Dry Flush toilet

ssobol

Active member
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Messages
3,638
Reaction score
6
C Dory Year
2008
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
SoBELLE
Here's something that might be useful on a boat. Seems to address problems like dumping, having sufficient water, spills, etc. Seems to use the Diaper Genie process.

http://www.dry-flush.com/

Wonder how much the unit and the refills are?

P.S. One website says the unit costs $585. Apparently it weighs ~26#.
 
Thinking about it some more. Instead of an electric motor to turn the drum (watch the video) there just needs to be a hand crank. For the vacuum part that sucks down the new bag, use a small hand or foot pump. Then no electricity or battery needed.
 
Well, when we dry camp out in the desert, we use a 5 gal bucket, plastic bag and a toilet seat that fits on top of the bucket. Total cost $15. No motors, no cranks, no vacuum.

When the boat is on the trailer, put a plastic bag in the marine toilet and tie it off after use. Again, no motors, no crank, no vacuum.

Boris
 
Looks more complicated than an air head toilet but perhaps a little less messy to empty. I'm sure the cartridges cost a bit.
 
Airhead $1000+ does not handle liquids as you must use a diverter valve and empty the wizz bucket. Plus this looks to be more portable as airheads require an exhaust with a fan to suck the odors out.
D.D.
 
Will-C":u1cdjaj9 said:
Airhead $1000+ does not handle liquids as you must use a diverter valve and empty the wizz bucket. Plus this looks to be more portable as airheads require an exhaust with a fan to suck the odors out.
D.D.
Airhead does handle liquids but it handles them as you describe. It diverts them into a separate bucket which is easily dumped. The airhead fan is not only sucking out odors but helping to dry the solids as they are composting. The dry flush toilet isn't vented but it does require an electrical connection. With quick disconnects it would be portable to another location that is similarly wired.
 
It can run up to 300 "flushes" on a built in battery or be hard wired to AC,DC or to a solar panel for continuous charging of the battery as well. So it could be completely portable if needed.
 
ssobol":7899qg2c said:
Wonder how much the unit and the refills are?

P.S. One website says the unit costs $585. Apparently it weighs ~26#.

Apparently the refills are $16.95 for 15 "flushes".

I found another website that says the unit cost is down to $420.
 
I can stomach the handling of a portapotty and its maintenance just fine but I really think this machine is pretty slick for those averse to any involvement with "residue" involved with a traditional portable unit. The cost of the refill is not cheap but if it were used only occaisionally, I could see the appeal. I wonder if this unit was used only occaisionally if the refill would need changing due to odor problems before it runs out of flushes. I imagine a couple of uses sitting in there for months may not work out so well and it would be a bummer to toss a refill cartridge after just a couple of uses. At a few bucks per use, I would consider something else.
 
Seal-a-Meal Mk II...
 
I too love the simpicity of the porta pottie. I only use ours in case of an emergeny. I try to avoid bad chicken. No pumps to maintain no crap stuck in our boat. I have half an Airhead so to speak as I wizz in a 64 oz plastic orange juice container and dump it when I take a shower. That way I don't offend the EPA. But this new toliet is a great idea just not for everyone.
D.D.
 
No Thanks--just where are you going to put that bag of human waste? (I assume that most will just whizz over the side or into some type of urinal--so you have the solid waste. In many jurisdictions (including marinas) it is illegal to put human waste into the garbage or Dumpsters.

So it is gong to be a $1:15 a poop in the twist a meal bag? There has been a semi ecology thread undercurrent--now we put in double lined plastic bags and disposable battery power with our faecal wast? Consider that dumpsters, garbage cans and trucks are not sanitized--and it is a great way to spread germs. Back when I was a maintenance man at the a Girl Scout camp, we took the garbage to a dump, and the dump was burned. After the cans came home, in the truck, they were cleaned with boiling hot water and soap, then a splash of bleach, before being put out for the next meal. Today garbage is put into bags, which leak and the cans are not sanitized!
 
thataway":1ykp76cp said:
.... just where are you going to put that bag of human waste? In many jurisdictions (including marinas) it is illegal to put human waste into the garbage or Dumpsters.
....

The economy of the thing aside.

This toilet works on the Diaper Genie principle where the baby's waste is put in a long plastic bag which is twisted between "deposits". The refuse in that case is human waste and a disposable diaper. Certainly all the parents that use a Diaper Genie are not taking any special steps to dispose of the waste generated by their child, they just take the bag and put it in the trash. Certainly all the seniors that use adult diapers are also not treating the soiled diapers as anything other than ordinary (perhaps icky) trash.

People put their dog waste in little plastic bags and toss it in the nearest trash can. Where I live it is against the law not to do this. There are bins and bags provided for this purpose. I have seen the staff of the nearby apartment complex put the large bags from the dog refuse stations in the dumpsters that also contain the trash from the various apartments. I don't believe that there is any material difference between human and dog waste. There are plenty of zoonotic diseases that can be passed from animal waste to humans and nobody ever said anything to me about not putting animal waste into the household trash.

As for trash bins and dumpsters, any organic waste that is left in them is going to be a breeding ground for all sorts of things in fairly short order. Some of them unpleasant. It doesn't matter a whole lot if the material is old food from your refrigerator, leftovers from lunch, clippings from your lawn, or biological waste. There are ways to prevent this but it requires the application and reapplication of fairly obnoxious chemicals. Needless to say, this is rarely done. You are right that trash bins and dumpsters are rarely cleaned, but I think that it might be difficult to determine if any given one ever had human waste in it or not.

Even if the bag broke in the dumpster it is not likely to add a lot to the bacterial load that is present. As for any odor, some dumpster are pretty ripe most of the time already (especially those in the sun all day), so the odor from the broken bag may not be that noticeable.
 
I've often wondered about this, because however much "dog do" there may be in dumpsters, I can only begin to imagine the number of disposable baby diapers there must be. I have read that, technically, one is supposed to rinse them out in the toilet before throwing them away, but how many people do that?! I can't imagine it's very many.

Not saying "two wrongs make a right," but just that -- as I've thought about the human waste/boat/disposal issue (and how it can be a hot button) -- I've mentally marveled at how what must be the massive number of disposable diapers with "stuff" in them that are simply tossed in the garbage, simply seems to go unmentioned or un-worried about in general.
 
Here is from one public health site: "Disposable diapers contain compounds that help solidify the baby stuff. Their whole design is aimed at containment and the local sanitary district considers disposable diapers to be solid waste. They are perfectly legal in household waste.
A plastic bag containing human waste is considered liquid waste and, unless it is treated with some sort of absorbent to solidify or gel it, it is not legal in household waste. They do not accept "liquid waste of any sort". When compressed in a collection truck the results are not good. Given that many municipalities sort trash for recycling I can understand this.
"

Yes, dog waste may have parasites--but most of use who do put do waste into the trash (at least in our house) triple bag it and there is no liquid . Consider that these 'Twist a meal Bags" will burst when place into a garbage collection truck and that hydraulic ram comes down--

As a physician I am concerned about the spread of disease thru human waste. In the Hospital a diapered patient should be checked every hour (the word from the Hospital Administrator RN who lives in this house--she was also against this type of sewage disposal). The faecal material in the hospital is handled as biohazard waste.

As for both baby diapers and Adult diapers, we have used both in our lives with our children and elderly parents who lived their last days in our home. Again, we used hospital type of precautions--gloved, chucks over the sheet, and cloth diapers, which were rinsed in the commode and then washed in separate loads. We occasionally used disposable diapers--but for the most part scraped out any "poop" and then sent the cloth diaper to the diaper service.

Most of the RV parks we frequent have special double poop collector bags--again no urine in the poop) and then the poop is put into special containers--and if there are no special containers, we double bag it--again, water issues.
You have your opinion--I have mine. If I am out side the legal limit , I will pump out. If inside the porti potty is dumped in a proper sewage system, not into a trash bag.
 
thataway":1kx6mbr4 said:
You have your opinion--I have mine. If I am out side the legal limit , I will pump out. If inside the porti potty is dumped in a proper sewage system, not into a trash bag.

I think we are actually pretty much on the same side here. I may not have written clearly above, so I can see why you thought otherwise, but I'm not at all in favor of throwing "poop in any old bag" into the trash. I was actually more marveling (in a bad way) at all the disposable diapers, and just wondering why that seems acceptable -- or at least does not garner any special attention that I've noticed. (I didn't realize they had special solidifiers in them.)

I have occasionally used WAG bags, but they have a gelling compound in them, and are supposed to be permissible - by design - to throw into the trash. But even then it's for occasional use (traveling and stuck on the highway, etc.), not as a main plan.

Sunbeam
 
ssobol":4orbq3yy said:
Here's something that might be useful on a boat. Seems to address problems like dumping, having sufficient water, spills, etc. Seems to use the Diaper Genie process.

http://www.dry-flush.com/

Wonder how much the unit and the refills are?

Here are details:

Dry-Flush Toilet -$455.00
http://www.oceanlinkinc.com/shop/sanita ... ush-toilet
12 Volt Dry Flush Toilet - Free standing unit, no plumbing required, 17 uses per cartridge, Unit includes rechargeable battery, charger, and 2 cartridges. 12 vdc, 4.9 amp during flush, zero idle current.

Dry-Flush Refill Pack $54.95
http://www.oceanlinkinc.com/shop/sanita ... efill-pack

Package of three refills
Includes disposal bag, bag ties and rubber band
Approximately 15 flushes/refill
Approx $1.25/flush event
 
journey on":2vvjkq08 said:
we use a 5 gal bucket, plastic bag and a toilet seat that fits on top of the bucket. Total cost $15. No motors, no cranks, no vacuum.
Boris


That is what I use on the boat. Of course, I never feed the fish where it is illegal to do so. The porta-potti is still brand new never been used. Keeps me legal if inspected and a 'holding tank' is required.

Martin.
 
SkyWriting looks like spam to me.
 
Back
Top