Ogo (composting) toilet - any users?

[250224]

I came recently across the OGO [1, 2] Composting Toilet. And - I must say - it blows everything I've seen so far out of the water.

Well, maybe I don't like too much that it is electric and it might be a bit brittle? Ok and the price. But then it looks very well engineered and thought out.

Would be interested to hear any real live experiences. And/or thoughts about such a modern, mmh, device (it almost looks like a printer )


[1]: https://ogotoilet.com/product/ogo-compost-toilet/
[2]: https://ogotoilet.com/ogo-how-to-videos/

[Mike OReilly]

Never heard of this one, but it looks very interesting. The main bin seems to be about 1/2 the volume of Nature's/Air head, but I like the look of the churner. I'd prefer a manual option for the agitator, but I'm sure the electric can be just as reliable.

[alctel]

That looks really interesting - I've just got a new boat and am in the market for a composting head (my old boat I had a natures head and thought it was great).

This looks really nice and the agitator is interesting

Be nice to hear from someone using something other than the airhead/NH/Chead usual

[Manateeman]

Composting head... Please read up on the thermal conditions needed to inactivate pathogens and maybe a bit on helminth infections.
Small units cannot deal with peak loading and become little more than human kitty litter boxes filled with pathogens.
Disposal of “humus” requires a licensed hauler in many states and then there is the question of the onboard storage and disposal of pee.
When small systems fail because they are small and quickly go anaerobic, then we contain the anaerobic, pathogenic mess in plastic bags and dump it on someone else to deal with...there is no safe way to do this without more toxic chemicals and biohazard training.
Study the science, not the advertising. Few sellers detail any of the microbiology, or the time temperature requirements needed to inactivate pathogens nor the issue of over loading or cleaning up a failure.
Right now public health officials are dealing with far more serious matters but the days of unregulated onboard composting might come to an abrupt end.
The manatee crew.

[250224]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

[snip]

This is offtopic, please open your own thread if interested in discussing microbiology and public health officials.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by blu3534

This is offtopic, please open your own thread if interested in discussing microbiology and public health officials.

[alctel]

I just watched the videos - the urine full light is amazing, being that overflowing the liquids bottle is really the one sure-fire way to screw up

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

...Disposal of “humus” requires a licensed hauler in many states ....

Do you have a regulatory link on this< relating to small quantitative disposal (not septic hauling--totally different)? I have searched high and low, so I think probably not. But I am really interested to read it if you have it. Honest.

If not, don't post it as a fact. That just takes us off-topic.

[thinwater]

As for the Ogo, yes, I would like to hear more. Composting/desiccating toilets are in a new phase of development. Someone may come up with something brilliant.

[alctel]

I emailed the company some questions and they got back to me fast. Seems like they are trying to shake up the market a bit

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Matt,

This is Kevin with OGO. We received your message and are excited to hear that you are intrigued about our product. We are very familiar with the Nature's Head and Airhead products so we can help answer any questions about the differences.

To answer your original questions, we have the outlined below.

- do you have any idea of the reliability from other uses on the motor/fans on the toilet? My natures head was great, but the fan would go fairly regularly and it was a pain to change it.

We are a new product so I can't say that we have a lot of customers with an OGO installed on a sailboat. This also means we do not have a record yet of longevity of wired components. However, we have been testing these components in test toilets for over a year now without any problems. These units have been inside homes though and not out at sea.

We do stand by our product so if you have any failure issues, we can provide replacements. The biggest concern I would have is the abrasiveness of saltwater. We built the OGO with everything stainless steel (304) to combat any corrosion issues. We also wired the harness and components in such a way that they could always be accessed and replaced easily. The sensor is well covered, the fan should be a higher quality fan (we asked for this from our suppliers), the timer has a urethane pour overtop of the electronics, the motor is taped over any opening and the button has shrink wrap over the leads to help corrosion.

- following on from above, I see you sell an electrical spares kit? How simple is it to change out parts? Do you sell the fan separately?

Funny enough, we just added the electrical spares kit (which is why we don't have any images up yet) because another sailboater reached out and had the same concerns. We can definitely set up a fan sold separately. In fact, if you end up purchasing, let me know and I will include a few extra fans in the toilet free of charge.

Again, the parts were all meant to be easily changed out. I can always provide some videos of how to change each component and even how to troubleshoot if there is a problem.

- is there a manual override for the agitator if the motor breaks.

Unfortunately not yet. The solid's bin is solely agitated by the motor. It has a cog (male and female) that drives it so it is possible to build a separate manual back version but you would have to take the bin out after use every time to agitator if such a mechanism was created. We recognize that this could always be a concern for a consumer so we are working toward alternative options in the worst case scenarios.

- do you have a canadian supplier

We do not have one yet although we are working with a potential distributor. I'm not sure how quickly that would come to fruition though. We can always ship out to Canada via USPS. I'm not sure if the website is set up to accept Canadian addresses but if not, let me know and I can set it up to accept the address. There is a flat rate for shipping anywhere at the moment so if there are any extra costs for us, we will just go ahead and take care of it for you without charge.

Thanks again for reaching out. I'll always be here to help answer any more questions you might have. We are looking forward to emerging into the composting toilet market and making our customers happy with whatever it takes.

Thanks,

Kevin

[smj]

Good to see others are getting in the game.

[Mike OReilly]

It's a good sign to see them so responsive. The lack of manual option is a negative to me, but I really do like their agitator. To me, this is where Nature's Head could really use some improvements.

[Ifitsworthdoing]

Following, as we plan to install at least one and possibly two desiccant heads in our forthcoming catamaran commission so as to eliminate the need for black water tanks and related plumbing entirely. We are in Europe though so are looking at what’s available over here. Encouraged that it runs off 12V DC though so will add it to the ‘possibles’ list - especially as it is more compact than the competition …

[250224]

Originally Posted by Ifitsworthdoing

..We are in Europe though so are looking at what’s available over here. ...

FYI below a german link with the toilet (this is how I came across the OGO). When I googled a bit as I have never heard about this toilet before, I found the American website which I posted as it seemed more international relevant and is the manufacturer. Link: https://www.tomtur.de/boots-toilette (a german company)

Btw, thanks for the feedbacks and especially @Matt for the questions, interesting! Seems that I have to wait some for practical boat usage experience.

[Mike OReilly]

Looking more closely at Nature's Head vs Ogo, the biggest functional difference I see is the size. NH is designed to manage 60 to 80 uses between emptying. Ogo is 25 to 30. This obviously means much more frequent emptying of the main bin. It is more like C-head in this way.

Looks like a nice improvement on the churner side (although I still want manual ). The aesthetics are appealing, and the size would make it easier to fit into smaller boats. Definitely a good addition to the composting head options out there.