[Greenbuilding] ventilation and urine-diverting dry toilet

[John Salmen]

An inline fan for septic ventilation is pretty common (inexpensive as a 12v RV item) – would need to add a ‘T’ to the 2” abs pipe. Alternatively you could add a standard trap to the 2” vertical and occasionally fill it with an enzyme or acidic mix (vin/baking soda) to neutralize and block odors coming back from the urine tank.

 

From: Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Reuben Deumling
Sent: Tuesday, January 9, 2018 11:56 AM
To: Greenbuilding
Subject: [Greenbuilding] ventilation and urine-diverting dry toilet

 

Quite a few years ago I imported four Ekologen EcoDry toilets from Sweden. These are porcelain toilets that send the poop and the pee into separate (installer supplied) vessels. While the idea was extremely inspiring, the reality has been somewhat less fantastic. The poop falls  through an 8" pipe into a bucket, and a handful of sawdust is dumped after. That part works beautifully. Not once has there been any smell. 

The urine is sent through a 1-1/4"(?) flexible hose that came supplied with and is attached to the porcelain unit into a vertical 2" ABS pipe and from there into a bucket that sits outside in the free air, and is dumped as needed. 

The problem - the only problem - is that the urine smell in the bathroom can be strong. Visitors, e.g., higher usage, sends the smell index shooting up, whereas day-to-day usage by one person doesn't cause much discomfort. And of course folks' sensitivity/sense of smell varies a lot. 

The toilet was supplied with a micro-flush button which would have sent a small amount of water (1/10 of a liter?) through the urine section. I initially hooked this up, but I discovered a casting flaw in the porcelain which sent a bit of the water not out the drain but through a crack not visible from any angle I could devise onto the floor. I talked to the manufacturer about that but they were not helpful, did not take any useful responsibility, so we've always used a small cup to splash a bit of water to chase the urine. 

Recently I swapped in a wood toilet seat/lid for the OEM plastic one which allowed me to attach a gasket between porcelain toilet and seat and between seat and lid. This made a disappointingly small difference to the ambient odor. 

So now to my question: do low-power small fans exist that you could  recommend for installation in the 2" ABS vent? My sense is that these exist but I am not familiar with any specifics. 

My hope for this fan would be that it would create a very slight negative pressure in the bathroom, drawing any smell out the vent rather than letting it escape into the room. Ideally it would also be switchable from inside the bathroom. 

Or perhaps some of you have experience with his or similar situations and can recommend other strategies I've not thought of?

Thanks very much.

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