Is there anyone in here who owns a composting toilet give me any suggestions or tips about features, styles, maintenance, etc. ? Right now we are considering purchasing the Sun-Mar 2000, electric model. I am planning to install the holding tank in a enclosed but unheated area underneath the house. We decided on the electric model since we are in the northeast, but I am also unsure what to expect with electric usage.

Thanks!

-- Lee (bantlette@yahoo.com), June 28, 2001

Answers

Lee:

We are debating whether to get one if/when we build a new house a few years down the road. We have a bad septic and don't use it now. Instead, we use a sawdust toilet. It is the cost of building a bucket, sawdust , and a large plastic 5 gallon bucket., and you are in business, so to speak. The reason we are debating about this (as we will be getting a new septic soon) is because we have heard mixed reviews on composting toilets...the cost doesn't always sound like it is worth the outcome......(sorry, but I'm not trying to think of cornball responses.) The sawdust toilet has worked well for us, and you get tons of compost from it. Yeah, I know the fear about illness, but I don't agree or believe it. Read THE HUMANURE BOOK. it's a riot, and scientific at the same time. An Amish and I were talking about it once, and he said folks in his community had had mixed results with the composting toilets proper, so he did what I did with the sawdust toilet by choice, and was happy with this too.

-- marcee king (thathope@mwt.net), June 29, 2001.

Hi Marcee,

From what I've been reading, it seems that you either love them or hate them. I came across a few messages in the archive concerning this, but I was hoping that perhaps people could expand a bit about why the toilets did or didn't work for them.

So to add to my question - whether you loved or hated the toilet, I'm also interested in the conditions you used the toilet under. Climate - hot, cold, freezing winters, humid or dry? Where did you have the holding tank located, and was it enclosed, was the area heated or unheated, if it was sitting on the ground (etc.)? Additionally, how often did you turn it, did you use a pint flush or a dry toilet, how many people used it in relation the the size? Did you use starter bacteria, and how much/often did you add peat?

I haven't had a chance to read the Humanure book yet, but I did see a copy at my local library. We're also considering the clivus multrum toilet. So far it seems as though everyone I've talked to recommends the sawdust toilet. From what I understand, disease is only a problem when you have a large number of people using one area for waste, or you are putting it in an area where it can contaminate drinking water. But, I'll definitely go pick up the book!

-- Lee (bantlette@yahoo.com), June 29, 2001.

Read the "humanure handbook" before you decide. The book contains a lot of good referenced information. Probably available at the library.

-- Ed Copp (edcopp@yahoo.com), June 29, 2001.

The Humanure Handbook is on line at:

http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html

I've known people who have used this system and had no complaints. The end product looked, and smelled, like wonderful soil. I'll build one for myself some time soon.

==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), June 29, 2001.

We started out in Kentucky without electricity and with a SunMar NE model with a solar panel on the roof to run a fan in the exhaust pipe. By and large it is a very satisfactory toilet. It doesn't smell at all. Living with it full time, however, means emptying it more often than the ads lead you to believe (they mostly talk about vacation homes). Emptying it is not a big deal, though. We dump it out in a nearby field and make no attempt to use it for compost in the garden. We ran the overflow pipe into a bucket outside which works fine in the summer. In the winter, however, the pipe froze blocking the overflow which ultimately backed up onto the floor of the bathroom--yuck! We learned to drain the liquid in the bottom pan before freezing weather so there'd be enough space for liquid build- up when the temperatures dropped and the pipe froze. When we built a "real" house with electricity near our first cabin we opted for the SunMar AC/DC Excel model worrying about how electrical outages would cause problems if we had the electic one. In many ways I prefer the NE model. The AC/DC model is noisy mainly because there's a fan in the unit iself to promote evaporation and there's a fan in the large vent stack that's required for the DC operation. Personally I hate having the thing running all the time. After our experience with the NE we opted for an overflow pipe but ran it into a bucket in the basement which means it doesn't freeze. In our hot humid summer weather evaporation is not complete, so there is some overflow, but we have to empty the bucket very infrequently, and it doesn't smell at all. I think for more than two people the electric model is the way to go, but think about what you do if the power's out for an extended period and the heater and fan aren't working. In hindsight it would be nice to have the composing unit in the basement and out of the bathroom, but I don't seen having a low flush toilet which adds liquid to the mixture you're trying to dry out! I also wish we didn't have to use peatmoss which is becoming an environmental no-no, but we only use about one bale a year. I hope our experience helps. Whatever problems they may cause, they sure beat having an inefficient septic system, and you don't have to hire someone to empty it.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), June 30, 2001.

h.a.y. lee i've been using a sun-mar wcm for about 4 years now. only one person in the house normally. bloomington indiana area. the unit is located under the house (~4 foot craw space) with an average temperture of 60 degrees F. year round. i dump the drawer once or twice a year. only problem i had was 3 weeks ago the thermostate went out costing $35 to replace. took me 20 minutes to do. real easy to maintain. low cost for electric (dollar a month?). my grey water goes into a water field (i'm on 5 acres in the woods) and not the unit. hope you enjoy your unit whatever you buy as much as i have mine.

-- jeff frey (jdfrey@indiana.edu), May 11, 2002.