Composting To Standard Toilet?

[GAP]

I'm sure this has been covered but cannot find the answer in search engine.  Wondering what it would take for an individual with modest skills to replace a composting toilet with a standard one on a 2021 E2.  We loved how our composting toilet worked and enabled much better dry camping situation but have put our trailer up for sale and have been asked about the conversion process.  Looks like the black tank and water source is super accessible.  While on the subject, where to source a replacement toilet?  Thanks much.

[John E Davies]

It would be a very easy retrofit, and the parts cost would be close to zero, because the new owner can sell the used composting toilet on Craigslist for $300. The flush toilets are easily obtained from many online sources, I have no idea about pricing... All the big waste fittings are standard Home Depot stuff.  The fresh water flush line is already in place, as is the outside black tank flush plumbing (unless you removed them as I did). The tank level (indicating) system was pre-installed at the factory.

I suggest that you tell the buyer this, but also tell them to USE the NH unit for a while before deciding. There are SOOOOO many reasons to have the NH, and anecdotally 90% of new buyers order that toilet. If they plan to stay hooked up 100% of the time, then the water wasting unit is a no brainer.  But if they plan to visit lots of National Parks and forest service campgrounds, that flusher will never work well. Tell them how much fresh water they will save.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/1978-natures-head-composting-toilet-installation-in-an-oliver-big-thread/

John Davies

Spokane WA

[ScubaRx]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:15 AM, John E Davies said:

I suggest that you tell the buyer ... to USE the NH unit for a while before deciding. There are SOOOOO many reasons to have the NH, and anecdotally 90% of new buyers order that toilet. If they plan to stay hooked up 100% of the time, then the water wasting unit is a no brainer.  But if they plan to visit lots of National Parks and forest service campgrounds, that flusher will never work well. Tell them how much fresh water they will save.

Let's just stick to answering the questions asked. Which you mostly did, thank you very much.

@GAP please pass on John’s very thorough explanation of the retrofitting. I doubt it could be improved upon very much.

The new owners probably have a valid (albeit personal) reason in wanting to change out the composting toilet for a regular one because there are also "SOOOOO many reasons" to not want one.

One reason is medical.

Most folks don't discuss their intimate bowel habits with the other members on an open forum. Even though it's true that 90% of new buyers choose the composting toilet, there is a plethora of medical reasons that these are not the necessarily the best toilet choice for everybody. The greatest obstacle to properly using one may well be the need to keep solids and liquids separate. What if your “solids” are usually mostly liquid.

There is a wide range of problems that can cause chronic diarrhea; some of the most common causes include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis), mal-absorption syndromes, like celiac disease, in which food cannot be digested and absorbed. There are also infections such as C. diff (also known as Clostridioides difficile). There are, as well, many other less common causes of chronic diarrhea.

There is probably no drug on the market that doesn’t include “diarrhea” among its many side effects.        

Ten percent of Americans have Type II diabetes. The most prescribed oral medication for that disease is Metformin, but its gastrointestinal adverse effects such as diarrhea, flatulence, nausea  and vomiting can be a barrier to its use and quite possibly make using a composting toilet very difficult.

I seriously doubt there has ever been a discussion between a sales rep and a potential new owner that checked off 'composting toilet' on their order list about any of these issues.

 

[dewdev]

Wow