least 12 months in a compost bin. That is a real compost toilet. You might notice in the photo a plastic pipe at the bottom which is for liquids and goes to a soak trench. We only installed our compost toilet because we live in a low rainfall area.
From what I am reading on this thread you may as well do away with the fancy plastic catcher and just use a bucket with a bin liner and pee into a coke bottle. I also read that some members empty their compost toilet over the side, so why not cut the BS and just bucket and chuck it straight away?
Cheers

You would also get the impression many either never changed diapers or were completely traumatized by it. Not a big deal.


The reason for a more complex desiccating toilet, rather than a bucket and a bag, are several, and are mostly just functional details.

• Women can't pee in a bottle ... easily.
• Covering the solids with absorbent quickly draws moisture away, creating a crust and killing the smell. A mixer can make this process more efficient, depending on the design. The mixer also reduces the yuck factor for some (you are not the only one on the boat in most cases).
• Ventilation or odor neutralizer. A small fan keeps it fresh. A small bag of dry chlorine hanging inside the lip, but out of the way, oxidizes odor in the air (I got this tip from the former owner of C Head, and it works).

But yes, it really is just a fancy human litter box.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by thinwater

You would also get the impression many either never changed diapers or were completely traumatized by it. Not a big deal.

It is amusing. Makes you wonder how these delicate waifs survive at all. A public toilet must be their nightmare [emoji38].

As far as a bucket & chuck it comparison, I suppose a desiccator system is as much like that as ANY marine system. Direct discharge systems are directly the same. A standard holding tank is comparable to a desiccator. Legally they’re the same (in Canada and the USA … I can’t speak about other jurisdictions).

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

..... there is simply waaaaay less maintenance required vs the former. And if things go wrong, the consequences are far less — dire, shall we say.

I suppose this gets down to what you consider maintenance - I consider dumping contents to be maintenance which is why I said CH is 'high maintenance.' A decent sized holding tank system is pretty low mainteinance until something bad happens which was the final straw for me. I went with a compost head because it is failsafe - nothing more than that. THere are other strong features of CH, and a few negatives. But for me, dependability is an important feature on a one-head boat.

[s/v Jedi]

What is “diapers” and why do they need changing? You need these when you have composting toilets?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I suppose this gets down to what you consider maintenance - I consider dumping contents to be maintenance which is why I said CH is 'high maintenance.' A decent sized holding tank system is pretty low mainteinance until something bad happens which was the final straw for me. I went with a compost head because it is failsafe - nothing more than that. THere are other strong features of CH, and a few negatives. But for me, dependability is an important feature on a one-head boat.

True. I count emptying as just basic operations, much like getting a pump out or emptying through the Y-valve for standard heads. I consider standard head maintenance to be things like changing hoses, valves, cleaning vents, servicing thru-hulls and seacocks… that sort of thing. The only maintenance I’ve ever done on my Nature’s Head is change the little computer fan.