Closing down the system

Due to changes in house ownership, I will be soon dismantling the composting toilet system. I have done a bit more tweaking, which hopefully I can document before I close the system down. Perhaps once I have more time, I can post additional photos. For example, I put a heat exchanger in the exhaust plenum that captures some of the waste heat and transfers it to an open loop propylene glycol recirculating system which keeps my shallow water line and horse stock tank from freezing, even on the coldest Wisconsin winter days. This significantly reduced my electric costs associated with heating the stock tank using resistive stock tank heaters.

Wow it has been a year.

Sorry for anyone hoping to get more info on this composting toilet system. Guess if you really wanted more info you would have emailed. Anyway, it has been a year and it is still working. I have filled 3 barrels and emptied 2. Overall I am very happy with the system. One barrel which had sat in the basement the longest had composted quite well. I had mixed a blend of coconut fibers and wood shavings and added them occasionaly, without being really concerned on the amount. The other barrel had not composted as long, but since it was leaking (poor construction on my part) I wanted it out of there. Since the barrels were too heavy to haul out I hauled out the compost with 5 gallon buckets. Odor from the composted barrel was not bad, just the expected earthy smell. the leaky barrel, however did smell and I was glad my wife was gone for the weekend so that the house had time to air out.

My latest change was to eliminate holes on the bottom of the barrel completely. I put 6-8 inches of wood shavings on the bottom and a 4 inch pipe perforated near the bottom and screened over. This pipe runs from the bottom to the top of the barrel and allows me to place a hand pump so that I can crank out liquids if I need it. So far it I seem to be getting about 8-12 gallons of liquid that needs to be pumped or drained. That is after 3-5 months of daily use for an adult household of 4. The urine diversion of the toilet works quite well.

The biggest concern is that I am continually running a fan to remove the odor. This is heated air that I am just ventilating and it is wasteful. One thought is to run this air stream through an air source heat pump that I am trying to purchase for our water heater. Do you have any other ideas?

Throne installation details

Slowly I seem to be making progress. It sure is easy to take for granted plumbing systems in which the connections and fittings are standardized. I still have a few challenges on the throne side of the system but here is where I am at so far.

I am finding it easier to place photos into a web album, so if you wish to see all of my photos, go to the following URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/shawntisdell/CompostingToiletForWeb . I will only place those most relevant photos to my discussion here.

	Based on the outline of the toilet base, I traced and cut out a plywood-2 by 8 -plywood sandwich to get a 3 inch thick layer. I tapered the edge mainly for asthetics. This gives a working seat height of 17 1/2 inches. This height is no magic number, it just seems to be about right for most of the family members, especially for our two 5 foot tall special needs ladies.
	Here is an off the shelf oval seat. Dimensionally it should fit, however bolt attachments will need to be modified to fit the narrow back of the toilet. I'm not sure if I will use this seat or find another that matches better. This must be a joint decision between my wife and I. We are trying to make it all as attractive as possible for those that may use our new throne. I will keep you posted as we make progress.
	The arrow shows where I needed an adapter. The second photo shows a make-shift adapter to be key for this 1 1/4" urinal outlet. I found this adapter as a part of a three part compression seal. Now the adapter fits into a 1 1/2 reducer to 3/4" pvc line which passes through the floor. Now where are my pictures? If you see problems with this, please let me know.

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The new Throne

This is where the user action will be occuring. I was not dimensionally sure what I would be getting when I ordered a urine diverting made in Mexico toilet from Ecovita, but this is it. Now I am trying to figure out the best way to adapt this to our household use. In the photo, the back oval is not a seat, but a diverter for women (or men who are poor shots) of urine to the front and into the urinal. We have some atypical uses, in that two of our family members are special needs.

I have several known details to address.

1. Height-I figure I need 2-3 more inches for our special needs members
   
2. A seat that fits. I am not sure how well our off the shelf oval seats will fit and anchor to this toilet.
   
3. How should I handle the urine? There is a 1" dia hole in the bottom of urinal and I will need to get this to my former toilet base without allowing sewer gas back in. I want it to be easily detachable.
   

Composting-turning waste into life

For the past 15 years I have been involved in researching and creating compost. I have seen large municipal and sewage sludge composting facilities, and turned or let rot my own compost piles. I have dreamed and hoped that composting would solve our worlds garbage problems, and have been brought to earth in realizing life is not that simple. Aside from my laboratory work, most of my personal observations have not been documented, I have been enjoying the experience of learning and relearning, observing and thinking. But it seems time to begin to take quantifiable action. It has and continues to be a fascinating journey.

This blog is an attempt to relate my failures and successes with composting toilets I have made or purchased.

I am presently working with Carol Steinfeld to develop a site specific 55 gal plastic barrel batch composter. This setup will use a urine diverting toilet with a direct path to the barrel below. I will not use a net since I will hopefully not have to focus on high evaporation levels.

I will try to document steps along the way, but sometimes as I get focused on construction, I forget documentation.


Please add comments/questions -criticisms are welcome