Anyone ever used a whole house composting toilet?

[OhioGuy]

something like this:

http://www.sun-mar.com/products/centrex3000.php

My wife and I were looking at a house out in the suburbs. It has about
half an acre of land, and is within walking distance of a highly rated grade
1-8 school, which would be great for our two children. However, it was
listed at a price that seemed too good to be true. Over a couple of days,
they lowered the asking price even more. (it is a bank owned property)
Although the place would require a couple of months of indoor work to be
habitable, the outside is in pretty good shape. In fact, it looked better
all around than either my wife or I expected.

Anyway, I drove there and looked it over yesterday. There was a notice on
the front door stating that the property did not have a working sanitary
sewer/septic system, and that due to a variety of conditions, a new one
could not be installed on the property. Hence, no one is allowed to take
residence. This is why the bank wants to unload it for very little, despite
it being in a nice location. No sewer is available, because it is far
outside the city limits in a township. No septic system generally means no
occupancy.

So, since I have an environmental background (B.S. in Environmental
Studies, 1996), I started thinking of ways around this problem. I've heard
of people putting in these environmentally friendly, technologically
advanced whole house composting toilet systems, but I've never talked to
anyone who has experience with them.

Evidently they use evaporative technology coupled with very low flush
toilets to essentially decrease runoff from the system to zero. In other
words, no drainage or runoff to worry about, and no expensive septic system
to install or maintain. It would probably still cost around $6,000 to get
installed, but it could handle two toilets and our family of 4 easily.

Anyone out there have experience with a system like this?

[Lou]

"OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote in message news:g0i2bb$ln3$1...@aioe.org...

So the curious question #1 is how the blazes did anyone live in a house
without a working method of waste disposal?

That aside, the relevant question here would seem to be will the relevant
parties accept this system to handle your waste - the
municipality/county/state (whichever is relevant at that location) and the
bank (or any bank) that you take out a mortgage with.

Toilets aren't the only source of household effluent - how about the
wastewater from laundry and dishwashing and showers, etc., in short,
everything that goes down the drain?

[nicks...@ece.villanova.edu]

OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote:

> Evidently they use evaporative technology coupled with very low flush
> toilets to essentially decrease runoff from the system to zero. In other
> words, no drainage or runoff to worry about, and no expensive septic
> system to install or maintain. It would probably still cost around
> $6,000 to get installed, but it could handle two toilets and our family
> of 4 easily.

But maybe not greywater... This NSF-certified system could do both

http://www.epa.gov/ne/assistance/ceitts/wastewater/techs/norweco.html

but it costs more ($15K?) and requires some maintenance, eg replacing
the aerator motor and adding chlorine hockey pucks.

Nick

[hchi...@hotmail.com]

On Thu, 15 May 2008 15:19:00 -0500, "OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote:

> Anyway, I drove there and looked it over yesterday. There was a notice on
>the front door stating that the property did not have a working sanitary
>sewer/septic system, and that due to a variety of conditions, a new one
>could not be installed on the property. Hence, no one is allowed to take
>residence. This is why the bank wants to unload it for very little, despite
>it being in a nice location. No sewer is available, because it is far
>outside the city limits in a township. No septic system generally means no
>occupancy.

Which red flag do you not see? Run, don't walk, from situations like
this.

It isn't about not being able to put in a working alternative septic
system, it is about laws and regulations. On 1/2 acre, your options
are limited. You likely won't get an alternative system approved, and
even if you do, that approval can be rescinded, modified, or revoked,
depending on political winds.

Somebody built where they shouldn't have, and the payoff has come.
The only sensible possibility is contacting the neighbors surrounding
the property to see if they would like to purchase parts or all of it
if you removed the house. Then buy it for a song, get a house mover
to take the house to inexpensive land that complies, and sell off the
land.