Kildwick Compost Toilet Upgrades for our BUS CONVERSION//12V Fan and Urine Siphon – S04E19

A while back we built our custom Composting Toilet with the Kildwick Classic Separator.  Now that we are ready to build out our bathroom and secure the toilet in place, we were able to add some upgrades to help eliminate unwanted smells.

Many people think the poop bucket is the smelliest part of a composting toilet, but really it’s the pee that you need to worry about.

But with these 3 easy steps, you can eliminate smells from your toilet

The Stainless Steel Siphon from Kildwick helped us achieve both Step 2 and 3 this week. The siphon sits directly under the urine separator without directly attaching to it, helping direct urine into the hose leading to the grey/black tank. This eliminates spills as long as you are not parked at more than a 40 degree angle.  If that was the case I’m sure we’d have bigger problems.  This way you can easily lift the toilet seat when you need to add peat moss/sawdust to the poop bucket without taking your urine hose with you.

The other benefit of the siphon is the o ring which stops oxygen from entering the cup and reduces odor development coming back up.  Once the waste and it’s smells go down, it should stay down. Being stainless steel it is easy to clean.  It is attached to an adjustable bracket so you can fit the cup exactly where you need it for your own custom design.

The next addition we made was adding the 12V Fanset.  When we installed all our 12V lighting we planned ahead and added a wire coming down from the ceiling (where we knew our bathroom wall would be) to our toilet.  It is quiet, powerful and energy efficient.  We placed it close to the back near the poop bucket and it comes with a stainless steel adapter ring which can attach to a 2 inch exhaust hose. We are directing this exhaust hose down into the vented bay under the bus so the smells can be sucked outside and keep our bathroom smelling good.

What I like about Kildwick is they offer you a variety of options. If you are not DIY inclined you can buy the complete toilet from them. Or if you want to customize your toilet, you can select the products that suit your needs.

Planning our bathroom design has definitely been the trickiest room so far. It’s the smallest room plus we had to plan out where all the plumbing can go. We built out our shower wall using 2 x 2’s and ran all our hoses (urine diverter, exhaust hose and hot and cold water for the shower) through these studs and down into the vented bay below.  We could not simply go straight down from our toilet, as in the center of our bus there are various important bus components talking to the engine in the back of the bus. 

Our shower drain hose placement too had to be carefully planned in order to come down without hitting any beams into the vented bay below where the plumbing can make an easy turn into the back luggage bay where our water tanks will be stored. We were lucky to be able to get our shower pan custom made so it could fit our needs and we are excited to share our shower plans with you soon.

Up Next
We have gone back and forth many times fine tuning our shower design. We are finally ready to commit and make it happen!

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