Ron Becker

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Were you able to get of the fungus gnats? I've been battling them for two years and have never been successful. I'm thinking of dumping the sun-mar and going with a Separett. I can't take it anymore!


The quote should only quote what is highlighted. It's redundant to include the whole msg. It is already repeated above more times than anyone needs to read in order to follow the thread.

Last time I looked there were still some there. I spent over thirty dollars for dead nematoads. But why would any other composter be better? The maker claims that if the moisture balance is correct you won't have flys. I have put weather stripping around the seat/toiled body interface as well as the lid/seat interface and the air inlets on the bottom. Nature always finds a way.

Ron

Customer Service wrote:We are sorry to hear that you are having a problem with your composting toilet. If you have any questions regarding the operation of your composting toilet, please call us toll-free at 1-888-341-0782 Ext 218 and we would be happy to assist you. Your Sun-Mar service team.

I appreciate the help, it's my fault we got the little critters. I let the stack get too dry. Things should smooth out in a little while. It's very dry at 7k feet in central NM plus we are in a multi year drought here. Humidity is often in low teens or 20s a fair amount unless my weather station is lying to me.

Ron

laura sharpe wrote:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003E7BGTU/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

this is what i used to kill fungus fly larva, it contains bacillus thuringiensis bacteria that kills most gnat larvae. It will stay in the bin after one use until you clean the bin out then you might have to add more.

I think it took a long time for any replies because ....well i didnt know what a sunmar was and when i googled it i got things which didnt make sense. I added the word toilet and finally found you meant sun mar brand composting toilet.

This looks like a good bet. Wish I'd have seen it sooner. I ordered the nematodes at about triple the price including shipping. But they claim the nematodes will remain active as long as there is something to eat. Guess you could say that about most of us. Hope the bacteria are successful. If you like science and genetics and chemistry and a great story check out Greg Bear's `Darwin's Radio, and Darwin's Children. Both are very good as is his Blood Music. This guy has 25 books out I have read most of them I think. I was never disappointed. Most of his stuff is not space ships 10k years in the future, but more what if's in the next 20 years. Sorry if anyone is offended by the OT. Who else is going to tell ya?

Also, sorry I wasn't more clear about my subject. I figured since I was posting in a composting toilet forum everyone would know it was a composting toilet. I think they are made in Canada. They are well thought out and well made. The NE was about 900 bux in the 80s. `Scary to think what it would be now. It's jist biddniss iddnit?

Thanks, that's great news. If increasing the moisture content doesn't do the trick in a day or three I'll try the links. I appreciate the links and the pics. The wing shape is one I've seen lately. But they could be living in some potted plants we have in side. I have to check that. I'm forwarding your msg to a friend near by who has two sunmars and is having a similar problem. It's often 24% humidity here in New Mexico, so we have to add moistrure to keep the compost bacteria happy. Do you happen to know the name of the friendly little guys who are doing the digesting for us?

Ron

At 7k ft. we get a good bit of cold here. Last year for 5 days were below zero we saw minus 5 at the lowest. I''m left handed too and have always done stuff with my hands, primitive pottery, indian jewelry, leather work of all kinds but not saddles I never got into the cowboy thing. Ranchers and most folks around here are in lock step to a tune I can't stomach. that said they can be very nice, and some even after I tell them my history. There are or should be earth building seminars in your area. If you are or think you might be interested in alternative building get the local library to find and loan you [ most will do this ] a book called The Hand Sculpted House.... ISBN# 189013234-9. It is the best work on this subject that I know of. It begins at site selection and ends with the living roof over your head. Cob is a technology that enables a single working mother, if she has her own land to build a comfortable easy to heat cottage... out of pocket. Talk about liberation. It's labor intensive BUT the mixing is done standing up with all you bones aligned and using the largest muscles of your body. You pretty much have to see it. But if you like music and dancing you can pretty much dance and scrounge yourself a house.

Here's a link for some inspiration. These people build these for a living so nearly of them tug at your heart strings.

http://www.ilovecob.com/ashan/cascadiacob2005/cob2k502.htm

Each of the authors who eminently qualified to be offering this information. I wish I'd seen it before we built this place. It's larger than it should for two people on the south side of 65. Each has about two pages on their own experiences and elegantly lay out the reasons for treading lightly.

Plus you can get your feet wet on a small project like an outdoor bench or oven or wall.

DO NOT expect to build a residence in this style with a building permit. But if you have secluded land and you just about have too.... just say nothing about what you are doing at the market or hardware store....... You could however if you think ahead be building an outdoor studio or goat shed if anyone comes asking. You are already over the composting toilet hurdle. If you need no septic system, no city water, or electricity there is no reason to ever interface with the bureaucracy. In a small cottage [ and that is the magic of this technology, small and efficient use of space ] it will be very easy to heat the place expecially if you add a rocket stove. One of the authors is a specialist in rocket stove tech, another is an architect. You will be amazed who would ever build a flat roof it they could have this:

Ron

Greta Beach wrote:Your place is wonderful! It just takes time to work out the bugs lol. We have 50 acres in the southeastern part of Kentucky. Our (now) trailer is in one of the hollars (in Knox County) from Appalachian tales. It's like stepping back in time at least 50 years. This county is the second poorest in the nation.

Our county still has a treaty with the Cherokees of North Carolina to share river cane for their baskets. They come in the spring to harvest the cane. Barbourville, KY was the first county seat settled west of the mountains. We live near the Wilderness Trail and are steeped in Daniel Boone lore.

Well good health and good luck!
greta

Hi Greta, I hear you on the working out the bugs, there are still several major building projects to complete the house. All inside so it's a pain to disrupt the wa* of the place to finish up. *wa is a Japanese word which if I understand it properly means something like peace of mind or in a more oriental sense, one's harmony with the universe. I'm lazy would be more accurate tho.

I built a cob over on footing of large rocks and left over adobe pieces from the house. Its a Canadian down draft type w/no chimney. The smoke has to travel across the dome of the oven to exit the hole in the top of the door. The firing door looks like an H. The air gets drawn in the bottom of the H. It works great an makes great bread with awesome crust.

I was in a R&R band in Malibu in the 60/70s with a guy from Cleaton. He wrote many tunes based on growing up there. Mostly based around coal mines, trains and Rochester River. He's living back there somewhere now but I forget the town. It's most of New Mexico is rural and poor. I worked at a ski area near here in Ruidoso N.M. Its where the nouveau rich of texas come to spend their global warming money. I understand of course that all of us who drive car and use propane share some of the blame for this continuing horror of greed and glut.

We just watched The Last of the Mohicans a few days ago. They were always trying to get to Kan tuck eee. Hope they made it. I't lovely country that's for sure.

I included a picture of the kitchen area. We spend a lot of time there. Are you guys retired yet? Jennifer retired about two years ago. We have a small organic garden but we need to build a solar heated green house so we can grow more of our own food. She and I spent 11 days in an 18 foot tipi once. We loved it. So cool to have a fire in the middle of the living room floor. It was at a black powder rendezvous. I realized then that I was more in to leather and feather's than messing around with black powder. It's pretty messy. Still got the 50 caliber Hawkin tho. I was always into indian stuff. Their live style has been highly romanticized by movies and books the reality for them was much different. But to live as they did before squashed their life must have been something.

Keep yer powder dry!

Ron

Greta Beach wrote:All I do is add a pan of warm water whenever the critters start flying. Once they are in it they could be anywhere inside of the whole unit if there has been any overflow. Ours is electric (thank goodness) and no I don't have a gage. I just add a bit until I think it is right and see if the flies go away. They will go outside if you leave a window open. If you mix is too dry you add more peat. If it is too wet you add more sawdust. We use the horse bedding compressed pellets since we don't have any other way of getting the saw dust. It will take time to get the moisture right by sight. It's been 6 years now. We spent our first few year here in a yurt. My husband still doesn't complain about cleaning it. lol We just play it by sight now. Good luck it is a different lifestyle.

I know what you mean about the life style. They call it alternative for good reason. Some of the best writting I've seen on the subject is in the book Hand Sculpted Houses by Evans, Smith and Smiley. Those folks have a clear understanding of treading lightly. It's also about a great subject. Building w/cob. It's my favorite medium for building tho we built an adobe, I was able to incorporate nonlinear shapes in to our home but w/cob it just about happens automatically.

Coming for a comfortable 420 sq, ft. home in Santa Monica, we just laid out lines on the ground w/lime. I had a rough idea about how to shape it I wanted a round front where the glazing would be. Turned out like 25 percent of a circle. I just didn't get how big it would be from the lines on the ground. The arc across the front is 80 ft. We mirrored it in the back w/a smaller arc and all the long walls radiate from an imaginary center point at the back of the house like spokes and intersect the concentric walls at pleasing angles. I had no idea about building I just had this idea of no rectangular rooms. We put radiant heating in the floors so it's not too much of job to keep it warm even at 7k feet.

We'd been to Chaco canyon during harmonic convergence in 87 and had already begun the rock stemwalls. one of the rooms is based on a kiva ruin we saw there. I'm not sure how many pics I can attach. My wife kept a journal with photos, and text about what we were doing and drew great little diagrams and drawing. We have one for each year. I'll have to find out if there is a place here to upload pics other than in msgs, Looks like you folks are on the eastern seaboard somewhere. If looks familiar I lived in Maryland thru high school. When I went out west with a rock band I knew I wanted to live out here somewhere. Took about 20 years but we began the adventure in 83.

Thanks for help w/sunmar. Added a quart of warm water with a spray bottle l little after each rotation. We'll see how that goes.

Ron

Greta Beach wrote:Ron Hi,

We have been using a sunmar for several years. Yes you will get the flys. Your matrix is not wet enough. They live and breed in damp peat moss or what ever mix you are using. I have to monitor the fluids close. If it gets too dry the place fills with them. Ours are more like gnats that flys though. If you have a different critter then you may want to check out what is native to the area. Moisture control is it though.

We went years w/o fly problems. The booklet says much the same tho. I'm looking for a solution to the current problem while we ramp up the moisture. One of the things I was going to do today was check out pheromone traps for the current population, last resort maybe sticky tape or something like that. Not sure how we'd manage a trap inside, unless it was the the drying area under the drum.

Thanks for responding I was beginning to think I offended everyone after weeks of nothing. Heck, I already have my scythe...... not sure if I spelled it right. I remember my uncles using those to harvest hay on my grandfather's farm. When I saw one in a yard sale I grabbed it. Soon after that memory they got a 48 Farmall and a mower.

I've recently added wood chips to our peat moss. Long skinny ones my skip tooth chain makes when I rip large pieces of unsplitable fire wood. That could be contributing to the dryness I guess. The humidity is notoriously low here in N.M. Going to heat some water to about 100 degrees to allow for immediate cooling when I add it. We have an infra red thermometer, after turning the drum about four times I measure 72 degrees in there. Do you know the temp of your matrix? Do you take moisture readings. We have a gardening probe that tells moisture levels but I don't know how it's calibrated except that it's for growing plants not a composting toilet. Do you guys measure the moisture or do it by sight?

Ron

Chirs and Ernie, thanks for the input. I not one of those who thinks the fuel has to be small. The fence posts I referred to were the size or better than the round stock you were holding in the vid. Except they were five or six feet long. Again I like the idea of burning less wood. I already live in a thermal mass paradise. But it not the size of a cottage. Who knew? Wish we'd gone that rout but it was a long time ago and we had lived in 420 sq. ft. Prior to moving to N.M. We just laid out lines on the ground with no idea of how big it would be.

I don't see much info on flue data other than the maximum length given in one of your vids I've seen little mention of clean out of a 25 foot flue or the extra burn chamber at the vertical rise that some have to use to get a draft going. Also I watched several of the vids, no one mentioned how large the space is that you are heating. It there data on size of burn chamber to cubic feet of space you need to heat? Why is triple wall pipe favored over heavily insulated..... I don't know, 6, 8 or ten inch well casing. Just a thought I had..... There is some of that kind of stuff around the county.I admit to zero practical experience. I just saw one in Taos and it may not have been properly constructed. It's did not draw very well on start up and they had the extra burn chamber where the flue went vertical. I'm pretty sure I have Yanto's book somewhere, are there updated ideas around that have merit? I read the book some years ago and didn't follow up on the idea. So any info you have time to provide would be a great help. I think it's a fine thing to spread the word on this kind of wood burning. Here in N.M. they think there is no end to the wood supply and the aquifer for that matter. They think nothing of irrigating all day in hot dry weather. Aquifers cycle on exponential math. Everyone here knows the rest.

Ron

I'd read the book on it and have been around only one it was used to heat a hot tub at Carole Crews' earth plastering seminar in Taos. I very much like the idea. Like many things about alternative living, you have to be present most of the time. It seems to me that if you just follow the example of the book I read.... I might have bee Yanto's book, he's the guy who helped author The Hand Sculpted House. The book on cob for my money, anyway, It showed burning what looked like old style rancher fence posts. It you have a steady supply of those and you are home enough to fire the thing it might be good system. And that's my question. To cut, dry and limb enough small diameter timber to feed one of those seems like a pretty daunting task. I haven't been around day to day use of one of these so my questions come from ignorance on the subject and not as objections to the idea. I like the idea of burning hot with little emissions just fine. And try to do that at our place. I have some questions on efficient wood use strategies just posted here. If anyone has some answers I enjoy the info and meeting some new like thinkers. They are a precious commodity in central N.M.

Ron