Pit toilets come in very handy when access to modern indoor plumbing is not readily available; however, they’re also very prone to smelling like a highway truck stop bathroom or worse.
Thankfully, stopping your pit toilet from smelling foul is easier than you might imagine.
So, if your pit toilet stinks, let’s go over
Table of Contents
How Do You Stop A Pit Toilet From Smelling?
To stop your pit toilet from smelling bad, try the following:
- Ensure proper ventilation
- Cover the waste properly
- Use appropriate products
- Clean your pit toilet regularly
- Empty your pit toilet when necessary to avoid overflow
Since it is not connected to a running water system, it is natural for them to produce a noticeable smell, especially in hot weather.
However, if you follow these 5 steps you can significantly reduce the smell that emanates from your pit toilet.
How Do Pit Toilets Work?
Pit toilets are a type of latrine that consists of a hole in the ground where human feces and urine are collected.
While a seat can be included for comfort, many pit toilets are kept at a basic level to minimize costs, which is why they are often found in rural areas without access to modern indoor plumbing and sanitation systems.
Pit toilets work as a sort of rudimentary waste management system whereby natural processes such as decomposition and evaporation help to reduce the volume of human waste, thus minimizing the spread of diseases caused by fecal matter contamination.
Despite their simple-as-can-be yet effective design, pit toilets have a major drawback: they are known to smell quite unpleasant But,
Why Do Pit Toilets Smell So Bad?
Pit toilets smell so bad because they work by accumulating waste, which inevitably leads to the accumulation of smelly gasses such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide.
Therefore, if you want to keep your pit toilet smelling fresh you are going to have to learn to manage the various factors that contribute to the accumulation of these gasses.
Steps To Manage Pit Toilet Odor
Ventilation The Area
Ensuring proper ventilation around your pit toilet will help you to stop unpleasant smells from accumulating because it allows the gasses produced by the decomposition of waste to dissipate more easily.
You should consider installing a ventilation system, such as a vent pipe that extends directly above the collection hole, to draw foul-smelling air out of the pit toilet and away from your nose.
Something else that good ventilation can help with is reducing the levels of humidity inside the pit toilet, which contributes to less smell.
Cover The Hole
Making sure to install a cover over your pit toilet will stop it from smelling bad by establishing a physical barrier between your nose and the odor-causing particles produced by the waste inside.
In other words, if you place a lid on your pit toilet you can trap the smelly gasses inside where they won’t bother anyone.
Make sure that your cover is airtight to prevent the smell from leaking gradually into the environment, as well as made it from a material that is both durable and easy to clean.
Use The Right Products
Pit toilets are a very special waste management system, and as such, they require special sanitizing and deodorizing products to function well.
For example, using a powerful waste digester such as this Valterra Waste Digester and Odor Eliminator (from Amazon) can help to mask the smells produced by accumulated waste inside your toilet.
Empty And Clean Your Toilet Pit Often
Emptying and cleaning your pit toilet often will stop it from smelling bad because it reduces the feces and urine build-up that generates the bad smells to begin with.
To do this, follow these steps:
- Start by ventilating the area to allow some of the trapped gasses to dissipate.
- While wearing protective gear such as gloves, mask, and eye protection, remove the solid waste inside the toilet (the exact method will depend on the type of pit toilet you have)
- Once the pit toilet collection chamber is empty, clean thoroughly using a disinfectant and deodorizing solution. This will help to eliminate any bacteria that remain on the interior surface of the toilet.
- Next, simply replace your pit toilet’s cover, thus prepping it for the next time it is used.
The smells that often come out of a pit toilet can be so offensive and off-putting, that it is perfectly normal to wonder if they can be toxic or harmful to your health. So
Is Pit Toilet Smell Toxic?
Under normal circumstances, the smell of your pit toilet won’t be toxic or dangerous to your health. However, if the gasses produced by human waste, such as methane and ammonia, are allowed to accumulate for a long time, they may reach concentrations that are high enough to hurt you.
In other words, a well-maintenance pit toilet should never pose a threat. But, it is very important that you follow the recommendations in this post.
Last update on 2024-04-23 at 22:37 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
