Friday, January 9, 2015

Fy Nyth's Composting Toilet


What do you do for a toilet when you are off grid? How does a composting toilet work? Isn't it gross?  Does it smell? Isn't that weird? Etc.

Like most people who have one, this is something I get asked more questions about than almost anything other single thing. My toilet. So hey, if discussions about things like poop scare you, stop reading right now. On the other hand, it's something we all create daily and most of us spend very little time thinking about what happens to it afterwards so reading on may be worth your time.

There are several levels of complexity to composting toilets. Basically they all allow you to turn your waste into something useful or at the very least, non toxic. This is opposed to a flush toilet that uses a lot of good water and creates sewage. The simplest composting toilet is something like a seat over a 5 gallon bucket to which you add a handful of sawdust after each use and empty as needed. This is certainly the least expensive option. Then there are the manufactured ones that for the most part add a way to separate the liquids and solids. Keeping those two separate is very helpful in eliminating odors. These also move you from the price range of free or a few dollars to about $1000 for the least expensive model. 

My toilet is a Natures Head, one of the least expensive of the more expensive models. So far at least, I really like it. Here's the basics of how it works. As you can see from the above photo, looking down on it, there is not a lot of difference in appearance from any other toilet you are used to. Below is a shot with the seat up. Looks kind of like an RV or airplane toilet inside to me. But nothing gross or weird. 

The seat is comfortable and you sit down just like on any toilet seat. If you just need to pee, do so and it will all drain into the liquids tank. I hear if you are a guy it is easier to do this sitting down just because of the splash likelihood with the hard plastic sides. Now being a woman, I don't have personal experience with this, but I hear that if you don't mind a quick wipe up afterwards, you can feel free to stand too.


If a number two is on the way, after sitting down, flip that little handle you see on the righthand side above. This will open the trap door, which you can see below. Almost anywhere you can comfortable sit, this will direct anything solid right down into the solids tank. What if you do both at the same time? Unless you are scooted way forward or backward on the seat, both liquids and solids should still end up in their respective containers. There is a potential I have found for a few drops of pee to drip into the open trap door though. This I do try to avoid as getting the two together makes a smelly combo. Shifting just slightly on the seat fixes this and will soon require no thought at all.


This is after more than a month of solid use, and while you can't see into the tank real well, it's like that in person too. Just looks like a pile of dirt and has a slight earthy smell if you are trying to sniff it. Similar to getting your nose close to the potting soil in any of my house plants. Not strong or in any way unpleasant, even with the trap open and while trying to sniff for odors.

The spray bottle has water with a little vinegar in it. A spritz or two into the bowl when you are done helps keep everything nice and fresh. The spray bottle pictured here was a dollar store one, but did not always spray well. I now have one that will spray while held in any position including upside down, and that is kind of handy.

Can you put items X, Y, and Z in here? Yes, you can put anything in there. But some things won't decompose or at least won't do so quickly. Feminine products I still put in the trash just as I would when using a flush toilet. Toilet paper can all go in there, but just because I'm a girl and use more than most guys would, and I don't want to fill it up too quickly, I have started putting most of it in the trash. I go by a rule I heard from someone else. If you need to open the trap door for anything, then the paper goes in there. Otherwise, it goes in my little sealed trash can (it was sold as a holder for spare toilet paper but makes a great little trash can with a lid for a tiny bathroom) which is obviously not far away.



Here you can see the liquids tank. It's close to needing emptied in this shot. Do pay attention and empty it before it's full to the brim. Twice now I've kind of forgotten about it and while it doesn't leak thanks to that seal, when you do empty it, you'll have to clean up the overflow. Which should all be contained in the bin the tank is sitting inside. But still, empty it before it's overflowing, and life will be easier. ;)

As far as where everything ends up? Diluted urine is a great fertilizer. If you live in the middle of a city, there may be issues with this, but in a rural area, water your landscaping with it. I haven't had to empty the solids tank yet after almost two months of use, mostly by just one person. And it's not looking like I will need to for a few months. But when I do, I plan to start a larger outdoor composting bin to finish it off and eventually use with plants as well.

Well that's all the info I can think of off the top of my head. Feel free to comment with any more questions and I will do my best to respond.



In case you are interested in a similar set up for your tiny house or RV, following are links to some of the items I use and describe in this post. If you buy them through my link, you will be helping me pay the bills here in my tiny house!

24 comments:

  1. I can't tell you how helpful your blog is! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  2. Fantastic! This answered most of my questions about the Nature's Head toilet for me. Right now I use the basic bucket and sawdust system but will likely upgrade as finances allow.

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  3. We are having the same toilet installed in our Airstream trailer. No having to worry about emptying a black tank will make a huge difference.

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  4. Off subject but do you have a way i could get your updated blog posts by newsletter/email when they are posted?

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    1. Hmm. I guess I need to figure out how to set that up. In the mean time you can add me on FB and I link to every new post on there. https://www.facebook.com/FyNyth

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    2. Ok. I think I was able to set that up. You should be able to see a link to subscribe via email at the top right hand side of the blog now. Let me know if it doesn't seem to work.

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  5. Hi Ariel! Thanks for your post. I'm living in a tiny house as well and did a lot of research about composting and incinerating toilets before finally deciding upon the latter. Although I generally heard good things about the Nature's Head toilet, at least one person mentioned that they needed to empty the urine canister every couple of days, otherwise a smell would begin t build up. It seems like you're not having that problem, though. Are you doing something differently, or are you just managing with a slightly offensive smell, or something else?! Although my incinerating toilet has been serviceable so far, I am concerned about the smell it sometimes produces *outside* of the house, and so am again considering other options.

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    1. I'm guessing the number of days is going to depend a lot on how many people are using it, and honestly, maybe your diet. (Like when you eat a bunch of asparagus and your urine gets a strong odor and turns lemon yellow. I'm guessing other foods may have an effect as well.) I am the only one using mine most of the time, and most days I am at work during the day, and so am using the bathroom there. I seem to need to empty mine about once a week. I have added a little sugar to the tank because I've read that will help with the odor, but I'm not sure if it's made a difference or not. I don't notice any urine smell unless I have the toilet open to take the container out to empty.

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    2. Thanks for the thorough and honest reply. Good point about diet. Things we're (or, at least I'm) not used to thinking about when everything just disappears down a magical watery chute! Also, a nice tip about the sugar.

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  6. Thank you so much for this post! I've always wanted to truly "inspect" a working composting toilet but never found a down and dirty post about using one. I'm pinning this for future reference :)

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  7. Actually, one more question for you Ariel...how much of a smell (if any) is there *outside* of the house? I know the Nature's Head has a small fan running 24/7 to vent smells to the outside. Is there a noticeable smell out there? Thanks!

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    1. No smell. I actually almost never turn my fan on. Either it's the way my heater runs into my bathroom, or the dry climate, or something, but mine seems to be doing fine without that.

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    2. Wow, interesting, okay. Yeah, every situation is different, hard to know which variables are keeping the smell down, but it's encouraging to hear nonetheless.

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  8. What would you recommend if you have food poisoning or are ill and need to use the toilet? Might the introduction of those bacteria potentially upset the composting process?

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    1. I'm not totally sure, but I doubt it would be a problem. Maybe if you have ebola or something like that you wouldn't want to, but I think most more normal bugs would just do their thing and decompose. If you get a ton of liquid in there (diarrhea or vomiting?) you may need to add more coconut coir or peat moss to keep it just damp not wet.

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  9. Very informative! We are faced with having to replace an old septic tank and have thought of installing one of these instead. THANKS for the post.

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  10. Arial,

    I am learning so much from your site thank you for sharing your great adventure.
    I am in the design stage of my TH. As a baby boomer, I am planning that my TH will be my be my final residence and want to incorporate systems and technologies that will assist my quality of life as I become older, slower, weaker and less mobile.

    Off grid pee and poo storage and processing is one of those challenges.
    After reading your 01/31/16 post about your sisters visit, I offer the following concept idea I am considering for my TH. What are your thoughts about a simple modification to your...
    Nature's Head composting toilet
    From "http://natureshead.net/land"

    1- Incorporate a below TH portable holding tank
    Portable Holding tanks - Tote Tanks
    From "http://www.rvtotetank.com/"

    2- Remove the stock urine storage container, create an adaptor with drain hose, drill small hole in TH floor to divert pee into holding tank below. Have a rubber cap available to plug hole when stock urine collection is used.

    3- For winter season use non-toxic RV/marine antifreeze solution in holding tank.
    Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Freezing Pee
    From "https://icaspar.net/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-freezing-pee/"

    non-toxic rv marine antifreeze
    From "http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=non-toxic+rv+marine+antifreeze&sprefix=non-toxic+rv%2Cautomotive%2C144&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Anon-toxic+rv+marine+antifreeze&ajr=2"

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    1. I like the idea in general. I just think it's too cold and I have too much snow for it to be very practical here. My snow skirting alone would prevent me from accessing that tank at all until spring. Somewhere warmer, I'd give it a shot for sure!

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  11. Thank you so much for writing this!!! You answered a lot of my questions. You have a beautiful home. Ty for sharing! 🐢🌏✌️

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  12. You know your projects stand out of the herd. There is something special about them. It seems to me all of them are really brilliant! Toilet problems

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  13. Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon! seyyar tuvalet

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  14. Just discovered your work and am devouring it! Sorry for the late question! Now as for human waste. You are young and healthy. I am older with some digestive issues. My #2 are of varied consistencies. How does that toilet handle irregular #2?

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