We are in France, an old farmhouse in a small village in the north. No mains sewer in the village so have a 'fosse septique' that, legally, has to be emptied every 4 years regardless, but no-one round here takes much notice of that. Our water is pumped by electricity from our well into a 150 ltr buffer tank kept at 4 bars pressure. The buffer tank keeps the flow at the taps fairly constant so the pump doesn't come on every time we turn on a tap, take a shower, or flush the loo. It's great having water straight from the ground with no additives like town water. We have a solar cabin on the property that we can run a cable from to the main house when we have (regular) power cuts. We ripped out the ancient oil fired c/h soon after moving in 15 years ago and installed wood burners, much nicer. Enjoyed your video and your lifestyle, I admire all your hard work over the years. Sorry, I tend to ramble on a bit ... Subbed.
debbie62140 No rambling.. if you use a cesspit and don’t empty it, you shouldn’t use any chemicals (bleach etc) or it won’t naturally decompose? And, what about the fact that the overspill is running away into the ground, will that not effect your drinking water or watercourse around you? Cheers
Thanks for the reply ... A cess pit is just a tank that has to be emptied when it's full, it has no soakaway. A septic tank (fosse septique in France) is designed to decompose human waste, the first chamber takes the effluent and the liquid overflows to a second chamber, then from there to a soakaway composed of gradually decreasing (in size) layers of gravel and sand. It must be as far as possible from any well, ours is about 40 mtrs. It only has to be emptied when the sludge builds up so much that its operation fails causing blocked toilets, but a recent law in France says at least every 4 years. We use toilet cleaners sparingly, most state if they are suitable for a septic tank system (or not) in the small print ... even in the UK.
@@debbie62140 Bonjour Debbie, we've got a small cottage in Brittany. We had a bloke come round last year to inspect our fosse septique, which he declared was okay, and said he'd be back in four years time to inspect it again. The law may be different where you are, but are you sure you need to empty the fosse every four years rather than just have it inspected? An English neighbour about half a mile away when his needed to be emptied, (owing to the previous owner being a prat and putting bleach down the sink and toilet), had a word with the adjoining farmer who sucked it out and sprayed it on his fields. The fields pen and unk a bit for a few days but otherwise no comebacks. I do love the way the French treat unreasonable laws with contempt!
I live in America and some states and some cities they won't let you have the septic tank only in city limits I don't know about other state but the state that I live in they they require that you have City sewage but if you live in the county line in the county they will leave you alone they they don't but I want you to a lot and there was a man that had a battle with the should I say the government the county courthouse toting that he had to get rid of it
Another great video, presented with honesty and humour. Great to hear actual practical day-to-day experience with this essential aspect of living off-grid. Still LMAO at 7:50 "Bloody crows! Just fu... Anyway..."
I love your videos Max. Just find every one is somehow amusing and uplifting. I'm off grid too and call me mad but I love the basic humanure compost bin method. I even enjoy emptying out onto the compost pile and adding the bio char and green mulch. For me there's a strange satisfaction in dealing with my own shit... And converting it into something productive 😁 Oh and I share my life with the love of my life who is totally happy to shit in a bucket and throw some sawdust on. She thinks you're an absolute catch BTW. Keep up the entertaining vids friend - you are inspiring a lot of people, including me 👍
Bloody brilliant video's, my dad lived this lifestyle for years and his friends still do, but you my friend have taken it to the next level, great stuff
Inspiring. Great info, thanks Maximus. Something else, maybe useful to know is, portable induction hobs (reliable industrial and domestic readily available in UK, from £50 -100 new) use only a tenth of electricity as regular hobs; I love mine and wouldn't go back to the regular if you paid me!
As a woman, I'll go anywhere private in the woods or outhouse but I have my hubby go with. He watches out for bear while I'm in dispose and he checks the out house for creepies before I go in and he holds the door ajar for me so I have light and he always has extra paper for me in case I forget. My hubby loves me 😍
Another very interesting, useful and thought provoking video (not to mention entertaining!). It's great to get very practical advice from someone who has explored various solutions and come up with the most convenient and easy to live with. Especially like the conclusion about not needing grey water recycling (in the UK at least). I've always thought a lot of nonsense was talked about saving water especially as it keeps falling from the sky. All designed to maximise water company profits in my opinion. I will definitely be deploying a lot of your excellent ideas in my future new build project.
Great video! Thank you for sharing this. There is some really useful information here. Also, I like how your former outhouse has turned into a 'leanaway'.
Just found your channel. I live in Gloucester and have wanted to live like this for some time. You are inspiring, and show it can be done with hard work and resilience. Well done you've created something special.
I must have watched all your uploads, Max, and often wondered about this side of the Off-Grid situation (how you dealt with 'waste') Good man, you finally got around to explaining. Kudos, lad!
Dazza Dee ye me too been wondering about the drainage set up since ive been following the vids. I love comparing how I imagined you doing to to how you really do maxThx for the upload. Btw How much mor e rain is there in the West country compared to the east coast ? And how many square metres of roof does the rain drip down from into the guttering to the ibc? I'm near a village at the moment thats famous for he lowest annual rainfall in the UK for some recent years but I get the vibe from your water collection system descriptions there's a huge margin for error/massive abundance so probably just means a bit more storage reqd in a lower rainfall area to cover multiple rainless days
I've just been out to measure and it's about 82 square metres on the barn and a bit less on the workshop. Currently keep about 3000 litres in storage, I could store up 7000 but even when there was 5 of us here I never really needed to store more than 5000.
Thanks.. I was looking last night at rainfall and it seems almost all of Devon and Cornwall falls between 900 and 1000 mm annual rainfall, east essex example 660mm... Pretty sure that's no barrier to collection and storage like you have
lol "The trauma of falling in there would just be awful..." that made me giggle :) we had sth stuck in ours and there was quite a bit of "interaction" with the open system.... quite unpleasant to say the least lol
Good Stuff. I am not completely off grid yet, as still rely on the robbing Electricity Company, but getting there. In my Bulgarian village, there is no mains water or sewerage so I had a 30 metre borehole sunk for my water supply supplemented by rainwater which is a winter luxury. Like yourself, all of my grey water and sewerage goes into our hand built septic albeit, I had a mini JCB dig the pit and then, we made a concrete base and used overlapping recycled house bricks at the bottom with the mindset that the water could seep out nearly two metres below ground and of course, made an overflow pipe from the top as you did and run it through gravel that I do intend to plant some kind of reeds in it when I get around to digging some up from the brook area that runs through my land. Now, we don't get a lot of rain during the summer months, but like today, we have surplus groundwater from torrential rain and that will seep back into my septic which causes a slightly not so nice smell in my toilet/shower room, but nothing that an open window doesn't solve or a candle. We built ours back in 2009/10 and have not had to empty it yet and when I do, it will be pumped out and sprayed on the adjacent Lucerne field as natural fertilizer (well that is my idea today until somebody tells me it is a bad idea). You live and you learn and we could all have done things differently with a bit more knowledge and sometimes money. I am going to start filming a caravan off grid project next year (next month if I find time) and for that, I can use the caravan chemical toilet and try it without any chemicals or, use the bucket system in an outhouse. There is nothing as good as your own body waste on your homegrown spuds and toms as long as you don't share how they taste so good with your guests. WINK. Thank you for another very informative video and yes, your drawings about as good/bad as mine are.
grew up with the best of both weekdays and school time in the city nice flushing toilets and weekends in the country with a bucket and chuck it! sitting here with a grin on my face and a few chuckles at your experiences. Memories of grandad digging out 2 x15ft concrete lined silo's cos he couldn't chuck it any more. everyone got fed up falling into the stinky booby traps on his property when walking about at night either camping in the summer or on fireworks night.
Well Dam i have always been under the illusion that i couldn't have a flushing toilet offgrid and im glad i can skip the composting toilet. really really great video, people always seem to use composting toilets so its possible to do it in other ways
I found this absolutely fascinating, thank you. :-) I used to live on a narrowboat, and modifying the heating system was something I really enjoyed while I was there. When I first moved on, it had propane central heating and instant hot water systems. There was also a calorifier exactly like your hot water tank that took waste heat from the engine and turned it into hot water under significantly higher pressure than the gas heater. In our first winter, we absolutely froze to death with just the gas heating system. We went through a bottle a week, there was no timer so I would have to turn it on when I got home from work, then we would retreat to the pub while the boat warmed up. We would return after closing time to a finally warm boat, but had to leave the heating on overnight unless we wanted to be frozen in the morning. Like the total n00bs we were, we ran out of gas on Christmas eve, and had to wait until December 27th before we could get more... In year two, I insisted we needed a solid fuel stove, so we bought a Squirrel with a back boiler. As the boat was 67ft long and the fire was in the front, I made the decision to plumb the burner into the gas heating system. We removed the radiators from the front room, replaced them with the stove, then used the pump from the gas system to send the water through the radiators in the back rooms. Once I'd figured out that I needed to remove the room thermostat from the system (d'oh!) it worked flawlessly. On really cold nights I'd leave the gas on the pilot light overnight so that when the fire died down in the early hours, the gas central heating took over just for the final few hours until I got up to top the fire up. It was bliss. :-) Had I stayed, I would have added a loop into the calorifier from the fire system, and I would have loved to have made the system gravity fed rather than relying on the pump. Eventually I'd have added solar electricity and thermal. Your idea to take leftover energy from the solar and put that into your calorifier is great, I'd have loved to have done that too!
Awesome video and insight. We are running a Polymaster 3100L Septic Tank, spill off goes down into a sand bed/shrubbery. Never had to have it pumped hitherto. Great system and easy maintenance.
Brilliant explanation of a successful project.....I used to live in a Victorian farm workers cottage (one of four) all our foul & wastewater used to drain thru a culvert under the road to what must have been a similar arrangement as yours on the side of a steep hill. We only had to have the receptacle emptied once a year by lorry....I now understand the principle..
I don't normally like a man with a beard....... but I totally love you!! "Bog standard Bog" 😂 ha ha! You're not only intelligent and resourceful, but bloody hilare too! Straight to the point. I've been told that's me today.. but.. in my opinion, it's the best way to be. Why sugar coat a shit hey?!! x.x
my eleven year old grandson said I need wyfi and a nice toilet before he will visit my off grid homestead. we are in the phase of building it soon, having purchased 13 acres for 43k and paid for well and septic and grating for the cabin. prayerfully will have it built before summer to retire. as to the toilet, it will be flushing but my husband was the one that decided against composting. wyfi...will have to see how much my grandson loves me I suppose, as we are going to avoid it. likely too much to do to fire up our laptops except for a weekly visit to have coffee somewhere and check our emails
You are an expert at the "keep it simple" method of making things happen. I have an off grid mountain home (8,500 feet elevation) and use a septic tank and leach field year round. Works great. My main water source is a 500 ft deep well with a submersible pump. I have second deep well for back up water if needed. Water level stands at 7 or 8 feet from the top on both wells so I use a hand pump on the second well.
Maximus Ironthumper: Both wells were drilled using a high pressure air rig and a "down the hole hammer." The hammer is a variation of a jack hammer that is attached to the bottom of the drill stem. The drilling compressor operates at 350 psi while pushing 1,200 cubic feet of air per minute. The well is cased with 6 inch PVC pipe. Since this is a "hard rock" well, only 20 feet of casing was used. The good news is these wells were already drilled before I bought the property. A point of interest is the Diesel engine powering the compressor was 450 hp.
Great explanation Maximus, loved the tap. I have the onion tank under the ground, emptied once every 2 years...ish which replaced the previous 3 chambered brick built system which couldn't cope with a family of 4 it was too small.
In the forces we had a hole in the ground and a telegraph pole to sit on... then a tent over the top......great for having a chat with ya mates while you take a download! 😂1:44.....’bog standard chemical loo’ 😂 You make a good point, women like nice clean shiny loos and loo roll holders i dont think they would go for the ‘thunderbucket’ as it was called in the forces! At a push until i had a septic built i think they MIGHT use a caravan porta potti at a push? Ive seen your type of septic built with sand filling the last compartment and/or broken ceramic drain pipe. This gave the bacteria something to live in and the water coming out was clear filtered water.
After discovering yesterday a rather major blockage of ploppage in the manhole in the yard (resulting in a lovely overflow into said yard, yuck!!), I though I'd look back at this vid and gain some ideas as to potentially making an outdoor bog in the garden using a septic tank system, because it's rather inconvenient to have the convenience out of action until the local professional turdherders come along to deal with the blockages, doubt I'll make one, but it's nice to have the knowledge in one's head... :)
"bloody crow ... just f" heheh, feel the same way about the pigeons when they are on my roof, the flat-footed f...ers! (we love birds really, but still ...) just discovered your channel at the w/e - great videos, much respect
We’ve been lucky to have videos and drawings of the jobs you have done to make off grid living as comfortable as one can.Please can you do a breakdown of any impending weed farms you may have in the pipeline. Cheer Viking brother 👍
I believe what you are describing is an anaerobic septic tank. Aerobic usually have some way of adding more air (oxygen) to the mix rather than just surface absorption. I have an anaerobic septic and they are by far the most common in Australia.
I can only imagine the out takes of this one... had a septic tank for most of my life. Take care of it, it'll take care of you... that sounds a little off, doesn't it. Good video anyhow, keep 'em coming!
Hi, thank you, I understood the septic tank very easily, you explained it well. I am in the process of sorting my septic tank out as it has been badly neglected and several holes in the sewer pipe leading up to the broken tank. Since you made it sound so easy I am now ready to tackle it with confidence.I am not a squeamish woman and I know it will be a peg on the nose job for most people but I will just grin and bear it, after all, once the job is done, it should last for many years without interaction. Thank you for sharing
You remind me of my high school shop teacher, how I admire that man and the wealth of knowledge he passed on to his students, are you going to get that zil running and reliable, maybe do some offroading and camping type machine with it?
I have a new engine and gearbox lined up for the ZIL, I do aim to get it running and reliable but have something a bit more exciting than camping in mind for it! Update in a few weeks...
Yes! we bought a piece of land in Germany with a crappy house and a big shed on it!! You inspired me to do it. I'm just an mechanic as you are, doing everything my own way and recycling everything to make something work. Came across your channel because i wanted to have a Zil, and now we (me and my girl) bought a piece of land to go offgrid... That was the introduction, now my question, The house has a 3 chamber waste water system like you've made, build following germany's strict regulations, I was wondering what kind of soap do you use to wash very oily hands, clothes an so on. I don't want to disturb the biotope in the chambers. Our piece of land is in a nature reserve (Naturschutsgebied) and I am keen on keeping it that way. Thanx a lot!!
That's great to hear! As for the soap, it might surprise you to hear I use the conventional stuff. For my hands when I need to I use industrial hand cleaner, for my clothes I use normal washing liquid. I avoid using bleach to clean the toilet / bathroom but that's about it. I rely on the fact that anything I use is massively diluted once it's in the tank so doesn't seem to cause a problem. Admittedly I've never done any testing on the tank contents, but it's easy to tell by smell if a tank is healthy or not. Best of luck with your project, it sounds great!
bartbeekhuizen Not sure how great this is in practice but I found this for my research. www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-make-soap-from-ashes-zmaz72jfzfre I’m planning of going off grid in the future and this would save money from buying soap.
Basically, a septic tank with a leach-field. Gravity fed. We can still buy concrete septic tanks, or plastic ones. There are multiple designs for leach fields or pits. What his septic tank lacks, are riser tubes for clean outs & repairs. Catchment is crucial..everyone should have massive cisterns to store rainwater, & good filters to make it potable. Actual composting using even the high-water-flush toilets, IS do-able. Refer to “Solviva” book by Ana Eddy, in Massachusetts, USA. Hers has been a flush toilet on upper floor of her farmhouse. It flushes into an insulated box chamber built on the side of the house, about 8’ tall, full of very drainable compost, coconut coir, etc., & worms (like red wrigglers). The solids stay on top of that where worms digest the solids, the fluid drains fast to the bottom, then out to a connected & protected-from-rain planter growing water-loving plants. She built it with 2 chambers, thinking the 1st one would need to rest for several months…but even after a year, including having weekend seminars with up to 30 people using that system, it still did not need to switch to the 2nd chamber. And, no one had to get grossed-out by seeing waste covered with sawdust or compost.
John Crapper was a genius. In Victorian London most tenements used the basement as a cesspool/septic tank. You can imagine what that was like when it had to be cleaned out, by hand. Though the muck was a good source of potassium and ammonium nitrates.
Most homes outside of towns and cities in Ireland use septic tanks. The soakage pit is the final stage after the tank usually about 15 x 20 feet by 6 feet deep filled with 3inch ( fist sized) stone.
I'm in Bristol area, was really happy to find that (in all likelihood) you live near here as I've wanted to do similar for years but thought I would need to go up north to find land.
I built one in the mid 90s. 8'x4'x 4'deep. Concrete block walls, on a concrete raft base. No seperation chambers just a mesh on the outflow into 6" perforated plastic pipe running 25 yard at a depth of 18". The lid was an 8 x 4 sheet of ally chequer plate. I've emptied it once after 15 years, with a vacuum tanker on a tractor.
Thanks for another entertaining video, Max. Is there a rule of thumb for how much drop you need between the toilet and septic tank to ensure a reliable flow? e.g. 1 foot of drop for every 6 feet of distance between toilet and tank.
Hi Max Without me sounding like a smart arse i just thought you might appreciate some further info on the septic principles ? There isn't any (aerobic) air interaction going on in a septic system. That kind of process occurs (oxygenation) within rotated composting heaps ... but in a septic system it is quite the opposite ! An-aerobic digestion occurs within the fluid suspension and it is the HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time ), temperature, PH balance and archaeic volume that create the breakdown of organic matter within a septic vessel. Bubbling ponds and swamp gas are an ideal example ! (The by-product (under controlled conditions) is Methane and other gasses / Biogas which is 20 times more damaging to the environment that CO2. (Hence, farting cattle being of concern) However when burned, (Biogas) it is no more offensive than any other carbon-based fuel, and is a useful energy source. Even being piped by large biogas plants into our natural gas reserves.) Enzymes and Microbes are involved in the processes of Hydro-lysis, Acido-genesis, Aceto-genesis, then Methano-genesis which all occur ANAEROBICALLY. And then all that remains is pathogen-free fertiliser, compost and gases. Hope its been interesting? Enjoying your content otherwise ... Thanks for sharing ! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas
Does your bathwater use the same system? edit: Literally the moment after I posted the comment you explained that it does - all grey and black water :D
Yeah, you really want to separate the solids and liquids and then it isn't that much of a problem. You just need a funnel leading to a bucket or whatever at the front and the bucket for solids at the back and you can use sawdust and some people say aromatic stuff like coffee grounds help but sawdust should really suffice. Yeah well a nice attack of dysentery will put you off of a lot of things. I would rather have a flushing loo but it's the next best option and it will have to do until I get a proper water harvesting thing going. Well I think even I understood the mini septic tank. I want beehives too! AN aerobic that would be methinks?
Quick question max iv seen a few of your videos My question is if I get woodland and a bit of a field and put something to live in do the same rules apply to out standingNatural beauty land ??????? Looking forward to your to your reply as iv a chance of land but not green belt but woodland about 1Acre and half acre of grass
Thanks for all your videos Max (haven't seen much of Project Awesome lately...?). Question, with the little cabin system, did you need to vent the septic tank? or did you just bury it? Not sure if this could become a problem or not... Cheers! F**king crows!
Yep it's vented. As it drops very steeply downhill from the cabin to the tank, I decided the vent out the back of the cabin would suffice for the whole system. There was a little mini update on Project Awesome a week or so ago, more will follow!
Great informative video, it would be interesting to know how you constructed the soak away, which is the Achilles heal in these systems, if they block up its usually brings the system to an halt, as my friends have told me.
That was great, I always wanted to know, it’s looking for me like a retirement off the grid future, also if you have videos on building your house, the cost, do you have to pay for land? any advice would help, Dave
That was very useful, does the grey water go into the septic tank, or do you filter it separately? I now understand why our modern tank is not so good.
Very interesting and highly informative, But how on earth did you know how to do all that?! You sound to me, by the way that you speak, that you have had some kind of scientific and or engineering training?
On the contrary, I'm a dropout. I did make it to uni but only for a few months, turned out to be just not my thing and I couldn't really afford it either. I just read a lot!
Really enjoy your videos. We are doing something similar here in Devon. Great idea re the trench arch. What pipe did you use for the trench arch soakaway? Seems much better than a traditional leach field, and potentially much cheaper, if only I can find cheap enough pipe to cut down lengthways. Would really appreciate your help.
The pipe I used was plastic ribbed pipe about 300mm in diameter and I cut it down the middle with a chainsaw - it seems fine but I didn't buy it or even choose it - it was in a pile of road works stuff that had been left behind by a previous owner of the land. I got the idea from a book on the subject by the Centre for Alternative Technology on the subject.
So you broke rule No.1, never let the wet and dry mix. Reeds in gravel sort out the Pee, compost the 'dry' ( assuming you have a good, mainly veg., diet) and here really is no smell.
07:50 "Bloody Crows....Just fu..." *CUT* "So anyway...." This moment made me chuckle
This guy’s really got his shit together
Love your videos, our septic tank was built in 1963 and has never been emptied ... 57yrs and counting .....
17"18 "And there's a cat" LOL! 😂 It looks like a Bengal Cross
We are in France, an old farmhouse in a small village in the north. No mains sewer in the village so have a 'fosse septique' that, legally, has to be emptied every 4 years regardless, but no-one round here takes much notice of that. Our water is pumped by electricity from our well into a 150 ltr buffer tank kept at 4 bars pressure. The buffer tank keeps the flow at the taps fairly constant so the pump doesn't come on every time we turn on a tap, take a shower, or flush the loo. It's great having water straight from the ground with no additives like town water. We have a solar cabin on the property that we can run a cable from to the main house when we have (regular) power cuts. We ripped out the ancient oil fired c/h soon after moving in 15 years ago and installed wood burners, much nicer. Enjoyed your video and your lifestyle, I admire all your hard work over the years. Sorry, I tend to ramble on a bit ... Subbed.
debbie62140 No rambling.. if you use a cesspit and don’t empty it, you shouldn’t use any chemicals (bleach etc) or it won’t naturally decompose? And, what about the fact that the overspill is running away into the ground, will that not effect your drinking water or watercourse around you? Cheers
Thanks for the reply ... A cess pit is just a tank that has to be emptied when it's full, it has no soakaway. A septic tank (fosse septique in France) is designed to decompose human waste, the first chamber takes the effluent and the liquid overflows to a second chamber, then from there to a soakaway composed of gradually decreasing (in size) layers of gravel and sand. It must be as far as possible from any well, ours is about 40 mtrs. It only has to be emptied when the sludge builds up so much that its operation fails causing blocked toilets, but a recent law in France says at least every 4 years. We use toilet cleaners sparingly, most state if they are suitable for a septic tank system (or not) in the small print ... even in the UK.
@@debbie62140 Bonjour Debbie, we've got a small cottage in Brittany. We had a bloke come round last year to inspect our fosse septique, which he declared was okay, and said he'd be back in four years time to inspect it again. The law may be different where you are, but are you sure you need to empty the fosse every four years rather than just have it inspected? An English neighbour about half a mile away when his needed to be emptied, (owing to the previous owner being a prat and putting bleach down the sink and toilet), had a word with the adjoining farmer who sucked it out and sprayed it on his fields. The fields pen and unk a bit for a few days but otherwise no comebacks. I do love the way the French treat unreasonable laws with contempt!
I live in America and some states and some cities they won't let you have the septic tank only in city limits I don't know about other state but the state that I live in they they require that you have City sewage but if you live in the county line in the county they will leave you alone they they don't but I want you to a lot and there was a man that had a battle with the should I say the government the county courthouse toting that he had to get rid of it
Ramble on it's interesting! Regards from a city, Liverpool!
It's the one great thread that links travellers, boaters and off-grid living people in general.
Toilets.
Definitely, if I may add...condensation, electricity generation and where to get mail 😜
We love the clipboard drawings!
Maxcad
Another great video, presented with honesty and humour. Great to hear actual practical day-to-day experience with this essential aspect of living off-grid.
Still LMAO at 7:50 "Bloody crows! Just fu... Anyway..."
terry bullock lol
I love your videos Max. Just find every one is somehow amusing and uplifting. I'm off grid too and call me mad but I love the basic humanure compost bin method. I even enjoy emptying out onto the compost pile and adding the bio char and green mulch. For me there's a strange satisfaction in dealing with my own shit... And converting it into something productive 😁
Oh and I share my life with the love of my life who is totally happy to shit in a bucket and throw some sawdust on. She thinks you're an absolute catch BTW. Keep up the entertaining vids friend - you are inspiring a lot of people, including me 👍
That bathroom is really nice!
An absolute epic Max.....just blown away by your ingenuity....thanks for this...
You, sir, are an inspiration. Thanks so much for making these videos!
Bloody brilliant video's, my dad lived this lifestyle for years and his friends still do, but you my friend have taken it to the next level, great stuff
Inspiring. Great info, thanks Maximus. Something else, maybe useful to know is, portable induction hobs (reliable industrial and domestic readily available in UK, from £50 -100 new) use only a tenth of electricity as regular hobs; I love mine and wouldn't go back to the regular if you paid me!
“You’ll never get a woman without a flushing toilet” is the single greatest pearl of wisdom I’ve ever heard
I’m taking mine out!
@@ajrwilde14 yes, but you are wilde😉
As a woman, I'll go anywhere private in the woods or outhouse but I have my hubby go with. He watches out for bear while I'm in dispose and he checks the out house for creepies before I go in and he holds the door ajar for me so I have light and he always has extra paper for me in case I forget. My hubby loves me 😍
I would
@@davesmith3925 Dave?
Another very interesting, useful and thought provoking video (not to mention entertaining!). It's great to get very practical advice from someone who has explored various solutions and come up with the most convenient and easy to live with. Especially like the conclusion about not needing grey water recycling (in the UK at least).
I've always thought a lot of nonsense was talked about saving water especially as it keeps falling from the sky. All designed to maximise water company profits in my opinion. I will definitely be deploying a lot of your excellent ideas in my future new build project.
Thanks for keeping it simple 👍
Great video! Thank you for sharing this. There is some really useful information here. Also, I like how your former outhouse has turned into a 'leanaway'.
Just found your channel. I live in Gloucester and have wanted to live like this for some time. You are inspiring, and show it can be done with hard work and resilience. Well done you've created something special.
I must have watched all your uploads, Max, and often wondered about this side of the Off-Grid situation (how you dealt with 'waste') Good man, you finally got around to explaining. Kudos, lad!
Dazza Dee ye me too been wondering about the drainage set up since ive been following the vids. I love comparing how I imagined you doing to to how you really do maxThx for the upload. Btw How much mor e rain is there in the West country compared to the east coast ? And how many square metres of roof does the rain drip down from into the guttering to the ibc? I'm near a village at the moment thats famous for he lowest annual rainfall in the UK for some recent years but I get the vibe from your water collection system descriptions there's a huge margin for error/massive abundance so probably just means a bit more storage reqd in a lower rainfall area to cover multiple rainless days
I've just been out to measure and it's about 82 square metres on the barn and a bit less on the workshop. Currently keep about 3000 litres in storage, I could store up 7000 but even when there was 5 of us here I never really needed to store more than 5000.
Thanks.. I was looking last night at rainfall and it seems almost all of Devon and Cornwall falls between 900 and 1000 mm annual rainfall, east essex example 660mm... Pretty sure that's no barrier to collection and storage like you have
lol "The trauma of falling in there would just be awful..." that made me giggle :) we had sth stuck in ours and there was quite a bit of "interaction" with the open system.... quite unpleasant to say the least lol
Good Stuff. I am not completely off grid yet, as still rely on the robbing Electricity Company, but getting there. In my Bulgarian village, there is no mains water or sewerage so I had a 30 metre borehole sunk for my water supply supplemented by rainwater which is a winter luxury.
Like yourself, all of my grey water and sewerage goes into our hand built septic albeit, I had a mini JCB dig the pit and then, we made a concrete base and used overlapping recycled house bricks at the bottom with the mindset that the water could seep out nearly two metres below ground and of course, made an overflow pipe from the top as you did and run it through gravel that I do intend to plant some kind of reeds in it when I get around to digging some up from the brook area that runs through my land.
Now, we don't get a lot of rain during the summer months, but like today, we have surplus groundwater from torrential rain and that will seep back into my septic which causes a slightly not so nice smell in my toilet/shower room, but nothing that an open window doesn't solve or a candle. We built ours back in 2009/10 and have not had to empty it yet and when I do, it will be pumped out and sprayed on the adjacent Lucerne field as natural fertilizer (well that is my idea today until somebody tells me it is a bad idea).
You live and you learn and we could all have done things differently with a bit more knowledge and sometimes money. I am going to start filming a caravan off grid project next year (next month if I find time) and for that, I can use the caravan chemical toilet and try it without any chemicals or, use the bucket system in an outhouse. There is nothing as good as your own body waste on your homegrown spuds and toms as long as you don't share how they taste so good with your guests. WINK.
Thank you for another very informative video and yes, your drawings about as good/bad as mine are.
"It does increase your options" - brilliant !! LOL
Great practical advice! You're a great teacher! Thanks.
grew up with the best of both weekdays and school time in the city nice flushing toilets and weekends in the country with a bucket and chuck it!
sitting here with a grin on my face and a few chuckles at your experiences. Memories of grandad digging out 2 x15ft concrete lined silo's cos he couldn't chuck it any more. everyone got fed up falling into the stinky booby traps on his property when walking about at night either camping in the summer or on fireworks night.
Well Dam i have always been under the illusion that i couldn't have a flushing toilet offgrid and im glad i can skip the composting toilet. really really great video, people always seem to use composting toilets so its possible to do it in other ways
What an amazing set up.. I would love it if the misses would live like this!.. Currently living in street this would be the dream
I found this absolutely fascinating, thank you. :-) I used to live on a narrowboat, and modifying the heating system was something I really enjoyed while I was there. When I first moved on, it had propane central heating and instant hot water systems. There was also a calorifier exactly like your hot water tank that took waste heat from the engine and turned it into hot water under significantly higher pressure than the gas heater.
In our first winter, we absolutely froze to death with just the gas heating system. We went through a bottle a week, there was no timer so I would have to turn it on when I got home from work, then we would retreat to the pub while the boat warmed up. We would return after closing time to a finally warm boat, but had to leave the heating on overnight unless we wanted to be frozen in the morning. Like the total n00bs we were, we ran out of gas on Christmas eve, and had to wait until December 27th before we could get more...
In year two, I insisted we needed a solid fuel stove, so we bought a Squirrel with a back boiler. As the boat was 67ft long and the fire was in the front, I made the decision to plumb the burner into the gas heating system. We removed the radiators from the front room, replaced them with the stove, then used the pump from the gas system to send the water through the radiators in the back rooms. Once I'd figured out that I needed to remove the room thermostat from the system (d'oh!) it worked flawlessly. On really cold nights I'd leave the gas on the pilot light overnight so that when the fire died down in the early hours, the gas central heating took over just for the final few hours until I got up to top the fire up. It was bliss. :-)
Had I stayed, I would have added a loop into the calorifier from the fire system, and I would have loved to have made the system gravity fed rather than relying on the pump. Eventually I'd have added solar electricity and thermal. Your idea to take leftover energy from the solar and put that into your calorifier is great, I'd have loved to have done that too!
Hmph. This comment should have gone on the heating/hot water video before this one... :-D
Awesome video and insight. We are running a Polymaster 3100L Septic Tank, spill off goes down into a sand bed/shrubbery. Never had to have it pumped hitherto. Great system and easy maintenance.
Brilliant explanation of a successful project.....I used to live in a Victorian farm workers cottage (one of four) all our foul & wastewater used to drain thru a culvert under the road to what must have been a similar arrangement as yours on the side of a steep hill. We only had to have the receptacle emptied once a year by lorry....I now understand the principle..
My Dad was English, from Walthamstow; he often grabbed a piece of scrap paper to draw diagrams to explain stuff.
I don't normally like a man with a beard....... but I totally love you!!
"Bog standard Bog" 😂 ha ha!
You're not only intelligent and resourceful, but bloody hilare too!
Straight to the point. I've been told that's me today.. but.. in my opinion, it's the best way to be. Why sugar coat a shit hey?!! x.x
I just got to the crows bit 🤣🤣
I loathe them too 🤣 x x
Wow, Love your video's! You seem to tell your viewers than most other off-grid channels! Very informative thank you for sharing :)
Thank you for sharing your experiences🤙
Thank you,I never understood how that worked but now I do.🌹
my eleven year old grandson said I need wyfi and a nice toilet before he will visit my off grid homestead. we are in the phase of building it soon, having purchased 13 acres for 43k and paid for well and septic and grating for the cabin. prayerfully will have it built before summer to retire. as to the toilet, it will be flushing but my husband was the one that decided against composting. wyfi...will have to see how much my grandson loves me I suppose, as we are going to avoid it. likely too much to do to fire up our laptops except for a weekly visit to have coffee somewhere and check our emails
You are an expert at the "keep it simple" method of making things happen. I have an off grid mountain home (8,500 feet elevation) and use a septic tank and leach field year round. Works great. My main water source is a 500 ft deep well with a submersible pump. I have second deep well for back up water if needed. Water level stands at 7 or 8 feet from the top on both wells so I use a hand pump on the second well.
That sounds great! What sort of wells are they? I've love to live on a mountain, unfortunately they are hard to come by around here!
Maximus Ironthumper: Both wells were drilled using a high pressure air rig and a "down the hole hammer." The hammer is a variation of a jack hammer that is attached to the bottom of the drill stem. The drilling compressor operates at 350 psi while pushing 1,200 cubic feet of air per minute. The well is cased with 6 inch PVC pipe. Since this is a "hard rock" well, only 20 feet of casing was used. The good news is these wells were already drilled before I bought the property. A point of interest is the Diesel engine powering the compressor was 450 hp.
Thanks for the info, that's some serious drilling!
Cool
Great explanation Maximus, loved the tap. I have the onion tank under the ground, emptied once every 2 years...ish which replaced the previous 3 chambered brick built system which couldn't cope with a family of 4 it was too small.
Superb video as always dude. Love it.
Very educational 🤓 thank you Max😎
really enjoyable vids many thanks
In the forces we had a hole in the ground and a telegraph pole to sit on... then a tent over the top......great for having a chat with ya mates while you take a download! 😂1:44.....’bog standard chemical loo’ 😂
You make a good point, women like nice clean shiny loos and loo roll holders i dont think they would go for the ‘thunderbucket’ as it was called in the forces! At a push until i had a septic built i think they MIGHT use a caravan porta potti at a push?
Ive seen your type of septic built with sand filling the last compartment and/or broken ceramic drain pipe. This gave the bacteria something to live in and the water coming out was clear filtered water.
great video and nice job on the Loo..
The evolution of the outhouse! Nice job!
After discovering yesterday a rather major blockage of ploppage in the manhole in the yard (resulting in a lovely overflow into said yard, yuck!!), I though I'd look back at this vid and gain some ideas as to potentially making an outdoor bog in the garden using a septic tank system, because it's rather inconvenient to have the convenience out of action until the local professional turdherders come along to deal with the blockages, doubt I'll make one, but it's nice to have the knowledge in one's head... :)
Good Video Max thank you.
"bloody crow ... just f" heheh, feel the same way about the pigeons when they are on my roof, the flat-footed f...ers!
(we love birds really, but still ...)
just discovered your channel at the w/e - great videos, much respect
Yep, do love wildlife, but sometimes it does get in the way! Glad you're enjoying the videos.
Awesome mate great living the life you want the way you want good look mate great video keep the videos coming
Another great one! Shuttering = forms.. Took me a bit. Cheers
This made me chuckle great stuff
Yeah if I buy land I think my first expenditure might just be a septic tank installation. I hate the idea of a compost toilet.
"It does increase your options put it that way" 😂😂
Bathroom was very nice
We’ve been lucky to have videos and drawings of the jobs you have done to make off grid living as comfortable as one can.Please can you do a breakdown of any impending weed farms you may have in the pipeline. Cheer Viking brother 👍
I believe what you are describing is an anaerobic septic tank. Aerobic usually have some way of adding more air (oxygen) to the mix rather than just surface absorption. I have an anaerobic septic and they are by far the most common in Australia.
I can only imagine the out takes of this one... had a septic tank for most of my life. Take care of it, it'll take care of you... that sounds a little off, doesn't it. Good video anyhow, keep 'em coming!
Me 3 months rain 9 months dry. Love my composting loo.
very cool
Hi, thank you, I understood the septic tank very easily, you explained it well. I am in the process of sorting my septic tank out as it has been badly neglected and several holes in the sewer pipe leading up to the broken tank. Since you made it sound so easy I am now ready to tackle it with confidence.I am not a squeamish woman and I know it will be a peg on the nose job for most people but I will just grin and bear it, after all, once the job is done, it should last for many years without interaction. Thank you for sharing
Excellent video and so clear. Thank you Max.
Great videos - thanks!
I want some of that lifestyle, how on earth did you get around planning to be able to live there, loving these videos.
A lot of information, so easily become bogged down!
Thank u for sharing
You remind me of my high school shop teacher, how I admire that man and the wealth of knowledge he passed on to his students, are you going to get that zil running and reliable, maybe do some offroading and camping type machine with it?
I have a new engine and gearbox lined up for the ZIL, I do aim to get it running and reliable but have something a bit more exciting than camping in mind for it! Update in a few weeks...
Yes! we bought a piece of land in Germany with a crappy house and a big shed on it!! You inspired me to do it. I'm just an mechanic as you are, doing everything my own way and recycling everything to make something work. Came across your channel because i wanted to have a Zil, and now we (me and my girl) bought a piece of land to go offgrid...
That was the introduction, now my question, The house has a 3 chamber waste water system like you've made, build following germany's strict regulations, I was wondering what kind of soap do you use to wash very oily hands, clothes an so on. I don't want to disturb the biotope in the chambers. Our piece of land is in a nature reserve (Naturschutsgebied) and I am keen on keeping it that way.
Thanx a lot!!
That's great to hear!
As for the soap, it might surprise you to hear I use the conventional stuff. For my hands when I need to I use industrial hand cleaner, for my clothes I use normal washing liquid. I avoid using bleach to clean the toilet / bathroom but that's about it. I rely on the fact that anything I use is massively diluted once it's in the tank so doesn't seem to cause a problem. Admittedly I've never done any testing on the tank contents, but it's easy to tell by smell if a tank is healthy or not.
Best of luck with your project, it sounds great!
bartbeekhuizen Not sure how great this is in practice but I found this for my research. www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-make-soap-from-ashes-zmaz72jfzfre
I’m planning of going off grid in the future and this would save money from buying soap.
@@maximusironthumper Have you ever noticed how effective wet grass is at removing grease or oil off your hands ?
Such a lovely neat job....and then you see the skirting board at 10:15 😂 😂 Seriously though, you've got the ideal set up!
Amazing video... precious information
Basically, a septic tank with a leach-field. Gravity fed. We can still buy concrete septic tanks, or plastic ones. There are multiple designs for leach fields or pits.
What his septic tank lacks, are riser tubes for clean outs & repairs.
Catchment is crucial..everyone should have massive cisterns to store rainwater, & good filters to make it potable.
Actual composting using even the high-water-flush toilets, IS do-able. Refer to “Solviva” book by Ana Eddy, in Massachusetts, USA. Hers has been a flush toilet on upper floor of her farmhouse. It flushes into an insulated box chamber built on the side of the house, about 8’ tall, full of very drainable compost, coconut coir, etc., & worms (like red wrigglers). The solids stay on top of that where worms digest the solids, the fluid drains fast to the bottom, then out to a connected & protected-from-rain planter growing water-loving plants. She built it with 2 chambers, thinking the 1st one would need to rest for several months…but even after a year, including having weekend seminars with up to 30 people using that system, it still did not need to switch to the 2nd chamber.
And, no one had to get grossed-out by seeing waste covered with sawdust or compost.
07:50 Bloody crows 🤣🤣🤣🤣
John Crapper was a genius. In Victorian London most tenements used the basement as a cesspool/septic tank. You can imagine what that was like when it had to be cleaned out, by hand. Though the muck was a good source of potassium and ammonium nitrates.
Yuck.
Most homes outside of towns and cities in Ireland use septic tanks. The soakage pit is the final stage after the tank usually about 15 x 20 feet by 6 feet deep filled with 3inch ( fist sized) stone.
How do you empty the solids out? Is the re-enforced top removable for emptying the solids ?
It is removable yes, the top is made up of interlocking panels.
Purging, fantastic.
Actually cant stop laughing.
from your click picture, I thought this was a Trailer Park Boys vid with Ricky explaining something...anyway, love your vids. Have a good one friend
It does increase your options lol
I'm in Bristol area, was really happy to find that (in all likelihood) you live near here as I've wanted to do similar for years but thought I would need to go up north to find land.
Great video!
The best Publication I have read so far was Fertile Waste by Peter Harper CAT publications.
I hope you washed the container!
I built one in the mid 90s. 8'x4'x 4'deep. Concrete block walls, on a concrete raft base. No seperation chambers just a mesh on the outflow into 6" perforated plastic pipe running 25 yard at a depth of 18". The lid was an 8 x 4 sheet of ally chequer plate. I've emptied it once after 15 years, with a vacuum tanker on a tractor.
Thanks for another entertaining video, Max. Is there a rule of thumb for how much drop you need between the toilet and septic tank to ensure a reliable flow? e.g. 1 foot of drop for every 6 feet of distance between toilet and tank.
One in eighty is the recommended drop.
Class ...you need to be on the TV ...have you ever pitched your content for broadcast ..if not why not
Much respect
Is the cabin in front of the compost loo the same cabin that you recently fixed up?
yep!
Hi Max
Without me sounding like a smart arse i just thought you might appreciate some further info on the septic principles ?
There isn't any (aerobic) air interaction going on in a septic system. That kind of process occurs (oxygenation) within rotated composting heaps ... but in a septic system it is quite the opposite !
An-aerobic digestion occurs within the fluid suspension and it is the HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time ), temperature, PH balance and archaeic volume that create the breakdown of organic matter within a septic vessel. Bubbling ponds and swamp gas are an ideal example !
(The by-product (under controlled conditions) is Methane and other gasses / Biogas which is 20 times more damaging to the environment that CO2. (Hence, farting cattle being of concern) However when burned, (Biogas) it is no more offensive than any other carbon-based fuel, and is a useful energy source. Even being piped by large biogas plants into our natural gas reserves.)
Enzymes and Microbes are involved in the processes of Hydro-lysis, Acido-genesis, Aceto-genesis, then Methano-genesis which all occur ANAEROBICALLY. And then all that remains is pathogen-free fertiliser, compost and gases.
Hope its been interesting? Enjoying your content otherwise ... Thanks for sharing !
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas
You're definitely nice and close to where I grew up in in Somerset. I didn't realise how much slang we use.
Does your bathwater use the same system?
edit: Literally the moment after I posted the comment you explained that it does - all grey and black water :D
Yeah, you really want to separate the solids and liquids and then it isn't that much of a problem. You just need a funnel leading to a bucket or whatever at the front and the bucket for solids at the back and you can use sawdust and some people say aromatic stuff like coffee grounds help but sawdust should really suffice. Yeah well a nice attack of dysentery will put you off of a lot of things. I would rather have a flushing loo but it's the next best option and it will have to do until I get a proper water harvesting thing going. Well I think even I understood the mini septic tank. I want beehives too!
AN aerobic that would be methinks?
Which village do you live in
I know you will build a stable cover. I've heard about terrible accidents. Ammonia.
you should collect methane from the septic tank and use it for cooking :)
How?
Quick question max iv seen a few of your videos
My question is if I get woodland and a bit of a field and put something to live in do the same rules apply to out standingNatural beauty land ??????? Looking forward to your to your reply as iv a chance of land but not green belt but woodland about 1Acre and half acre of grass
Thanks for all your videos Max (haven't seen much of Project Awesome lately...?). Question, with the little cabin system, did you need to vent the septic tank? or did you just bury it? Not sure if this could become a problem or not... Cheers! F**king crows!
Yep it's vented. As it drops very steeply downhill from the cabin to the tank, I decided the vent out the back of the cabin would suffice for the whole system. There was a little mini update on Project Awesome a week or so ago, more will follow!
Great informative video, it would be interesting to know how you constructed the soak away, which is the Achilles heal in these systems, if they block up its usually brings the system to an halt, as my friends have told me.
That was great, I always wanted to know, it’s looking for me like a retirement off the grid future, also if you have videos on building your house, the cost, do you have to pay for land? any advice would help, Dave
That was very useful, does the grey water go into the septic tank, or do you filter it separately?
I now understand why our modern tank is not so good.
Very interesting and highly informative, But how on earth did you know how to do all that?! You sound to me, by the way that you speak, that you have had some kind of scientific and or engineering training?
On the contrary, I'm a dropout. I did make it to uni but only for a few months, turned out to be just not my thing and I couldn't really afford it either. I just read a lot!
Really enjoy your videos. We are doing something similar here in Devon. Great idea re the trench arch. What pipe did you use for the trench arch soakaway? Seems much better than a traditional leach field, and potentially much cheaper, if only I can find cheap enough pipe to cut down lengthways. Would really appreciate your help.
The pipe I used was plastic ribbed pipe about 300mm in diameter and I cut it down the middle with a chainsaw - it seems fine but I didn't buy it or even choose it - it was in a pile of road works stuff that had been left behind by a previous owner of the land. I got the idea from a book on the subject by the Centre for Alternative Technology on the subject.
@@maximusironthumper Thanks for that. It seems we've got some slightly larger diameter pipe lying around, so we'll give it a try.
So you broke rule No.1, never let the wet and dry mix. Reeds in gravel sort out the Pee, compost the 'dry' ( assuming you have a good, mainly veg., diet) and here really is no smell.
compost loo is all you need..