I have somewhat of a mechanical engineering background so I have had a few gears turning lately…
Diaper pails smell and that’s just how it is. But the only reason they smell is because there is air present. What if the air was taken away? What if there was a sort of “vacuum chamber diaper pail”? Would that mean smell couldn’t escape from the sealed pail?
Is there a product on the market that is similar to the description above or would it be possible to manufacture such a product? If installed in a house, it could be vented so it could suck out the air in the pail and expel it outside. When it’s time to empty, the smell should only be present for a very short period of time while the diapers in the bag are tied and taken out to trash and the pail is disinfected and cleaned.
For someone in my position, It is difficult to find a good time that nobody is present while disposing of diapers in a can. This would make it possible to dispose of them once a week on garbage day. During the day, nobody would be around to see them being carried to the can.
Any thoughts or ideas? Is this just too far out there?
Port-o-johns work in a similar way: Bernoulli’s principle causes the wind blowing across the flat opening of the vent pipe to induce a low pressure in the pipe and thus, in the tank, to draw the odor up the pipe instead of wafting into the toilet cubicle.
If you’re pumping the air out, once you drop below a certain pressure you’ll start boiling off the liquids in the diaper, which sounds like a great way to both destroy a vacuum pump and/or to spread aerosolized urine components to wherever the pumps output is.
At that point you might as well have a bucket with a fan in it that keeps a slight negative pressure and vents the exhaust somewhere people won’t smell it.
Alternatively, you could seal the diaper in a vacuum bag with most of the air removed (like whatever you could squish out by hand)… But at that point just use a small trash bag or gallon ziplock. Or a diaper genie if you want to go with an already existing commercial product.
Also, if we go back to the original problem you’re trying to solve, wouldn’t running a vacuum pump or having a weird bucket with a fan and exhaust hose be just as “incriminating” as being seen carrying a small trash bag with what ostensibly appears to be trash in it?
It really shouldn’t unless somebody left the lid up or it’s way past when it should have been serviced (e.g. the blue liquid is no longer covering everything by several inches).
I’m not actually sure if that is true. Not all bacteria requires oxygen.
I mean, I’d think it would be harder to find a time to drill a hole in an exterior wall and install a vent hood without anyone noticing, and anyone living with you might get curious about why you’ve got a big ol` PVC pipe running into your closet ;p
I thought about the liquid boiling but I was not sure if the liquid that has since been absorbed would still boil? I kind of think not but I am not sure. I’ve never tried it haha!
As for having an “incriminating” container, fan, etc… I also have somewhat of a residential construction background. I feel it would be easy to do a “trap door” kind of thing. Something not noticeable to those who aren’t already told where it is. It’s kind of one of those things I can explain better on paper than over a text description.
All very valid points that you made and I do appreciate the feedback!
That is a very good point about the bacteria. I would need to research gut/fecal bacteria and anaerobic bacteria.
Again, with a background in mechanical engineering and residential construction, I feel like I would be capable of installing a ventilation system that would be near invisible or unidentifiable to an uninformed/untrained eye. It could be run into a crawl and vented similar to a laundry exhaust, dryer louvered style vent. Just an example.
Most of the smell is the result of bacterial action right?
Below a certain air presser I’m thinking the outer membrane of bacteria will rupture. Sterilizing the diaper.
Don’t vacuum the are from the bucket. Vacuum the air from a plastic baggie. Something along the lines of a kitchen vacuum sealer? With some sort of “dehumidifier” on the exzost?
Your probably want to make it some sort of “bio-degradable” baggie too.
The diaper pail needs a freezer built-in. Deposit the used diapers into an environment below the freezing point at 0 or 32 degrees, will reduce or eliminate the odor. We do the same for food trash until trash collection day. Works very well.
I mean its an idea that could hypothetically be made to work, but it just seems like a really impractical solution. Maybe you could discretely install such a contraption in shared living conditions, but I doubt many could, especially if the main motivation is that they have trouble sneaking out a small garbage bag.
This seems a lot more practical. Heck you can buy a small chest freezer for pretty cheap. You can probably find or adapt/make one that could be hidden in a bedroom. Either that or go for something like a bar fridge and just come up with a reason for having one.
So you can’t walk a small trash bag to the bin without somebody calling foul, but you could open up the walls to hide an exhaust system without anybody noticing?
Actually, due to my work schedule, I have a later start time on one day (which just so happens to land on garbage day) than the other 6 days so the kids are already gone to school. My spouse knows and is extremely supportive. I’m not trying to hide it from her, only from my kids. They do not need to know nor should they. I just need a way to hold them without smell until trash day.