Septic system for island property

[Nedlam]

I am looking for a solution for a property on a slope with some ledge. Might be difficult to get a backhoe up to the site. I use a compost toilet now, functional but not ideal. Any "High Tech" product solutions/ideas? Thank you

[Tyler]

Take a look at an electric toilet, Incinolet toilets work well from what I have read.

[Descant]

Sounds like the east side of Rattlesnake Island. Steep rocky, ledge. Don't most of those places have septic? Is this a case where you need to build on top of the existing land ("Indian Mound"), instead of digging down, and then pump uphill to the leach field? Do you have electricity?

[Pricestavern]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Take a look at an electric toilet, Incinolet toilets work well from what I have read.

We have an incinolet. It works but we're thinking of replacing with a composting toilet like the Sun-Mar Centrex3000. Incinolets are not odorless (it sucks being downwind of the stack while it's scorching a dookie) and require a lot of maintenance. Parts are only sold by the manufacturer in Texas.

Avoid if you can. Great for a barn on a large ranch - not so great for continual use close range.

[Hillcountry]

Lol at "scorching a dookie"
I wonder how many different ways this can be described? 😁

[wifi]

Originally Posted by Hillcountry

Lol at "scorching a dookie"
I wonder how many different ways this can be described? ��

Depends on what you had to eat the day before ...

[TheTimeTraveler]

Originally Posted by wifi

Depends on what you had to eat the day before ...

Try some spicy Mexican Food and see what happens, lol




.

[LIforrelaxin]

Try looking at the newer composting toliets. This is technology that is developing fast, and continues to see change..... The key is to size the unit big enough to deal with your usage and you will find that you aren't having to "deal" with it as often as you might think.....

[SAMIAM]

Heard of one old farmer up in Enfield that just nailed a 2x4 between two trees at the edge of a ravine to sit on and kept his toilet tissue in a plastic bag.

[Hillcountry]

Originally Posted by TheTimeTraveler

Try some spicy Mexican Food and see what happens, lol




.

"Char a chalupa" ?😀

[SIKSUKR]

Toasted tootsie roll

[Formula260SS]

Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin

Try looking at the newer composting toliets. This is technology that is developing fast, and continues to see change..... The key is to size the unit big enough to deal with your usage and you will find that you aren't having to "deal" with it as often as you might think.....

Sunmar 3000.....takes a licking and keeps on ticken

[codeman671]

Originally Posted by Hillcountry

Lol at "scorching a dookie"
I wonder how many different ways this can be described? 😁

I am glad I wasn't the only one childish enough to get a major kick out of that one! My wife thought I was a nut when I laughed over it.

[AC2717]

poop jokes know no age!!!

[thinkxingu]

This thread quickly turned to crap. I don't mean to be an old poop, but can't we keep to the question so this thread doesn't get flushed?

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[Tyler]

Originally Posted by Pricestavern

We have an incinolet. It works but we're thinking of replacing with a composting toilet like the Sun-Mar Centrex3000. Incinolets are not odorless (it sucks being downwind of the stack while it's scorching a dookie) and require a lot of maintenance. Parts are only sold by the manufacturer in Texas.

Avoid if you can. Great for a barn on a large ranch - not so great for continual use close range.

If your incinolet is more than 10 years old the new one's have improved greatly over the earlier units.

[Hillcountry]

:

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

this thread quickly turned to crap. I don't mean to be an old poop, but can't we keep to the question so this thread doesn't get flushed?

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FahgettAboutit....

[hig]

Originally Posted by Formula260SS

Sunmar 3000.....takes a licking and keeps on ticken

I installed one of these a couple of years ago and have been happy with it, other than an occasional whiff from the vent pipe when the wind is not cooperating. I bought a charcoal filter that I need to install that I hope will fix that (intermittent) problem.

The Sunmar composting replaced a 220v Incinolet. The main problem with the Incinolet was training guests to use it properly, cleaning it when they didn't, and maintaining it. The high operating temperatures wore parts out quickly and I always seemed to be working in it. It was a Mike Rowe kind of job and not one I looked forward twice a season (on average). You need to keep a lot of spares on hand because downtime is not an option. I will say that Incinolet technical support people were super helpful. Kind of like they understand how much it sucks to be you if you need to call them.

The other issue with the incinolet was the operating smell when it was cooking. It wasn't horrible, but definitely distinctive, and you always knew when somebody had "been". It was a cookout kind of smell, but where the food being cooked was unfamiliar and not all that appetizing.

I'm much happier with the Sunmar. It's almost a real toilet in the way it looks and is used, but with a foot flush rather than a hand lever. It requires a little upkeep but it's comparatively low stress, and I can even train the kids to do it (something you could not do with the Incinolet). And if there worst happens and something breaks, it doesn't ruin your weekend. You unit can be used without power and without water if needed.



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[Pricestavern]

"I will say that Incinolet technical support people were super helpful. Kind of like they understand how much it sucks to be you if you need to call them."

Have to second that. I've been on the phone with the owners wife having her talk me through drilling out the old thermostat (rusted, broke), retapping, and installing a new one. Exceptional people, the owners!

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Originally Posted by hig

I installed one of these a couple of years ago and have been happy with it, other than an occasional whiff from the vent pipe when the wind is not cooperating. I bought a charcoal filter that I need to install that I hope will fix that (intermittent) problem.

The Sunmar composting replaced a 220v Incinolet. The main problem with the Incinolet was training guests to use it properly, cleaning it when they didn't, and maintaining it. The high operating temperatures wore parts out quickly and I always seemed to be working in it. It was a Mike Rowe kind of job and not one I looked forward twice a season (on average). You need to keep a lot of spares on hand because downtime is not an option. I will say that Incinolet technical support people were super helpful. Kind of like they understand how much it sucks to be you if you need to call them.

The other issue with the incinolet was the operating smell when it was cooking. It wasn't horrible, but definitely distinctive, and you always knew when somebody had "been". It was a cookout kind of smell, but where the food being cooked was unfamiliar and not all that appetizing.

I'm much happier with the Sunmar. It's almost a real toilet in the way it looks and is used, but with a foot flush rather than a hand lever. It requires a little upkeep but it's comparatively low stress, and I can even train the kids to do it (something you could not do with the Incinolet). And if there worst happens and something breaks, it doesn't ruin your weekend. You unit can be used without power and without water if needed.



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Centrex 3000 - a couple of thoughts:

Centrex 3000 was the best camp upgrade we've done so far!

My hubby extended the vent pipe up and installed a fan that's commonly used for radon. No troubles now!

Spray rubbing alcohol is what I use to clean the bowl. (Vinyl gloves on) Any residual evaporates.

Angel Soft is perfect, it composts easily - three squares folded to a V in the bottom of toilet before number 2 will keep most remnants away. A little bit of camp wisdom. Lol!

I will search/post Rattlesnake Guy's post on incinerating toilets. It is hilarious.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Rattlesnake Guy's thoughts on incinerating toilets. A must read if you're considering one!

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

Dan,

Note: this started as a PM but after reading it to my family, they encouraged me to post it here. I am still not sure... but if it saves a life...

I am just going to rattle off the issues. Celia is helping me with the list in no particular order.


The device requires a paper liner to be inserted into a stainless steel clam shell, sort of like putting a coffee filter in a coffee maker. Not a big deal for us regulars, but it freaked out our company a bit.


The liquid and solids go into that big paper cone. We had some guest with bladders that were capable of overflowing the cone. The result was urine running out of the unit while they were sitting there.


The concept of drying out the solids to ash actually works pretty well but the addition of all the liquid really slowed down the process. I was pretty impressed with how little ash remained from all the use.


The paper cone did not always go down into the heated pot correctly. Sometimes it would not go far enough down for the cover over the burn chamber would not close. This required you to interact with a combination of poop, liquid and paper in various forms of being on fire.


When the materials are dehydrating (boiling and burning), the vapor would pass through the unit and as it touched cooler surfaces of the unit, it would condense this brownish sticky buildup on the inside of the unit that would require periodic disassembly and cleaning. Truly disgusting. To add insult to injury, this sticky condensate was great at catching dust and ash that was also being pulled through the same air paths.


If you flush the unit while sitting, you would not have to worry about shaving anything for a long time.


One time we had a power failure while the unit was running. The coals were still burning but the fan was no longer running. It took about a month to get the smell out of the camp.


When we moved in, the exhaust stack was a straight shot out the back of the camp which hit the wall of rock behind us with the steep island. It became obvious with the 4 of us here in the summer, this was not going to work from an oder standpoint.


We raised the stack to a height of about 10 feet. It was not good enough to satisfy the smell factor of certain contributions.

We lengthened the burn time to insure that it was burning completely. Otherwise you end up with a build up each time. This helped the amount of clean outs we had to do.


Eventually, you have to take the burn pot out and scrape the ash and build up out of it. The constant heating of the stainless pot with liquids caused it to corrode. This made the ease of cleaning pretty tough.


The fan is pretty noisy and runs a long time for each cycle. I think we were doing a 2 hour cycle. Lots of rattling with the constant vibrating from the fan.


Raised the stack another 10 feet. This helped but it was sometimes bad enough we had to leave the deck on the other side of the house depending on the wind direction. Its a tough smell. And everyone knows what it is. I found myself trying to time my bathroom activities to when the family was leaving the house for a while.


The 20 foot stack was taken down and put up each season as I was not sure how it would survive the winter.

I think that's about it.

The smell. It is too easy a target. It's not good. And the little pellets they sell to mask the smell are useless.


We changed out to a plumbed in over sized composting unit and love it. Not perfect but compared to the incinolet, it is great.


Let me know if I missed anything.


Paul

[Rattlesnake Gal]

One last thought - Our unit was given to another islander who has multiple units, so when one is running, another can be used instead of adding liquids/solids to it. One drawback is to employ this method, you'd need a pretty big out house.

[hig]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

One last thought - Our unit was given to another islander who has multiple units, so when one is running, another can be used instead of adding liquids/solids to it. One drawback is to employ this method, you'd need a pretty big out house.

Thanks for reposting. I think it might have been Rattlesnake guys post that pushed me over the edge to get a composting unit. I forgot about the brown residue. Ugh.

My wife sold the Incinolet on Craigslist. I never expected it to sell (who buys a used toilet??) but it did.

I don't miss it.

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