I have to start this post about the composting toilet by saying that I can’t talk about what it is and how it works without talking about using it, if you know what I mean. So, if that level of detail isn’t your cup of tea, you may want to skip today’s post. Instead, you can read an oldie but a goody. How about the story of blowing a tire on the Alaska-Canada Highway on my way to begin RV Life? If you stick with me, I’ll share everything I’ve learned and figured out out the composting toilet. It’s going to take four weeks to get this job done.
Today, we’ll start with the basics about the composting toilet.
What Exactly Is a Composting Toilet?
A composting toilet is a self-contained toilet. One that doesn’t require water for flushing (you might hear them referred to as dry toilets) or access to a sewer for disposal.
Of course, since I live in an RV, I’m talking about it in terms of my RV. But RVs aren’t the only place composting toilets are used. They are popular on boats, in cabins and in tiny houses.
If you have a few minutes, read the article on Wikipedia on the subject. In addition to learning there are actually three different types of composting toilets (which was new to me), you also learn the early history. I found the history interesting. After the Great Stink in the summer of 1858 in London (which I’d never heard of before and, yes, that’s really what it was called) caused by all the untreated sewage, a clergyman invented what he called the Dry Earth Toilet. It never took off because, by then, water-flush toilets connected to a sewer system were taking hold.
The Language of Bodily Functions
We use a lot of different words to describe what we do in the bathroom. There’s the clinical: urination and defecation. The colloquial: pee and poop, or #1 and #2. And then there is the vulgar which I won’t share here because I intentionally keep this blog G-rated. But if you are over seven years old, I’m sure you know what I mean.
But, for the purposes of this post, we are going to use the terms liquids and solids. Until I began researching composting toilets, these were two words I’d never heard to describe what we do in the bathroom. However, it is the most common language used when speaking about a composting toilet.
Not All Composting Toilets Are Alike
Although they function alike, different brands of composting toilets may be slightly different than what I describe here. I only have experience with Nature’s Head. I have seen some other brands websites that claim to be the most popular or most purchased brand of composting toilet. However, I take those self-proclaimed statements with a grain of salt. If you look at other bloggers and vloggers, it seems most have a Nature’s Head. That said, if you are looking to get one, it would be worth your time to do your research.
Further, I have no experience with black tanks as I opted for the composting toilet during my trailer build. When I comment about black tanks, I rely on what I’ve read, heard and talked with others about.
How a Composting Toilet Works
The key to understanding how a composting toilet works is to understand that you only get sewage when you mix liquids with solids. And sewage, I’m sure you know, is a health hazard. It’s why RVers who have a black tank (the tank that holds everything you flush down the toilet) must wear gloves whenever they are dealing with the black tank. In other words, they wear gloves while connecting the sewer hose to a sewer drain, when unhooking the hose or when they are at a dump station. They wear gloves because there is the chance of direct contact with sewage.
So, once you understand sewage, the real key to understanding how a composting toilet works is super simple. You understand that a composting toilet does not create sewage. By keeping liquids and solids separate, as you do in a composting toilet, you don’t have any health hazard worries.
Keeping them separate also means you deal with them separately. But before I talk about dealing with the contents of the separate liquid and solids containers, let’s understand the components of the toilet.
Parts of a Composting Toilet
There are three main components of the composting toilet. Each one is a separate piece and all three fit together. There is the main base which is where the compost and your solids go. The tank that collects your liquids tucks into the front of the base. Then there is the top which slides onto the base and is bowl and lid of the toilet.
In addition to the three main components, there are three smaller (but still important) components of the toilet. I’ll talk about them in more detail below, but those components are an agitator, a fan to pull air into the base and a vent tube for that air to escape.
Using the Composting Toilet
If you open the lid and look into the bowl, you’ll see two things. First, there are two holes at the front of the bowl that lead to the liquids tank. Second, you’ll see a four-inch squarish flat disc at the bottom of the bowl, just behind the two holes for the liquids. That is the flap or trap door that opens with a lever on the side of the toilet to gain access to the solids bin.
Again, what you are seeing as you look into the bowl is what we’ve been talking about all along, the separation of liquids and solids.
Using the Liquids Tank
Here are a few helpful hints when using the tank. As much as possible, you want to direct your liquids to the liquid tank. This means, you’ll want to sit a bit forward since the liquids are directed toward the front of the bowl. And, men, you need to sit. This is a recommendation on the toilet’s website. Plus, just logistically, it makes the most sense.
One of the things that happens when too much liquid makes its way into the solids bin: sewage. It’s messy and disgusting from what I understand.
Keep a spray bottle on-hand filled with half water and half vinegar. Or at least that’s what is recommended. I find it simpler to just have the bottle filled with all vinegar. After using the toilet for liquids, do two or three pumps from the spray bottle of vinegar to help the lingering liquid drain into the liquids tank.
Using the Solids Tank
So, since you scoot a little forward to use the liquid tank, you’ll want to scoot back to use the solids tank. If you are too far forward, you risk solids dropping into the two liquid holes and into the liquid tank. It’s not tragic, but it wouldn’t be very fun to clean.
To use the solids bin, open the trap door. Solids drop straight down into the compost. You have two choices when it comes to compost: organic coconut coir or organic sphagnum peat moss. Whichever way you go, organic is recommended by the manufacturer. Next week, I’ll go into more detail about why I use coconut coir.
After you add solids to the compost bin of the toilet, it requires two things to break it down the solid. Compost and oxygen. The website explained it this way:
Composting requires aerobic bacteria to work. An aerobic organism survives and grows in an oxygenated environment. Oxygen is the key ingredient that allows aerobic bacteria to break down waste quickly and without odor. Mixing in either the sphagnum peat or coir breaks apart the feces to allow the aerobic bacteria to get it’s oxygen.
So, after using, twirl the agitator two or three full turns to get the process started. The fan runs air through the bin.
The fan, in case you are worried, uses a negligible amount of battery power (1.7 amps in 24 hours). It’s a good idea to keep an extra fuse on hand. I’m not sure if those are available on Amazon or not. I ordered mine directly from the manufacturer.
One More Thing About Oxygen
I saw a YouTuber who bought a Nature’s Head to install in her conversion van after a year of dealing with a black tank. She did a ton of research and, it turns out, you can make the system work without running a fan. In her case, she didn’t want to have a hole cut into the side of her van in order to vent the air.
Instead, once a day, she would leave both the lid and the trap door open. The amount of air that naturally circulated was enough to meet the needs of the compost. I found it interesting to consider. It appealed to me especially after the bug infestation. Guess where they get into the toilet from? Yep, outside. They came down the vent tubing. But more on that grossness later.
How Often Are the Tanks Emptied
Of course, all I can do is make a big generalization when answering this because so many factors go into the answer. How many people are using the composting toilet? Do you drink a lot of water and other liquids? How much water is in your food? High consumers of fruits, vegetables and fiber will use the solids tank more frequently and will result in solids with a higher water content which affects the rate the compost can keep up with the need. And of course, in general how often is the toilet being used?
But I can offer a vague guideline based the manufacturer’s website for a full-time couple. And, I’d back it up with my own experience.
The liquids tank needs emptied every two to four days while the compost needs emptied and replaced every month or so (every 60 to 80 uses).
That said, the answer for you is super simple. You empty the tanks when it’s needed.
More to Come
So, this post is just the basics of what a composting toilet is and how it works. There remains so much more to share.
Next week I tackle prepping the toilet for use and emptying the tanks. I will answer the all-important questions about smell, toilet paper and can you use the composting toilet on days you aren’t feeling so hot (aka, vomiting and diarrhea) in the week after. And in the final post, we’ll talk bugs.
If you hung in there all the way to the end of this post, did you learn anything new? Would you ever try a composting toilet? (Or maybe you have to read about bugs before you decide?)
Links to Referenced SSL Blog Posts Above:
Links Other Composting Toilet Posts Written After This One:
- Preparing and Emptying the Composting Toilet
- Composting Toilet: Maintenance and FAQs
- Preventing Bugs in the Composting Toilet
- Getting and Ridding a Bug Infestation in the Composting Toilet
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Thanks Debbie. We met at the rally in May. I have a composting toilet, but have never camped yet. I bought hull #267 a couple of months ago. I do not even know how to hook it up yet!
So glad you found a used Oliver. Those don’t come up often. I’m Hull #249 so you must also have a 2017. Well, since you have a composting toilet, I hope you’ll find these 4 posts useful. Congrats on your Oliver. Happy camping!
Thanks Debbie,
Looking forward to the continuation.
Thanks, Theresa.
This is a great post! I’ve been interested in these toilets for years. Since you first told me about them that is. Thanks for the well written, easy to understand information
In one of your upcoming posts do you address how you feel about using the thing?
Thanks for this!
Funny you ask that question. It’s a frequent one I get asked. And, the truth is, the remaining composting toilet posts are written and I didn’t ever actually answer that question. I might have to go back in and see if there is a way to work it in.
Forgot to add, loved the way you introduced the subject and its special vocabulary!
Haha. Thanks!
Hi Debbie — You pretty much nailed it. I am so glad I am not using water to flush every time we use the bathroom. I can be pretty prissy when it comes to bathrooms and I can honestly say our NH has been easy to take care of, clean, odorless and extends the time we can dry camp, which is most of the time. I do think my bugs arrived through the bathroom window. The screen is virtually useless. I keep my window closed and only open the ceiling vent.
I am looking forward to your next
Glad you, too, like your composting toilet, Denise. It’s kind of weird, but I really enjoyed writing these posts about the composting toilet. And I made myself laugh a few times when talking about the bugs. It’s good to find humor, even in the ickiest of circumstances.
Great post, Debbie! I’ve been interested in composting toilets ever since we decided to full-time it.
After watching a couple of YouTube videos, I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. But I really do like the idea of retiring our black tank, and no longer flushing perfectly good water down the commode.
Looking forward to the next posts – I appreciate your level of detail.
Thanks, Teresa. I”m glad I have one but, of course, I always have to say that I have nothing to compare it to. I only have the stories about blank tanks I’ve heard from others.
We do have so many names for waste. I took care of a kid who’s mom taught him to say 1 and 2. One day the kid told me he needed to use the bathroom and I asked, ” 1 or 2?”. He replied, “I need to go 3 and 5”.
Love, Marie
That’s awesome. Clever kid.
Is the Laveo dry flush an option ? It has a bagging system . You use the toilet,press a button and the bag ties off. I believe each cartridge holds 13 bags. You can dispose of the bags in a dumpster. I use something similar on my boat. Works out pretty well.