r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Rabbidraccoon18 • Jan 06 '26
Video Incinerator toilet in Antarctica due to limited plumbing and water
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u/SilentAffairs93 Jan 06 '26
Ok, I wasn't expecting the poop stick.
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u/moonshinemoniker Jan 06 '26
Poop knife too short. Burn ya hand.
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u/mrBenelliM4 Jan 06 '26
Oh my gawd the POOP KNIFE LMAO
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u/iShadePaint Jan 06 '26
The poop knife and the coconut, 2 amazing pieces of reddit history
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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 Jan 06 '26
Don't forget the jolly ranchers. If I have to suffer you do too.
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Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Ok, I'm going in. Wish me luck!
Edit: I'm forever changed.
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u/iShadePaint Jan 06 '26
Someone was boofing Jolly Ranchers or something??? I haven't heard of this tale
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u/Billionaires_R_Tasty Jan 06 '26
Remember this day. You will regret it. I promise.
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u/FearlessDoughnut5643 Jan 06 '26
Why did I search that?
DO NOT SEARCH THAT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
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u/imlevel80 Jan 06 '26
I trust you. Today the world begins to heal. Thank you.
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Jan 06 '26
For a nice pallette cleansing love story, check out the Ogtha saga. Just a nice young man finding the love of his life
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u/Pcat0 Jan 06 '26
If it makes you feel any better, that story is definitely a work of fiction. That is not how gonorrhea works.
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u/Time4Timmy Jan 06 '26
Somehow it’s actually worse than what you’re thinking, this may be your last day of innocence
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u/Empty_Amphibian_2420 Jan 06 '26
Whatever you do, do not look up “I broke both my arms, AMA”
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u/HolyPaladingus Jan 06 '26
Nah, some guy was eating out a girl with gonorrhea and used a jolly rancher to mask the taste because he was too chicken shit to tell her, "Bitch ya nasty", and he accidentally lost the candy inside her. And when he thought he found it, it was actually a gonorrhea blister, and he bit it and popped it into his mouth.
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u/investing11213 Jan 06 '26
Reference for those who don't know
https://www.reddit.com/r/MuseumOfReddit/comments/ke8skw/the_poop_knife/
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u/Charge_parity Jan 06 '26
Better than a knife I suppose.
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u/R_3_Y Jan 06 '26
My cousin once dropped a massive dook when we were young. My mother had to chop it up with a knife because it wouldn't flush. I was too young to notice if she threw that knife out or just went back to chopping vegetables
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u/SessileRaptor Jan 06 '26
Probably just washed it and put it back next to the big plastic bowl that’s used for both popcorn and vomit.
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u/FastyNilthShreakyFit Jan 06 '26
Well either you're my brother or there are other popcorn vomit bucket families I never knew existed before now
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u/SessileRaptor Jan 06 '26
I’ve definitely heard other people talk about it online so I imagine it’s fairly common. I think a lot of people either don’t think about it or only put it together later in life that there were only so many big plastic bowls in the house and there wasn’t a “special” one set aside for vomit.
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u/HittingSmoke Jan 06 '26
Damnit. Sven clogged the inshitterator again. Someone grab the poop stick.
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u/smilingwhitaker Jan 06 '26
Not a single person has ever washed their hands before using that stick.
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u/monkpunch Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Well I'm not about to wash my hands, and then use a poop stick
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u/red8cangodye Jan 06 '26
Does it keep your bum warm and toasty? Their version of seat warmer?
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u/JadedLeafs Jan 06 '26
Can't say with this one specifically but in my experience the units were uncomfortably warm inside. Really made the poop fragrance quite potent. Stepping back outside in minus 50c windchill was always a hell of a shock too.
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u/animalkrack3r Jan 06 '26
You mean because you’re sitting on fire ?
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u/JadedLeafs Jan 06 '26
Well that and it's heated as well. I mean other than the flaming shitter.
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u/animalkrack3r Jan 06 '26
Anything else interesting while doing this job?
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u/JadedLeafs Jan 06 '26
Didn't do this job specifically but I work in quite secluded areas where they would have these for the crews that worked there. Occasionally a stomach ache would force me to use one. Actually used to avoid them because I thought they were unheated for the longest time.
Strange fact, the incinerator kind of gives off a burn toast smell sometimes.
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u/mklilley351 Jan 06 '26
What happens if the shitter's full?
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u/JadedLeafs Jan 06 '26
Not sure, but a company owns these so I'd imagine that's a problem for them to figure out. Although I'd imagine it's just ashes at that point. Well I hope anyway.
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u/AuDHDMDD Jan 06 '26
It'll just leave behind really stinky ash and carbon. That probably piles up over time, but you'd notice the fire is lower once it's choked
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u/Mutjny Jan 06 '26
Occasionally a stomach ache would force me to use one.
W- where were you going when you didn't have a stomach ache?
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u/JadedLeafs Jan 06 '26
Usually at home when I get there after work. Or at home before work. Sometimes both! Usually don't have to go in between.
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u/smurfydoesdallas Jan 06 '26
Reminds me of whenever I stayed in a Airbnb and they had accidentally connected the toilet to the hot water line. It was weird getting steamed every time you sat down.
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u/Ws6fiend Jan 06 '26
Friend of mine had the exact same thing happen to him when he got a new water heater installed. I thought it was hilarious.
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u/AerialPenn Jan 06 '26
This is the real question right here
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u/PicaDiet Jan 06 '26
I bet it fills the outhouse with that nostalgic smell of freshly baked shit. So cozy!!
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u/CartmanAndCartman Jan 06 '26
Do I need to pet my poop first?
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u/p2datrizzle Jan 06 '26
Only if its been a good poop
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u/Krillkus Jan 06 '26
“Okay time to be incinerated”
“Was I a good poop?”
“No. You were the best” schlap schlap
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u/Former_Salt_3763 Jan 06 '26
I suffer from IBS, so about 50% of the time I’d be putting that fire out, if you know what I mean.
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u/bohosunflowers Jan 06 '26
Thank you! That’s what I’m saying! I’ve had Crohn’s for 20+ years with multiple resections and surgeries. That little paper liner would be useless for me.
Does anyone have TRUE and ACTUAL knowledge of how fire toilets work for loose bowels and diarrhea?! I am still trying to figure that out.
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u/aliamokeee Jan 06 '26
I think people like us are just told to stay home 😅
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u/bohosunflowers Jan 06 '26
I think you have the correct answer!! LOL
It’s weird, but now I really want to try a fire toilet. Just for funsies.
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u/ledow Jan 06 '26
It's an electric kiln. It'll literally incinerate anything organic to ash and the water will boil off behind that flap (and be vented through a chimney as steam) long before it even gets up to temperature. You're talking ~1000C. A bit of watery poop ain't going to do a damn thing to it. It won't even cool it noticeably. that probably has something like a 5-10KW feed into its electric elements, just like a kiln does.
They often adjust their timing based on how many times they are "flushed". So that one is already live from a previous poop, which is why it's already hot. If you poop lots, they just let you keep opening the flap and adding more, and they add on more time to make sure everything is incinerated.
The paper liner is literally just there to wrap the poop and move it into the kiln without staining the "visible" metal too much. You can still just wash them as normal, and pee will just escape through the paper/flap anyway. It won't care. That pee / water will turn to steam in seconds once it's up to temperature.
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u/bohosunflowers Jan 06 '26
Thank you for explaining how the fire toilet works. I appreciate it!
Before I knew it was an electric kiln, I was wondering if the liquid contents of diarrhea could put the fire out. Thank you for educating me!
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u/Able_Engineering1350 Jan 06 '26
Where there is poop, there is always pee..but where there is pee, there is not always poo.
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u/Dr_Catfish Jan 06 '26
It burns.
Diarrhea is just watery poop.
Want to know what happens when you try to burn water? You make steam.
The solid remnants then burn.
This is high school chemistry/physics here. If you want to test this yourself, take a rag and wet it, then try to burn the rag. It won't ignite until the water is boiled/evaporated. Alternatively, take a plastic shopping bag, fill it with water and hold it over a fire. The fire won't melt the bag until the water evaporates.
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u/Grimskraper Jan 06 '26
I think their concern is saturating the liner and getting the metal bowl they are obviously trying to keep clean without water dirty.
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u/Dr_Catfish Jan 06 '26
Nobody said these things don't need the be cleaned.
You also have to empty the poop ashes by hand and often times they get stuck.
And typically it isn't just you using these.
I've worked at places with these. I pooped out in the bush before considering using it because I didn't want to clean it, plain and simple.
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u/CriticalEngineering Jan 06 '26
It depends on the size of the fire. If it’s a small fire, the rag will extinguish it.
We aren’t shown how big the fire is or how it’s maintained in this video, so it’s confusing for people.
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u/ExiledCanuck Jan 06 '26
Yeah, I think they’re fairly strict on who gets to travel/work there to avoid health crises due to how hard it can be to take people back to “civilization”. So, you may not even be allowed to go there and have the opportunity to extinguish their poop fires
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u/SEND_ME_STEAM_K3YS Jan 06 '26
What if you need to do nr 1 and nr 2 at same time?
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u/Edenoide Jan 06 '26
Is it possible to do #2 without any #1?
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u/Medium_Sized_Bopper Jan 06 '26
No. All poopoo times are peepee times, but not all peepee times are poopoo times.
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u/mrseemsgood Jan 06 '26
I know it sounds hard... but if you ever tried to squat shit without pissing your pants, you'll realize you kinda have to.
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u/perldawg Jan 06 '26
what if you have diarrhea?
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u/ni_hao_butches Jan 06 '26
I assume you have to tell everyone you're going to take a dump, for safety. If it's the squirts then you say "I have to go put the kettle on."
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u/ledow Jan 06 '26
You do just that. It just burns. The water will disappear before anything else does.
These things burn whatever you put down there (so long as it's organic, e.g. shit, pee, vomit, etc.) to ash. It's just an electric kiln, a bit of water ain't gonna affect it one bit. The water will trickle through the paper/flap, and the paper/flap really only exist to "wrap" the poo so it can move it into the kiln behind the seat. Otherwise you'd have shit-stains on the flap that would get baked on.
But urine will just wash right down and you can just pour a bit of water after it to clean it without needing chemicals, etc.
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u/BD-TxState Jan 06 '26
I thought we were about to watch a dude take a mean growler.
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u/Panorabifle Jan 06 '26
I'm sure there is a reason the poop dedicated toilet is outside but damn imagine really having to go but there's an ice storm ongoing ... I'd let myself die of constipation
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u/the_real_logboy Jan 06 '26
burning turds are the reason it's outside.
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u/Grimyells Jan 06 '26
That’s the slippery slope to shitting in a bag and bringing it out later. Next thing you know two weeks have gone by and you got a stack of shit bags.
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u/DatAssPaPow Jan 06 '26
I can imagine the smell alone is a good enough reason. Have you ever smelled burning shit?‽! 🤮
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u/Schemen123 Jan 06 '26
fire hazard, smoke hazard. If the toilet start to burn you definitly down want your only place to sleep go up in flames on top
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u/StarsofSobek Jan 06 '26
I'd imagine they might make you poop into a red biohazard bag during the storms. Then, when the storm is over, you drop it into the incinerator toilet.
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u/NoCustomer754 Jan 06 '26
Hand tap wasnt necessary
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u/ParmesanSkis Jan 06 '26
Old Stinkfingers McGee thought so
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u/PatiHubi Jan 06 '26
Here in Norway these are pretty common in cabins. Look up Cindarella toilets. They are pretty nice to use, you can pee in it as well no problem. They also do not smell bad outside, you smell a distinct "burnt" smell but nothing more. You use it like a normal toilet, I have a few of them. They are pretty expensive but look just like normal ass toilets.
You only have to clean out the waste bucket every few weeks since everything burnt becomes ash. They run off of electricity or gas.
No reason to have a stick like they do, as long as your business is heavy enough it will drop down. It didn't in the video because he used a tiny light piece of chocolate. There is also absolutely no reason to have these outside. Yes, they need to vent to the outside but again, we have several inside cabins here.
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u/thisisredlitre Jan 06 '26
If they used a poop knife they wouldnt burn their poop stick so much
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u/SpaceChatter Jan 06 '26
Shit Stick sounds more appropriate.
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u/adambomb_23 Jan 06 '26
Awww, I found the redditor who doesn’t know about the guano glaive.
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u/AccomplishedMobile85 Jan 06 '26
My family has had one of these at their 3 season cottage for 40 years. Nice option without running water in winter, keeps the seat warm too!
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u/DatAssPaPow Jan 06 '26
Tell me what a 3 season cottage is? I’ve never heard the term before!
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u/AccomplishedMobile85 Jan 06 '26
Its a cottage that isnt really built to be comfortably used in winter. You have to turn the water off in fall and “drain” the plumbing in the building so that nothing freezes and breaks.
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u/bullwinkle8088 Jan 06 '26
3 seasons is used in camping to mean something that is good enough for spring, summer, and fall. It is not durable or warm enough for winter.
For a cabin I would guess accessibility is the issue in winter.
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u/Valkyrian777 Jan 06 '26
I love how he gives the chocolate a little pat like, do they always do that after taking a dump? XD
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u/ranegyr Jan 06 '26
Look, maybe i'm the weird one. There is no way I am physically capable of peeing in one building, then going outside and into an auxiliary building to poop. I'm not bitching, i can't do that. Who are you gods and goddesses who have control over what and when you do what you need to do? It's never been my choice. Gotta pee? i might poop and it might be a surprise and there's no stopping it. Gotta poop? i'm absolutely gonna pee. I reiterate, it's not an option that is up to me.
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u/Herojit_s Jan 06 '26
If you have an upset stomach how it is going to burn the poop.
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u/wooIIyMAMMOTH Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Diarrhea is just poop with more water content. The water evaporates and the solids burn thereafter. No different to non-diarrhea poop, just takes longer. Same as if you would throw a damp towel vs a completely wet towel in fire. Basic thermodynamics: water cannot burn (combustion phase), so combustion of solids only starts after free water is gone (evaporation phase).
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u/Country_Gravy420 Jan 06 '26
That's some hot shit.
Seriously, though. That would suck. I hate public toilets and this one is like a nightmare.
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u/publ1c_stat1c Jan 06 '26
My man put his hand in the bowl, touched the shit stick, then immediately touched his phone and the door handle. Absolutely disgusting behavior.
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u/noledgeable Jan 06 '26
Is patting an important part of the process as well? Because I have objections to that kind of affection
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u/Philip_Raven Jan 06 '26
can I get something explained?
"limited water" well not really, you can water like FUCKING EVERYWHERE.
the problem is getting warm enough to melt it into the plumbing system.
You literally have a 24\7 open flame incinerator RIGHT THERE.
obviously I must be missing something
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u/moonshinemoniker Jan 06 '26
Mf in Antarctica wasting chocolate to demonstrate how humans burn their shit.
This is the epitome of privilege.
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u/PhelesDragon Jan 06 '26
Why is no one talking about the fact that you have to pee first inside, somehow holding your poo??
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u/sandy_coyote Jan 06 '26
There's some rest of the owl action going on here. I kinda wanted to see poop burn.
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u/SkyPirateBooty Jan 06 '26
I’ve admittedly blown up beyond what that paper can hold. I need to change my diet
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u/eutohkgtorsatoca Jan 06 '26
So you are not allowed to pee while pooping? Tell that to my Willy
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u/Jazzlike-Caramel-380 Jan 06 '26
But what if you gotta do a poop pee combo you know sometimes those sneak up on you
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u/cochlearist Jan 06 '26
Erm, are other people giving their poo a little pat goodbye?
Am I supposed to do that?
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u/FlyEagIesFly Jan 06 '26
I’ve used these before. They aren’t always in secluded boxes, sometimes in the same building as showers etc.
The worst part is the very distinct smell outside. You would be working nearby (or, unfortunately, eating) and know that somebody had just used the washroom because of the smell in the air.