Robert Chroscicki

I'm afraid I don't know what a donor pump is, and my circle of friends doesn't either; this probably gives you a scale of my knowledge, which might be reason enough to go manual?

Perhaps a Rotary Barrel Pump? Any advice on picking the right one? Perhaps the one below, for water-based substances?

http://www.amazon.com/TERAPUMP-TRRP90P-solutions-petroleum-products/dp/B006984YEU/ref=pd_sim_263_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AWKREQN81HKAYDZ88KR

I have an abundant source of human pee and sawmill dust, so I want to compost them together, but I don't know the ideal ratio, conditions and timing. Any tips?
One thing I'm particularly concerned about is leaching into the soil. How can I contain any leaching?

Hi Permies,

I have a couple of questions for y'all, which have emerged from my latest project.
I've set up a urine collection and distribution system in a community, where 40 residents "deposit" their urine jars into a common barrel, and "collect" urine for their personal gardens when needed. When the 55 gallon barrel is 1/8 full, it is filled with water to dilute the urine and it's used for fertilizing the community crops. The link below shows pictures of the system and an example of irrigation.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B035qXGF1O4qxe

My questions are these:

1) Come winter, there are not enough crops to irrigate for the large volume of urine produced, so I'm thinking of setting up a dedicated compost heap. The site produces sawmill dust from the forestry, and has access to cheap straw. What ratio of straw or sawdust to urine would be idea, and what tips might you have to set up the urine compost heap? One thing I'm particularly concerned about is leaching into the soil. How can I contain any leaching?

2) A gravity-powered method for irrigating is proving slow and laborious. What might be an electric or manual pump system that could be implemented simply and inexpensively?

Thank you

Yes, the hose is in the use position. The p-trap creates a seal for the odor, since the hose locks into the 1 gallon bottle tightly by the use of a rubber gasket.

Unlike the bucket, the bottle rests in plain view to avoid filling it and overflowing. A larger bottle or container could be used, but that would extend the time that the pee would sit, increasing the likelihood of unpleasant scents.

Sorry if I didn't take a good picture of that part

Here's an easy way to check out the complete series of pics without having to download it.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B03532ODWW2bb0

Thank you
The small lid inside the funnel is loose enough that it automatically flips open when you open the main toilet lid, so that when you close the main lid after your deposit, the funnel is open and ready for the sawdust.

I've finally implemented the suggestions made on this post, by designing and building a double toilet lid. Hopefully the pics are self-explanatory in describing how the system keeps sawdust from falling into the diverter. I also plan to post how I built the low-cost diverter in the pictures. The complete set of pics is in the pdf file.

Good points, good advice Wyatt, thank

Wow, that was nicely creative

I like it as a solution for a compost toilet that gets used by the same people all the time, and by occasional guests with common sense. If I actually build one I'll post the pics!

For more public compost toilet, I think I'll have to go with the separate urine bucket/system solution.

I just built an outhouse with compost toilet based on a 55 gallon barrel. When the barrel is full, I will remove, close and store it in the sun for a year or two. The covering material is sawmill sawdust, for the good moisture content compared to lumberyard sawdust.

I want to keep urine in the barrels to a minimum, to reduce smell and to let the barrels fill slower, so they don’t need to be changed out as often. The toilet will be used by up to ten people, so it will fill up relatively fast.
I would also like to keep the urine separate since it can be used as fertilizer right away without composting.
I also need to have a system for peeing in general.

Men can either pee outdoors or in a urinal set up inside the outhouse. Things get a little more complex with women. Here’s the challenge/problem: the ideal solution would be to use a diverter, but whenever sawdust gets tossed into the toilet, some of it ends up in the diverter. I can’t seem to think of any design solution for this problem; any ideas out there?

The only alternative I can think of would be to have a second toilet seat just for women (and sitting men) to urinate. I’m hoping to find an elegant solution to avoid this extra seat, and thus keep the outhouse compact and movable.