If it's yellow let it mellow.....

"If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down."

Kind of gross to talk about, but does anyone do this besides me? I'm not sure how much water it's actually saving, but it sort of makes sense right, less flushes, less water used.

 

Yeah, my whole family has done this for as long as I can remember.

and yeah, it is wasting water. That's pure, clean, DRINKING water that you're flushing with. How silly we all are to even do that. You realize that water has to be purified before we're able to flush our shit with it, right? That takes energy, so flush less (that is, waste less water) and you use less energy. And in some places, it truly is a waste, like in more arid areas where that water is pumped from deep, ancient aquifers that DON'T recharge.

 

OMG, I can't believe I saw this here! We have this really great book by Sun Bear; which is where we learned this principal and little ditty. My children have added a third line; if its green, you've just lost your spleen
And yes--we practice this. We're implementing alot of cool changes, and are going to put together a grey water system from our washing machine to the garden this year as well.

 

Youd be better off throwing a brick or a rock in your tank... just so that the bowl doesnt fill up quite so high. The water you "waste" everytime you take a dump or drain you tank is not very significant compared to the water that is wasted every time you stand in the shower for 15 minutes. But I suppose every little bit counts...keep prolonging the inevitable...

p.s. dont leave it over night:S:S

 

I just pee outside mself. In diluted forms its great for the garden

 

apparently the stuff in your pee kills the plants off for abit, but after a while they grow back even better.

 

I use to do that but now that we got low flush tolets we don't do that as the bowl slimes up pretty quick, unless it's very dilute urine. I try to collect shower/bath water and use that to flush with

 

I had a roommate that did this. The smell after a while became unbearable. I figured out that putting a couple of bricks in the tank reduced water usage per flush.

 

I try to encourage members of my family to do this but sister always puts up this huge fuss about how it starts to smell (especially after my dad uses it) after awhile so she freaks out everytime someone lets it mellow, also, our dog drinks from the toilet constantly no matter whats in there, even though I try to discourage her (nobody but me will fill her water bowl).
So I though that if everyone started puttin the toilet seat and lid down after each use, the stink wouldnt be so bad and the dog wouldnt drink from there. I put notes on each toilet to remind everyone. The notes "disappeared" and the whol thing lasted about 2 days becasue nobody really cares, which sucks.
I am going to try to get some rocks or bricks for the tanks tho, thankf for that tip.

 

My mom and I usually do this. I heard about the rocks/bricks in the tank thing aaages ago and totally forgot. I think I'll talk to my mom about it

 

Yes I do the "yellow let it mellow" thing, always have.

 

Ok, there is a problem that needs a solution. Need a better fitting toilet lid and a seperate vent high in the bowl to pull out the odor. Is anyone out there willing t give that a go to see how it works. heck the vent could be a part of the lid.....

 

^Intersting idea. Though, if you're going to do that, you might as well skip the whole process and just set up a composting toilet system. Pretty easy to do, in theory. Check out humanure.com for info on that. In the end, that's really the best solution, in my opinion.

It helps if you have a bigger yard from which to collect vegetal refuse for the composting. At least, it would seem so.

 

I lived on a farm with an outhouse until I was 11 years old...some technology is good especiall when its 10 degrees below zero and you have "buisness" to tend to. very qiuck buisness I might add. Those were "self composting" especially in the summer when the self composted so much it was a difficult experience to sat in it long enough to get 'er done. Let alone wasps, flies, ants and the occasional snake curled up beneath the seat. Indoor plumbing might have its flaws the other option is not much fun.