septic vs holding tank

[pmsmechanic]

For years I wanted a shop sink. Like the original OP, a connection to the house septic/drain field was geographically impossible. I looked at plastic holding tanks and was advised they need to be kept partially filled to prevent floating. I then priced concrete septic tanks and with delivery, the cost exceeded my megar budget.
I ended up purchasing two 36 X 36 concrete sewer pipes, a concrete 48 dia. Cookie (for a bottom), and a cookie with a man hole opening for the top. Setting the tiles end to end vertically on the solid cookie bottom and covering with the top manhole cookie created an inexpensive underground tank. The real labor was cutting a pair of holes in the sides of the top tile for an inlet and out let pipe, both cemented in the openings with hydraulic cement.
The leach field is about 50 of perforated pipe in a trench filled with 1 stone.
There is no toilet in this equation but the convince of a shop sink is wonderfully convient. System has been up and running for about three years now and works flawlessly.

B. John

I would be tempted to do something similar to this. Maybe go 48" pipe. If you pour a wall inside to divide it in half you'd basically have a sewer tank. (Research this to make sure you design the wall properly.) If your soil is porous and dry enough then the tank would probably drain itself. If not then you could set up a sewage pump to either pump out into the bushes somewhere or into the second side of your house sewage system.

People I know did this with their farm shop. They installed a regular sewage tank. They didn't install a sewage pump but went with an alarm system. When the sewage tank needs pumping the theory was to hire a sewage disposal truck. In practicality the grey water just gets pumped out into the grass a couple hundred feet away from the shop.

 

[dmccarty]

This post should stir things up a bit. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

As other's have said, check what your county/state will allow, and then figure out what you can do.

Having said that, there are "composting" toilets on the market that are designed for use in boats, RVs and cabins. They really do not compost for the most part but dry out material...

This topic usually gets people going on the boat forums but here we go...

The toilets have the same basic design, on bucket to hold solids and another container to hold urine. The "bowl" is setup so solids fall one way into the bucket and the urine goes to the container. What causes sewage to smell is the urine/liquid. Remove the moisture and everything else dries out and does not stink. This is what they toilets do.

One has to put in a dry medium, peat moss, saw dust, coir(coconut fiber), etc. The best product I have heard to use in coir because it is in small, compress bricks, and a few bricks last a long time. The dry material goes into the bucket for solids and is what helps dry out poop. There is a stirrer that is turned after using the toilet that mixes up the poo, dry material and TP. Pee goes into the other container to help dry out the poop and remove orders.

On boats in non discharge zones, people are dumping the urine in toilets in marinas or in the woods. The "composted" material, i.e., dried out mixture of coir, poo and TP, is dumped in the trash. One toilet brand recommends using bleach mixed into the dry material bucket to kill any bad stuff.

The link shown below is for a toilet created by an ex Special Forces medic. It is simple, and if I remember correctly, uses a plain 5 gallon bucket for the solids and a 1 gallon milk jug for urine. Both are easy and cheap to replace if needed. Other brands have special containers and replacements have to be bought from the company.

C-Head portable composting toilet system

People using these things speak very highly of them. The is a FAQ on the page I linked too that is quite extensive and informative.

Later,
Dan

 

[Looking4new]

This post should stir things up a bit. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:


This topic usually gets people going on the boat forums but here we go...

No doubt. :laughing:

Okay, I will go a sit in my corner and shut up now.

 

[dmccarty]

No doubt. :laughing:

Okay, I will go a sit in my corner and shut up now.

As long as that is all you are doing in the corner.... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

This topic pops up on the boat forums frequently and the people who are most vocal AGAINST these toilets have never used them. The people who have used them really like the toilets. These toilets have some serious benefits on a boat where you will have to handle your scat eventually, and usually, in a most ugly manner. It really is a question of when to you handle your waste and how bad of a job it will be. Take your pick of poison so to speak.

Composting is really a misnomer with these toilets since they usually are used in a manner that prevents composting. However, they will compost if the material is allowed to sit long enough. The OP might actually be in that boat, so to speak. But do not spread this compost/material in your veggie garden.

Later,
Dan

 

[RalphVa]

I'd just drain the sink and shower to a garden area like I do for my own outside sink and shower area. For toilet, I'd consider just using a convenient shrub or grassy area in an emergency. That's what I do if I suddenly need to go while hiking on our trails. Just wash off in the outside shower.

Ralph

 

[oosik]

The summer & fall we were building the house here. We used gopher holes. Timing worked out perfectly. Last of the gopher holes all filled up and our house plumbing became active. We pumped water out of our little lake into a 55 gallon - black plastic drum suspended from a tree limb and everybody got a HOT show about 2X weekly.

I still remember the first hot shower in the house. The plumbing was totally competed and the first item to get electricity was the hot water heater. In the shower with hot water by candle light.