Fri Apr 16 02:21:02 UTC 2021
Today I wanted to talk about what I hope to use for my sewage and
gray water.
When I first started researching about going off grid, I didn't
think about waste water or sewage for a long time. I started watching
Bushradical on YouTube and he showed building an outhouse in an
off grid scenario.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTeo8OOxodo
http://mnw.sdf.org/Bushradical-BuildingAnOuthouse.mkv
This approach is fine for a single person living a simple life in
the woods, but if I ever wanted my parents to visit or to have
guests I felt this might be a bit too much. Additionally there's
a real risk of damaging the ecosystem or contaminating the ground
water.
This led me to septic systems and researching what those are like.
Septic systems really boil down to three components.
Water comes in, solids sink and decompose, effluent flows out and
sinks into the ground. The issue with this becomes obvious pretty
quickly doesn't it? The solids are being trapped forever in a
container. This requires someone to pump it out eventually. Most
systems are every 3-4 years but small systems or those that are
made out of a few 55 gallon drums last only half that. The Boss of
the Swamp youtube channel said he had some small barrel systems
that lasted many years at hunting camps.
This approach is what is basically accepted if you aren't hooked
up to municipal utilities. I'm not really a fan of this approach
because you have to get a pump truck out to your property, and I
want to live out in the woods away from a road. On the other hand
you get to have a flush toilet inside of your house.
Is there a way to combine them? Yes! well kind of vermi-composting
toilets!
vermi-composting is using worms to decompose organic matter.
Vermi-composting toilets are exciting to me because you get to have
a flush toilet, but don't have to have a holding tank or risk
hurting the environment.
I know this is short and not super detailed, but I'm hoping if I
write about it a few times it'll stick in my head.
Talk to you tomorrow!
http://www.vermicompostingtoilets.net/ - Note this is http no https
on this site, I had to disable https everywhere -
Red Tool house - Homestead Direct download of the first video
http://mnw.sdf.org/RedToolHouse-VermicompostingToiletIntroduction.mkv
https://youtu.be/P4WWTJiC6DE https://youtu.be/m4O_raH1PKQ
