Stinky composting toilet 2 weeks into first trip

[Donna and Jim Y.]

Good morning 🙂,

We are on our first journey after picking up our E2 on 3/1.  It is amazing what you don't know until you just do it!  Anyway - our toilet solids are quite stinky.  Trailer came with coir and we have been very careful not to get liquids into solids.  I think I read about a possible fuse months ago but I cannot find that thread now.

We also probably need to buy peat or coir somewhere.....didn't bring any😏

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

Jim and Donna

[sakthorp]

We’ve used our composting toilet since we picked up our trailer in 2019. We’ve never had any odors. If you put your ear to the fan you should be able to hear it. It’s very quiet but I would start with that. We buy our choir online but yesterday we were at Costco warehouse and they had the bricks in stock in the gardening section. I imagine any garden center would offer it. Make sure you have enough choir (you should fill it up until it reaches the horizontal agitator bar) and of course you know to turn the handle. When we set up the toilet we make sure that the choir is moist. Not wet, just moist.  I’m sure you’ll receive a lot of helpful suggestions! Good luck and sounds like you’re having fun on your first journey! 

[sakthorp]

[Corvus]

Most of the time our Natures Head has worked well. When the weather was very humid for days and the inside of the trailer was dank, the solids were not drying well. I purchased a dehumidifier and that seems to have helped. We run the dehumidifier as much as possible in the bathroom when the humidity goes above 80%. We also turn the crank more often during the day to help expose any moist areas.  The issue may have been compounded by too much coir dust on the fan filter.

When I took the fan assembly apart the filter was about 75% clogged. Perhaps the coir was not moist enough and the dust was pulled through by the fan when turning the crank or when I added extra through the top. If adding more from the top I now make sure to unplug the fan, mix, then wait for any dust to settle before plugging in the fan. I'm also leaning toward using sphagnum or coffee grounds to reduce the dust.

Here are some photos of the fan assembly. No fuse here. I forgot to take a photo of the dirty filter before cleaning it, but one shows the dust on the fan. I'm tempted to add one of these fans to the spare parts kit.

Cleaned filter

 

Hope you get it figured out soon.

 

 

Dirty fan

 

Whole assembly

[Donna and Jim Y.]

Thank you for the link and also the suggestion.  The fan is running and there is condensation in the air flow tube...

I read on the site that compost works at 55f and up.  It has been in the 40's and 50's a lot here - maybe that is part of the problem.  Also we might not have had the right moisture mixture.  We will look for new material and try again:).

One last question if you have a moment...how do you add the information at the bottom of the page that shows hull# etc?

Thank you again.

Jim

 

[Donna and Jim Y.]

The photo's are a great help and it is definately cold and moist in here so that might be part of the problem.  We appreciate your answers!

Jim and Donna

[topgun2]

36 minutes ago, Donna and Jim Y. said:

One last question if you have a moment...how do you add the information at the bottom of the page that shows hull# etc?

Left click on your Forum name.

Left click on "edit profile"

Scroll down to where is says "signature" and then type in what you want to say at the bottom/signature.

Left click on the "save" button and you are done.

Bill

[topgun2]

39 minutes ago, Corvus said:

but one shows the dust on the fan

WOW!

I don't have a composting toilet but that sure is one dirty fan.  I can only imagine what the filter looked like.

Bill

[MobileJoy]

In our 2021 LEII, we had a fan die on us. The fuse cartridge for the NH fan is located in-line on a wire in the compartment near the inverter (street-side just to the left of the pantry). As I remember, the fuse cartridge is white and the wire is red. Grip both ends, press together and turn. That should unlatch the fuse holder exposing the fuse inside.

Oliver had us call NH directly, and they sent us two complete fan assemblies. Installation was easy and we now have a spare.

Our initial charge from Oliver was peat moss. The fan was not dirty when it failed. It had only been used for about 1 week.

The only time we had a smell problem was when the fan failed.

 

[Corvus]

4 hours ago, Donna and Jim Y. said:

The fan is running and there is condensation in the air flow tube...

I forgot to mention that our tube had lots of condensation which is what encouraged me to start taking things apart.

[Boudicca908]

I bought sphagnum peat at Lowe's for my NH. I haven't used it yet (pick up next week) but I remember reading that you need to BE SURE to use 100% organic, WITHOUT ADDITIVES since the additives would not give the right result! So be mindful -- no peat with Miracle Gro added. 

[NCeagle]

We have found through experience that excess moisture can definitely be a problem with the NH - we've encountered the problem more than once camping in high humidity.  What happens is when it's humid inside the trailer the medium in the NH absorbs the moisture from the air and becomes way too wet.  The lack of "good" airflow and extra moisture in the bathroom from showers exacerbates the problem as does running the bathroom fan with the door closed - which effectively reverses the airflow over the NH medium and if the outside air is humid, the medium quickly becomes too wet.

We've taken several steps to mitigate moisture problems and haven't had any in quite a while.  Here's some ideas that have been mentioned by others...

1.  Run a small dehumidifier inside whenever the humidity outside is above 50% (almost always here in the Southeast).  

2.  Start with as close to 100% dry medium in the NH as you can.  We use a coco coir brick and I add water to break it up a week before we leave.  I then keep the inside of our trailer at a lower humidity and let the medium dry out.  A tiny bit of moisture is ok to keep dust down, but dealing with a little dust on the fan / filter is much better than trying to dry out a soupy mess in our opinion.

3.  In general, think about airflow over the NH medium and take steps to mitigate excess moisture if necessary.  This means thinking about the airflow and quality of the air going through the NH during different scenarios - bathroom fan on/off, bathroom door open/closed, outside air quality, etc.

You can also tell with experience from turning the crank whether or not the medium in the NH is too wet (heavy) or getting too wet and in need of some dry air for a while.

[topgun2]

There's something "funny" here but I just can't seem to put my finger on it!🙃

The folks with a Nature's Head don't want things too wet while the folks with the standard toilet don't want things too dry?

[ScottyGS]

15 hours ago, Boudicca908 said:

I bought sphagnum peat at Lowe's for my NH. I haven't used it yet (pick up next week) but I remember reading that you need to BE SURE to use 100% organic, WITHOUT ADDITIVES since the additives would not give the right result! So be mindful -- no peat with Miracle Gro added. 

Try the coconut coir bricks when you get a chance.  We’ve found them better than the peat moss.  Easier to travel with too.   Good Luck. 

[Liana]

On 3/24/2022 at 3:47 PM, Boudicca908 said:

no peat with Miracle Gro added.

I suppose that would produce it's own kind of miracle! 😄