Hi All, Am very new to the site. Have purchased a house with a working Dowmus (composting worm system), I am after anyone with any information on Manuals or Instructions on how to look after and mantain them. Any Instruction or Service Manuals. Not sure if he is where I should be posting but am getting a little concerned and desperate. Any help would be genuinely appreciated. Thank You Tony
https://dowmus.hinternet.com.au/ https://rammedearth.davis.net.au/toilet.htm The Humanure Handbook, 3rd edition - Chapter 6 covers Dowmus systems
good reply, loved the bit at (almost) beginning of ch 6 of the humanure book,,,, "compost toilets must be managed" as very keen and previously employed on super huge vermicomposting sites ,,, the biggest problem with the dowmus was folk doing their business and walking off and forgetting to put the toilet seat down,,,,, the dunny seat must always be down always always always. the dowmus just did not work if the dunny seat was left up. interesting hey
satyoga, my reply was 2 things, 1, tongue in cheek and 2, absolutely correct for the old dowmus drop chute worm toilet, with vent, no water model. It was a worm system, and all animal systems require animal husbandry knowledge. The major problem was folk still not being responsible for their poo,, doing number 2's and walking away with the toilet seat left up. The worm system and the pleasentness of the householders required fresh air going in one direction,,, ie from the tiny holes in the toilet seat (down), to the chamber, and up the outside vent. Fan insitu or no fan ( relying on outside vent being heated up by sun) the system got no air if the dunny seat was left up all the time. my old boss went to so many dowmus toilets on the sunshine coast area,,, with folk asking them why are the worms dead,,and why does it smell,,,and quite frankly dunny seat left up was the major contributing factor. I know nothing of the biolytix water take all model sorry,,, except to say its a system that requires the basic maintenance that a car might require,,,like check all filters periodically, check out flow, be observant of inflow and constantly monitor the system. best of luck.
I am pretty sure this model has flushing toilets and uses the grey water in the system. Does that mean it is a later model Dowmus. Thanks for the tips, will make sure the kids have the lid down always. Cheers
Hello I have repaired Dowmus systems The worm castings collect in the cut up 65 mm ag flex used to support the filter The air flow slows the water flow slows Compost builds up and chokes the system Regards Alan