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Model name: Centrex NE
Installed: September 1997
Poltimore, Quebec, Canada
We were truly ‘bushwhacking” with no phone, no power
and no running water at our two season cottage beside a large creek
in the Gatineau Mountains in Quebec. We finally installed a solar
system, mainly for lights to replace the coal oil lamps we’d
been using, and soon also had a twelve volt water pump bringing
water from a hand dug well. Meanwhile, a newly environmentally conscious
provincial government was discouraging the use of outhouses, especially
at ‘old’ cottages and dwellings in spring laden areas
such as ours, and had severe restrictions on holding tanks, and
we had no room for a proper septic field. We were also getting older,
and not so keen on the mid- night trips in the cold or wet to use
the facilities at the end of the lot!
We saw a cottage show on TV that featured composting toilets, and
began a quest to find one. This was a solution that would let us
have a flush toilet indoors that no government or other environmentalist
could argue about. At the time, we couldn’t find any units
for sale at retailers in Ottawa, where we live, so while on holidays
in southern Ontario, we took a detour to Burlington, Ontario to
visit the only Sun-mar wholesaler/manufacturer we could find information
about. While there, in addition to a lot of valuable information
about composting toilets, we obtained the name of a retailer in
Ottawa who would order a unit for us. We ordered the unit in mid-
September, and received it quickly enough that we had it installed
by the end of the same month.
Since we now had running water (cold) but only limited electric
power, in order to have the tiny inside bathroom look as ‘normal’
as possible, we opted for the Centrex NE Model. To get the composter
to the right level below the toilet, we dug a pit for it under the
back of the cottage, with an old fashioned cellar or coal chute
type door for access. The drain for liquids from the composter runs
into a pipe and weeping tile under the cottage towards the front
deck. Cottage life improved 100%.
We had problems with blockages in the pipe, especially when city
friends and family forgot our ‘Conservation Cabin’ rules
about using water, lights and toilet paper, so in 1999 we expanded
the Pit and rotated the composter unit 90° to eliminate one
elbow in the pipe from the toilet. The pipe now runs the nine feet
from toilet to composter in a straight line, and we’ve had
no problems since. The expanded pit also holds our solar system
paraphernalia, water pump and new hot water tank.
Rotating the drum, or ‘stirring the stink’ as we affectionately
call it (although it doesn’t!), is part of our regular departure
routine, and we empty the compost tray once a year, in the fall,
into our ‘safe’ landfill project behind the cottage.
We still have the outhouse, but only use it when it’s closer
than running into the cottage. Meanwhile, a brother who has a cottage
just up the creek was so impressed with the efficiency, convenience
and cleanliness that he also purchased a composting toilet!
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