Simploo Mini Composting Toilet in a Campervan (Install and first test!) | Transit Van Conversion E44
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- čas přidán 22. 12. 2023
- We needed a toilet in our van and decided to go with the Simploo Mini, which is a waterless composting toilet. We're installing the simploo into our shower room and it is a nice simple project for once!
We wanted a urine separating compost toilet instead of a chemical toilet so it is simpler and we don't have to deal with any chemicals. All we need to do is setup the 12V fan, sort out the pee alarm, and give it a test!
We originally had the Simploo Orignal but by the time we came to install it the Simploo Mini and Nano had been released, so fortunately we were able to swap it out, which is great as the new one is slightly smaller so fits perfectly in our shower!
Thanks for watching! Any comments or questions? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
↠ Simploo Mini - www.simploo.co.uk/product/new...
↠ Simploo Original - simploo.uk/product/simploo-wa...
DISCOUNT CODE: You can use the code 'selfbuiltstories10' for £10s off any toilet 🚽
↠ Cable/Wire - ebay.us/9KDaLn and www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable....
↠ Bosch Cordless Drill - geni.us/jFvH (Amazon)
↠ Various 40mm waste plumbing parts from Screwfix/Toolstation!
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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All our videos are for entertainment and show our process of converting our campervan. They're not intended to be tutorials and we may make mistakes along the way, so always do your own research and if in doubt about anything then make sure to get advice from a suitable professional
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#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk
*SIMPLOO DISCOUNT CODE* Hey everyone, Simploo has given us a discount code you can use if you're interested in buying one. It's 'selfbuiltstories10' and gives you £10 off a toilet from their website at simploo.uk, just enter the code in the basket at checkout. We don't benefit from this, just passing on an offer. Happy toileting! 🚽😁
It would be great to get an "after a month of usage" report...Thanks for a video! My #1 channel to watch on CZcams, related to a van conversion!
Sure! We've actually been using it for 6 months now already, and it's been working really well. We quickly got used to using it so it feels normal just like going in a house now. We find we need to empty the pee bottle every 3-5 days on average which is simple enough, and the pee alarm mod we did is working well. For the solids it only needs emptying every 10-14 days or so, and we use sawdust and paper with it too.
The one thing we were interested to see is how easy/annoying it is to take it every time we want to have a shower but that's been ok, we just leave it in the corridor then put it back. If we had one wish request it would be that there were handles built into it (and possibly the unit being a little lighter), as when it gets fuller it's a bit more awkward to do. Still fine but you have to get the knack for grabbing the front bit as it's all smooth rounded plastic. At the back we use one of the spare vent holes as a hand grip. But it is robust and has held up well to use on the road, and stays put when we're driving without any problems.
Overall very glad we have it. We always make use of toilets out and about when we find them for convenience, but having this one in the van has been great, wouldn't have been able to go off-grid in lots of the places we've been without it 👍
HTH and Merry Christmas! 🚽🙂🎄
Beautiful work guys!
Cheers! 🙂
Glad you let people know that this toilet is not a composting device. It is actually a desccicating toilet and the function of the fan is to assist in the drying process not to remove odour, although most people think this is its aim. The fan should run 24/7.
I do speak with some measure of experience as we had a similar unit in our yacht on which we lived for over ten years.
They are great but you should be as responsible as possible when it comes to disposal of the solids container. These units have gained quite a lot of traction on narrowboats, but already there are rumblings from the CRT, and I would imagine that regulations are not too far away.
The only issue I forsee is moving it in and out of the bathroom when it fills as it will get heavy very quickly!
Cheers, yeah we've been pretty happy with it so far. We've had it in for about 6 months now and it does get heavier but we can still get it in and out of the shower without too much difficulty. It would be nice if the actual unit was a little lighter and had handles to make doing it even easier but we've pretty used to it now. Possibly at some point we'll make a handle for it but at the moment we just use the fan cutout at the rear as a hand hold to grab it which mostly does the job!
And yeah for sure, it's not going to be in the van long enough to compost but we always get rid of all our waste anything as responsibly as we can 👍
We lived in a van for a couple of years, Mum, Dad, two daughters and a dog. We used a bucket and in a wooden box with sawdust, which we put on top. It worked fine and no smell problems at all.
Cool, yeah we were thinking at one point of making our own DIY toilet but decided in the end to get something off the shelf for this one that was just a convenient self contained unit ready to go 👍
Hi guys, and Seasons greetings! Interesting to see the upgrade install…we have the original version and you touched on pretty much all of its shortcomings! We have installed a handle on the front to aid removal..a short length of white, tube webbing tape (as it gets wet in the shower) bolted with corrosion resistant fixings onto the front.
We pull out the pee bottle regularly leaving the unit in situ… the level monitor is a handy improvement…but we’ve managed without for the last 6 months…
Look forward to the next vid (and some news on your travels)! Well done!! Vandalou22
Cheers! Yeah it was interesting to be able to have both and compare them, we liked the original but the new one definitely feels more polished all round. Nice idea with the webbing, we might do something like that. At the moment we use one of the spare fan cutouts as a handle at the back but there's nothing to grab at the front and it's quite slippery to hold. It would be great if it had an option for handles, and was a bit lighter too. We're quite used to taking it in and out now so it's not too bad, but would be a nice little upgrade 🚽😛
Funny i spend my birthdays there every year, really beautiful place from one end of the valley to the other. Well done on these videos.
Ah cool, yeah it was our first time visiting, enjoyed it! And thank you 😁
Really like the idea of this loo. I’ve seen a few people sit their loos on a weight bearing shelf system so it can be slid into the void under the bench seat behind the shower when the shower is being used. Not sure whether you have enough space to consider that option but it’s an idea we hope to use when we get around to doing our conversion in a year or so. In the meantime I’ll keep watching and learning! 🙂
Yeah we did consider something like that at one point actually, but in the end decided the extra complexity and waterproofing wasn't worth it for us. We're also now using the space on each side too 😀 But we don't find it a problem to take it out and put it back, we're quite used to it now 😁 Good luck with yours!
Awesome !! So cheap in the UK .. Had to get a Separett one in NZ ( Swedish brand)as the only same type on the market and had to pay NZD 2000.00 instead of ( conversion from Pound NZD 1200.00 ) . Great to see you again !! Poopoo pi do 😁
Ouch, that is some markup! Have to use it a lot to get your monies worth 🤣 To be honest we thought the price of composting toilets in the UK was a little steep! We liked the simploo as it was the cheapest of all the ones we looked at while still having the same features and being fairly compact. It's been working out really well so far, would still like it to be a little lighter and feature a carry handle though, that would be handy! Nice to see you too 😄
OMG!! I literally don't understand the pricing for composting toilets. It's just a plastic bucket with another bucket and bottle inside. The fair price should be 100$, because, compared to bio-toilets, which have more complicated designs inside, the price starts from 50$ for a good one. 1200 for a plastic bucket? Really? It's a robbery in broad daylight!!
@@maksimvorobyov9807 We did consider building one DIY but in the end we didn't have time so it was easier to get one off the shelf that's already waterproof etc. The simploo is a bit more advanced than just a bucket though as it has a retractable solids cover, alarm and fan etc and is made from recyclable plant based plastic, but yeah we wouldn't complain if they were a bit cheaper, as it's money literally going down the toilet😅
Started watching you two on the bed build ! I have been binge watching ever since ! Both of you are so creative and are such a good team it's been a pleasure to watch. Love your content.
Thank you very much! Glad you're enjoying the videos 😊
Looking forward to the next episode where the number 2 alarm is constructed!
😊
Haha, that would be a cool upgrade. Maybe some kind of weight sensor to avoid s*** hitting the fan 😂
So happy for you both the mini was available ......we've just decided the mini is for us too cheers from Bunbury western Australia x x
Cheers, yeah it was quite fortunate, literally came out just before we went to put it in! Awesome, and Happy Christmas! 🎄😊
23:36 if you really want a long lasting AA battery, there is a not-very-popular single-use Lithium chemistry. They can sit for decades without degrading and have a capacity of 1.5X alkaline, or 3500mAh. It's called Energizer Ultimate Lithium.
Haha cool, our regular alkaline ones should last a fair while but that's good to know! Cheers 🙂👍
JACKSON!!! He's the best 🤣🤣🤣
He really is! Always wants to see what we're getting up to 🐈
Merry CHRISTmas you guys seem to have a great life
Thank you, merry Christmas to you too! 🎄😀
Great video. Glad you found the updated version because the original looked kinda cheap and flimsy in comparison.
Cheers! The original would have worked but the mini is just a lot nicer all around. Being a tiny bit smaller made a huge difference when we got it in the shower, and that's with the pee bottle being a lot larger too which is handy! If we were putting it in an outbuilding or something the original would be fine, but in a van the new one is a big upgrade 👌
@@SelfBuiltStories yes, you two seemed very relieved over the smaller size. Glad you both were so happy with it. You would know if the quality was better more than me, It’s hard to tell quality over the tv screen
@@sharonb.9128 Yeah I wouldn't say the original is flimsy but the new one is definitely a lot nicer build quality all around, everything is more compact and fits better. Merry Christmas! 🎄😊
I like very much the way you think everything through 👍🏻
Thank you 😊
Great video guys. We have a chemical toilet but we do use environmentally friendly tablets, and a spare cassette.
We have friends with a composting toilet and they swear by it.
Safe travels.
Cheers! Yeah we used a chemical one for a while in NZ before so we've used both now. Either gets the job done but we prefer the separating/compost ones, just seems a lot simpler and nicer to empty. Merry Christmas! 🎄
@@SelfBuiltStories have a great Christmas guys 🎄🎄🎄
@@kevinbeckwith7740 ❤
💕Another great video. I've recently got a Simploo too and I'm very happy with it. Received great customer service from them too.👍
Awesome, yeah the customer service was great, we were very happy to be able to swap out to the mini. In a small space like a van it made a big difference for us! Been using it for 6 months now and has been working well 🙂👍
Nice toilet. Not sure if designers field test compost toilet products before releasing it to the market, because the common issue for virtually every compost toilet is that they prioritize #2 by dedicating most of its capacity to it. In my experience, #1 actually needs to take most of the toilet capacity. For this reason, I built a 5 gallon undermount tank with a 12v solenoid valve to get around the biggest design issue of compost toilets--lack of urine capacity. This approach might not be appropriate for those living in subzero temperatures.
Yeah we find we have to empty the pee bottle more frequently than the solids. The original version has a 6l container, the newer mini that we have has a larger 9l even though the toilet is smaller which is nice. We reckon the sweet spot would be a little bigger still maybe 12l and then solids container shrinking to make up for it. I guess the weight of lifting out a full bottle of wee is part of the consideration, and how long you want it sitting around in there. And haha yeah, an outside tank would be interesting in Norway where we're heading next 😆
Merry Christmas Abi and Tim.
A simple project for once😊
Merry Christmas! 🎄Haha yeah, it was a nice change! 😀
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024.
Thanks for your vlogs this year and looking forward to watching you next year.
I love the way you do everything so precise and the attention to detail you do everything.
🎄🎄
Merry Christmas! All the best to you too 😊 We look forward to sharing more videos next year! 🚐
Another great video as usual well done, Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks, you too! Merry Christmas! 🎄😀
Great video again. Two thoughts, when we camp (travel trailer) wet wipes disposed in waste basket No TP in holding tank which is a camper issue & sitting does not splatter all over. Thanks for sharing
Cheers :) We've been using paper in the waste container so far which works well for us, just means having to empty it a bit sooner than otherwise. And yeah no standing up to use this toilet! Merry Christmas! 🎄🙂
Really informative project - enjoying following along the van build series.
Was thinking that rather than a manual switch, you could have a contact sensor so when the lid is up it switches on and then when the lid is down it switches off. Might be an option for the future 😊
Look forward to following the next step along the build… have a great Christmas and New Year! 🎉
Cheers! And yeah that's not a bad idea actually. We just used the switches we had at the time but that would be a cool addition to avoid having to remember to turn it off, although we've only forgotten once in around 6 months so far so not too bad! 😛 Happy Christmas to you too! 🎄🥳
just a little tip - do not use the air transmission of the toilet - put a hole on the top of the shower in the wall where you have drilled now the hole for the toilet and install a little fan behind the wall - than you have also a moisture dryer for the shower. sorry for my bad english 🙂 Greetings from the black forest
Hiya! We wouldn't want to not have the fan in the toilet as it stops the shower room from smelling, but we do have the much larger maxxfan just outside and a gap at the top of the door so all the moisture is pulled out through there instead 👍
Hi Tim & Abbie, great informative video again. I have been considering a compost toilet to replace the chemical portaloo we have at the moment this looks like a good product if a little bit of a trial to install on the electrical side but you guys are so good at solving problems. Thanks for sharing and something I'll be looking into
No problem, cheers! The electrics would be really simple to do if you use the splitter wire they give you, just plug and play really. We just changed it as we wanted to avoid having any wires in the bathroom. Always find a way to make it a bit more difficult for ourselves somehow 😄
Best buid series out there - look forward to each instalment!
Merry Christmas guys from Perth Australia👍👍
Build I meant!
Thank you very much! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too! 🥳🥂
Your vids are really rather good ! 👍
Cheers, glad you think so! 😀
I still think this is one of the best build series on CZcams, the quake of your work seems pretty exceptional. This is a great video, very informative. One of the only real downsides of the lifestyle is singing like this i suppose, most of us viewers at home maybe have the luxury of pushing a button and not having to think about it after that.
Great video on a sh*t subject lol.
Haha, thanks! Everyone does it so it's not one you can just poo-poo 😆 Yep that is a nice luxury you have for sure, and all from the comfort of a a warm room too! Merry Christmas 🎄🙂
@SelfBuiltStories Merriest of Christmases to you both and thank you for the entertainment:)
@@petewarby7158 ❤Thanks for watching 🙂
Hey both. I think you should fashion something to stop it sliding forward under hard braking. That's the last thing you want, especially if it's quite full. Lol.
Haha yeah, that wouldn't be ideal. We haven't had a problem with that though with 6 months of driving with it now. Our wetroom floor is quite grippy and that with the rubber feet and the weight of it means we've never really noticed it move 😛
We've got the original one, new one looks even better and a bigger pee container (ours needs emptying daily if off grid totally). After nearly 3 years of use I don't think we'll get an exchange! Our biggest peeve (pun intended) is avoiding overflow, it did happen once! Which alarm did you use at it occurred to me something could be done re high tide alert!
Haha no probably not! We were quite impressed they let us swap ours as we'd had it for a few months by that point 😛 Can imagine that was an interesting one...! Fortunately we have not had the experience of that yet 😅 The new one comes with an alarm clipped onto the casing already, we just modified it to run on batteries instead so we don't have to have any wires running into the shower. Works well! For the original they sell one you can clip onto the bottle as well 👍
Love your videos, by far the best build anywhere on the internet. Can I ask where you purchased the 3mm duplex wire for the lighting and other devices? I've recently started my own build and I'm struggling to source reliable cabling. Keep up the good work, I look forward to your next episode.
Hiya, sure we got it all from eBay and 12voltplanet, have added links to the description 👍 And thanks!
The toilet test was 🤣😂 Perfection as always. Have you patented your loo alterations I think they might redesign the loo 👍
Haha, it was quite funny trying it out for the first time 🤣 We have not! Quite happy with our pee alarm mod 😆 Merry Christmas! 🎄
Great video guys! I've been looking at a Separett tiny for my build but this is definitely an option I'll consider now! Very excited to see the rest of the recirculating shower get finished, can't wait for that video!
What are you guys going to do for the Internet? I've just mounted a starlink dish to the roof rack on my Transit using one of the Star Mount flat mount kits and have adaptors to run it directly off my vans 24v system without their router. Scary cracking the dish open for mounting, and an expensive solution but the money spent in Internet should be made up by lack of rent!
Cheers! Yeah we considered a lot of different toilets before settling on this one. We were planning on building something DIy ourselves but in the end decided for once we'd just buy something off the shelf and save some time 😛 They've given us a discount code now we've added in a pinned comment now too if it's useful.
Haha yeah, we did the recirculating shower upgrade on the road while we were in some campsites which made it interesting. Looking forward to getting that one out too 😀
a
For the internet we considered Starlink but only briefly as we didn't want to pay the high monthly cost. Something we'd look at again in the future if the price comes down but for now we're very happy with a dual-sim mobile router and external antenna which has been working really well for us so far 👍
What are the internal dimensions of your shower? Are you happy with them? Thanks, this channel is a huge help for my own conversion!
Hey, glad it's helpful :) So the rectangle part inside the shower is roughly 76x60cm, and then there's the angled part which gets around the van pillar and the box part around the wheel arch. It's small compared to a house shower but we find it big enough for us in the van. We have just enough space to use the toilet and get it in and out, and we have more than enough space for showering. We wouldn't want it any smaller as we wouldn't be able to use the toilet in there then. Bigger would make using the toilet more luxurious, but at the expense of taking some space away from the other things in the van we use more, so yeah we're quite happy 👍
Hey great van build looks amazing!! Where did you get the shower door from? What is it?? 😊
Cheers! :) And it's a roldour, we have a whole video on it here: czcams.com/video/qiS0yw0a4FQ/video.html 😀👍
Another great video - with some excellent ideas. Does it stay put under hard braking?
Cheers! 🙂 And yep, we haven't had any issues with that, the feet are pretty grippy and the toilet has some weight to it 👍🏻
Hey beautiful people 💗
Hey! 🙂
Hi, this is a great video and very informative. I am actually thinking of using one of these, with some of your mods, so the simplooo is standalone in an existing shower cubicle. It has an existing Thetford cassette wc installed which we don't want to remove to alter, but think this may work. Excellent hack on the liquid level sensor, did you need to make any alterations to the sensor electronics or just change the power source?
Thanks,
Michael
Cheers, and no we didn't need to change anything else. We looked up the specs of the components they were using and then with a bit of testing found we could power it fine at 4.5V. We thought about using a 9V battery too which would work, but 3 AAs should last us longer and the holders were cheap. Good luck! Simploo have also given us a discount code for £10 off which we've added in a pinned comment above if it's useful 👍
We have just ordered the Simploo Mini as well, should be arriving next week. Love what you did with the tanking of the shower really allows for flexible layout, can I ask a couple of questions, what was the tanking kit you used and what was the shower door you used, it looks so much better than the tambor door variants and finally did you include the fitting of the door in any of your videos?
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing, Paul
Hey Paul, cool hope it works out well for you! And yeah we were very happy with the tanking kit/wet room approach as it meant we could build the shower exactly the size and shape we wanted. It was the Aquaseal tanking kit, there's a link to it in the description of that video here: czcams.com/video/sRcqg-e1KoA/video.html . And the door is a Roldour, we have a video on that too and there's a link to it (and discount code :) ) in the description: czcams.com/video/qiS0yw0a4FQ/video.html . Good luck with the rest of the build 🙂👍
@SelfBuiltStories Brilliant thank you. I had a thought about installing the floor covering, I was considering leaving the wall ply 5or6 mm above the floor, feed the floor cover in the gap and then seal the gep before running hygienic board to the floor covering.
Can you see any problem with that?
@@paulbrown8341 No problem, and hmm depends if you're going to do the wetroom tanking layer in-between. As if so there's a tape you have to apply around all the edges and seams before putting on the thick gloop, so after that you wouldn't be able to get the floor covering in the gap anymore. If you're just doing the ply with pvc on top then you could do it, we quite like the peace of mind of having the additional waterproof shell though.
The way they install the flooring commercially is curving up the wall a little bit so that there's absolutely no chance of any water into the bottom edges. We did actually investigate how difficult it would be to do it like that at one point... but the corners are a right pain as you have to cut the vinyl to shape and rejoin it with a hot weld glue gun everywhere... so passed on that 😛
@SelfBuiltStories There it goes, another of my "great ideas" in the bin :-)
@@paulbrown8341 Haha, sorry 😁
I’m in the planning stage for my van and thinking about a loo. Just out of curiosity, how do you stop the urine from smelling? Do you not have to add chemical to stop it smelling?
Looking forward to seeing how your recycling shower is going to work, for my own van.
Also, I’ve heard of people using cat litter in the solids box.
It doesn't really smell when it's inside the toilet actually so we've found we don't have to do anything. Because it's separated from the solids it doesn't create sewage and neither side smells nearly as bad as it would, and then we have the fan running too. You can smell it for sure when you take it out to empty it, but that's only momentary so not too bad! And then we just rinse it out thoroughly and every so often slosh it out with a tiny bit of bleach too. And yeah we've heard people using cat little, we don't have any of that but have an abundance of saw dust 😀 Good luck with your build!
Great review,
Does the urine compartment come with a lid that you can place on top so as to not spill when going to empty it?
We were planning to buy the Separett Tiny but now I'm not sure. The Separett Tiny seems to have more moving parts and seems to be more flimsy. Also, not a big fan of the flaps opening on pressure. Would rather like in the case of the SImploo Mini have a toggle I can pull/spin to open.
Cheers :) And yep it comes with a lid for it, though we've actually never used it 😛 We've found the shape of it has meant that we've had no issues carrying it out the van to the dump point without spilling it 👍
Great video. What is the size of your shower?
The rectangle part inside the shower is roughly 76x60cm, and then there's the angled part which gets around the van pillar and the box part around the wheel arch 👍
Since you already have a cat consider using kitty litter in the solids container
We don't have any cat litter actually, they roam outside. But we have 3 full bin bags of sawdust from all the wood work we did 😅
Where will you empty the solids?:)
If you have a compost bin then you can add it to that, otherwise it goes securely bagged in a bin the same way as dog poo or nappies
Bucket mate chep like chips 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hopefully two separate buckets 😛🚽
@@SelfBuiltStories 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@SelfBuiltStories i living in the van I like your videos merry Christmas happy New year 🎄👍♥️
@@MrYugo68 cheers, Happy New Year to you too! 🥳
have you had any leaks using the john guest system?
Not a drip, it's been rock solid so far! 😀👍
Out of interest, how are you stopping the loo from moving while you travel?
It actually hasn't moved at all in 6 months on the road so far! Our wetroom flooring is quite grippy and that with the rubber feet and the weight of the toilet means it's just stayed put the whole time 👍
£500 for a plastic bin with a toilet seat on it is insane.
There's a bit more to it than that as they have the vent and fan, retractable solids cover and are made from plant based moulded plastic. But yeah, they aren't cheap. We had thought about making our own DIY setup but in the end decided to just get something ready made this time
:)
Happy Christmas! 🙂🎄👍
@@SelfBuiltStories Happy Christmas to you two as well. :)
@@JonMadsen70 ❤
In fact, men empty their bladders better when sitting, so that's good when you have to sit down to relieve yourself.
Cool, very used to it now! 😀
Do you not have a light in your shower? You could have wired it in to that
Yeah we do and could have, we just prefer to have separate circuits for things we switch independently. We've tidied up all the wiring now and have the toilet fan switch on a control panel above the seats 👍🏻
Fantastic. Merry Xmas and all the very best for 2024. 👍🚐😎
Thank you, Merry Christmas to you too! 🎄😀