[Greenbuilding] ventilation and urine-diverting dry toilet

Norbert Senf norbert.senf at gmail.com
Tue Jan 9 17:26:10 CST 2018


We have a Clivus-type toilet that needs to be depressurized so that no odor
escapes into the house. It evaporates the urine, so needs a fair bit of air
flow.
We put an HRV on it, with the idea that the fresh air from the HRV could be
supplied to the house. However, it is a low end one ($600 at Home Depot)
and does not have adequate isolation between the two air streams.
Therefore, we return the fresh air to the toilet and run it slightly
negative. Looking at replacing it with a Zehnder ComfoAir 350.
.................Norbert

On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 4:51 PM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:

> I should have clarified that the odors are not coming from the urine tank
> (small tin bucket sitting outside in the open air) but from (I suspect)
> small quantities of solids that have precipitated out of the urine and
> adhere to the walls of the small diameter flex hose and possibly the walls
> of the 2" ABS line, which has no bends or traps - is one straight vertical
> drop.
>
> On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 1:43 PM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> 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@
>> 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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>
>
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-- 
Norbert Senf
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Road, RR 5
Shawville Québec J0X 2Y0
819.647.5092
www.heatkit.com
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