Toilets on the road

Bob, I think there are basically two kinds of composting toilets - wet ones and dry ones. The roadside ones you mention are the wet variety. I wonder if they stink as a result of having chemical toilets emtied into them, the same as can happen to long drop dunnies.

The Air Head is a dry one, which means that urine is from the solids by the geometry of the bowl. Unfortunately gentlemen using this loo have to sit down to pee. That's the downside. But, as blokes, the world is ouir urinal anyway.

There's a separate container for the liquids which has to be emptied every few days. Apparently adding a half a cup of sugar to the liquid container stops any pee odours when emptying the liquid.

Wet composting toilets need a much bigger composting container and often have a heating element to the excess liquids. They tend to be too bulky and too power hungry for caravans.

I just spoke to the local agent who says that the Air Head unit is absolutely odour free and no charcoal filter is required. It can apparently be used intermittently and the bugs live on. He said he has one in his boat, which is used every third week with a family of four, and has not had to empty the solids container in nine months.

Other blogs suggest that, if the compost mix in the loo gets too wet, it can become a bit smelly. If this happens, you add some peat moss and give the handle on the side a turn and things return to normal. LIke you, I think a spare fan and some extra starter bugs make good sense.

As dunnies go, they look a bit strange. But anything that avoids hauling off a 25 kilo of raw sewage two or three times week has to be a force for the good.

Certainly got plenty of good replies, Keith.

Years ago, I used to be an avid reader of 2 alternative lifestyle magazines, Grass Roots, and I think, Earth Garden. Didn't particularly want to grow a beard, or wear a kaftan, but was interested in things like solar power, & some parts of this lifestyle. No, not growing weed either, ha ha.

There were often articles on this subject, composting dunnys, not "weed", and wondered if you could find any of these mags at local library. Don't even know if either mag is still going, Keith? Just that they might have some of the info you are chasing?

Good luck with the camper too,

Bob.

Have a look at thread 89361 .

There is absolutely no smell when using nappy treatment products. I agree, those toilet chemicals stink.

i just have a portable toilet seat. I can go into bush, dig a hole and have a read. If it is raining i can use it in the tent with plastic bags.

cost about $15

At fifteen bucks, that's a great solution for everyone - with the possible exception of the other guys in the tent.

Took a porta potty up the river once for the wife & girls, I must have done some-thing wrong, dry-reached bad when emptying it,, ha ha, not much fun,, never again.
I reckon "go bush & dig a hole", but don't agree with "going in the tent", that's desperate, stoney 123, you should buy one of those shower/toilet tents. Might save your marriage and your mates might invite you next time. :-)

We have only used the "toilet in a tent" on one occassion. It was during a thunderstorm. The tent is empty all day even during storms as we have a huge tarp out front where we can sit by the fire and enjoy the lightning and watch the other campers entombed themselves in dome tents.

Daza, I'm not a softy. I'm a wuss.

Clive, I had my heart (or other parts of my anatomy) set on the Dometic vac toilet. But the Kimberley website says that Dometic have stopped manufacturing them. The Caravans Plus website says they can't get stock. The Sanitation section of the Dometic website makes no mention of it. That's all I know.

That's why I started searching for an alternative and came across the composting variety, which seem at first blus to be too good to be true. Although I did notice an ad for them on this site.

Keith your right.Kimberley do say that on their web site.

It does seem that it’s just the VT2500 that’s been dumped. (pun intended). Checked the dometic.com site and they list vacuum toilets, 5006, 5009 & 5048. These are the ones they had on show here last month.

Clive.

Hi again Clive. I called Dometic and they said that the VT2500 had been discontinued in Australia and that there were upgraded models being launched overseas. However there were no plans afoot to launch the upgraded models into Australia.

The sales lady said that a lot of locals were up in arms about it and that the decision may be revisited, but not this year.

I could not find the models you mentioned on the Dometic website. Maybe you could post the link?

Keith. It seems a bit silly not releasing the new ones in Oz. Can’t imagine what’s behind that.

I’ll put in two links, one to Dometic International, not au. The other is to an Auckland supplier that I’ve used a few times over the years, as they are still advertising the VT2500. If your quick you may be able to get one sent over.

If the links don’t work here are the addresses.

www.dometic.com/enie/International/Site/Caravan/Toilets/
note the upper case.

www.marvel.net.nz

Clive.

Dometic International

Marvel NZ

Thanks again Clive.

I notice the new Dometic vacuum loos with the bigger tanks are quite heavy, at about 38kg. I am at the early stages of construction and the interest in the loo comes from pre-planning where we can run the pipes.

I think I'll wait and see what transpires. It will be at least a year till I'm finished my build, so there's no hurry. At this stage, I am still fascinated by the composting unit.

You can see my build on myswag.org - along with a million others. It's under the "My camper trailer build" section by KeithB - "No Canvas pop-up camper". I'm still on the chassis and haven't started the body yet. It's more a journey than a destination.

Thanks for your help.

Reminds me of a similar project, a hard floor, flip over camper that I set out to build a few years ago. Got the chassis all built and running on its wheels and was starting on the body when I went to the Brisbane camping show (again) and saw the Kimberley Karavan on display.

Came back to NZ, converted the chassis to a workshop low loader trailer for ourselves and got myself a Karavan.

Best of luck with your project, hope you get a lot of fun from it, the build included.

Cheers Clive.

I know there has been a lot of talk on this Forum about Napisan in holding tanks. Napisan is a powerful bleach and germicide. They say you can't use bleach in a septic tank. So won't emptying a load of Napisan into a septic potentially cause problems? Ditto for long drop toilets. There are now a lot of long drop toilets in the bush that have been damaged by toilet chemicals and you can smell them a mile away.

I realise a lot of folks use Napisan, and maybe the small amount they put in is all eaten up by the time it hits the septic. Maybe a small amount of the stuff in a large commercial septic isn't a problem. I just don't know.

One caravan park we stay at has a big Bio-Cycle style of plant and they ban all toilet cleaners other than a citrus spray. The owner reckons any kind of bleach is a disaster. If that was the case and with the number of people using Napisan, you'd expect every caravan park septic in Australia to be on the fritz.

Chlorine based bleaches are a disaster.

Napisan produces peroxide which is short lived, hence the need to redose after a few days.

Thanks Lex.
Mystery solved. I thought Napisan was chlorine based. Now it makes sense.

It just leaves us with the vexing question of whether anyone knows anything about these composting dunnies in caravans.

Napisan is friendly to septic tanks.
We frequently use it and have had septic tank disposal for over thirty year.
Also have daughters with babes in nappies that soak in a bucket then the bucket gets emptied in the septic toilet no problems.

Ten years ago I had some abdominal surgery and they forgot to iron everything before they put it back. So I need a loo very, very close by, particularly at night. Sprinting into the dark with shovel, torch and bomb aimer at 3.00 am just isn't an option. Ditto for a dunny block 50 metres away.
Hence the need for an onboard loo. I am sure there are plenty of others in the same boat.
Thanks, everyone, for your advice which has taught me a lot.