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Photograph of a waterless composting toilet Buyer's Guide to Waterless Toilets, No-water toilets & Low Water Usage or Water Conserving Toilets

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This article provides information about waterless & low water septic systems, waterless toilets, chemical toilets, incinerating toilets, holding tanks, disinfection septic systems, & greywater systems.

This document also has links to septic design engineers, advanced septic system products and books. Guide to choices among chemical toilets, composting toilets, low water toilets, no-water toilets, electric toilets, & incinerating toilets as components of alternative septic systems - Toilet product sources & product comparisons

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Buyers' Guide to Waterless Toilets, No-water toilets, Low Water Toilets & Greywater Toilet Flush Systems

Water saving toilet: toilet tank-sink combination (C) Daniel FriedmanWaterless toilets, low-water toilets, holding tanks, and graywater systems are alternative designs for sites where a septic system can't be installed or where water is in limited supply or not available at all.

Photo at left: this water-reusing toilet shown above combines a sink for hand-washing with the toilet flush tank. Water used to wash one's hands is directly recycled into the toilet flush tank for the next toilet use. This Stilfor [citation needed] toilet uses 1.6 gallons of recycled water per flush.

A similar toilet lid conversion accessory from SinkPositive [image] can be used to convert any tank type toilet lid into a hand-washing sink.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Examples of advanced septic designs which may need to employ waterless or low-water usage toilets include aerobic septic systems, chemical, composting, incinerating & waterless toilets, evaporation-transpiration (ET) septic systems, septic media filters, greywater systems, holding tank septic systems, mound septics, raised bed septics, pressure dosing septic systems, sand bed filters, peat beds, constructed wetlands, and septic disinfection systems.

Alternative onsite wastewater disposal systems can reduce the soil absorption area or leach field size requirement substantially and can in fact in some cases reduce the needed area to zero. For problem sites where space or soil conditions make it difficult to install a conventional leach field these designs are very important alternatives.

Alternative Septic System Designs for wet sites, steep sites, rocky sites, limited space, and other difficult site conditions. Consultants in this field can be listed at our alternative septic designers page at no charge by contacting me. Also

see SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECT DIAGNOSE REPAIR - home.

Massachusetts Title 5 Licensed Septic System Inspector, & New York State H.I. License # 16000005303 (inception to 2008). Technical reviewers welcomed and are listed at Reviewers.

Each of the links below presents an InspectAPedia article providing more in-depth information about each of these alternative toilet designs and wastewater disposal methods.

Water saving toilet: toilet tank-sink combination (C) Daniel Friedman

Product submissions are welcome Contact Us. to list your product or service here - if you are a manufacturer of waterless toilets, no-water toilets, low-water consuming toilets or other alternative wastewater treatment system equipment your product may be listed at no fee. Website content critique, additions, and suggestions are also invited. No conflicts of interest: We have no financial business relationship nor any other economic relationship with any product or service discussed at this website.

General Categories of Onsite Residential Wastewater Treatment Systems

Because various texts provide so many different views of categorizing wastewater systems, we have made this simple list which groups wastewater treatment systems into a few major categories:

(1) Conventional septic tank and drainfields using native soils for effluent absorption and treatment

(2) Raised bed and septic mound systems which take a similar approach but have to bring in fill to treat effluent

(3) Septic filter systems: various types of advanced material media filtration systems (sand beds, filter beds, synthetic textile filters, foam media filters including above-ground self-contained systems)

(4) AEROBIC SEPTIC SYSTEMS which insert additional oxygen into and agitate sewage in the primary treatment tank

(5) Waterless and low-water and greywater-separation systems, which may not really treat effluent, may not discharge anything into the environment, but which form another set of alternative designs where water supply or land use restrictions mean that a conventional system is not permitted.

Adding to the complexity of what to call various septic systems, there are also categories of methods of septic effluent dispersal such as gravity-fed, trickle-down, pressure dispersal, sprinkler dispersal, and intermittent effluent dosing systems which use gravity or pressure.

In case this is not enough, there are also various levels of degree of treatment of septic effluent achieved by different versions of these systems. So you may read about more than one type of pressure-dosing filter bed system which look a lot alike but which achieve different degrees of effluent treatment.

Keeping these general categories in mind when reviewing various off-the-shelf packaged systems or wastewater treatment systems with interesting but non-descriptive names (like the "magic bullet treatment box") will help you to understand the general approach which has been taken.

Further reading will be needed to understand the installation cost, maintenance cost, and level of management required of each type of septic system.

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2016-04-22 by (mod) - occurrenced of explosion of methane gas in or around septic tanks or fields

Laxman

I'm doubtful that there is a common hazard from sewer gas explosion from waterless or chemical toilets, particularly because properly used the waste tank is treated with a chemical that regards the formation of methane gas.

Watch out: But such portable or makeshift toilet methane gas explosion hazards can occur and can be very dangerous.

At CAMPING & EMERGENCY USE TOILETS we describe a near-miss event.

We have had direct email reports from readers as well as a few posted comments of methane gas explosions in which the gas source was a septic tank or septic system or cesspool whose methane gas exploded as a result of a nearby flame, spark, or lit cigarette.

A septic contractor in New York told me personally that he was leaning over an open septic tank to look inside while smoking; his cigarette ignited methane gas enough to burn the beard off of one side of his face. When we talked he was freshl-shaved.

A reader wrote of a methane gas explosion when she and her husband burned a pile of leaves that had been raked up over the septic tank.

Also see these examples of

Scholarly Research on Septic Tank or Septic System Methane Gas Explosions

 

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2017-02-21 by Laxman Apte

I want to know cases where explosion of accumulated gases occurred ,in spite of any flame or buring or welding spark nearby.

my email ID is
aptelaxman40@gmail.com

On 2016-04-22 by (mod) -

Rick, take a look at the chemical and composting and incinerating toilets in the list above. For temporary use and presuming that means most-economical solution, I'd look at a chemical toilet or a portable or camping toilet. All of those systems use a chemical additive that avoids odor problems.

On 2016-04-21 by Rick Lesco

Looking for detail on waterless toilets, also need for toilet temporary installation in a shed with electricity and bottled water of some sort and electrical disposal or chemical disposal and limits on odor.

Question: toilet using elevated rain barrell or water reservoir to flush

(Nov 10, 2014) Anonymous said:
Looking for toilet which uses an elevated rain barrel or water reservoir system to flush. No running water available. I do have electricity.

Reply:

Anon

Any flush toilet will work if its cistern or flush tank is filled, regardless of the source. You'd probably want a low-flush unit to make the most use of the limited water source you've got at hand.

The toilet tank can be filled by low pressure gravity water delivery - though depending on the fill valve choice some may fill more slowly than others.

Question: ok to turn off toilet vent fan?

(Mar 31, 2015) Lois M Hammel said:
Is it acceptable to not hook up the vent for 4 days on an electric chemical toilet?

Reply:

Lois

For a typical booster fan intended principally to avoid indoor odors that's ok.

The concern would be for a methane gas build-up indoors that could be explosive.

If the toilet is still vented to outdoors by natural convection then the safety hazard of a methane gas is of course reduced.

But if a toilet is in heavy use, not properly treated with chemicals, AND not vented at all, there could be trouble.

Take a look at solar powered toilet vent systems if you like.


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Alternative Toilet Type Articles

Suggested citation for this web page

ALTERNATIVE & WATERLESS TOILETS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to TOILET INFORMATION

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