“Composting toilets are so cool,” said my dear friend Brook. Norm Bucker is the brain-child of myself and my very good friend, Brook. You should know Brook is a little “crunchier” than I am. He is much more informed and well-read, which is why I am friends with him.
H O W E V E R, I have a bone to pick.
Brook has been full-timing on the road with his family for a year-or-so. Not a day went by (well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration) that Brook didn’t sing from the rooftops how fucking awesome his composting toilet was. Really Brook? Are you that into poo? A lot of hippie-jokes later, Brook convinced me on the logic and science behind getting rid of the black water tank in my trailer and getting a composting toilet. Ok, done – I was in.
I decided to take an extended 3-month road trip this summer with my family. Our vehicle/home of choice was a 20′ Forrest River Toy Hauler. We had a great time as we went from our home in San Diego, through Utah and off to Colorado. Along the way, while everything was AWESOME… I was a bit constipated… or rather my septic system was.
Introducing the “Pyramid of Poo”
This is actually a thing… I didn’t know this at the time, but it really is. With my previous trailers I had always boon-docked. On this trip, we stayed at full-hookup sites about 80% of the time as we traversed the US, covering 9000 miles in 90 days. Having the ability to have fresh water, electricity and empty holding tanks was a new thing for me. No stress right? Well.. err, sort of.
You see, what I did’t know was that when you are fully hooked-up, you need to keep the sewer (black water) valve closed. If you leave it open, to drain…what you are essentially doing is allowing all the liquid to escape. The liquid is needed to help breakdown the solids, so without it, you are building a pyramid of poo and toilet paper onto a dry tank floor. Over the course of a few days, this will make it nearly impossible to break down, giving you a constipated black water tank. Yay, good times.
Back to my rant… so before I had discovered this theory, I was trying to unclog my blackwater tank for the 6th time (no joke). I had purchased every wand and water pressure attachment to try to loosen things up to no avail. Finally, in defeat, I ripped the toilet out and sealed my little friends into their tomb like ancient pharaohs. I called Nature’s Head Composting Toilets and had an $1100 composting toilet shipped out to me.
Installation was quite easy… some basic tools and one trip to the hardware store and it was done. As Brook promised, there was no odor… it smelled much less than my clogged black water system.
Here’s where my love/hate relationship began. Brook mentioned he would drain the urine tank about every three days or so for his family of four. I had purchased two containers to rotate in-and-out so I thought I’d be good for a week with my family of three. Apparently, my family are like camels and consume way too much water (and beer). I would empty the containers every morning and again just before bed. If I missed an evening empty, I would awaken to an over-flowed urine tank from the late night pee missions, which then would seep into the poo container – not good. Starting your morning spilling pee all over yourself while cleaning the toilet gets old after you do it a couple of times.
Emptying the “soil” side of the toilet was no bed of roses either…except you can fertilize those roses now. The goal is to get it pretty clean, however it doesn’t have to be perfect, as the manual states. The smell wasn’t bad, it just smelled like strong dirt or potting soil. However, as you are dumping it and a clump gets on your shoe accidentally, it’s hard to get out of your mind that a couple days ago that was a burrito from the local Mexican restaurant. My point being if you do go down this route, you had either be cool with your family’s poo or have some sick fetish with it. If you plan to allow guests to do their business, well that’s a whole other therapy session.
Composting toilets do indeed work and would be great for an off-grid home. However, for me, I think I’ll give the black water tank a second try on my next rig. Properly maintained I think they can do a fine job with out the hands-on experience.
Brook, shots fired. I look forward to your retort.
