Let's get right down to business and figure out the best way to deal with our business!
We don't much like the idea of dealing with black water tanks. (Black water is everything that's flushed down the toilet). Should things go wrong, we'd rather not have to deal with that mess. So what other options are there?
Well, there's a few different options to pick from...
-standard flush toilets
-dry flush toilets
-composting toilets
Let's explore each option.
Standard Flush Toilets
These are nice and convenient, but convenience always comes with a price. In this case, there's several. First off, there's the issue of disposing of your waste (black water). If you aren't staying at an RV park, where do you dump it? How do you dump it? What if it's full and we can't find a dump site nearby? How do you clean and maintain it?
Turns out, a standard flush toilet just won't do for winter RV life, especially with little kids. Maybe for someone else it will, but for us, it's just not feasible.
•First, nothing else can be put in the tank. Not even toilet paper, and that's just not going to happen with toddlers.
•Second, flushing needs to be done in two steps; Held halfway until water fills up, then released. This is to help break down the waste so it doesn't build up in the tank and eventually make a big disgusting mess. Again, just not a possibility with toddlers.
•Black water tanks need to be dumped once or twice a week. They are mainly located in RV Parks, and usually either require you to be a registered camper or pay a fee. Free campground dumps are few and far between. It's possible to cost up to $80 a week, plus the gas to find a place, just to dump our sewage, and that's just not going to work, since we'll be living off little income. Plus, we want to enjoy our travels, not spend it looking for places to get rid of poop.
•RV pink antifreeze is needed in the winter, and chemicals to clean the inevitable build up from the kids putting stuff in the toilet and not letting the water fill with each flush. As a natural minded family, we're not willing to use such chemicals, especially consistently.
•Extra energy is required just to heat the holding tank. Also, it's extra weight, which means extra gas. Again with the extra costs!
•Water will be a precious resource, what a shame to use so much for waste.
•This one sealed the standard flush toilet's fate; Dump sites are in RV Parks, which are closed in the winter, which means it will be very difficult to find a dump site most of the year. On top of that, we'll need to wait for days that are above 10°C to dump, which is rare to impossible in the depths of Canadian winters.
Standard flush toilets will not work for our situation. Let's explore more options.
Dry Flush Toilets (Waterless)
These little gems look like an amazing alternative! Sites like this make them look fantastic... No water is needed. No mess, no smells, anything can go in them and it puts it into a nice discreet bag that can be tossed in a garbage bin. Plus it would be fun for the kids to watch and that might help encourage potty training. What a dream!
...But lo, this is one of those things that only works for the sales pitch. We started looking for people's experiences with them, (which is a must), and they aren't at all good for us. Maybe as a cabin toilet where you only visit once in a while, but not for full time use on a budget with kids.
•They require special bags with an attachment made specifically for them, that can only be bought in small quantities due to the space they take up. Not ideal for full time trailer life, where space is limited... And we need a lot of bags.
•They run off a battery or power supply. More energy consumption, more costs.
•They can malfunction... When that happens, they push the waste up and out of the bag. Then we'd have no toilet and a disgusting mess to clean up...(not to mention what the kids might impulsively do...ugh...)
So the dry flush toilets aren't an option for us... Maybe as a back up toilet, if we can find the space to store it!
Composting Toilets
Sooooo... This seems to be our last option. It has to work...
Upon the first assessment, it certainly seemed doable. Our waste goes into a holding tank, we put composting material over top each time, and we can give it to farmers to go back to the earth in its natural cycle. If the kids happen to put stuff in there, it's fine, and we can just bag it and throw it in a dumpster in a pinch of need be. No water use, no extra weight, no extra energy use, no worrying about freezing tanks or pipes, or about finding a dump site.
What's the catch?
Most of the models on the market sport seperate tanks, so you have to keep your liquids and solids seperate. (With kids? Yeah right...)
But, I did come across some people who do it all in one with a home made throne. Those who do it this way all suggest reading the book "Humanure," so I went and found a condensed "instruction manual" version.
**That link is a direct PDF download of the manual. Here is where you can find the whole book.
From what I read there, and from researching experienced opinion, it looks like we can build a composting toilet that will work well for us!
Internal compost toilets actually compost while it sits in your toilet, whereas urine diverting toilets do not. They require you to regularly deal with raw waste so you can dump it in an outdoor compost pile. Most people prefer that in a mobile home because they can deal with it promptly. Internal compost toilets start composting in your toilet because of the urine's moisture and heat. It will shrink down as well, and you won't have to deal with raw waste. We will be using compost bags so that when the toilet fills up, we can remove the bags, store it for 6 weeks until it begins to compost, (when it's considered safe,) and find a place that will accept compost, like a local farm.
•We can use a compost bin and blue compost bags, (those are strong and suitable for this). Fitted into a box with a toilet seat on top. Seems simple.
•No plumbing or black water involved.
•Using the proper composting cover material, there's no bad smells.
•Cover material seems to be easy and cheap/free to obtain. Sawdust, peat moss, straw, rotten leaves from fall raking, even coffee hulls discarded from restaurants work well. Note that cover material can't be too wet or too dry.
•Easy to clean and maintain, just a little soap and water. No chemicals needed.
•Preferably, we'll find a farmer that would take our compost. But in a pinch it can just get thrown in a garbage bin... Realistically speaking.
•Compost bags are widely available, no speciality stores or ordering required, like with the dry flush toilets.
•No need to worry about separating solids from liquids, so kids can freely relieve themselves while potty training, and they may even enjoy putting the covering over it! (Hopefully not too much though, haha!)
The Verdict
All in all, the homemade composting toilets seem to take the cake (for us). It looks to be a perfect fit... But before we go running off in a trailer and realize it won't work when we're halfway across the country, we're going to build one for our home now, and try just using that until we leave! This will give us valuable experience and help work out any bugs or frustrations before we're stuck in the middle of nowhere with issues, or no toilet. Finding out how much space we'll need to store the compost bags for 6 weeks each week be good as well!
We'll document the build process, and I'll keep you up to date on how it's working for us. Here's hoping that we found a winner!
See you next time!
**This article is part of a series of our research and thought processes on switching to a mobile tiny home and traveling the country on a tight budget. If you'd like to see the rest, check the tag "mooretravellers", otherwise, here are the links to my previous articles:
•[https://steemit.com/intoduceyourself/@mommanatural/hello-again-steemit-i-m-back](Hello Again Steemit, I'm Back!) May 28, 2018
•[https://steemit.com/tinyhouse/@mommanatural/why-choose-a-mobile-tiny-home](Why Choose a Mobile Tiny Home?) May 29, 2018
•[https://steemit.com/tinyhouse/@mommanatural/what-type-of-tiny-home](What Type of Tiny Home) May 31, 2018
•[https://steemit.com/tinyhouse/@mommanatural/starting-a-research-plan](Starting a Research Plan) June 1, 2018