Dog Waste Digester in the Cold North East? (how much, clean, poop)

[blakesq]

Will a dog waste digester work in the Northeast, namely Connecticut? I recently heard about these dog poop digesters, basically you get a large plastic trashcan, drill large holes in the side walls, put some rocks at the bottom of it, dig a hole in your backyard and lower the trashcan into the hole, add some ridx to it and start putting dog waste into it, and cover it with a trashcan lid. With our cold winters will such a thing work during the cold months? Thanks.

[PhinneyWalker]

I would not try that if I were you.

[Parnassia]

If municipalities can get it to work in Canada you can probably get it to work in Connecticut! Design and maintenance of the system is key. I suspect you'd need more than RidEx to keep digestion going year round. The commercially available systems are a lot smaller than a "large trash can" which probably plays into how well they work. How much waste you can routinely feed into the system to keep the bacteriological cycle going probably matters too. For one dog? 3? 10? Might be worth the trouble if you have multiple large dogs. For just one with an owner too lazy to pick up the yard, probably not.

https://revillgroup.com/pooprints-ca...for-dog-waste/

[PhinneyWalker]

I pick up behind my dog 2-3 times per day. I dispose of the waste in a dumpster or at one of the barrels at the park, but I could just as easily collect it and flush it. If you have only 1-2 dogs, this should not be too difficult to keep up.

[hiero2]

Originally Posted by blakesq

Will a dog waste digester work in the Northeast, namely Connecticut? I recently heard about these dog poop digesters, basically you get a large plastic trashcan, drill large holes in the side walls, put some rocks at the bottom of it, dig a hole in your backyard and lower the trashcan into the hole, add some ridx to it and start putting dog waste into it, and cover it with a trashcan lid. With our cold winters will such a thing work during the cold months? Thanks.

What you are talking about is a septic system. What you are worried about is the frost line. The only tidbit of value provided by that Revill group link is the fact that they are installing their systems in Ontario. The title is misleading, as there is nothing in the article about the key stages of anaerobic digestion of waste. BTW, if you've ever kept an aquarium long-term, you probably have some idea of the chemistry of waste processing. Every aquarium owner has to deal with the ammonia cycle of waste breakdown.

You're talking about installing a separate septic system for dog poop. In order for it not to freeze in the winter, it needs to be buried below your frost line. Having it open at ground level to insert the poop adds a variable that I can not advise you on. To some extent, not having the whole system buried will change the frost line in the dog poop septic hole. That will be countered by some temperature conduction from the part of the dog poop septic that is below the frost line. I have no idea of where one would find a balance.

Some questions that should be considered:
1. Why is it NOT ok to put pet waste in our household septic system, or into a municipal septic system?
2. The corollary is "When is it ok to do so?"
3. How deep do I need to bury a doggy poop septic system?
4. How does a septic system make poop safe?
5. A corollary of 4 would be "What does a dog poop septic tank need to do to make dog poop safe?"

1. Pet waste will usually contain more hair, and sometimes more ash, than human waste, and has different bacteria. Hair can clog the pipes and drain holes. Ash can change the chemistry and bacterial action that are necessary components of how a septic system breaks down waste. And lastly, septic systems designed for human waste may not adequately dispose of the bacteria in pet waste.
2. You can ask your municipal system, if you use one, if flushing pet poo is ok. Sometimes they'll be ok with dog poop, but in my understanding, usually not cat poop (because of the different bacterial components).
3. I would say beneath the frost line, but ask your local construction board how deep pipes need to be to keep them from freezing. If the body of the tank is below that level, you should be ok. As I pointed out earlier, you digging a hole will change the frost line at that hole, because in the hole, your ground level is the hole, not the surrounding ground level. At least, that's my reasoning. Check with your local construction board.
4. A septic system uses anaerobic bacteria for the 1st stage of processing poop into materials safe to handle (not carrying disease or parasites, or other biological hazards). After the anaerobic stage, the drainfields carry the effluent into the soil, where aerobic bacteria can manage to clean the rest of the bad contaminants.

FWIW. Poop and pee have all the bioactive ingredients necessary to decompose themselves. You don't need any commercial accelerators (like Rid-X). The decomposition process will happen naturally. The system may need some time for it's active cleaning bacterial population to grow. It will certainly need water. I would think pee would also be an important component. Pee breaks down through the ammonia cycle, and that ammonia is part of the process that kills some of the bad bacterias. Or, at least, that is my understanding of the process. I am not an expert, but I've owned aquariums in the past - kept them for years - and thus had some awareness of an active biosystem. Since you wouldn't be putting the dog's pee in a doggy septic tank, I would think it might benefit from adding yours.

5. Since some of the bacteria and/or parasites will not be neutralized in the anaerobic process inside the septic tank, is the leach field (drainfield) deep enough to prevent those bacteria and/or parasites from migrating to the surface soil, where there might be human contact? I can't answer this question. I'm quite sure bacteria wouldn't be an issue, so long as the drainfield was below the frost line. However, I seem to recall I ran across some research a few years back about some intestinal worms being able to migrate from an open pit disposal (i.e. an outhouse) to surface level to reinfect human hosts. That may have been a specialized case. I think the conventional view is they can't do that. Whatever, not my area of expertise. Since worms aren't a particular problem in my area, I wouldn't let this stop me from creating a dog poop septic system if I wanted to.

Reference material:
Septic systems
https://srcontracting.com/7-steps-ho...-systems-work/
https://www.epa.gov/septic/types-septic-systems
https://www.epa.gov/septic/how-your-septic-system-works
Frost line:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/frost-line/
https://dpwaterer.com/determining-your-frostline/?nab=0
Dog Poop and Septic systems
https://www.townofchapelhill.org/hom...ment?id=37773#
https://www.crewsenvironmental.com/s...septic-system/

[PhinneyWalker]

hiero2, thank you for discussing these important factors that anyone should consider, and thank you for taking the time to discuss this proposal in depth in a reasoned manner. Cheers, mate!