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.
()
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!
Does it get cold there?
thanks for posting, nice to follow the off the grid project in development!
It's the middle of winter now....Lol..................max 33C, min21C.
Sometimes we get a 16 degree night down the block but we have a fire pit so that's ok!!
Great dunny setup ,keep it simple and it works :)
Nice work Plumey!