One of the things Nature's Head recommends for composting toilets is that if you're planning to use yours full-time, you should purchase a secondary base to swap out. The first base can sit wherever and finish up the composting process before you empty it, while you use the second base for your regular toilet needs. The main downside to this is obviously that you have two toilet bases taking up space in your RV
Yeah I suppose that makes sense since there's really no true "composting" that's going on in the short time it takes to fill one of those buckets.. Good to know!
I use a Thetford Porta Potty 335 for #1. And for #2, I place a bag over the seat, take care of business and dispose immediately if possible. If not possible, the bag is tied and left outside my van until it can be properly disposed of. At first , I thought this system was great. Until the level warning stop working and I woke up to a flood of pee. The next thing to go was the rubber ring, who job it is to contain the smell. At first I though the cleaning products used to clean the potty was eating away the rubber ring. But the ring was also damaged by cleaning with vinegar and even plane water. I now believe that the urine is actually the causing damage to the rubber ring. In 2 years I have replaced it 5 times. Dumping the contents can be troublesome. You just can’t take it anywhere. And after 4 days, for one person, it needs to be dumped. The smell, no matter what people say, it smells! I’ve tried lots of things and the only thing that helps is a product called Fabulouso. I get the lavender scented. Since it is a cleanser, it help keep the container clean and smelling fresh. But by the four day , you know it time to dump. Weight is also a factor to consider. Once the container is full, it’s very heavy to carry. I have found there are pros and cons to every option available. Once must just decide which one you can live with. I’m researching other options at the moment and will most likely build my own composting toilet 🚽. Thanks for you video 👍🏼
Building a bus for permanent living down here in Oz. Have just purchased a composting toilet after much deliberation on what style to use. Being permanent and not being able to easily just travel to a dump point the composting toilet won. It comes with 2 tanks so we can swap over to allow the 1st tank to further compost. Would love a incinerator setup, but they are way too expensive and not quite approved yet in Australia.
Thank you for making this video. I'm in the process of engineering a solution for my stealth camper. I consider the bathroom functionality key. The question I have for you, if money was not an option would you go with the incinerator toilet first?? I'm gonna engineer a frickin' airtight bathroom space so there is *zero* smell. That's doable imo (safely yada yada). I'll probably have a secondary high treatment grey water system for bathing etc. So you just recirculate and reuse that water. But dealing with toilet functionality is the bugaboo for me (it's probably possible to turn blackwater to grey but that's more engineering than what I want to do). Btw, there are solutions to deal with an rv dump that don't involve a hose (think suitcase with wheels). But then you're still tied to finding an RV dump. Not exactly off grid. Effectively treated grey water (I call it greenwater) should be storm water quality imo therefore technically could be disposed of anywhere. There's recognized standards for that.
I think I'd have to do a bit more research into the incinerator toilet before I could make that call for sure, but the idea of it certainly seems appealing to me! One caveat to consider is powering it though. It's going take a pretty massive battery bank so something to think about before committing that route (although there may be some that run off propane as well). There's obviously the safety concerns, but I'd say absolutely worth looking into more if you've got the budget! If you're not full timing it in your van you might consider the Laveo Dry flush (vacuum toilet) for the simplicity and low maintenance as well. It seems like a very practical option for smell and waste removal, just a bit pricey to refill the cartridges if you're using it long term! Sounds like you've got a heck of rig in the making though! Anywhere where you're documenting the conversion?
I have a thought called the inna otta. Just called should you inna otta. Making it quite simple be in or outdoors ☺️ A urine potty a must on the road. Always have a quickie handy bag for those messy stuff burritos leave you in. Some fresh air and good antibacterial soap and water for cleanups.
Hello Healthy Trails! Here comes a little bit more you need to know about composting toilets, and why they can be odorless. The Air Head Dry Composting Toilet that you feature in your video when talking about "the smell" and the built-in ventilation fan, there is a misconception about the function of the venting. The venting is for the aerobic composting process, and the aerobic composting process is odorless, hence the only smell from the toilet is in the moment it's used for number 2 and then there will be no smell indoors, and only briefly outdoors. In the contrary from normal toilets, the indoor smells are zero, and the air quality indoors is improved, taking away humidity from the space and keeping the air fresher. Kind regards
One of the things Nature's Head recommends for composting toilets is that if you're planning to use yours full-time, you should purchase a secondary base to swap out. The first base can sit wherever and finish up the composting process before you empty it, while you use the second base for your regular toilet needs. The main downside to this is obviously that you have two toilet bases taking up space in your RV
Yeah I suppose that makes sense since there's really no true "composting" that's going on in the short time it takes to fill one of those buckets.. Good to know!
I use a Thetford Porta Potty 335 for #1. And for #2, I place a bag over the seat, take care of business and dispose immediately if possible. If not possible, the bag is tied and left outside my van until it can be properly disposed of.
At first , I thought this system was great. Until the level warning stop working and I woke up to a flood of pee.
The next thing to go was the rubber ring, who job it is to contain the smell. At first I though the cleaning products used to clean the potty was eating away the rubber ring. But the ring was also damaged by cleaning with vinegar and even plane water.
I now believe that the urine is actually the causing damage to the rubber ring. In 2 years I have replaced it 5 times.
Dumping the contents can be troublesome. You just can’t take it anywhere. And after 4 days, for one person, it needs to be dumped.
The smell, no matter what people say, it smells! I’ve tried lots of things and the only thing that helps is a product called Fabulouso. I get the lavender scented. Since it is a cleanser, it help keep the container clean and smelling fresh. But by the four day , you know it time to dump.
Weight is also a factor to consider. Once the container is full, it’s very heavy to carry.
I have found there are pros and cons to every option available. Once must just decide which one you can live with.
I’m researching other options at the moment and will most likely build my own composting toilet 🚽.
Thanks for you video 👍🏼
Very helpful information!!!!
And you’re not boring!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Building a bus for permanent living down here in Oz. Have just purchased a composting toilet after much deliberation on what style to use. Being permanent and not being able to easily just travel to a dump point the composting toilet won. It comes with 2 tanks so we can swap over to allow the 1st tank to further compost.
Would love a incinerator setup, but they are way too expensive and not quite approved yet in Australia.
Thank you for making this video. I'm in the process of engineering a solution for my stealth camper. I consider the bathroom functionality key. The question I have for you, if money was not an option would you go with the incinerator toilet first??
I'm gonna engineer a frickin' airtight bathroom space so there is *zero* smell. That's doable imo (safely yada yada).
I'll probably have a secondary high treatment grey water system for bathing etc. So you just recirculate and reuse that water.
But dealing with toilet functionality is the bugaboo for me (it's probably possible to turn blackwater to grey but that's more engineering than what I want to do).
Btw, there are solutions to deal with an rv dump that don't involve a hose (think suitcase with wheels). But then you're still tied to finding an RV dump. Not exactly off grid. Effectively treated grey water (I call it greenwater) should be storm water quality imo therefore technically could be disposed of anywhere. There's recognized standards for that.
I think I'd have to do a bit more research into the incinerator toilet before I could make that call for sure, but the idea of it certainly seems appealing to me! One caveat to consider is powering it though. It's going take a pretty massive battery bank so something to think about before committing that route (although there may be some that run off propane as well). There's obviously the safety concerns, but I'd say absolutely worth looking into more if you've got the budget!
If you're not full timing it in your van you might consider the Laveo Dry flush (vacuum toilet) for the simplicity and low maintenance as well. It seems like a very practical option for smell and waste removal, just a bit pricey to refill the cartridges if you're using it long term!
Sounds like you've got a heck of rig in the making though! Anywhere where you're documenting the conversion?
I have a thought called the inna otta.
Just called should you inna otta.
Making it quite simple be in or outdoors ☺️ A urine potty a must on the road. Always have a quickie handy bag for those messy stuff burritos leave you in. Some fresh air and good antibacterial soap and water for cleanups.
Hello Healthy Trails! Here comes a little bit more you need to know about composting toilets, and why they can be odorless.
The Air Head Dry Composting Toilet that you feature in your video when talking about "the smell" and the built-in ventilation fan, there is a misconception about the function of the venting. The venting is for the aerobic composting process, and the aerobic composting process is odorless, hence the only smell from the toilet is in the moment it's used for number 2 and then there will be no smell indoors, and only briefly outdoors. In the contrary from normal toilets, the indoor smells are zero, and the air quality indoors is improved, taking away humidity from the space and keeping the air fresher.
Kind regards
Me sad bc part never happened. And isn’t up 😭
I thought 3D printing was supposed to save the world. Instead there are $1,000 toilets which are clunky designs. WTF.
real men pee and doo doo outside!