We installed an Sun Mar Excel NE composting toilet unit upstairs this spring The first few weeks were great no smells at all and we all felt very smug that we had finally crossed over to the other side. The summer came and with the heat came the flies. Not from our toilet at first but through doors when we walk in and out of the house. It was only about three weeks in that i noticed one or two flies would come out of the composting toilet when lid was lifted.
Then the horror came a few days later, trousers down, bottom poised for landing on the seat and woosh out comes a swarm, well probably about 30-40. Even though i was the one to experience the sensation of a swarm of flies flying past my butt, it was my wifes worst nightmare. So here is what we found out and what we did to overcome the fly problem.
Firstly its important to note the flies never came from the toilet they came into the house, found the toilet and laid eggs in there which then produced the hatching cycle and therefore the fly problem. So when anyone complains about flies in their composting toilet they have to realise they came from their house first.
Okay so first step is to get rid of flies in house so we had to use the nasty Raid stuff one day when the kids would be away all day, it worked, i also sprayed it into the toilet just so i could get working on a solution.
Okay now we have got rid of all flies, next step was to kill the larvae in the toilet, you can use the Dunk tablets which are used in ponds and are safe for the compost, break them up and put in a spray bottle full of water let soak and spray toilet every time its used for 10 days. The larvae ingest the solution which then cracks and kills them.
Now how to keep the flies from wantng to come in the toilet and lay eggs. I was able to find one of those insect killer plastic sticks which usually hang in unoccupied rooms to kill flies when owners are away. i can easily hang these inside the drum at the rear left side and does not provide any obstruction to use other than remembering to remove when rotating drum. So thats it,.
Its been 2 months since the fly issue and we have continued to have hot weather and have never seen a fly come out of the composting toilet since. When i eventually get the walls made for the toilet the flies will have less access to the toilet also. Smug face engaged!
