Common Composting Toilet Complaints

!9#: Common Composting Toilet Complaints

If you have recently installed a composting toilet in your home, congratulations. You have made a choice that benefits the environment by saving water, reducing waste production and creating an end product that is a valuable soil amendments. Still, despite all these benefits, if your compost toilet appears to be malfunctioning, you may quickly regret making the switch to a toilet composting system.

When properly installed and used, a compost toilet should be odor free and produce a beautiful, rich compost that is easy to remove within six to twelve months. However, for many owners it can take months, even years, to learn how to properly use and maintain their compost toilets and they may frequently find themselves plagued by two common problems:

1) Excess liquid build up in the composting toilet system. This is probably the most common complaint of new composting toilet owners for almost every brand of composting toilet currently manufactured. A composting toilet will simply not work properly if there is too much fluid in the system, and this can lead to leaks, odors and make emptying the composting toilet a very unpleasant task.

There are, however, ways to control fluid build up in a compost toilet. In general, this is an issue of striking the proper balance between wet and dry materials, and if you find you composting toilet system is becoming saturated, you likely need to add more dry material during use. Electric fans and heaters are also of use to help evaporate and control moisture (meaning non-electric units need special attention to be paid to this problem before it develops), and some units also have a urine separator system which diverts urine away from the main composting reactor.

2) Odor. As mentioned above, with a properly functioning system, there should be no foul odors. Odor signals a problem with the composting system, letting you know that there is something out of balance with they system. Frequently this is due to liquid build up, as discussed above. When there is excess liquid in the system, it will revert from the relatively odor-free process of aerobic decomposition to one of anaerobic decomposition, which is often foul smelling. To fix this issue, you will need to make sure you have the proper balance and that system reverts back to aerobic decomposition processes.

For most of us who grew up using flush toilets, learning how to properly use and maintain a compost toilet can be a difficult lesson to learn. However, taking responsibility for your own waste and transform it into a environmentally beneficial product, is also a very empowering process and one which also benefits the environment for generations to come.