An Effective (and stink free) urinal
Yes I know, this is a subject not very high on peoples list of things to read about, but it is important nonetheless. It gets old, especially in the morning, being a coffee addict, going to the house every time I needed to do #1. Also if you know anything about "camp hygiene", you know that you should be away from your living area when disposing of any bodily waste.
I am sure that the men reading this (maybe not so much the women), have seen a "waterless urinal". In these there is no flushing required. When I first encountered one, I was intrigued by the fact that there was no "smell" associated with them (I have since discovered some that, due to maintenance issues, or lack thereof, do smell). I set out to find out how these worked.
The principle itself is actually VERY simple. As long as a layer of oil sites on top of the urine, the smell is blocked. This is the very basics of its operation and anything more is simply so that somebody can "make a buck" off of it. There are also companies that sell "magic, secret formula, oil" for use in these toilets. I found that simple ordinary "baby oil" works very well and even smells nice. I do not recommend vegetable oil, because of the smell of the oil itself.
Some may ask, "why a urinal and not just a composting toilet?". Well the answer to that is that after reading about composting toilets, they do not work well with too much liquid. Those must be kept relatively dry to function properly. There are even composting toilets that have a "diversion bottle" for urine because of this.
So I set about designing my own unit to test if this principle really does work. My requirements were, a storage bucket, a large "target", and something that would not require a large amount of oil each time it was emptied. So Off to Home Depot again for the "ingredients".
I used a Home Depot bucket and lid for the main container. I then inserted an internally threaded "bulkhead connector" in the lid. This has a single thread on the outside to screw it tight, and a "pipe thread" in each end of the connector. It is usually used to run pipes through a panel and provide a joint on each side.
To this I added a PVC "dip tube" with an end to thread in to the bottom of the bulkhead connector. The dip tub runs down to the bottom of the bucket (as close as possible). You can also notice that I cut grooves in the bottom of the pipe for the liquid to flow out. To the top I added the adaptor for a funnel I found at Autozone.
Here is the end result. Just the right height for average sized men, and possibly women (although no woman has had the need to test THAT theory :-)
To put it in to service, I put water in the bottom enough to where I know the level is above the grooves in the pipe. Then I put in the layer of baby oil. Due to the fact that the oil is lighter than water, it stays in the pipe and does not flow out in to the bucket. The only other required "accessory" is a spray bottle of baby oil to occasionally "flush" the "funnel". Just a mist around it is sufficient.
Now for the big question, DOES IT WORK?!
With it sitting close to my desk, it was time to put the theory to the test. Day after day, I used it as much as possible. The days became a few weeks and still I could smell nothing (after a while, not even the baby oil). I thought maybe I was simply "getting used to the smell". Then I had to leave for 5 days (with everything off, including the air conditioner) with everything closed up. I decided to intentionally not "service" the bucket to see what would happen.
Upon my return, there was no trace of smell. If there was going to be, it would have been during this time of high heat and no air flow in the box. From here, it could either be one of two things. Either my urine doesn't stink ;-), or the idea truly worked. It was time for the final test, it needed emptied.
The moment I popped off the lid, I learned that my urine does indeed stink! :-) The smell that came out, convinced me that it needs to be emptied before it is actually full. I think I would rather have been sprayed by a skunk than what I encountered. Either way, this experience left no doubt that this design does indeed work.
The only thing I would change in the future is to "JB Weld" a larger diameter pipe in to the bottom of the bucket as a guide for the dip tube. One other thing is a means to empty it where I do not have to remove the lid!
