[Greenbuilding] ventilation and urine-diverting dry toilet

[Reuben Deumling]

Those are all excellent suggestions, and much appreciated Stephen.
I've thought of some of them and planned to experiment in particular with
- replacing the OEM flex hose for exactly the reasons you suggest, and
- blocking the front under-rim area with a piece of thin plastic bent to
seal it off for the reasons you mentioned.
Interestingly the manufacturer of this toilet obliquely admitted in one of
their communications to me that the successor model of this toilet features
what sounds like a P-trap. I'd not thought of an elegant way to construct
one, though borrowing a page from the waterless urinals and using whatever
oil I understand they use as an odor seal could be useful to.

I will see about trying some or all of these and if any work I'll report
back.


Thanks again. .

On Wed, Jan 10, 2018 at 11:13 AM, Stephen Collette <
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca> wrote:

> Hello Reuben and all,
>
> Would it be possible that a negative fan in the bathroom would only
> amplify the issue, since you have a hole out to the outside and creating
> negative pressure would in fact suck on said urine odoured hose?
>
> I would consider switching the hoses out to something more proper plumbing
> like. My suspicion is that the odour/solids is getting trapped in the
> cheaper supplied plastic hose, so possibly replacing that. The next step
> would be to see if you could put a P-trap in it to see if it is in fact air
> pressure related. Even just a bend in the flex hose for temporary
> experimenting, if and where possible. Also would it be possible to put some
> sort of light spring on the spout at the end with a flap/cover so that it
> closes most of the time but can still open with urine present.
>
> On another note, I have found that a source of odours in many toilets is
> in fact up around and under the rim at the front. Some folks have a power
> pee capability and up there is typically poorly glazed. I have solved a few
> odour issues with the recommendation of a deep and thorough cleaning of up
> under there, where the water typically comes out. It may not apply to your
> situation, but I thought I would share all the same.
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Collette
> BBEC, BBNC, LEED AP, CAHP, BSSO
> Principal
> *Your Healthy House*
> Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
> http://www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
> stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
> 705.652.5159 <(705)%20652-5159>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 10, 2018, at 2:00 PM, greenbuilding-request at lists.
> bioenergylists.org wrote:
>
> 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?
>
>
>
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