Outhouse

Outhouse is the colloquial term for a toilet without flushing ( dry toilet ), in which the feces along with urine in a box or a pit falls ( flops ) and remains there until the pit or the box is filled and its contents are discarded. Alternatively, the pit is - Septic tank called - filled in and a new dug at a distance. This process is repeated cyclically ( " wandering outhouse "). Outhouses are from other dry toilets, how to distinguish, for example, composting toilets or dry separation toilets.

Historical

In towns without sewage pit toilets were once widespread. The faeces were collected in cesspits and pumped regularly. The comfort of these toilets was largely inspired by the water-closet. But was not flushed, but instead opened a flap at the bottom of the ceramic basin and possibly nachgeputzt with some water from a jug next to it.

Spreads were also outhouses with multiple seats ( without partition ) for simultaneous use. In ancient Rome, for example, this was considered a communal affair, dealer could talk about business, today we speak of performing the business. The outhouse can be considered as a further development of the Stehklos with a horizontally mounted bar for sitting ( popularly known as " Thunder Box ").

According to a decision of the LG Hamburg enough for a cottage on a natural property of an outhouse without the owner have to explicitly tell.

Outhouses today

Especially in poorer countries outhouses are still commonly found today.

Even in the rural areas of Sweden and Finland outhouses are still relatively frequent. They are found mainly in connection with older buildings that are now used as recreational houses. The Swedish term is " That" or " Utedass " ( outhouse ), which is due to the German word or article of the word "house ". For proper disposal of feces provides, for a fee, the church. A disposal subscription can be limited to the summer months. Also on Swedish beaches or Finnish National Parks pit toilets are set up, usually right next to the parking lot, as it usually is no purpose-built houses there.

Pit toilets in trains

To date, find pit toilets ( toilet downpipe; " Open design " ) in many trains use. Here, feces and urine by a flap and drained a rubber and / or metal tube onto the tracks, which is why their use is forbidden in railway stations. It is advantageous that these toilets require hardly any maintenance. Occasionally, however, apart from the regular cleaning, refilling mounted above the ceiling water tank and toilet paper refills. In addition, the thick downpipes are relatively insensitive to clogging.

A disadvantage is the contamination of the thresholds and the railway embankment with feces. In Germany, the latrines have now been largely replaced by vacuum toilets, which allow a closed sewer system.

Open train toilets are an additional problem for the workers in the tunnel at the construction sites and railway stations. At the construction site in the underground part of the Zurich main station pollution caused by fecal matter in the autumn of 2011, even to the strike by construction workers. In the Swiss SBB in 2011 42% of the trains or cars around 1300 open toilets, which will be only in 2019 completely refitted or replaced.

High-speed trains can not be equipped with toilets of this type, since the resultant when the car enters a tunnel at high speed air pressure could push the contents of the downpipe back. In high- speed trains with a pressurized cabin, an open connection to the outside would be not possible anyway.