Tony Davidson

Jay Angler wrote:the fertilizer shortage

In some towns such as mine there are industrial refrigeration systems that use ammonia refrigerant. When the systems are maintained ammonia is let out into containers of water where it becomes ammonium hydroxide (it contains some oil which floats on top). Ammonia is not good fertilizer, plants like a mix of ammonium nitrate. I pour a gallon per day into my compost and denitrifying bacteria convert half or more into nitrate. I use the smell test to know when it's ready. If it stinks a lot it's still too high in ammonia. I put the leachate on my garden. Ammonia will kill you or cause severe chemical burns so keep it away from children and don't get it in your eyes nose mouth.

Amber Bruce wrote:...Do you think that the public domain composting toilet rule would apply to something like Wendy Howard's vermicomposting flush toilet?

Thanks Amber Bruce I don't know, but that's cool! I thought about getting a vault toilet which my county permits and having the poop truck bring me other people's poop to put into something like the vermicompost system described there. But I'm afraid something like this might fail during cold snaps in my climate. Sounds like it was working in Martha's Vinyard so it might work with a little more insulation around here. I hope you can get something permitted that is inexpensive, works, you like to use and doesn't waste poop.

Josh JohnsonKp wrote:They of course gave me a list of their approved mfgrs like Sunmar and Clivus Multrum but I'm wondering what other manufacturers would fall into this Public Domain category?
Thanks for any help/advice in advance!

Josh

Thanks Josh! Those approved brands are proprietary not public domain. They hold patents and comply with ANSI 41. What I hope will happen is you make your own compost toilet system from plans on YouTube etc. and your health department will approve. Draw up a plan first and see what they say. And let me know please!

Tony

John Dorst wrote:maybe a system of bucket pick up with someone who does
.

Thanks John, I was too wordy so lovable loo, a more catchy phrase got a more boring sanitation paper hyperlink: http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/humanure_sanitation_paper.pdf
And yes I think about dragging other people's poo home too! I put two roadkill deer and ten gallons of ammonia (refrigerant contaminated with a trace of compressor oil) in so far with low-ish odor. I hope some day to compost sewage, emergency toilet material, humans, unknown stuff that has been in barrels for decades...
I like your idea of doing it the simple way for sure!
My YouTube hyper links are broken above. Here are a few that work now
Mine
https://youtu.be/uhBcXSU8YlE
Joe Jenkins aka loveable loo
https://youtu.be/1BWc-RjuWbs
David Omik barrel system
https://youtu.be/xOOUxa4_K1g

Cheers!

Hi Matthew! I'm too lazy to look it up now, but I think a PDP is for proprietary technologies and I have a public domain system in my opinion. To develop a proprietary system, you need an approved onsite sewer system, which defeats the purpose for me. But your public health department has authority to grant a waver if they feel you have adequate hardware and are responsible enough to manage the compost, not abandon it to someone to haul off to the dump or whatever horror stories they have. If they want to issue you a PDP that would be great! Good luck!

Miguel Solis wrote:Thanks!

Thanks Miguel! Good luck! I haven't tried to get mine permitted lately. The full rules for making proprietary compost toilets, for example to sell a bunch to people, is ANSI/NSF 41. I think the requirement to consider excrement storage capacity is common sense, I can only conveniently maintain a thermophilic compost during spring, so I store my compostable stuff in plastic stock tanks until spring then mix it with weeds in one pile that I turn when I get to it.

Cindy Ruprecht wrote:Wow, super helpful, Thank you! Does anyone know about outhouse code in eastern WA? Are they legal?

Thanks Cindy! Good luck with the outhouse permit. I believe Okanogan county public health still permits outhouses for occupancy not exceeding sixty days per year.

I'm tinkering with mass inside my stove, and overall I like it. But it does smoke more when the door is open.
Three of eight bricks used as a ceiling have cracked this fall, fire bricks might last longer. There is a two inch gap between my ceiling and the stove ceiling and a six inch plus hole in my ceiling to allow smoke to pass.

Karen Donnachaidh wrote:Google searches I'm seeing:
Lower Diptera (Nematocera)
Emelts
Leather jackets (Cranefly larvae)

Thanks Karen! This one is creepy to think about while eating for sure! What seems like a face is it's backside apparently. I don't know if Mike still has leather jacket problems, but here https://permies.com/mobile/t/42552/Leather-Jacket-Control

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

https://bugguide.net/node/view/258458/bgpage