Things to know about composting toilets for motor homes and caravans.
The composting toilet is not only an alternative toilet for your motor home or caravan, but now the better choice.
In contrast to the factory-fitted chemical toilets, you separate the urine from the solid matter in a motor home composting toilet. Therefore, there is no longer the extreme odor development by mixing urine and stool. You can therefore completely dispense with the equally smelly chemicals.
The separation also makes it easier to dispose of.
Depending on the type and design of your RV composting toilet, you compost the solids already in the composting toilet.
Why a separation toilet does not stink:
As mentioned earlier, the urine is collected separately from the solids. This means that you can deal with both types of waste in the best possible way.
On the one hand with the urine. This does not smell as long as it does not decompose. This happens at the earliest from the 3rd day. And as long as it does not come into contact with water. Because that creates urine scale, which tends to stink.
Ideally, you dispose of the urine before it decomposes. Either in a normal toilet or as fertilizer (diluted) in the garden.
The solid naturally smells as it leaves your body. However, once it is covered with litter in the solids bucket, thus binding the surface moisture of the solids, it no longer smells. In addition, the litter helps with further drying. Ideally, you use sawdust, wood shavings, coconut litter, etc... as litter. This keeps everything natural and you could compost your solids so easily on a compost. However, along the way, you can also dispose of everything in a residual's garbage can.
To further help dry the solids and directly prevent odors when going to the toilet, all RV composting toilets are ideally equipped with a fan. This also allows you to leave the solids in the toilet for several days and even weeks until you need to dispose of them.
RV composting toilet types:
RV composting toilets can be roughly divided into 2 types.
- Motor home composting toilet with bucket (and bag)
- Motor home composting toilet with composting and stirring function
With the RV composting toilet with bucket and bag, your solids fall into a solids bucket when you go to the toilet, separated from your urine. After each "big" toilet visit, you scatter your solid waste with a scattering material (see above). Done. Gradually, the bin will fill up with the bag. For disposal, you remove the bag and empty it on the compost or put it in the residual waste garbage can.
Unlike the first type, the RV composting toilet has an agitator built into the solids tank. That is why many also call it a composting toilet. With this RV composting toilet, the solids tank is already filled with sufficient litter (e.g. coconut litter). After each visit to the toilet with solids, you stir your "pile" under the litter with the agitator. The principle here is the same as above. By stirring under the surface is no longer in the air and can therefore no longer stink.
The advantage of these compost separation toilets: You don't have to keep adding litter from above. Depending on the load and whether you put your toilet paper in with it, you can use the toilet for up to 6 weeks until solid waste disposal is necessary.
What makes RV separation toilets different from other separation toilets?
RV composting toilets or waterless toilets function like other composting toilets or waterless toilets. The difference here is more in areas of use:
- They are usually more compact in dimensions than common composting toilets. They need to fit in small bathrooms of motor homes.
- RV partition toilets are kept more robust than other partition toilets. They have fewer parts that could rattle.
- There is always a fan installed to extend the emptying intervals and actively support the drying of solids.
Meanwhile, there is a good selection of different RV composting toilets, so everyone can find a good alternative to the widely used chemical toilets.
