The advice “you get what you pay for” often holds true but the Envirolet toilet has got to be one major exception to this theory. I learned this the hard way by coughing up a serious amount of cash for this toilet and experimenting tirelessly but ultimately unsuccessfully to get the toilet to live up to Envirlet’s claims.
What exactly are Envirolet’s claims? Well, I chose the waterless self-contained model, Envirolet MS10 because it seemed to be match my needs quite well. The description of the toilet found here begins with “If you appreciate functional simplicity, Envirolet® Waterless Self-Contained Systems are the perfect choice.” I appreciate functional simplicity. That sounds great. This toilet must be for me. So I read on… I knew the toilet would be used by 3 people full time and I learned that this toilet was rated for 6 people full time. Great! There should be lots of room to spare right? Then I saw that it costs $1700.00? That is pretty expensive but I guess I would rather pay for a system that is going to work then buy some cheap alternative that turns out to be a failure.
It was really important to me to try a composting toilet to stop contributing to keep my sewage out of the river so I was willing to spend the money. In fact, I felt good about spending the money for a noble cause. Still, I had a few obvious concerns about the operation of the composting toilet. Would it smell? Would my guests be willing to use it? Would it really turn human waste into fresh smelling soil? I read on and was assured by phrases like “odor-free”, “simple to use”, and “totally reliable and highly efficient”. I was further encouraged by testimonials of customers on the Envirolet website. The Use and Care section prepared me for the maintenance activities that would be required to operate the unit and everything there looked quite reasonable as well. So with all of this assurance (and I’m still embarrassed to say it) I placed an order for my first and last Envirolet toilet.
I will give Envirolet credit for living up to one of their claims and that is the ease of installation. I had a special electrical outlet wired in behind the toilet space and ran the vent right up through the roof. I finished the set up by depositing the starter soil as directed and began to use the toilet on a regular basis following instructions carefully.
Newly installed Envirolet toilet
My initial impression was positive. There was certainly no smell to begin with which is quite a treat. The built in fan constantly exhausts air up the vent so even the foulest odors will never reach your nose …although you might occasionally catch a nasty waft outside as I would later find. Our household also got used to the new routines pretty quickly. There is not much to it as you can see from these steps provided by Envirolet:
Operating your Envirolet® is easy! Just follow the simple directions below for proper system operation.
SYSTEM START-UP
1. Spread Envirolet® Premix Starter Kit evenly over Paper Mat.
2. Gently sprinkle 1 warm glass of water over Premix Starter material inside Envirolet System.
DAY-TO-DAY OPERATION
Add 1/4 cup of Peat Moss (standard, garden variety) per person per day through the Bowl (Self-Contained Systems) or through the Service Panel (Remote Systems).
WEEK-TO-WEEK OPERATION
1. Agitate the mass by pulling the Aerator Bar (top bar) back and forth.
2. Add Sancor™ Microbe Accelerator evenly over the mass once every two weeks with a warm glass of water (see package instructions).
NOTE: Only use the Rake Bar (bottom bar) when emptying your Envirolet System.
SYSTEM CLEANING:
1. Spray inside of bowl with an organic cleaner or mild soap mixed with a small amount of water.
2. Clean the bowl as you would any ceramic toilet bowl. In Self-Contained Systems, the bowl removes for easy cleaning.
NOTE: Do Not use any harsh chemicals to clean your Envirolet® Systems. Chemicals can affect the natural composting process.
Please contact Sancor™ if you have any questions regarding the operation of your Envirolet® Composting Toilet System:
info@envirolet.ca
Canada 1-800-387-5245
The first few months of operation were relativity problem free but soon the honeymoon period came to an end. The first of Envirolet’s claims to be proven false was the promise of simple operation. We noticed that gradually the range of motion of the aerator bar had decreased. It seemed to be obstructed with dry hardened clumps of toilet peat moss and toilet paper. We checked the instructions again carefully. We were adding peat moss, microbe accelerator and were using biodegradable toilet paper. The only other variable seemed to be the amount the heater/fan were on. The exhaust fan needed to be on at all times but there is a switch to turn the heater off. I thought this might prevent the contents from drying up. Well this didn’t solve the problem and so began the first of many troubleshooting conversations with the Envirolet support staff.
When you call Envirolet for help with your toilet you feel kind of like you are working for them as part of one large messed up nasty experiment in humanure composting. What’s worse is I payed Envirolet $1700.00 of my hard earned cash so I could spend my time helping them learn more about why their toilet doesn’t work. Because the support staff are giving you scripted advice from a far off land they have an inability to truly help you diagnose and solve the problem the whole troubleshooting process really makes you feel like a hamster in a giant wheel of pooh! Spinning, spinning, vomiting, spinning…
I should probably condense all of the problem solving attempts in the interest of time so here is a quick recap. It turns out moisture management in the Envirolet toilet is a very finicky challenge. I was instructed to start using a spray bottle to dampen the toilet contents that were constantly being dried out by the fan and heater. I had many conversations with support staff about how moist the contents should be for ideal operation if there is such a thing. I never did get all of the dried peat moss clumps dissolved with this misting technique and broke one of the aerator bar forks trying to free up the whole mess. I was later told that peat moss wasn’t the best cover material to use despite the fact that it is written in their instructions!? They suggested I use some more of their enhanced soil to get things going again and they even sent me a free bag. Touching isn’t it. Because I was still determined for success at this point I cleaned out the unit in preparation for a fresh start. This was my first introduction to the collection tray at the bottom. Uuuuuuuaaaghh! The censored version of the story is that I emptied the whole toilet, top and bottom, with long sticks, gloves, masks and pails and deposited the contents in my compost pile where everything could actually begin composting as nature planned.
I started the official second trial optimistically. We managed the moisture, used their enhanced cover material and of course their special microbe enhancer. The next problem that arose were leaks. We kept everything just moist enough so the aerator bar could move in and out. This bar in theory spreads everything out inside the toilet so a pile doesn’t develop under the seat. Think about it though. How can a device that moves forward and backward actually complete a stirring and spreading task. It might work for matter that is more fluid like grain or something more wet like soup but not toilet waste. Nope. What the aerator bar actually tends to do is move the contents up to the front of the toilet. Since we were keeping the contents moist now, we now had the pleasure of leaks at the front of the toilet. Streaks of foul smelling liquid dripped slowly from the aerator bar seals sometimes even puddling on the floor. Uuuuuuuaaaghh! Gone were the days of odor free composting. This gave the whole bathroom a nasty aroma as the build in vent was no match for nastiness on the outside of the toilet body. The suggested remedy for this problem was to add more dry cover material. The consequence of that is of course the locking up of the aerator bar in the dry mass… and that leads to me having to clean out the unit again so this hamster approached this round of experiments much more hesitantly…but the experiments did continue for some time.
leaky front of Envirolet toilet
In the end there were a few faults with the Envirolet toilet that the support staff or I could never solve:
1. The seals around the aerator bar leak.
2. The aerator bar does not spread the contents around the collection chamber making the balance of moisture impossible. The back of the unit will always dry up before the front.
3. The rake bar on the bottom locks up too.
4. The contents in the collection tray after one year were in no way odor free.
There were also a few claims that proved untrue:
1. Envirolet toilets are not simple to use.
2. Envirolet toilets are not highly efficient. The heater element and fan will add noticeably to your power bill.
3. Envirolet toilets are not odor-free.
Therefore, after a long and thorough trial period, I finally gave up on Envirolet. It would have given me great pleasure to ship the unit in its full and nasty state back to Envirolet’s door but that would really only cost me more money and time and I was done working for Envirolet so instead I just cleaned out the unit one last time and moved it out of the house.
Before I finish here, I want to ensure you that despite my extreme frustration by the end of all this I always treated the Envirolet support staff with respect and patience. They are probably quite powerless in the whole thing and just given scripts of advice for possible scenarios they may need to discuss regarding non-working Envirolet toilets. Also, despite this failed initial experience with a composting toilet I do remain committed to the idea but have since turned to the humanure master Joseph Jenkins and his sawdust toilet method. As for Envirolet, they have refused to stand by their product and return any of my $1700.00 so I guess they are really just trying to take advantage of the Earth loving people out there with good intentions. I strongly advise all of you to stay as far away as you can from any Envirolet toilet out there. Yes the testimonials on their website say some great things but I have since found there are a lot more disappointed customers. You can read some of their thoughts here on the
Poop Report website.
The moral of this whole story I think is that we often tend to overcomplicate processes that are already working in nature. A well kept compost pile is capable of amazing things. We shouldn’t have to mechanically heat and ventilate our waste to live on this planet sustainably.
If you have any success stories to comment on please do. I’d love to help share the methods out there that are truly working. Alternatively, if you just want to add your two cents about your experience with Envirolet I would be happy to provide you with an audience for your rant.
