*You can also just use a bucket without a urine diverter for this setup! Just make the box and attach a lid/seat and you're good to go. Urine is a valuable addition to the compost pile adding nitrogen which helps with the breakdown of the material. Toilet paper can also go in the bucket and be composted with the rest of the material. I just wanted to try something new (with the urine diverter and the drain hose) and will be updating later on how this setup works for me. Having the urine separated does make the bucket lighter and easier to deal with. Another option would be to capture the urine in a jug in front of the bucket and empty them separately. (Depositing them both in the compost pile.) This is a great option if you don't want to put a hole through your floor and dig a soak-out pit or are mobile. Remember to use slightly damp cover material for the best capture of SMELLS. If it smells, use more cover, or use a more damp cover. The sawdust I get is from green wood and is quite damp which works great. If you need to, spritz it with a water bottle to dampen it. Good luck!
right you piss more than you should. So if you're concerned about the smell, you just pissed in a bottle dump on the compost , more often then you dump the solid waste😂
We love our compost toilet which we made using Joseph Jenkins book. My wife had been super skeptical and even a little resistant to the idea at first, so i built one and didn't tell her. After i had been using it for awhile i finally showed her, no stink & she was sold on it. We've been living off grid for nearly 3 years & would never go back to a flush toilet. Great video ❤
I built one for my car to accommodate medical issues. 5 gallon bucket w a removable pool noodle on the edge, a gamma lid if sealing, and inside a smaller deli bucket of coconut coir for the back end, and a female urinal on a hose into a small laundry bottle for the front end. I used a separator method due to anosmia. This has helped in a clutch a half dozen times or more.
I live on Salt Spring Island in a small log cabin in the woods. On our acreage we also built a large log home with the logs off our property (32 years ago). When our daughters left the nest we moved into the small cabin. We have lived off grid since 1988.
I'm not completely off grid but 3 years ago I gave up on my septic tank which was never put in correctly when I bought the house 18 years ago. It constantly plugged up and I spent a fortune having it pumped every 18 months. The toilet was the only thing going to it everything else is gray water. It was going to cost 10 thousand dollars to put in a new septic system! I tore out the toilet and put in a box similar to yours with a bucket but I do not have a urine diverter. I find it easy to empty the buckets into the composting bins. I have livestock animals so I have plenty of material for the compost. No more crossing my fingers every time I flush. Your cover material should be damp instead of dry. It seals in the odors better that way.
😅Billions and billions of gallons of water could be saved each year if everyone used this system. A really great and educational video Brooke. Many thanks David in the UK.
Not exactly conducive to town and suburbs planning. That's why it moved to a sewer system as it was no longer viable tk live individually like this. It's a great idea for those on land who have the land capacity to do so but far more people live in the city and suburbs than on acerage .. it's simply not sustainable with the sophisticated lifestyles of society today. And believe me, back in the day when I was born and this was the only way of living ,it was a tiresome and very demanding lifestyle for my parents. Govt rules about hygiene etc were none existent , our dunny drum was emptied straight into the rhubarb patch, none of this composting and waiting for a year. None of this separating fluids ftom solids, nah , all just jnto 5he dunny can and newspaper to wipe your bum with. No sawdust or wood chips back in the day. When it stunk in summer it just meant you were in and out asap. There was nothing dreamy or romantic about that way of life back then. It was damn hard work for both parents. There was no choice, it's just how you lived to survive. Without electricity or running hot water,nk fridge or freezer ...all your good was preserved to make it last. Either that or you died. We need to stop romanticising a way of life that was real hard yakka for both parents.
@@therealgirlinthewoods NO way would any town councilow this as a hygienic solution to human waste disposal. It's why they stopped it and put in sewer lines. People are not allowed to be individually accountable for raw human waste. As someone forced to be raised this way the greatest excitement for our family of 9 to our next dairy farm was the fact we had INDOOR FLUSHING TOILETS..... going backwards from this after 60 yrs is not acceptable. An 9nc8 erator toilet ,yes , but back to burying human crap in the back yard NO WAY. You want to choose to do it on acres of land ,off grid, so be it but it will never return to suburban backyards. Use your grey water to flush toilets, yes ,great idea. There's heaps of ways to use used water to flush toilets but regressing to human waste on buckets being emptied into backyard compost is fanciful and immature thinking in my opinion. I have zero desire to return to that nightmare way of life as a full-time choice. A camping holiday is totally different.
@heatherclayton-callaghan4270 the Compost Handbook gives many examples of it being successfully done in "urban" places. Joseph Jenkins has taught this in many places saving lives, removing the stink, making living sweet for the people!
@@heatherclayton-callaghan4270not to minimize your experience, this video discusses simple modifications that take the misery out of it. She's not romanticizing anything.
@georgecarlin2656 why are you criticising my idea without contributing one of your own. Is that the best solution? Besides, there are still people without the internet who rely on books for knowledge. Have a good day.
Brooke. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how amazing I truly think you are. You are such an inspiration to me and I so appreciate the joy, knowledge, skill, wisdom and passion you put out into the world. This is our future - to be innovative and active participants in our lives. To take responsibility for ourselves, even the messy parts! To understand that even what we flush down the toilet… is a renewable resource. :) Love you Brooke! From Massachusetts.
I'm 75 and have used a composting toilet for many years, however I use one smaller 2-(?)-gallon bucket (easier to handle), COMBINING liquid & solid and dump it daily into a rotating composter machine I got online from Walmart years ago. Mixing the urine drives the thermophilic reaction, hastening the natural composting process. When the composter machine gets full (about monthly) I dump it on the ground, move the composter machine a few feet (it's on skids) and start over. The chickens work the pile, which is already partially composted, and there is never any disagreeable smell.
How does the compost drum work in freezing weather? I probably have that same rotating drum composter for food scraps. Nothing happens inside of it during the Winter.
I have seen DIY composting toilets, but not with the pre-made seat with diverter and hose. And not with your set up with the hole for liquids and fantastic compost bin. You explain everything so well.
Thank you for handling this in such a competent, straightforward manner. Over the years, this subject has gone from being Completely Taboo to simply being something we need to consider. It is wonderful to see someone explaining the steps and the needs with clarity and simplicity, literally showing us what can be done. You're a gem for handling this plumbing issue with such aplomb!
Great video and toilet build. With all due respect to Joe Jenkins, may i add-- durt wirks very well as a cover. Also-- crushed pine needles, small bits of leaves-- in ither words, materials you may have in abundance. He recommends saw dust. I can't get much of that. Using what i have-- leaves, dirt, pine needles, combinations-- works fine. Trial and error.
As a Swede I appreciate you decided to go for a Swedish product - Separett. It's indeed a practical solution and easy to install and maintain. Also of course good that it is not an expensive product. I do hope it will serve you well for many years to come.
This is way cheaper and better than what we had living off grid. Being able to easily remove a 5 gallon bucket when it's time is far better than completely removing the entire toilet assembly and cleaning it. Great video as always. Thank you.
I love that toilet system. What an excellent option for offgridders with little water to spare. You know what I was just thinking? It's been a really long time since you did one of your overnights with a steak on the fire and just a chat. Maybe one this winter?
We live in a regular house in a neighborhood in Oregon. When we bought our house the first year I ripped out the toilet and built a composting toilet and have successfully composted our Humanure for over twenty years now. My husband and I pee in a quart jar and pour that in a separate 5 gallon container that has a funnel in the opening as we didn’t want to be carrying a sloshy bucket through our house in case we ever dropped it 😂. I rotate between three compost piles when one is full I dig out the oldest one and start over. We dump the urine bucket over the pile as it gets full. I generally have 5-6 five gallon buckets to dump each time I make an addition to the compost pile, rinse and repeat. The only problem is finding a willing house/pet sitter who doesn’t mind using a compost toilet when we want to get away for a vacation. Luckily we have a couple of friends who don’t mind!
That is a brilliant system. I would just say a slight improvement would be a hinged side opening on the wood box to slide the full bucket out rather than lifting it, and a trap door in your floor to lower it through. If you dug pits for the compost breakdown you also would not have to lift the bucket up so high, and the ground may help to insulate to aid the breakdown process in winter
When I first moved to Vermont, I lived in a cabin belonging to a friend of a friend that used a composting bucket toilet system with no urine diversion in an outhouse. Their main house had a composting bucket toilet system with urine diversion, and when they were away, I house-sat for them and emptied both the main house toilet and the cabin outhouse toilet. The outhouse toilet buckets did freeze during Winter, so I had to keep them stacked up until Spring thaw, but of course that wasn't a problem with the main house toilet. The funny thing was, I was already a fan of "The Humanure Handbook" for years, so my host wasn't expecting that I was going to be familiar with the idea. My record for using the outhouse was -14°F, and let me tell you, that is pretty cold on your skin! But, I can definitely attest to the efficacy of composting bucket toilets, and when I became homeless later on (twice!), I used a 5 gallon bucket with a Reliance toilet seat in the bed of my capped pickup truck, literally right next to where I slept, cooked, and ate for months at a time, with no gross smells or bothers. Even when I later moved into an apartment, I had a roommate who frequently hogged the one bathroom, and was grateful on more than one occasion that I still had my bucket toilet; she was none the wiser-no smell, no mess. I also house-sat for other people in the area who used identical Separett systems. It's a lot less gross and messy than it probably seems to people who have never done it. In fact, having removed and replaced flush toilets, I can say from experience that dealing with a composting bucket toilet is actually easier than dealing with plumbed flush toilets, and so much better for the environment, even if you don't use the resulting compost for anything other than landscaping, even though it's perfectly safe to use for food gardens.
Hehee, the list for next year’s projects is already growing! I’m using a composing toilet here now but it’s still taking the bucket brigade to drag it out every week, aka, me, lol. To have a urine diverter would be a game changer because that’s what’s truly the stinkiest part, surprisingly. And yes, my poop DOES stink! But not if managed properly, a handful over the top after I go is all it takes. To not have to go to my outhouse in -40 has been a game changer! Now it’s time to fine tune it. The cold is about to officially start, first snow today maybe, been a wet but warm fall here in Eastern Canada and it was only a matter of time. Thanks for doing the leg work on this one for us. Yurt looks awesome, Git ‘er done!!
@ yup, changing when it’s light helps immensely! But weather is not necessarily always conducive to those plans, especially here in Eastern Canada, lol. That’s the same reason for not going to the outhouse in -40, applies to week long snowstorms too. But like Brooke said, keep ‘er stink free and you can just put a lid on it if necessary and it can go out when weather clears. As long as you don’t let it freeze, it’ll stay active. Every time I took a bucket to my leach pond when I first started, I took a deep breath (crazy, I know) to see if I could smell it, haha! It took a whole summer to, “Trust the system.” It never smelled. Good luck to you and trust the system.
Brooke your taking basic home or Yurt engineering as in this video to its peak best , anyone with minor woodworking knowledge anywhere around the world 🌎 with some own land could copy or elaborate on this Yurt idea what you have come up with, I can't write anything more to say than you have done a wonderful job Brooke. Brooke.
Oder, vector and pathogen free. Some of us up in the high desert AZ used this best system. What a pleasant way to go. So much less work than digging privy holes and IT WORKS! A good neighbor build a handsome two hole'r. As far as know, this is the most elegant system there is.
I use a paper bag from the grocery to line the bucket. That way, all the solids slide out without anything gooey sticking to the sides. The paper absorbs any diarrhea, etc. Cheap thin brown packing paper works too, that comes on rolls. Everything is contained and biodegradable with less rinsing, especially in winter.
Have whitewater rafted for years and on the Deschutes in Oregon they replaced some of the old toilets to use wood shavings. What an improvement! No smell, no flies, so much more pleasant.
Been composting poop for over 20 years. I like the diverter. I would divert it to a bucket and spread the urine around for fertilizer and to scare predators!
Brooke, I know this is about a composting toilet But.. when you said Yurt, my brain went Yurt I love the yurt you built and the final result with the furnishings was adorable.
I have the same setup, however, I use the urine as a fertilizer, diluted 10 to one with water. Of course, I don't take any pharmaceuticals, and only eat organic produce, so my pee is 100% organic. My plants ALL love it, and grow amazingly. I use this fertilizer mixture every second watering. I ordered the separator for $50 from the UK. I use free sawdust from the lumber yard for the main compartment, and a tall flat container for the pee. I used a large bucket to hold the sawdust, and carved out an area on the bucket to receive the back of the separator. I put the bucket under a chair that had its wicker seat broken out. Perfect Victorian waterless toilet. PS Ebay now carries a bunch of cheap urine separators.
I use a similar simple system when I camp. I keep my composting toilet and my cats litter box next to each other. Her poop goes in my toilet and her pee balls are separated. Since she eats raw food her poops don’t stink like other cats poop who eat commercial cooked wet or dry food. Her pee balls get put in a separate bag. While I’m camping it doesn’t stink. I’ve had friends come into my tent and they’ve sat on my toilet that looks like a storage ottoman and they had no idea it’s my composting toilet. They comment with surprise how they don’t smell any foul odors at all. I use a pine cat litter that is just pine shavings like saw dust. We use saw dust from my dad’s saw table for our cats when I was growing up. It works well. Composting may be a pain. But I lived in a travel trailer with a grey and black tank. Now those were a hassle, esp the black water tank. And it SMELLED!!! BAD
I LOVE this!! I am absolutely in love with this concept. I cannot for the life of me get my husband on board….I will have to be creative…maybe create myself a “she shed” of sorts to have my own sanctuary from home life. I am always so impressed with your knowledge and ingenuity! Thank you for continuing to share on this platform to provide information and inspiration. You’re Awesome Brooke! ❤
I will be adding the urine diverter! I love that. I think I will divert it directly to garden. I use humanure now. It freaks my neighbors out lol. They just cannot understand why I won't get septic, and hook up to electric 🤷
Make sure you dilute urine before applying it to your garden. 10:1 water to urine is acceptable. Notice when a dog urinates on a lawn, the "ground zero" point is dead. But surrounding it is lush green.
@@MichaelBerkal I've been coming up with options for this. I have to be clever because we don't have city water where I live. I've been using urine in the garden for years and love the benefits.
Wait till they find out about half of all biosolids in the us [humanure] is * already * being used as fertilizer; though only about half of that (so 1/4 I think) is used in agriculture
I would open the top hinged in the front. It will keep the tube in the funnel and less cumbersome to remove the bucket. Just straight up. No having to maneuver around the separator.
Brooke, I would recommend putting that little bio tablet above the screen in other words not inside the funnel. When it starts to break down it's going to find its way into the tube and you're not going to know whether or not it needs to be replaced. You could end up with a plug line if too many of them end up in there, not fully dissolved. Thank you for all that both you and Dave do.
The guide book by Joe Jenkins is great. Cool dude, too. Met him at a workshop in Bath, NY. I used same composting toilet system for over 16 years. Will do it again when i build my next home (last home destroyed by fire). As long as one manages it, it does not smell at all!
Great video! I made one really cheap by just buying the urine separator and a regular toilet seat. I took the hinges off the seat and put flexible draught excluder between the two parts. My house is on solid rock so I use 1 gallon containers for the liquid and tip it on the garden daily. Works great 😊
Thanks Brooke for this wonderful information and video. I can remember when my grandparents got an indoor bathroom. Took many trips "up on the hill" to the outhouse ! ! ((hugs)) from Utah !
I have exactly the same set up in a small straw bale home on a small rural town block. It has worked for over 16 years with a family of 4. We use the composted humanure as fertilizer under the fruit trees.
We live off grid in Australia and a family of 4 has used one of these for 9 years. Works so well. You get use to emptying it pretty quickly. Never smells. Only problem is summer. We have lots of critters in Summer due to the heat so we get little flies slipping under the lid. We have to put a lid on it as well. Painful when the kids forget. You get little flies on your bum 😂
Thank you Brooke for this great information, it’s something I can build and hide away for that day if i loose power and it will be out for a long time, since i have a arobic septic and on a community water well , i am also getting several Ibc totes from work for free to set up my water catchment of rain water because if power goes out for a long period of time i dont see my water company providing a huge generator to pump water to all the residents and if that never happens its ok i can lower my water bill by watering my large garden from my 8 totes 😊 just hope i can get it all done b4 that happens. I like to be prepared.
Outstanding! I use coffee grounds as my composting medium. At the moment, I'm using a Camco bucket, but no urine feature. So, building a toilet like yours will work very well. I didn't know about the seat/diverter kit. Thanks!
Love the toilet! I made something similar but smaller to use in my Suburban when I camp. If I ever get off grid or close to it, I plan on utilizing something like this.
Brooke, I just want to send you a HUGE HUG and a BIG shout out to THANK YOU for doing this video and all the info included in it. I’ve been living in an rv off gridish and do not have a functioning toilet. I’m doing this until my tiny home is completed but even then I will be doing the same! Separating and composting. I’ve been collecting urine in a jug and disposing but I’m so excited to implement your way of doing it and wondered so often how to do that. I love it! I’ve also been composting and I agree 100% …. It doesn’t stink at all if you do it correctly. I’ve been using a bucket with pine horse pellets as a base and cover when completed lol.I find it doesn’t stink at all. I considered purchasing a composting toilet but as you mentioned and I have found … they cost WAY too much! I can’t wait to build mine like you did!! Thank you again!!! Have a blessed Thanksgiving to you and your family!! 💕❤️🦃
Very good! I live in a dry cabin also (no plumbing) I like this set up. I've an outhouse with a pee bucket and a poop bucket, and over winter I have a komode for the nighttime weeing. Summertime it's go to the outhouse even in the nighttime. This system is fabulous! Well done and great video
*You can also just use a bucket without a urine diverter for this setup! Just make the box and attach a lid/seat and you're good to go. Urine is a valuable addition to the compost pile adding nitrogen which helps with the breakdown of the material. Toilet paper can also go in the bucket and be composted with the rest of the material. I just wanted to try something new (with the urine diverter and the drain hose) and will be updating later on how this setup works for me. Having the urine separated does make the bucket lighter and easier to deal with.
Another option would be to capture the urine in a jug in front of the bucket and empty them separately. (Depositing them both in the compost pile.) This is a great option if you don't want to put a hole through your floor and dig a soak-out pit or are mobile.
Remember to use slightly damp cover material for the best capture of SMELLS. If it smells, use more cover, or use a more damp cover. The sawdust I get is from green wood and is quite damp which works great. If you need to, spritz it with a water bottle to dampen it.
Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.❤️
right you piss more than you should. So if you're concerned about the smell, you just pissed in a bottle dump on the compost , more often then you dump the solid waste😂
I save my urine and put it on young trees in my woods you can really see the difference.
We love our compost toilet which we made using Joseph Jenkins book. My wife had been super skeptical and even a little resistant to the idea at first, so i built one and didn't tell her. After i had been using it for awhile i finally showed her, no stink & she was sold on it. We've been living off grid for nearly 3 years & would never go back to a flush toilet. Great video ❤
I built one for my car to accommodate medical issues. 5 gallon bucket w a removable pool noodle on the edge, a gamma lid if sealing, and inside a smaller deli bucket of coconut coir for the back end, and a female urinal on a hose into a small laundry bottle for the front end. I used a separator method due to anosmia. This has helped in a clutch a half dozen times or more.
I live on Salt Spring Island in a small log cabin in the woods. On our acreage we also built a large log home with the logs off our property (32 years ago). When our daughters left the nest we moved into the small cabin. We have lived off grid since 1988.
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada (but you probably already know that!)
I raised my kids there from 1973- '89. On VI now.
@@whereswendy8544 ~Cool!
@@strawberryrhubarbtarotI did. Very nice place. Hello from the mainland 😊
@@cherylmosher6026 ~ I grew up in Vancouver 👋
I'm not completely off grid but 3 years ago I gave up on my septic tank which was never put in correctly when I bought the house 18 years ago. It constantly plugged up and I spent a fortune having it pumped every 18 months. The toilet was the only thing going to it everything else is gray water. It was going to cost 10 thousand dollars to put in a new septic system!
I tore out the toilet and put in a box similar to yours with a bucket but I do not have a urine diverter. I find it easy to empty the buckets into the composting bins. I have livestock animals so I have plenty of material for the compost. No more crossing my fingers every time I flush. Your cover material should be damp instead of dry. It seals in the odors better that way.
yes i forgot to mention that- thanks and thanks for sharing!
For 2 years now, I've been living off grid. I have a 2 bucket toilet system. One for pee and one for poop. I use sawdust to cover. I love it.
I also grow the best gardens
😅Billions and billions of gallons of water could be saved each year if everyone used this system. A really great and educational video Brooke.
Many thanks
David in the UK.
Not exactly conducive to town and suburbs planning. That's why it moved to a sewer system as it was no longer viable tk live individually like this. It's a great idea for those on land who have the land capacity to do so but far more people live in the city and suburbs than on acerage .. it's simply not sustainable with the sophisticated lifestyles of society today. And believe me, back in the day when I was born and this was the only way of living ,it was a tiresome and very demanding lifestyle for my parents. Govt rules about hygiene etc were none existent , our dunny drum was emptied straight into the rhubarb patch, none of this composting and waiting for a year. None of this separating fluids ftom solids, nah , all just jnto 5he dunny can and newspaper to wipe your bum with. No sawdust or wood chips back in the day. When it stunk in summer it just meant you were in and out asap. There was nothing dreamy or romantic about that way of life back then. It was damn hard work for both parents. There was no choice, it's just how you lived to survive. Without electricity or running hot water,nk fridge or freezer ...all your good was preserved to make it last. Either that or you died. We need to stop romanticising a way of life that was real hard yakka for both parents.
it could absolutely be done on small town lots
@@therealgirlinthewoods NO way would any town councilow this as a hygienic solution to human waste disposal. It's why they stopped it and put in sewer lines. People are not allowed to be individually accountable for raw human waste. As someone forced to be raised this way the greatest excitement for our family of 9 to our next dairy farm was the fact we had INDOOR FLUSHING TOILETS..... going backwards from this after 60 yrs is not acceptable. An 9nc8 erator toilet ,yes , but back to burying human crap in the back yard NO WAY. You want to choose to do it on acres of land ,off grid, so be it but it will never return to suburban backyards. Use your grey water to flush toilets, yes ,great idea. There's heaps of ways to use used water to flush toilets but regressing to human waste on buckets being emptied into backyard compost is fanciful and immature thinking in my opinion. I have zero desire to return to that nightmare way of life as a full-time choice. A camping holiday is totally different.
@heatherclayton-callaghan4270 the Compost Handbook gives many examples of it being successfully done in "urban" places. Joseph Jenkins has taught this in many places saving lives, removing the stink, making living sweet for the people!
@@heatherclayton-callaghan4270not to minimize your experience, this video discusses simple modifications that take the misery out of it. She's not romanticizing anything.
Everyone should buy a copy of the book and donate it to their local library, so more people have access.
In the age of digital content and internet is that the best solution
@georgecarlin2656 why are you criticising my idea without contributing one of your own. Is that the best solution? Besides, there are still people without the internet who rely on books for knowledge. Have a good day.
@@tinayang3845 you need to work on your ego and taking criticism.
@@georgecarlin2656 why?
Brooke. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how amazing I truly think you are. You are such an inspiration to me and I so appreciate the joy, knowledge, skill, wisdom and passion you put out into the world. This is our future - to be innovative and active participants in our lives. To take responsibility for ourselves, even the messy parts! To understand that even what we flush down the toilet… is a renewable resource. :) Love you Brooke! From Massachusetts.
Yeah she can.
I'm 75 and have used a composting toilet for many years, however I use one smaller 2-(?)-gallon bucket (easier to handle), COMBINING liquid & solid and dump it daily into a rotating composter machine I got online from Walmart years ago. Mixing the urine drives the thermophilic reaction, hastening the natural composting process.
When the composter machine gets full (about monthly) I dump it on the ground, move the composter machine a few feet (it's on skids) and start over.
The chickens work the pile, which is already partially composted, and there is never any disagreeable smell.
Can I be like you when I grow up? ❤
@captnhuffy
Hide & watch!
How does the compost drum work in freezing weather? I probably have that same rotating drum composter for food scraps. Nothing happens inside of it during the Winter.
@JohnHoranzy
Hard freezes in North Texas last no more than a week. In 13 years, to my knowledge, nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened.
@@WhatDadIsUpTo I guess the two large compost heaps is the answer for colder climates. Cheers!
I have seen DIY composting toilets, but not with the pre-made seat with diverter and hose. And not with your set up with the hole for liquids and fantastic compost bin. You explain everything so well.
thanks!
Thank you for handling this in such a competent, straightforward manner. Over the years, this subject has gone from being Completely Taboo to simply being something we need to consider. It is wonderful to see someone explaining the steps and the needs with clarity and simplicity, literally showing us what can be done. You're a gem for handling this plumbing issue with such aplomb!
Great video and toilet build. With all due respect to Joe Jenkins, may i add-- durt wirks very well as a cover. Also-- crushed pine needles, small bits of leaves-- in ither words, materials you may have in abundance. He recommends saw dust. I can't get much of that. Using what i have-- leaves, dirt, pine needles, combinations-- works fine. Trial and error.
absolutely!
With the issues they're having in the Carolinas and beyond after these disasters, this would be a game changer.
absolutely
As a Swede I appreciate you decided to go for a Swedish product - Separett. It's indeed a practical solution and easy to install and maintain. Also of course good that it is not an expensive product. I do hope it will serve you well for many years to come.
@@Vinterfrid yeah 160 bucks for a toilet seat pretty steep
Oh yeah, this is much better than the 1k composting toilets. Thank you for the tutorial!
This is way cheaper and better than what we had living off grid. Being able to easily remove a 5 gallon bucket when it's time is far better than completely removing the entire toilet assembly and cleaning it. Great video as always. Thank you.
I love that toilet system. What an excellent option for offgridders with little water to spare. You know what I was just thinking? It's been a really long time since you did one of your overnights with a steak on the fire and just a chat. Maybe one this winter?
I miss those kinds of videos!
We live in a regular house in a neighborhood in Oregon. When we bought our house the first year I ripped out the toilet and built a composting toilet and have successfully composted our Humanure for over twenty years now. My husband and I pee in a quart jar and pour that in a separate 5 gallon container that has a funnel in the opening as we didn’t want to be carrying a sloshy bucket through our house in case we ever dropped it 😂. I rotate between three compost piles when one is full I dig out the oldest one and start over. We dump the urine bucket over the pile as it gets full. I generally have 5-6 five gallon buckets to dump each time I make an addition to the compost pile, rinse and repeat. The only problem is finding a willing house/pet sitter who doesn’t mind using a compost toilet when we want to get away for a vacation. Luckily we have a couple of friends who don’t mind!
I'm an "nonsqueemish" pet sitter. I live in Applegate Valley, Oregon , if you need me😊
that's awesome!
That's gross
@@outfitr9703 Lol I agree but whatever works for them.
That is a brilliant system. I would just say a slight improvement would be a hinged side opening on the wood box to slide the full bucket out rather than lifting it, and a trap door in your floor to lower it through.
If you dug pits for the compost breakdown you also would not have to lift the bucket up so high, and the ground may help to insulate to aid the breakdown process in winter
When I first moved to Vermont, I lived in a cabin belonging to a friend of a friend that used a composting bucket toilet system with no urine diversion in an outhouse. Their main house had a composting bucket toilet system with urine diversion, and when they were away, I house-sat for them and emptied both the main house toilet and the cabin outhouse toilet. The outhouse toilet buckets did freeze during Winter, so I had to keep them stacked up until Spring thaw, but of course that wasn't a problem with the main house toilet. The funny thing was, I was already a fan of "The Humanure Handbook" for years, so my host wasn't expecting that I was going to be familiar with the idea. My record for using the outhouse was -14°F, and let me tell you, that is pretty cold on your skin! But, I can definitely attest to the efficacy of composting bucket toilets, and when I became homeless later on (twice!), I used a 5 gallon bucket with a Reliance toilet seat in the bed of my capped pickup truck, literally right next to where I slept, cooked, and ate for months at a time, with no gross smells or bothers. Even when I later moved into an apartment, I had a roommate who frequently hogged the one bathroom, and was grateful on more than one occasion that I still had my bucket toilet; she was none the wiser-no smell, no mess. I also house-sat for other people in the area who used identical Separett systems. It's a lot less gross and messy than it probably seems to people who have never done it. In fact, having removed and replaced flush toilets, I can say from experience that dealing with a composting bucket toilet is actually easier than dealing with plumbed flush toilets, and so much better for the environment, even if you don't use the resulting compost for anything other than landscaping, even though it's perfectly safe to use for food gardens.
great! thanks for sharing!
Betty White alone deserves a thumbs up!
Hehee, the list for next year’s projects is already growing! I’m using a composing toilet here now but it’s still taking the bucket brigade to drag it out every week, aka, me, lol. To have a urine diverter would be a game changer because that’s what’s truly the stinkiest part, surprisingly. And yes, my poop DOES stink! But not if managed properly, a handful over the top after I go is all it takes. To not have to go to my outhouse in -40 has been a game changer! Now it’s time to fine tune it.
The cold is about to officially start, first snow today maybe, been a wet but warm fall here in Eastern Canada and it was only a matter of time. Thanks for doing the leg work on this one for us.
Yurt looks awesome, Git ‘er done!!
Just change it when half full so it's easier to haul! That's how we are planning on doing it. No separation either!
@ yup, changing when it’s light helps immensely! But weather is not necessarily always conducive to those plans, especially here in Eastern Canada, lol. That’s the same reason for not going to the outhouse in -40, applies to week long snowstorms too. But like Brooke said, keep ‘er stink free and you can just put a lid on it if necessary and it can go out when weather clears. As long as you don’t let it freeze, it’ll stay active. Every time I took a bucket to my leach pond when I first started, I took a deep breath (crazy, I know) to see if I could smell it, haha! It took a whole summer to, “Trust the system.” It never smelled.
Good luck to you and trust the system.
I have great admiration for people who take care of their own sh*t.
Betty in the John! I just love that! 😂 ❤😊
Cool bathroom , toilet is easy enough definitely
Brooke your taking basic home or Yurt engineering as in this video to its peak best , anyone with minor woodworking knowledge anywhere around the world 🌎 with some own land could copy or elaborate on this Yurt idea what you have come up with, I can't write anything more to say than you have done a wonderful job Brooke.
Brooke.
thank you!
Oh Yeah! I'm so excited to set this up in my place. Water is just too precious for us to be pooping in it!
I love this video, it’s practical and simple, demonstrating how straightforward compost toilets can be. Peace ✌️
Oder, vector and pathogen free. Some of us up in the high desert AZ used this best system. What a pleasant way to go. So much less work than digging privy holes and IT WORKS! A good neighbor build a handsome two hole'r. As far as know, this is the most elegant system there is.
Moose looked so startled at the end when you did your "she gone..." ha ha!
Separett is great! We use a similar self-built version, but with a jerrycan for the urine, in our sailing boat!
A video I never wanted to see but never knew I needed. Thanks Brooke ❤
Well said!
I use a paper bag from the grocery to line the bucket. That way, all the solids slide out without anything gooey sticking to the sides. The paper absorbs any diarrhea, etc. Cheap thin brown packing paper works too, that comes on rolls. Everything is contained and biodegradable with less rinsing, especially in winter.
That's a great tip!
Have whitewater rafted for years and on the Deschutes in Oregon they replaced some of the old toilets to use wood shavings. What an improvement! No smell, no flies, so much more pleasant.
Been composting poop for over 20 years. I like the diverter. I would divert it to a bucket and spread the urine around for fertilizer and to scare predators!
This world is a better place because of you Brooke!! You continue to show us what is possible and doable! I'm learning so much! You are a blessing! 💖
Brooke, I know this is about a composting toilet But.. when you said Yurt, my brain went Yurt I love the yurt you built and the final result with the furnishings was adorable.
Great job love your bathroom 👏👍
I have the same setup, however, I use the urine as a fertilizer, diluted 10 to one with water. Of course, I don't take any pharmaceuticals, and only eat organic produce, so my pee is 100% organic. My plants ALL love it, and grow amazingly. I use this fertilizer mixture every second watering. I ordered the separator for $50 from the UK. I use free sawdust from the lumber yard for the main compartment, and a tall flat container for the pee. I used a large bucket to hold the sawdust, and carved out an area on the bucket to receive the back of the separator. I put the bucket under a chair that had its wicker seat broken out. Perfect Victorian waterless toilet. PS Ebay now carries a bunch of cheap urine separators.
Great video! If you can use coco coir from coconut husks instead of peat moss, it's a more sustainable option. ☺👍
I use a similar simple system when I camp. I keep my composting toilet and my cats litter box next to each other. Her poop goes in my toilet and her pee balls are separated. Since she eats raw food her poops don’t stink like other cats poop who eat commercial cooked wet or dry food. Her pee balls get put in a separate bag. While I’m camping it doesn’t stink. I’ve had friends come into my tent and they’ve sat on my toilet that looks like a storage ottoman and they had no idea it’s my composting toilet. They comment with surprise how they don’t smell any foul odors at all. I use a pine cat litter that is just pine shavings like saw dust. We use saw dust from my dad’s saw table for our cats when I was growing up. It works well. Composting may be a pain. But I lived in a travel trailer with a grey and black tank. Now those were a hassle, esp the black water tank. And it SMELLED!!! BAD
Thank you so much for the soak-away pit demo! I’ve been researching that already for a future cabin project.
I LOVE this!! I am absolutely in love with this concept. I cannot for the life of me get my husband on board….I will have to be creative…maybe create myself a “she shed” of sorts to have my own sanctuary from home life. I am always so impressed with your knowledge and ingenuity! Thank you for continuing to share on this platform to provide information and inspiration. You’re Awesome Brooke! ❤
thank you!
You are the hardest working, most intelligent woman i think ive ever see. Such ingenuity! Blessings 🙌
Wow, thank you!
And the ashes used with the compost in you garden. Chiper and more efficient. This is really eco-friendly. ❤
Love that you show your mistakes, like watching myself😂
Great video. I am still using the luggable loo version of this idea, time for an upgrade
Rock that Betty White painting, love it!!!
Just want to say Merry Christmas to you and Dave. Thanks for all the info you have provided.😊
Same to you!
Wow that is a beautiful toilet. And so wonderful no going outside in the dark and cold for sure. The bathroom is gorgeous Brooke. hugs
I will be adding the urine diverter! I love that.
I think I will divert it directly to garden. I use humanure now. It freaks my neighbors out lol.
They just cannot understand why I won't get septic, and hook up to electric 🤷
awesome
Make sure you dilute urine before applying it to your garden. 10:1 water to urine is acceptable. Notice when a dog urinates on a lawn, the "ground zero" point is dead. But surrounding it is lush green.
@@MichaelBerkal I've been coming up with options for this. I have to be clever because we don't have city water where I live.
I've been using urine in the garden for years and love the benefits.
Wait till they find out about half of all biosolids in the us [humanure] is * already * being used as fertilizer; though only about half of that (so 1/4 I think) is used in agriculture
@gavin9278 😂. Right I can see their faces now! I offered some produce their eyes opened wide. They politely declined
Cute shirt, representing the coffee shop. 💙☕
I sure do miss your visits to your cabins. They were always so peaceful and cozy.
I would open the top hinged in the front. It will keep the tube in the funnel and less cumbersome to remove the bucket. Just straight up. No having to maneuver around the separator.
I can't wait to get off grid and try this.❤❤❤
This is such a great video, very thorough!!!
Your place is great and your dog is fabulous too!!
Definitely saving this for when I get my property. ❤
Brooke, I would recommend putting that little bio tablet above the screen in other words not inside the funnel. When it starts to break down it's going to find its way into the tube and you're not going to know whether or not it needs to be replaced. You could end up with a plug line if too many of them end up in there, not fully dissolved. Thank you for all that both you and Dave do.
true- thanks!
The guide book by Joe Jenkins is great. Cool dude, too. Met him at a workshop in Bath, NY. I used same composting toilet system for over 16 years. Will do it again when i build my next home (last home destroyed by fire). As long as one manages it, it does not smell at all!
awesome!
This video was desperately needed. Thank you!! ❤❤❤
Great video! I made one really cheap by just buying the urine separator and a regular toilet seat. I took the hinges off the seat and put flexible draught excluder between the two parts. My house is on solid rock so I use 1 gallon containers for the liquid and tip it on the garden daily. Works great 😊
Excellent video! Thank you!!
Between you and Dave, y’all inspired me to build my tiny house (10’x14’). Liberation is inspiring, thank you guys…
yay!
Well done Girl!
Love the Betty painting!!!
Thanks Brooke for this wonderful information and video. I can remember when my grandparents got an indoor bathroom. Took many trips "up on the hill" to the outhouse ! ! ((hugs)) from Utah !
I have exactly the same set up in a small straw bale home on a small rural town block. It has worked for over 16 years with a family of 4. We use the composted humanure as fertilizer under the fruit trees.
awesome!
What a great instructional video
Excellent job and inexpensive way to be able to go inside.
You go girl in the woods! More power to ya 👏👍💪😊
That's for the information, Brooke! It beats spending thousands on a composting toilet. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! God bless. 😊
Great system. Seems easy enough to do!
Love how you live!!!
Enjoy!
This and your well video from way back are my favorite. I learned a lot! Thanks bunches!
O Wow lady, you are a genius.
Very interesting. Like you said, it stops you from going outside to go to the bathroom and a good compost. Take care Brooke.
We live off grid in Australia and a family of 4 has used one of these for 9 years. Works so well. You get use to emptying it pretty quickly. Never smells. Only problem is summer. We have lots of critters in Summer due to the heat so we get little flies slipping under the lid. We have to put a lid on it as well. Painful when the kids forget. You get little flies on your bum 😂
Love that book
Thank you, so helpful when we're all trying to cut our water bills.
Excellent job, as always, Brooke. Thanks for sharing your skills and projects with us.
Thanks so much!
Your bathroom is darling! Thanks for info
Thank you Brooke for this great information, it’s something I can build and hide away for that day if i loose power and it will be out for a long time, since i have a arobic septic and on a community water well , i am also getting several Ibc totes from work for free to set up my water catchment of rain water because if power goes out for a long period of time i dont see my water company providing a huge generator to pump water to all the residents and if that never happens its ok i can lower my water bill by watering my large garden from my 8 totes 😊 just hope i can get it all done b4 that happens. I like to be prepared.
good thinking
Outstanding! I use coffee grounds as my composting medium. At the moment, I'm using a Camco bucket, but no urine feature. So, building a toilet like yours will work very well. I didn't know about the seat/diverter kit. Thanks!
What a great video. Thank you. I will definitely be doing this.
Love the toilet! I made something similar but smaller to use in my Suburban when I camp. If I ever get off grid or close to it, I plan on utilizing something like this.
Brooke, I just want to send you a HUGE HUG and a BIG shout out to THANK YOU for doing this video and all the info included in it. I’ve been living in an rv off gridish and do not have a functioning toilet. I’m doing this until my tiny home is completed but even then I will be doing the same! Separating and composting. I’ve been collecting urine in a jug and disposing but I’m so excited to implement your way of doing it and wondered so often how to do that. I love it! I’ve also been composting and I agree 100% …. It doesn’t stink at all if you do it correctly. I’ve been using a bucket with pine horse pellets as a base and cover when completed lol.I find it doesn’t stink at all. I considered purchasing a composting toilet but as you mentioned and I have found … they cost WAY too much! I can’t wait to build mine like you did!! Thank you again!!! Have a blessed Thanksgiving to you and your family!! 💕❤️🦃
awesome thanks much good luck!
@ thank you! ☺️
Excellent video!
Perfect set up 💩🙏 Thank you for being completely thorough
Great idea, and I love the Betty White portrait. It makes for a fun bathroom. I saved this episode, so I can use it when I make our travel trailer.
Love the house
I dig a hole with a post hole digger about a foot deep for one weeks use. The dirt removed is to cover each use.
YOU ARE MAKING THE GOING GREAT AGAIN !!!
Excellent video.
Very good! I live in a dry cabin also (no plumbing) I like this set up. I've an outhouse with a pee bucket and a poop bucket, and over winter I have a komode for the nighttime weeing. Summertime it's go to the outhouse even in the nighttime. This system is fabulous! Well done and great video
She and her husband and daughter are so talented!! They can build anything!
@@SissyPeak-kq6vi Have you seen their son, Mick's channel? Betting On Alaska?
Their son Mick does alright for himself also. Betting on Alaska is his you tube channel.
And son Mick is amazing you g man
thank you
Good presentation, Ma’am.
good info. Thanks for sharing
Loving your channel Brooke!! This is so helpful and informative and well done!! Thank you!!!
Great video!
Hey Brooke, what a great build, thank you!
We finally got to see your Alone show with the log shelter build, you guys are truly amazing !!!👍🏻☮✌🏻
Merci beaucoup gratitude,Have a good day.❤❤❤❤