Cinderella maintenance

We were able to open up the house surprisingly easily after its winter break; everything was in fine shape. There was one little issue, however. The first day we used the Cinderella, it was unusually smelly.

A bit of investigating found that the toilet had moved away from its chimney just the smallest amount, allowing some of the exhaust to blow back into the room.

I was able to re-seat it easily, and that fixed the issue. But we found that it had not burned its waste as completely as it usually does. Since the Cinderella was entering its seventh year of service, I thought it might need some sort of overhaul. 

I called Johan, our trusty Cinderella vendor, and he emailed me a maintenance document. Sooz and I cleaned out the exhaust pipes per the instructions. It wasn’t that bad, which we were happy to see. We also steamed it out with a litre of boiling water, and everything was back to normal. 

We will take good care of our Cinderella. It’s very important to us!

World Toilet Day

Today is World Toilet Day, as set by the United Nations.

I realize all my postings about toilets are half in jest, but the issue of sanitation is serious business. Over two billion people don't have access to any kind of toilet facility at all. 

WaterAid, a worldwide charity active in both the UK and Sweden, is working to raise awareness (and money) for toilet construction in the third world. As they say, "having access to water and toilets transforms people’s life chances, leading to better health, education and economic opportunities." Every dollar (or pound, or kronor) spent to improve access to sanitation and water provides 4 timereturns in economic and social benefits.

I am choosy about the charities I support, but there's no question I'll be donating on World Toilet Day, and I hope my readers, do, too.

Sun-Mar composting toilets

Since toilets seem to be the most popular subject on this blog, I've found another interesting design for our dear readers.

Sun-Mar make a range of composting toilets which, to me, are a bit of a hybrid between a composting and septic toilet. They make a self-contained unit, which is something like the tried and trusted Separett. It's quite a bit more advanced, however, with evaporators and dryers to speed and civilize the composting process.

They also provide a central system, where one or more toilets is connected to a tank beneath the house. Composting then takes place away from the bathroom, making the process even cleaner and quieter.

These units can run with and without water, and even with or without electricity. It's quite a wide range of composting toilet products. I am impressed!

The top two posts

I wrote recently that my third most popular post on the blog was about the "Word Cloud".

Now it's time to share the two most popular posts, and they aren't what one might guess.

The top —number one with a bullet, as Kasey Kasem might have said— most popular blog entry was about Toilet Technologies on October 9, 2007. It's had over 3500 visits. Second, with 2300 visits, was my December 13, 2008 post about St. Lucia's day.

One reason the older posts garner so many visitors is they've been around for a long time. Over the years, people have a greater opportunity to stumble across my past musings.

Traffic in the case of these two is thanks to Google. Both "Toilet technologies" and "St. Lucia's Day" are generic search phrases. Anyone typing in either of those phrases would be shown my blog post in the search results.

That's not true today, though. Google has become smarter over the years. Anyone searching for toilet tech or St. Lucia today will get results far more usable than my blog!

Pee Power

A recent article in the Economist touched on one of this blog's favorite subjects: toilets.

Well, not toilets, exactly, but rather the question of what might be done with the 6.4 trillion liters of urine produced every year. (I think a good portion of that comes at halftime of English football matches, but I digress).

Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a simple fuel cell utilizing microbes to turn urine into electricity. Besides being a (very) renewable energy source, the broader economic impacts might help drive construction of more toilet facilities.

More people in the developing world have access to a cell phone than a toilet. A business could well profit from a facility allowing a user to safely dispose of waste, and boost their phone's charge at the same time. Nothing like the profit motive to get those toilets built!

"Toilet!? Human Waste & Earth's Future"

My most avid reader, Maragret, sent me a story on a recent exhibition in Japan at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

In wacky fashion, the exhibition invites children to put on poop-shaped hats and slide into a giant toilet. Visitors are also "treated to a choir of gracious toilets singing their thanks."

The serious side of all this is to highlight that over two billion people do not have regular access to a sanitary toilet. Regular readers of my blog, like Margaret, know this is serious issue that is being addressed in many different ways.

It's still possible to have a bit of fun with the topic, though. I'd love to have one of those hats!

Another incinerating toilet

I found a fascinating article about a project which combines a bunch of my favourite toilet-related things: high-tech design, environmental solutions for the third world, and (especially) waste incineration.

The Solar Bio-Char toilet is being developed at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Solar power is used to generate very high temperatures, which turn waste into a sanitary charcoal. It's like my beloved Cinderella, except it uses the sun rather than electricity.

Given sanitation issues in much of the third world (more people have a cell phone than have access to a sanitary toilet), a self-contained system such as this could make a significant improvement in public health for many millions of people.

Boulder is a good place for such a project, as it is one of the sunniest places in the US. (It's also Sooz's alma mater!)

An ergonomically correct toilet

Everyone knows I love my toilet technologies here on this blog.

I recently came across a new type of toilet that was designed by a team in the UK. The idea is that the sitting position is much more conducive to the actual act of eliminating one's waste.

Most non-Western toilets are more of a 'squat' type, and apparently this is more natural and efficient for the body.

I'm not too sure about this, myself. I would have to give it a try... but not in the middle of a busy office building, I think!

The Peepoo

I found (through the @Sweden twitter account) an interesting startup company with the slightly silly name of Peepoople. Their mission is to provide sanitation to the millions of people in the developing world who suffer from a lack of sanitation.

The idea is simple; it is in essence a bag like the ones we take along for Ollie's walks. But the difference is that the Peepoo quickly sanitizes its waste thanks to chemicals in the bag. Also, the bag itself is biodegradable, so the whole thing turns into valuable fertilizer.

Cheap, simple, and turning something bad into something good. I think it's a great idea!

A toilet theme park

I posted a bit more than 5 years ago about a toilet-awareness organization in in South Korea which built a toilet-shaped house.

Sadly, Sim Jae-duck, the builder of the house and the founder of the WTA, has passed away in the interim. However, his house has become a Restroom Cultural Park, with toilets from around the world available for visitors.

Not sure if there's a Cinderella there. There should be!

Toilets on Mt. Everest

I read in the news about plans to provide toilets at the Mt. Everest base camp. Apparently the whole mountain has become a dumping ground, with climbers leaving behind all sorts of discarded equipment, not to mention their waste!

Instead of just cleaning up, the plan is to introduce waste management to the mountain. That is the right way to go. As any camper (or island resident) can tell you, reducing the amount of extraneous stuff before you start is most efficient. In fact, that concept has coined a new word: precycling.

When we bring stuff out to Aspö, we remove as much packaging from the items as we can. It is amazing how a few shopping bags full of stuff can compact way down with a bit of judicious unwrapping. That allows us to carry more in, and carry less out. A win all around.

Becoming sunnier!

We didn't sleep in quite as late today. The weather seemed to be improving, so we went down to the dock to dump our trash and check our mail (like we ever get anything other than birthday cards for me!)

Sooz decided to spread some grass and flower seeds on top of the dirt mound covering our grey water tank. I dug out the bridges I built last fall to try to get them to set better into the earth. I put some grass seed around my dug-up areas as well. Hopefully it will look great when we're back in June!

I noticed that our Cinderella exhaust pipe was knocked askew, probably by the same storm that took down all our branches. I was able to put it back into place but I feared it may not yet be sealed fully. I called Anders, who installed our bathroom, and he said he'd stop by over the coming weeks to take a look.

We spent the afternoon cutting trees and brush. I used the chain saw with no damage to myself, I'm happy to report. It is almost an addicting pursuit; there's always one more branch to lop off somewhere.

Tomorrow Sooz will burn the pile and we'll be all neat for the summer. Janne stopped by with our paper towels and ketchup, bless him. He didn't stay for dinner as the dentist really did a number on him today. We'll dine together tomorrow for sure.

Tonight is 'Modern Family' and 'Glee', downloaded over my surprisingly fast internet connection. First, though, I'm making Sooz listen to 'My Life In the Bush of Ghosts" which she's not really enjoying, I'm sorry to say.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I talked today to Johan, my Cinderella vendor, about a question I had. He remembered us very well after 3 years, which I thought was very nice. He told me his business was doing great; they're selling more Cinderellas every year!

Bill, you got nuthin' on my Don

Just wanted to try my hand at a rare blog post, just to show Don that I -can-.
So, thought I would share this tidbit about Bill Gates, just in from my pal Susan, seeings as the subject matter has been a major issue on this blog in the past:

"According to MG Siegler at TechCrunch, Gates went on and on about the future of latrines. One quote from Gates:

Latrines are fascinating. No one wants to read about it — it’s one of the greatest under-investments.

In Gates’ opinion, according to TechCrunch, he sees the current flushable toilet as ‘the gold standard’, but it isn’t efficient in terms of water consumption. He thinks that the tech sector needs to focus more energy and money on toilets."

Well, well, well. Don was right on top of this one (no pun intended) a couple years ago.

Toilets, once again

I read recently of a photographic exhibition of toilets around the world. It was created by the French artist and environmental campaigner, François Cuel.

His key quote: "The exhibition is meant to make people smile but also to invite them to think. Access to proper toilets, and more generally to water, is a privilege denied to many people."

I've touched on this theme before. Dealing with the issues of waste and sanitation at our stuga has shown me how much we take our flush toilets for granted.

The Independent has an article on the exhibition, along with a few photographs, here. It's worth a look.

The electricity is out!

About 7:15 this morning, I noticed my MacBook stopped charging and a quick investigation showed no power anywhere. I checked the big electrical cabinet and saw the main meter was dead, too.

Marcia called Vattenfall and their automated system said we had a known problem in our area, which was a relief, since it meant there wasn't a specific problem with our wiring.

She called back about 9:30 and spoke to a person who told us of scheduled maintenance to the high-voltage system on the island which should be done by 11. Apparently they sent a notification message, which I didn't receive, although I get their bills quite efficiently.

So now we're all queuing for the Cinderella to be back in service!

UPDATE: The power came on around 10:45. I let Marcia go first.

Toilets

Back in the olden days, before I bought the Cinderella for our house, I posted quite a lot about various types of toilets. Strangely, those posts were among my most popular.

I have found a website that far surpasses me in this field, however. A young man has filmed literally hundreds of toilets of all ages and styles, going about their business, so to speak.

He has a You Tube channel of his work. It's strangely compelling.

A quiet week

I'm afraid we're entering the winter lull, at least as far as the stuga goes. But there are a few things to report:

• Ulrika has our loan papers back and we should have the money deposited next week. That's good, because I owe both Anders and Jasper a balance for their work.
• I've analysed my electrical bills over the past 9 months. The cost of electricity, including all connection charges and taxes, is about 15kr per day. The electricity itself is 8.20kr, although with my new contract, it'll be about 5.90 a day going forward.
• My original estimate of the Cinderella's cost of 3kr per 'flush' appears to be correct. Half of that is electricity and half is the cost of the paper filter.
• And, lastly, my mother's recovery is going well. She should be back home next Thursday.

Japanese toilets

I'm back safely from Tokyo, and since toilets are a popular topic on this blog, I thought I'd comment on the hi-tech toilets common there.

The attached photo is from the men's room in a karaoke bar I visited last night. You'll notice the wiring and motor apparatus on the left of the lid. There is also a control panel on the right, with a whole number of buttons and switches, all in Japanese of course.

These toilets commonly have heated seats, automated seat and lid operation, little robot arms with warmed water and air for washing those sensitive parts, scent dispensers, and sound generators to either mask the noise of the user's functions, or to soothe the user for a more successful result. I'm not exaggerating; see here for a summary of Japanese toilet tricks.

I thought the hardest thing I had to do last evening was to hit the high notes in ABC's "The Look of Love" in front of a dozen colleagues, but no, I had to figure out how to flush—and only flush— this toilet at 1AM, especially after the ingestion of a number of alcoholic drinks. Thankfully, I managed it with no problems, which I can't say for my rendition later that night of The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back".

What we did well

I suppose as a companion piece, I should write about the good things, too. That list is more enjoyable:

• The bathroom, for starters. It really turned out superbly. The size of the room, our choice of tiles and colours, Tommy and Anders' workmanship, and especially the Queen of toilets, Cinderella herself, all make our bathroom the envy of many. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say it's nicer than the bathroom in our home in London!
• I also think we sited the house ideally. It perches nicely on the rock, and we have privacy with a nice view off both of our decks. I also added a meter to the overall length of the house in the initial specification, and that seems to provide just enough extra room inside.
• The kitchen is just big enough, and the extra space afforded by the IKEA cabinets, not to mention the built-in garderobes, is huge. We really aren't suffering for storage at all, even in a small house.
• Grant's bunk beds also are great. They make good use of his high ceilings and in a way, it's two rooms in one, the upper and the lower. He and his friends were "upstairs" watching videos late into most nights. (And sleeping late into most days, but I digress...)
  
• The Sky chair, especially hanging right over the edge as we've installed it, is a very popular place to sit. We're already thinking of getting another.

Fundamentally, though, to have actually done it, to have gone from nothing two years ago, to our own nice cozy little house, just the way we like it, well, I think that's pretty cool. As Warren Oates said it, "Those satisfactions are permanent."

Toilet problems

Not on Aspö, of course. But lots of problems on the International Space Station. Perhaps they should look into a Cinderella??