How fast does your bucket fill up?

Hey Everyone,

I have been riding the fence for some time regarding switching to a composting toilet. Given that we only have one toilet I have been a tad reluctant to replace it with a home built composter. If it was just me then I would not have hesitated but I do have a most wonderful Lady that I need to keep happy. She has enough crap to deal with just putting up with me.....

Well, we had a plumbing issue that made the decision for me. I built a toilet following the Humanure example. I want a urine diverter but was quite surprised that you cannot buy one in the US. I ordered one from Great Britain and expect it here in two weeks.

In the mean time we are using the toilet in the manner that he Humanure book details. I am taking full advantage of every opportunity to use other peoples bathrooms as well as urinating in the woods as much as I can. Actual usage, I use the new toilet once a day and my wife uses it as needed.

The challenge: After 4 days I am looking at emptying a second time tomorrow.  Without urine diversion we are looking at having to dump twice a week with only two "part time contributors".

What have you all experienced? I knew that with a "full capture" that the bucket would fill faster but this has exceeded my expectations.

What have you all experienced as far as frequency of dumping with two people?

Are we doing ok or are we missing something?

Thanks.

S.

I use peat moss as my cover, and live alone.   I go just short of 2 weeks between emptying.

Oh.. and i have a pee bucket that drains into a grey water drain.   So that probably extends the time dramatically.

With just me, I have to empty mine every two or three days. I think part of the problem is that I'm using wood shavings instead of sawdust. I know that's part of it because in the Winter I also use ashes from my RMH and that extends the time by a day or so. The problem is that you need more volume when using shavings (and they also don't do as good of a job covering the smells). But it's what I have available. I also use enough that the droppings don't fall onto the sides of the bucket, which they would if I just let things form a pile.

There is a great area here for dumping the buckets, that will take many years of this before there'd be any concern about filling it. The biggest problem is that it is a few hundred feet from the house and that can suck in Winter.

If a standard flush toilet was possible I'd definitely go with that. But a bucket system isn't a bad choice when that isn't possible.

I can't wait to get my urine diverter installed.......

Personally I would not replace a flush toilet with a composting toilet, I would have a composting toilet in addition to a flush toilet, in case there is illness or injury which prevents maintenance of the composting toilet.  Diversity is a survival strategy!

Tyler Ludens wrote:Personally I would not replace a flush toilet with a composting toilet, I would have a composting toilet in addition to a flush toilet, in case there is illness or injury which prevents maintenance of the composting toilet.  Diversity is a survival strategy!

I couldn't agree more.

When I had one working toilet I was very reluctant to replace my only flushing toilet with a composter.

When I reached the point that I had no working flush toilet the decision became much easier....




Edit: When my flushing toilet worked it still required weekly maintenance that is more difficult than the composting toilet (so far..).

Tyler Ludens wrote:Personally I would not replace a flush toilet with a composting toilet, I would have a composting toilet in addition to a flush toilet, in case there is illness or injury which prevents maintenance of the composting toilet.  Diversity is a survival strategy!

We've been using a composting toilet (an Air Head) exclusively for 6 years, as our only toilet. We've had it through plenty of bouts of sickness and it's never caused us a problem. We can go 4-6 weeks between emptying the unit, so for us, the added INITIAL expense of a unit like this is made up for in convenience over the years. I don't think I would have been willing to tolerate a composting toilet (or bucket) that had to be changed every few days. I agreed to a composting toilet only because my husband convinced me of the convenience of having one. I think many of the DIY models lose that part of the design, which is, IMHO, the best part of having a composter. Their initial cost turns off many people, but they really are worth it in the long run. (to us, anyway)