• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

A rain stick for your drain stick

 
gardener
Posts: 814
Location: Durham, NC
338
hugelkultur gear urban cooking building writing woodworking
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I've given some thought to compost toilets and it seems the social aspect is one of the biggest problems.  People just don't like the idea of not flushing, and scooping sawdust out of a pail and dumping it down the chute seems uncivilized to them.  I also wonder if the absence of a sensory input is bothering them.  There's no sound of flushing which people are used to.

I wonder if a rain stick could be the answer? You know, those cacti sold in new age stores where you turn it upside down and beans plink against reversed cactus spikes to make an artificial rain noise? You can make them out of PVC and give them a convincing faux wood effect.  

What I'm picturing is a hopper of some sort mounted to the wall, which feeds a rainstick, which feeds into the toilet drain.  Fill the hopper with stove pellets.  Fashion an elegant flush handle that opens a flap in the hopper and dumps a handful of rain beads down the rainstick to make a flushing noise then deposits the wood pellets on top of the solid waste. It seems like this would solve a few social issues, which are not having a pail of sawdust in the bathroom, soothing people's instinct to flush, rewarding them with a visceral flushing experience, and also adding a design element.  I'm sure it has negatives as well, for example complexity in construction, maybe an issue with scents/gasses rising into the rainstick?



 
pollinator
Posts: 1234
Location: Chicago
422
dog forest garden fish foraging urban cooking food preservation bike
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think this is a fun idea! If the rainstick is a audio cue, it does not really need to be physically attached to the toilet, which could alleviate issue of moisture/clogging.  What I mean is, the sawdust "flusher" could have a rainstick hanging off the side which is agitated by the flusher handle so taht it makes a noise, but serves no other function.
 
gardener
Posts: 5169
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205
1010
forest garden trees urban
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Very cool idea Rob!
Some of the earliest "flush" toilets deposited drug covering over the deposit.
The addition of a rain stick sound is a great innovation.
gift
 
The Humble Soapnut - A Guide to the Laundry Detergent that Grows on Trees ebook by Kathryn Ossing
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic