I want to install a gray water system can anyone help?

Question

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, I've heard that gray water is one of the biggest wastes we commit and that the average joe can set a a simple system on his own. Any sugestions?

Answer 1

When we remodeled our house, we put in a separate drainage system for grey water from the sinks, showers and the washing machine. it  gravity drains out into my orchard, where i have ditches i can direct the water to different trees ( it is on a slight slope) i do live in the country where there are not restrictions on this. check your local codes first. By the way, soap does NOT hurt trees or plants, in fact it nourishes them- the grass is green and trees do well even though i even use real bleach in my laundry it is not an issue. I do think that i would not have put the kitchen sink drain onto the system though, as grease can be a problem. i do not have a garbage disposal either, so take that into account.

if you are not remodeling or would have to get under the house, i think i would start with a simple washing machine drain into a drum by ways of some plastic pipeing. we did this when there was water rationing in Los Angeles one time  and fixed up the barrel outside our back door - the pipe went out the door when doing a load of wash- the barrel was up on some concrete blocks and had a faucet in the bottom side that we attached the hose to- and watered our lawn with gravity drain from the barrel. we were the only ones in the neighborhood with a green lawn.  GL and you can e mail me if you want.

Answer 2

I have done the grey water treatment to my last three houses and it is very simple to do.

First, locate all of your water drains that include shower, washing machine and sink water.

You will wind up tapping into those drain lines and running them into a central grey water drain line with a backflow preventer and ultimately into a grey water storage tank or better yet into a garden area.

Very simple to do and very effective and it also makes you part of the solution and no longer part of the problem.

Answer 3

There's a little more to it than that.  The grey water will typically have a bunch of junk in it you don't want, mostly soaps, surfactants, etc.  You would probably need a skimmer box to trap the floatables, and then a tank to collect some other residues if you use the sink as a source.  You then need a pump to pump up to the toilets to keep them full, and some sort of sensing and controls.  The whole shebang with installation would be about $5000 or so.  The biggest expense would be the tank and installation and some minor plumbing work.

Answer 4

No problem.  Just collect the water from your sinks, dish washer, clothes washer and pump this water to your toilets.

Answer 5

i run piping directly from my washer to my flowers and trees, it is the only watering the get in this desert of southern AZ

www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/branched...

make sure to check to see if it is legal in your area, before spending a lot of money. do a web search on greywater and your state gov't