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Grey water system for house
- Thread starter sandwitch
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Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
You can't store grey water so you need to look at how you use water.
I ended up using the grey water banks for the toilets (myWaterloo.co.za) as I only have enough grey water for one toilet. It was mostly red water and sometimes bath water.
It worked out cheaper to just install water tanks with a pump to harvest rain water and use them on the other toilet, washing machine and dishwasher.
While an automated grey water system is about R6K you still need to treat the water. This costs time and money. Rain water tanks only require a cup of household bleach (jik) once a month.
Also my toilet using grey water stinks to hell after a year, the one on rainwater is still fine.
I ended up using the grey water banks for the toilets (myWaterloo.co.za) as I only have enough grey water for one toilet. It was mostly red water and sometimes bath water.
It worked out cheaper to just install water tanks with a pump to harvest rain water and use them on the other toilet, washing machine and dishwasher.
While an automated grey water system is about R6K you still need to treat the water. This costs time and money. Rain water tanks only require a cup of household bleach (jik) once a month.
Also my toilet using grey water stinks to hell after a year, the one on rainwater is still fine.
Thanks cbrunsdonza! I've edited my question to ask about watering the garden instead. I've got water tanks but I also want to use the water from the bath and the laundry rinsewater. It seems like a waste not to use it.
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Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
Laundry rinse water is probably the hardest thing to harvest as it needs manual intervention on an automated device. Would love it if manufacturers had two pumps / outlets to allow one to harvest this water. Just don't have the time to manually switch over when the machine is in rinse.
As for bath water, and was talking to wife about it this evening, you can easily DIY a pump to it along with some re-plumbing if you don't have the advantage of gravity.
You still need to be able to bypass your system for when there is harsh chemicals in the water.
I know the common setup is to run it into a container and then pump it out but then you sit with the ungodly smell after a while. I was thinking of ether using a pump connected directly to the bath outlet with a manual switch over or to use a macerator which is a pump & "blender" for waste water (often used for toilet's).
I'm interested to hear what others have to say.
As for bath water, and was talking to wife about it this evening, you can easily DIY a pump to it along with some re-plumbing if you don't have the advantage of gravity.
You still need to be able to bypass your system for when there is harsh chemicals in the water.
I know the common setup is to run it into a container and then pump it out but then you sit with the ungodly smell after a while. I was thinking of ether using a pump connected directly to the bath outlet with a manual switch over or to use a macerator which is a pump & "blender" for waste water (often used for toilet's).
I'm interested to hear what others have to say.
Dairyfarmer
Executive Member
If you wanted an easy system to use grey water immediately on your garden then look into a small tank with a bilge pump. These pumps are used in boat bilges and kick in automatically when water reaches a certain level. They are also 12v so you can run them off a solar powered battery. All you would have to do is calculate the amount of grey water you would produce in a day so as to have sufficient storage.
If you then have seperate rain water storage, once a week use this to purge your grey water system. You can put a very small pressure pump onto your rain water to feed your toilets.
If you then have seperate rain water storage, once a week use this to purge your grey water system. You can put a very small pressure pump onto your rain water to feed your toilets.
Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
So how does that device prevent cistern mechanisms from getting clogged when pouring grey water directly into the cistern, like I have been doing for a long time now without any problems?
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
What I found interesting is that toilets do not clog up with the use of grey water as claimed by both manufactores and so called authroative sources on this topic .... but
... this is because the water is filtered and large particles, including hair, is caught before entering the cistren. The mywaterloo has a valve that clogs up if there are large particles. There is a mesh filter I forget to put on to prevent this so I end up having to clean up the valve every month.
I simple mesh filter should be good enough for anybody.
Keep in mind even your potable water is not always free of large particles. For example in my area when ever there is work done/repair on a water pipe in the road we end up with sand in our water for a few days. This settles to the bottom of the cistren on both new and old toilets.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
I've got a larger pump on my toilet as it was "cheap" but noisty and the pressure is not all that great. I would rather recommend a quality DAB pump over a cheap (insert random generate Engrish word) brand which is twice the size.
I've got a Tallas pump as well and this thing is whisper quiet, my other one wakes up the neighbourhood each time we flush the toilet.
Do however install a filter inline to keep the toilet clean of sand (and other crap). I bought a cheap irrigation filter for under R200 and it works great. Can easily clean out the mesh filter.
I think I'm going to stick with my bath and shower water. I was going to DIY it but then I found this: http://gardenresq.co.za/products/. After a couple of paydays I'll get this or something similar.
Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. How is that better than carrying buckets to your garden (a bit more effort though)
I suppose a lot depends on the size of your garden, available time etc. We are in Cape Town and have kept rainfall records since 1990 so we became aware of the looming water situation at least 2 years before the City started making noises about saving water. We then started looking at our 730sq m plot critically and changed our priorities and practices. We reduced our lawn area by about 20%, and haven't watered it for 4 summers, so the grass has grown deep roots and survived. Do we have an English-style garden with roses and lots of annuals? No. But we grow waterwise plants and some veges without using municipal water, and we have lots of birds who visit so it isn't a desert. We have 2x 5000 litre tanks which are currently full, but no greywater system. It's work in progress but it's an interesting journey.
Youtube comes up with this video:
I suppose if I had the knowledge and the tools I could make one for myself.
It's not a definite thing yet - I'm still looking around because whatever I do I'll have to change the irrigation system. This looks the easiest for me, though.
It's not a definite thing yet - I'm still looking around because whatever I do I'll have to change the irrigation system. This looks the easiest for me, though.
Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
Easiest way is to direct your washing machine water ...every washing machine has a pump ..i created my own grey water system by adding pipes out to my garden...flower beds florished..just make sure its not sprayed on the plant and must be to the soil near the plant..soil acts as a filter.
