Re: [VACList] porta-potty

[Rob Super <rms@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Have you considered composting toilets as an alternative?

Dennis:

I did look at composters, must have been over a year ago, and found they were 
all either too huge or required 120v. Or both. On your suggestion I just checked 
out the Sun-Mar site: their Ecolets look like a tremendous improvement over what 
I'd found earlier, but I still have reservations on size and energy issues.

The footprint of the Ecolets is OK, but they are pretty tall.  The prospect of 
dealing with a folding step and that high seat within the confines of an RV could
get kind of annoying.

But electricity is still the big issue. Even the Ecolets come with a 120v. heater,
which should be used whenever possible, and there is an optional, additional, 
12v. heater available--it's optional because most RV/marine applications can't 
supply the 10 a. it requires. (That's 10 a. on top of the 4 a./12v. needed for 
the fan.) Looks to me as though this might be a viable set-up for those whose RV 
travel is almost exclusively to sites that supply electric hook-ups; even then, 
I note this caveat on Sun-Mar's site:

arrangements should be made to connect the ECOLET drains to a container  or 
small holding tank for disposal in an approved manner, especially if you are 
unable to incorporate the 12 Volt heater option into the unit.

Regrettably, and in spite of the technology having come a long way, I'm just not 
comfortable with trying a composter in an Airstream that will do any boondocking--or 
even much cool weather travel. At price of $1100+shipping for an Ecolet vs. 
$70-$160 for a Porta-Potti, I guess we'll stick with the latter. For now.

Rob