Compost!

I know the composting toilet is very intriguing. Think of it as an elaborate port-o-let, with moving parts and additives. Though surprisingly light and easy to move when new and empty, it's on the large side in order to accomodate for a rotating drum that stores the waste for weeks before dumping it into the lower chamber where it finishes "maturing." This lower chamber stores excess liquid and has a heater and fan that runs out through a vent in the back out of the cabin, then up high above the roof to keep the smells away.

A big part of the set up is finding your spot and plugging it in. The more complicated part is figuring out how to run the vent pipe out of the building and up above the roof. Conveniently, the bathroom and the best place for the toilet is against an exterior wall. Less conveniently, I don't have a power drill handy and wind up cutting through the wall with the combination of an old hand drill (the kind you crank) and a steak knife. Because of a poorly positioned 2x4, I am forced to go out of the wall at an odd angle, roughly 30 degrees right-up, technically speaking.

Surprisingly, this all goes beautifully until outside I realized my other vent pipe connectors will either angle up and away from the cabin or back at it directly, the problem in not going out at 45 or 90 degrees. I discover this at 5pm on the day we start needing the toilet and dash to the hardware stores. There I learn that this kind of pipe is really vacuum pipe, not something they carry nor which I will find within 40 minutes of the area. A more adventurous store sets me up with a rubber flexible connector that I can bend to aim straight up.

Attaching the vent stack to the house is rather easy, though a bit unwieldy in dealing with long stretches of vent pole. However, the toilet goes in and, as advertised, smells less than a standard toilet since there is less water and the vent working to move the smell out of the house.

At least that's how is starts out. Stay tuned for more.