carbonium wrote:2.7 cu ft external. Internal about 2.5 cu ft. for $250!

You can get an 11 cu ft composter for half the price.

Or use a 55 gallon barrel that costs about $8 (or even free) that will hold almost 7 cu ft. Just roll it once in a while to rotate and mix the compost.

carbo... as a serious question, do you happen to know where one can acquire a 55 gallon barrel (for $8 or even free)?

Thanks.

Oh, C-O-M-P-O-S-T-E-R. I thought it was a puppy mill.

Composter? I don't I even know her!

Folks, I'll be here all night. Try the veal.

I use mine for camping. Best camping toilet I have ever owned. Hardly any smell at all.

How long do the wood pellets last, and how do you replace them (i.e. can you buy them easily/cheaply)?

insurgent wrote:Isn't it cheaper to just dig a hole in the back yard??

If it's a $500 hole, then no, it is not cheaper. Actually, this item would be 1/2 the price of the hole.

To some people, it's even worse, they would have to buy a whole yard to dig a hole in it. And those are super expensive, because they come with a lot of extra, like a house and stuff. It adds up.

I had one of these it worked for two months, broke down. They sent me parts which quickly broke again. They sent me another unit. It worked for about two months, broke the same way and then broke in new ways. I gave up, and I really, really wanted it to work. This thing works to make compost very quickly when it is functioning, but it is stinky and drippy. We ended up with it in our garage because of the mess. I was willing to put up with the mess. but it's just too fragile. Great idea, poor implementation!

sweet now I know what I can do with my Boggy Old Creature.

We have one and it is great so far. We have had it for a few months. We paid a lot more for it! Shucks.

It does not stink. In fact our kitchen is basically stink free now because we have no smelly trash any more (and I don't have to take out the trash as much). We used to compost in our back yard but we got raccoons and they are a huge problem.

Pet waste? Really? Because you're not supposed to put that in a regular compost pile, are you?

I don't have that much food waste, thanks to my dog....which I don't kill, by the way.

I have a ton of dog waste, though.

Composting great idea, $250 energy sucking composting machine bad idea. Electric heaters generally use a lots of energy.

A plastic ice cream bucket with a lid under the sink is a odorless collector until you take it out side and bury it in the garden of put it in the compost pile.

Verma composting turns the organic waste into high nutriant fertilizer in about a week if your really into it (ie red worm bin) with little or no odor.

I've got an apartment, and thus no yard. I compost indoors and can assure you that if your indoor compost smells, then you are doing it wrong (and probably need to add more newspaper because you've got too much nitrogen going on).

My composter isn't the one shown here. I have a plastic tub that I rescued from the garbage and some red worms (don't just get any nightcrawlers, make sure they are vermicomposting red worms). Put the worms in the tub. Toss the kitchen scraps into the tub. And after a while, there is compost there.

Worms cost me $5 online (though some areas have vermicomposters who are willing to give you a free startup colony) and the reused tub.

So for those of you who are indoor composters like myself, give a google to vermicomposting before you decide to spend $250 on something you have to plug in.

And now insects will also be unemployed.

Does this compost dog poop ok? (No, I'm not playing on the dead puppy write up.)

theanimalgal wrote:..... We used to compost in our back yard but we got raccoons and they are a huge problem.

If you think racoons are a huge problem you don't want to have our bears.

mkowens wrote:How long do the wood pellets last, and how do you replace them (i.e. can you buy them easily/cheaply)?

If you own one of these and your compost smells and it's gross and drippy it's because you're doing it wrong. You don't need to buy wood pellets or other such nonsense. Just add some dead leaves or cut up cardboard. That's how you keep a normal bin from smelling you add nitrogen rich matter to mix with the decomposing veggies (carbon).

Seriously you shouldn't have to pay to compost. If you live in an apartment get a worm bin to compost. For the uninitiated gardener store bought compost isn't as good as making it yourself. Cheap compost is usually just waste product from a farm which grows one crop all year so you're not getting the variety of nutrients from various decomposing things.

I'm still a fan of the plain old pile or bin. I find turning it with a pitchfork and a shovel is good exercise and costs me nothing. And if you're an apartment dweller vermi-composting is great and handy, and is way cheaper than this thing.

To decompose poop you need to turn your compost often and run a hot pile. I know I'm a gardening and electronics nerd, never thought would I combine them on Woot.

Can this replace my septic tank? What if I take on a vegan lifestyle???

The organic material you won't be throwing away actually helps break down the stuff in the land fill. Many land fills actually capture methane that is released from their composting heaps of garbage and use it to power their own trash trucks. The landfills actually need your veggie peelings and rotten tomatoes!

I have no idea if this item is worth $255, but for those asking the question, "Why would anyone compost inside?", keep in mind that many of us live in apartments with little or no "yard" where we could compost outside.

However, For the last 2+ years I have been making compost inside my apartment in a worm bin. Red worms speed up the composting process and create "castings", which make very good compost. Google "vermicomposting" for many useful links. You can do it in those ubiquitous plastic tubs, after drilling a few holes, or build a bin out of other materials. All you need is some shredded paper, water, worms and, of course, some material you would like to compost. If the worm bin is maintained properly (i.e. food is covered with bedding and don't you add too much for the amount of worms you have) there is no odor outside the bin. You may catch a whiff when you remove the lid, but it dissipates quickly.

The bible on this subject is _Worms Eat My Garbage_. And boy do they. I suspect using this woot combined worms may make it worth the money. YMMV.

Edit: I see others have mentioned the benefits of composting using red worms, so what I wrote here may be entirely superfluous.

prateeko wrote:I'd imagine the fact that the Arm and Hammer baking soda is included is a bad sign. Maybe the side deal should have been nose plugs?

heh ... the baking soda isn't used to neutralize odors. The fan and carbon filter are used to do that. The baking soda is used to neutralize acidic foods because sch an environment isn't conducive to the composting cultures. Baking soda = antacid.

antyz0r wrote:
To decompose poop you need to turn your compost often and run a hot pile.

Kids, don't try this at home.

Seriously, I have been thinking about starting a kitchen compost project but have not gotten around to buying the canister, worms, etc. This out of the box auto-electric composting device might fit the bill for the wooter who wants to compost their kitchen waste, but doesn't want to deal with details of maintaining the pile.

BTW, thanks for the info.

I wonder what would happen if you threw a few of these into the composter. They're not listed in the list of Acceptable and Unacceptable Items. I have a few of them scurrying around and my puppy is no longer amused. In fact, one of them is no longer responsive when you poke it. A call to the manufacturer was no help....

sdc100 wrote:I wonder what would happen if you threw a few of these into the composter. They're not listed in the list of Acceptable and Unacceptable Items. I have a few of them scurrying around and my puppy is no longer amused. A call to the manufacturer was no help....

AAAAHHHH!!! What *IS* that???

estrus wrote:AAAAHHHH!!! What *IS* that???

Various links...

More info

More photos, including a skinny one

Bon apetit!

Best wait for the price to come down. I'm sure Obama will mandate these things sooner or later (after he appoints his composting Czar) and then we can get a government voucher.

inglekott wrote:carbo... as a serious question, do you happen to know where one can acquire a 55 gallon barrel (for $8 or even free)?

Thanks.

You wont find as many free ones now as they are everywhere when new housing tracks are built. Not many homes being built now.

When construction companies build new homes they have a bunch of them sitting around. Some pay money to have them hauled off depending on what was inside. Usually white in color sometimes blue. Mine were metal and used to store paint. The ones I got were white and were used just one time. They offered me 30 of them for free and I took 6. 4 for composting and 2 for burning brush and branches as I have a bunch of trees at one of my homes.

- Car washes buy bulk soap in drums
- Animal feed stores get shipments in drums
- Maintenance departments in large buildings may order bulk chemicals in drums
- Marinas use drums often
- instructables.com has a marketplace forum where you can offer or search for drums:

wootalyzer wrote:Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
NatureMill Indoor PRO Edition Composter
$249.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: New

Product List:
- 1 NatureMill HC52CA Black Indoor Automatic Composter PRO Edition

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

You must be out of your frackin mind to pay 250 bucks plus shipping for a composter, Do you know how many bags of Bandini that would buy??? and you hardly have to live with any smell for a small amount of time This machine is like for the "Instant Gardener". This has got to be some wierd joke on us Wooters

noimportantone wrote:sweet now I know what I can do with my Boggy Old Creature.

What a terrible term to call your "Significant Other"

Johnnyabe wrote:Saw one of these on the Wa$ted TV show from the green channel.

After using it for a few days, the home owner finally had to take it outside because it stunk so bad.

Compost smells??

You are putting rotting food into the unit, what do you think it would smell like ... a cologne factory????

why wuld u waste your $ you can make your own out of scraps

Can I poop directly into one of these?
Will it smell and what happens to the toilet paper?

Gripe wrote:Will it get...
Maggots! Worms!

No it will not and don't call us worms.

apbui8 wrote:To those Texans that have Wooted, please take your Texan card, cut it up, and add it to your compost pile.

aww.. a little Texan envy?

eyewerks wrote:Oh, Com'on!
You folks need to think outside of the box, and imagine hooking up a 4" diameter tube of PVC to this thing.

Check out The Humanure Handbook at http://weblife.org/humanure/default.html and pay special attention to Section 5, "A Day In The Life Of A Turd".

This Is awesome - This site is a Good read! Thanks man.

Oh yeah - i am not buying an electric composter, I guess people who live in apt buildings would maybe find this useful.

Personally I have a bad a$$ composter OUTSIDE that i const6ructed after seeing a model at cost co that I was not willing to pay for either. I do not Poop in it however. LOL

it's made from those Blue plastic barrels. wworks great and i even installed a hand crank to roller around and a drip pan to catch the Tea concetrait for my trees and bushes.
You Guys Have fun now.

carbonium wrote:You wont find as many free ones now as they are everywhere when new housing tracks are built. Not many homes being built now.

When construction companies build new homes they have a bunch of them sitting around. Some pay money to have them hauled off depending on what was inside. Usually white in color sometimes blue. Mine were metal and used to store paint. The ones I got were white and were used just one time. They offered me 30 of them for free and I took 6. 4 for composting and 2 for burning brush and branches as I have a bunch of trees at one of my homes.

- Car washes buy bulk soap in drums
- Animal feed stores get shipments in drums
- Maintenance departments in large buildings may order bulk chemicals in drums
- Marinas use drums often
- instructables.com has a marketplace forum where you can offer or search for drums:

I got 6 of them free from a farmer - he had a load of them.

I guess they get fertalizer in them or something along those lines.

I asked him for them and the next time he got some he called and I came to get them. I do not know what these had in them but they say food grade ona sticker so it wasn't too aweful.

carbonium wrote:2.7 cu ft external. Internal about 2.5 cu ft. for $250!

You can get an 11 cu ft composter for half the price.

Or use a 55 gallon barrel that costs about $8 (or even free) that will hold almost 7 cu ft. Just roll it once in a while to rotate and mix the compost.

I made a little stand for mine with some conduit - I went to harber frieght and bought two wheels with rims and bearings on them already, I mounted them on a pole with a crank handle ( the wheels were 5 bucks each ) and I monnted that on the conduit stand.

I cinched everything down with .25 inch bolts and i made the holes for everything with a regular old cordless drill, the recessed bolts i did with a ball pin hammer. pre drill then whack it with a hammer and drop the bolts in and ratchet them down with nuts and washers.

looks store bought but its better cause it cost me about 40.00 total.

Tufflaw wrote:It says it takes pet waste. Does that mean it takes human waste as well? If I can use this as a toilet replacement it might be worth it for all the water I'm saving.

Actually they do make composting toilets. They are usually found in hippies' houses or sometimes in cabins that just would be way to costly to put in sewage. I worked at a place that had one in a cabin and the staff that lived there didn't mind to too much. Every once in a while it would go on the fritz and you would be reminded that you have a machine that is storing human waste.
The alternative to it is just an outhouse, but those are very rough. If you'd ever used one you'd know the horrible thoughts that make me want to vomit.

manolid1 wrote:You must be out of your frackin mind to pay 250 bucks plus shipping for a composter, Do you know how many bags of Bandini that would buy??? and you hardly have to live with any smell for a small amount of time This machine is like for the "Instant Gardener". This has got to be some wierd joke on us Wooters

forget it jake...it's woot.

In case you don't comprehend the concept, they sell a single product at a bargain price each day, in volume. These items sell here because they didn't sell somewhere else. Not in order to insult you personally.

Sorry woot couldn't come up with more digital picture frames for you.

I've owned the pro unit for almost a year
it's fantastic

hands down

go find a near by saw mill though- b/c you are going to go through a LOT of saw dust if your diet does not include a lot of 'brown' foods --

I cannot say enough good things about my Naturemill

(& i'm kinda shocked that WOOT would have something THIS 'green' up! GO WOOT!)

I wonder how truly "green" a product like this is. You're using electricity to do speed a process that nature does on its own. In essence, this product is worse for the environment than simply making an outdoor compost pile. However - it might make you feel better about your contributions to keeping our world green...you dang hippies.

apbui8 wrote:It's ironic that, in efforts to go green, we must use a machine that was:

a) manufactured in some factory which no doubt emitted some sort of byproduct into the ecosystem around it
b) took energy to produce
c) will consume energy on a daily basis

What happened to crapping in the backyard and smashing it with your brother's baseball bat?

I'm no hippie (NUKE THE WHALES!), but this makes no sense to me.

Silly rabbit. This isn't an effort to go green but an effort to CAPITALIZE on going "green". It's the American way, afterall...