De Grid Me #2. Building a Bush Dunny (outdoor toilet) at our block - the early days Part 2.

G'day,

So our first big decision and project when we bought our Bush Block was to get a Dunny happening.

We had an idea for the toilet system with some criteria that had to be met:
1 - It had to be stand alone and be 100% solar powered.
2 - It had to be environmentally friendly.
3 - There should be no smell.
4 - Easy to maintain.

After a lot of research, we settled on a simple Composting Toilet with 2 interchangeable chambers.

Ok, next job was to work out where to locate the dunny and how to build it.

Criteria:
1 - Should be a good size and very airy so it's not too hot.
2 - Needs to be up off the ground to handle the heavy rains we get.
3 - Must be bug proof to keep mossies and midges out.
4 - Strong enough to not blow away in big storms.
6 - Nice view!!!!

I decided to make it out of old recycled 32mm galvanised pipe with a trimdeck steel roof, shadecloth covering and half height bamboo cladding for privacy.
Power would be 12 volts from a 20 watt solar panel and a second hand deep cycle AGM battery. This would be enough to power the toilet exhaust fan, the LED strip light and a small auto cooling fan.

So here's a step by step run down on how we did it:

Step1 - build a gravel pad.

(No, before you ask, there are no bodies buried under there!)

Step 2 - Level it all out and slab it.

Step 3 - Cut up steel and get ready

Step 4 - Build it!

Step 5 - The finished product.
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Water tank at rear for washing hands.

White vent pipe has a 12 volt inbuilt computer fan to suck odours from chamber - so no smell.

Battery is in grey box just inside door and solar panel is on the roof.

The "Throne" has a straw composting mixture in it and we normally rotate the chambers about every 3 months.

Electrics - solar controller, fan & light switches.

So there you have it...........a fully functional Bush Dunny.
10 years later and it's still going strong. The only work I've had to do is replace the battery & exhaust fan once and fix some weather corroded wiring.

If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to read it all!