The Incinolet ... a Stainless Steel Throne ...

[GoodClue]

To all interested in the Incinolet toilet mine arrived two days ago via UPS. Model RV 120 Volt 1800 Deluxe. UPS delivered a 90# box, easily loaded on my truck by the driver and me, then skidded off and dollied into my portable garage, easily by myself. Cost $1900, would have been $100 cheaper had I waited for their December sale, but I needed it YESTERDAY!

My current placement in the portable garage is temporary until I regain the bathroom space in my bus. Has become a very useful closet for clothes, but more importantly, electronic gear and musical instruments, tho not as many as Rudy's ... don't want these things to freeze. My small bus only has a temporary space shortage, ready for some redesign when I get shop space ... as an aside, am looking for cargo containers for my property and an enclosed cargo trailer for behind the bus for storage/utility purposes ...






I am utilizing a power pole for electricity with 100 Amp service. It had two 20 Amp breakers with 20 Amp GFCI recepticles, but of the wrong blade type ... standard two parallel blades (I I). The Incinolet required (-I I), for 20 Amp, 125 Volt so I replaced one pole unit with the correct GFCI at the breaker box today. I also ran a 25' length of 20 Amp Exterior 2 wire with ground Romex to the portable garage and wired the ends, one with the correct Male plug, and the other with an Exterior single gang weatherproof covered box with the factory recepticle for the Incinolet to plug into.

I vented the unit with the 4" PVC tubing and rubbber connectors sent with the order. Worked well, venting out of the 4x4 privacey tent set up in the garage, and long enough to run out the back wall of the garage.

I followed the factory's suggestion and reset the timer to 1 1/2 hour to allow for minimal usage, once in the morning, and complete combustion ... and just finished the first test run as suggested, with a cup of water. Works beautifully.

I will give a long term user review later on, Right now I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality of the unit, ease of set up and use, especially with my particular current application ... and I can see how it will work in the bus, a cabin ... UFO? ... they have a model for boats, too, and 240 Volt units for commercial/heavy duty usage.

The Incinolet is approved in the two Colorado counties I am involved with, Teller, where I now live, and Park, where I intend to move. Just not having to put in a septic/leach field on my lots is an incredible savings, let alone not having to deal with black water holding tanks in the bus ... I love it!

Doug

[Rudy]

Doug, are those liners made of paper? Are they for keeping the bowl clean or for facilitating your droppings to go to the furnace chamber? Can you use any kind of paper or do you have to use the ones from the company? Do you have to use special toilet paper? How often do you have to remove the ashes?
I sure like the concept of that toilet. What a great invention. Rudy

[TMAX]

Hi Rudy, don't know when Doug will be able to get back to you on this. Since I have had experience with this device, I can answer your questions. The liners are paper (they have not changed in over 40 years) and they are to keep the bowl clean (Incinolet assumes that water is not available where their product is to be used). The liners that Incinolet provides fit their units and work very well. Any toilet paper can be used (unless, since they now have a catalytic converter on them, you have to use unleaded paper). At the radio station, we all removed our own ashes after the unit cooled down (about 2 to 3 hours after use). Some things may have changed with this devices usage and Doug will be better at answering those questions.

TMAX

[Rudy]

Tom, When you wrote "catalytic converter and unleaded paper" I laughed out loud. Thanks for the smile. Rudy

[GoodClue]

Hi Rudy, TMAX ...

I'll quote from the Installation/Maintenance manual:
Bowl Liners
BE SURE that the top edges of the liner are below the lid when it closes. Otherwise, paper will burn outside the chamber and cause momentary smoke and odor. CAUTION: Failure to use bowl liner for each and every use will always cause odor and urine on the floor.
Bowl liners are made of a special paper coated with polyethylene film. This liner is necessary to catch and contain the waste, then convey it into the incineration chamber. USE A BOWL LINER FOR EACH AND EVERY USE. Liner protects the bowl and prevents urine from draining to the floor.

Catalyst
INCINOLET uses a heat-activated, platinum type catalyst pellets to suppress smoke and odor. Pellets are contained in a chamber within the incinerator walls near the blower, and do not normally need to be replaced. Inner and outer walls of the chamber are perforated to allow the blower to draw odor through the catalyst pellets. ...
... In time, pellets may become too closely packed to allow prper flow of odor through the catalyst. Dust and ash may clog the chamber perforations, forcing smoke and odor out through the front of the ashpan, throught the blower, and on to the outside.
If exterior odor is bad and inside of toilet is clean, clean the catalyst. To do this, open catalyst container by removing two nuts and cover plate. Use a small, handheld vacuum to pull out pellets. SAVE PELLETS! Gently rolling pellets in a flat pan facilitates removal of dust. Brush chamber walls to clean perforations. Put cleaned pellets bach and attach cover. Catalytic action should now be fully effective.

CARE AND CLEANING
Keep your ININOLET clean to prevent odors.
* Empty ashpan when ash is about 1/2 inch deep. EXCESSIVE ASH BUILD-UP CAUSES ODOR, SHORTENS HEATER LIFE, AND DECREASES EFFECIENCY. If ash is caked and hard to remove, just soak insert pan for a fefw minutes in warm water.
* Wipe up urine spills as they happen.
* Every 6 months - clean blower wheel and inside of INCINOLET.
1. Unplug toilet and remove top.
2. Clean inside with a detergent or a spray cleaner such as Formula 409.
(Do not use pine oil cleaners.)
3. Remove blower wheel and clean.
4. DO NOT STEAM CLEAN.
5. Stainless steel polish can be used on outside surfaces to keep INCINOLET's finish lusttrous.[/list]

I hope this answers some of your questions, feel free to keep asking. I'll set up a writing table next to the "Throne" ...

Doug

[TMAX]

Hi Doug and thank you for the clarification. I was unaware that the liners were coated, makes sense though. As far as proper care for this device goes, I never got a chance to see any operations manual. It was long gone by the time I started working at that station. Thank you / Tom

TMAX

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

"enclosed cargo trailer for behind the bus for storage/utility purposes"

Hey Doug
I put together this little solar trailer a couple of years ago and I think im going to put together a little bigger one with a indoor shower for when I go out of town in the winter months. There a little pricie to put together but worth every penny for short trips.

[GoodClue]

Tom, Dennis, Rudy ...
Happy to share what I'm learning, will try to keep my info accurate. Unless you can find equivilant replacements you have to order the liners from Incinolet. I purchased two extra boxes with the original order.

Today I pulled a backup propane Buddy heater out of the bus and put it next to the Incinolet hut to warm the place for winter use ... funny, never worried about heat in the outhouses I've used before, just did my business quicker.

Thought about Rudy's heat situation. Skirting the bus helps tremendously. I'll take some pics of what I did with scrap 2' foam insulation ... I pieced and did minimal cutting because I'll use it later for more permanent applications.
The idea is to stop the wind from whipping under the bus which really draws out the heat, and give an enclosed area like a crawl space ... can make a 40 degree or better difference from outside nighttime temps. There are two horses on the property that like to hang around my bus so I didn't use the window technique for skirting I spoke of earlier, tho still my favorite, don't want to cut a horse ... not mine to eat ...
Temps here have been below freezing for a month and a half, dropping to the low teens, and will get below zero at nights by next month. And the size of my bus makes a big difference, too. Interior space is 16' from front to back, and I do have it fully insulated ... floor, walls, ceiling under that wood. I currently use an electric quartz type heater by the back door, and a small electric ceramic towards the front, both set to cycle off at about 66 degrees. And I do have the woodstove, but have not cranked it up yet this year.
We are going to get another snow by the end of the week but today was in the sixties ... I love Colorado's weather. I'm actually getting anxious to use the woodstove, have it filled with scrap paper I've been waiting to get rid of, and the heat the stove produces is sooo comforting. A pot of water on top for humidity and evening tea ... where is that Phillipino when I need her?

I met a husband and his Phillipino wife several years ago ... he had a nice earthship house. He said she cried for one full year when she got here, then one day accepted her fate and been fine ever since. He had to go to the Phillipines and meet her family, gave them some money ... they did consider him a rich American even tho he was a forest service worker, planting trees. She now plants trees with him 6 moths out of the year.

Dennis, that is what I've been looking for. Cost is a factor, may be a while ... but your utility trailer is right on, solar and all !!!

Rudy, in season, when I was working in S. Colorado, I'd get a 40# bag of chilies, roasted on the spot, bring them back north and my ex and I would strip the skins, bag them in the freezer ... we'd put them in the crock pot with a roast, slow cook overnight till the meat fell apart, put on rice with it's own sauce ... mmmmn ... you can do the same with canned chillies, flavors the meat nicely ... warms you from the inside out.

Where have all the gypsies gone? ... hippie chicks too?
It doesn't matter what nationality or race, but I can't stop thinking of that gypsy woman dancing to my fiddle by the fire ...

Doug

[Rudy]

Doug, I am anxious to start crock potting. As far as skirting the bus, I may do what I did when I lived in a 1964 International school bus in Connecticut. I'll tell you about that in a moment, but first let me describe my first winter. The floor in the bus was still rubber. With the condensation in the bus and the cold floor, you could skate across it. It was somewhat alarming. The second year, I put down 3/4 inch styrofoam board insulation and covered that with plywood. I also used hay bales to skirt it. After a winter, the hay bales were all moldy and ugly black. They did do their job though. It was also that winter I put in a 27 inch wood stove. The stove was great, but with no one to tend it during the day, it took two hours to warm up the bus. The third year I discovered propane catalytic heaters. I had two 6000 BTU units and one 12000 unit. it was good to have instant heat. I think they were called Buta Thermex heaters. They don't make them ones anymore. Last winter here in Tennessee, the coldest it got was 5 degrees above zero. 20 degrees is about the average cold nights. Not too bad compared to what you have in Colorado. If I can get square hay bales for cheap, I may do that where I am right now. Quite often, in Tenn, the hay gets rolled up into big bundles. I never see any square bales in the fields. I will have go looking. I talked to my friend where I am staying about putting hay bales under the bus, but he expressed some concern about a fire hazard. I never thought about that in Conn.

[stuartcnz]

The fire hazard with hay bails is real if they have much moisture content in them.

Can you say spontaneous combustion?

[GoodClue]

Rudy,
There is a spontaneous combustion hazard with HAY bales in large stacks when wet ... and what you want are STRAW bales for construction purposes ... usually 1/3rd the cost or less, dry, no moisture content unless allowed to get wet ...
MOLD is my big issue ... nasty stuff for your body, aids in rusting the bus.
You could wrap the STRAW bales individually in plastic, may fit 35/55 gallon plastic garbage bags ... but rolls of plastic sheeting and tape is cheap, you don't need more than 4 mil thickness, like painter's plastic drop cloths ...
Strawbale house construction requires waterproofing to prevent mold/mildew ... large overhangs and no direct ground contact, usually 12" or more off the ground and protected from splashing. No strawbale house that I know of has spontaneously combusted but, like I say, they go out of their way to waterproof the bales.
Another issue is rodents nesting ... and in my case, horses that love to chew ...
2" scrap styrofoam insulation works great ... and I got mine free for asking at a constrution site ... I screwed angle iron clips to the bus and bent them over the top of the insulation boards, then drove tent stakes at the base of the styrofoam boards to anchor the bottoms ...
Here's a pic, please forgive the condition of the exterior, bodywork and paint are badly needed, but next comes the rear deck ...



Otherwise, sounds like you have everything under control ...

[Rudy]

WOW! Now that you mention it, I remember that in the middle of the winter in Connecticut, a big pile of grass clippings that we had made started on fire all by itself one morning. I think that the styrofoam or even wood is a better idea. To think how lucky I have been in my life to be saved from my stupid acts makes me wonder that I still have purpose on this earth. Thanks for saving me from what could have been a disaster.

[Rudy]

Smart thinking Stuart and Doug. Thanks again. Doug, I just LOVE what you did with the roof of your bus. You are an artistic guy. My bus needs painting also. I have been successful using oil based enamel paint by mixing one quart of Penetrol to a gallon of paint and using a brush and rollers to apply it. Look at the 1966 Chevy on my Blue Bird thread to see results. The Penetrol (basically linseed oil) makes the oil base paint flow like water based paint and leaves a nice sheen. The brush lines even disappear. It is durable. My paint jobs have lasted seven years. When the warm weather returns, I will do the same thing with my bus. Thanks guys for watching out for me. Rudy

[GoodClue]

Hello Dennis,
You do Great work, thanks for showing it. Talk to Rudy about adding leaded/stained glass, tho shipping might be a concern, he does great glass work.
Speaking of glass work, I've put a new link on my web page,

http://www.goodclueproductions.com

showing some church work I used to do with Vince O'brian before he passed away.

http://www.goodclueproductions.com/VOB/VOB.html

Also, images of the trailer I just bought in Salida off Craigslist ...
A custom made unit, used, cost $1,400. I think I did okay.











The cargo box measures 10'4"long x 5'6"wide x 6'4"tall. I'm hoping to use it for several projects, welding, concessions ... maybe someday I'll be able to put solar on it. Might be the new home for the Incinolet and a shower ...

[Rudy]

Hi Doug, Nice trailer. It looks sturdy. Thanks for the promo about my stained glass work. I must say that I stopped doing that over ten years ago. When I stopped, I sold all my stuff for real cheap to a guy who was driving a bus to South America to teach the art to children there. I no longer have the tools or glass, or the time and desire to do that work anymore. That is why I value what pieces I have saved for myself so highly. Thanks for noticing my work and thinking of me. I think the first thing you should do with your new trailer is insulate it to the max. I am sure that that is exactly what you are thinking. OOH, it is really cold where you are. I gotta tell you that I really don't miss the cold too much. However, there are things about it I really like. Not shoveling snow though! But, there is nothing like going outside on a cold winter's day and breathing that crisp air. I am, still, a Northerner. I must tell you, after all my travels, living here is the only time I have found myself to be a "foreigner". Well, the civil war is over and I really have not found anybody who wants to kick my ass because I am a Yankee. It has been pointed out to me that I am a Yankee, but I refute with this statement: " I'm not a Yankee, I'm worse than a Yankee, I'm a Canuck". That always brings on a startled look. It is then I have to explain that I am from WAY up further than that. I tell them then that I am from Canada. That is why I was able to read the things written on that web site about buses and trucks that Sharkey found recently. It is from Canada. I did not speak English until I was six years old. Even though I do not speak French here in the South, I have not forgotten it. I understand it 95%, I speak it 65%, and I read it 75%. So Bon soir mes amis. (That's, good night my friends). Rudy