Compost Toliet

[FordDiesel250]

I have been reading and hearing about composting toliets in RV's and was wondering how many have them in their RV's and what is your thoughts about them?

[valhalla360]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Maybe if you boondock for weeks at a time.

I half agree. Great for boondocking but it does not have to be that long. 2 or 3 days of boondocking with a family can get your black tank over 50% full !

So that's 4-6 days to 100%...with 4 people not being careful with water usage. If they are careful with usage, you should be able to double that to 8-12 days...hence if you are out for weeks, it makes sense but the standard system does pretty well without the complications for shorter trips.

How many week long boondock trips does the family do? Are you going to swap out the toilet if it's 1 trip per year and several weekends where it's not an issue?

Also, as mentioned, with 2 people the urine must be disposed of every 2-3 days. With 4 people it's pretty much a daily task. This is a downside to composting toilets.

They work pretty good for 2 people but can become overloaded with 4 or more as the urine must be disposed of frequently and the composting requires some of the excess water in the solids to evaporate and start to break down. If you add too many solids too quick, it can turn into a nasty soupy mess.

[theoldwizard1]

valhalla360 wrote:
Maybe if you boondock for weeks at a time.

I half agree. Great for boondocking but it does not have to be that long. 2 or 3 days of boondocking with a family can get your black tank over 50% full !

[valhalla360]

We had one on our boat and it was great.

We would never consider one in an RV.

Fundamental difference: RV's use a simple gravity drain system that really aren't prone to failures. Boats more complicated pumping systems prone to blockages and failures.

Maybe if you boondock for weeks at a time.

With our current RV, we can easily go for a week without draining but usually we get full hookup for longer stays, so it's irrelevant for us. For shorter stays, you are moving and it's quick and easy to dump the tanks at a dump station (many truck stops or rest areas have them if you aren't staying at campgrounds).

With a boat, there are no full hook up slips and dumping overboard is limited to offshore. If full or broken, you have no toilet. With a composter, there is nothing to break and even when "full", you can still use it a few more times without any issues.

You do still need to dispose of the urine every 2-3 days (depends on the model, we had a natures head). In a marine setting, it's a lot easier to walk a sealed container to the bathhouse and dump it down the toilet compared to preping the boat to go out and then cruising over to the pump out dock only to find the pump out is broken.

[coolmom42]

Check out the "Gone with the Wynns" blog.

[Lwiddis]

It’s easier to dump a black water tank than a composting toilet IMO...and I’m going there for the grey water anyway. Two handles to pull instead of one.

[The_ugly_duckli]

Go to Youtube and look up Natures Head or Air Head composting toilets. A number of full timers have switched to composting toilets and have real live experience and reviews. If you boondock alot, it might be a good way to go.