Thread: Left of Centre Grey Water Solution

If you need more free water put in a rainwater tank and as you are in sydney it would be better to drink than the domestic supplied water



Rgds

Originally Posted by ozwinner

:eek: Dont give the kids grey water!! :eek:

Al :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Oh I don't know they all look like they are going to be taller than me so this might help stunt their growth a bit so I can still be the boss.

Thanks for the replies, is pretty much what I thought something for the too hard basky without separating pipes.

Originally Posted by floppinab

Oh I don't know they all look like they are going to be taller than me so this might help stunt their growth a bit so I can still be the boss.

Thanks for the replies, is pretty much what I thought something for the too hard basky without separating pipes.

l don't understand , there's been greywater garden watering systems out for years guys . They're often on the gardenining shows to . Look them up on the nett , you'll get pictures of the sytems , how to set it up , the lot . Look up Permaculture to that's what that's all about .
P' easy l use one myself . They are actually bringing it in everywhere over time because people waist too much water on gardens . lt's everywhere in Perth because they have very dry ground and low rain falls .
Your grey water pipes are seperate from dunny and run down into underground aggi' pipes through the garden . Using channels surrounded buy crushed rock and then the normal garden soild over the top it's all filtered through underground and does your watering . You can set them up yourself easily or buy a system . You can also get filtering systems for them if you prefer but l had it on my last house for years and now this one both l setup myself and lawns / garden thrive .
lt's just like green areas over septic pipes .
l have a couple of pics somewhere of one l'll see if l can post it for you.
Cheers .
Masterblaster.

I am in no way an expert but Shedhand is right about the Phosphates in the water, natives especially hate phospahte. You can buy low phospahte washing power for washing machines. I used this in my previous house where I had suffiecient fall from the house to the back yard.

Jon

There is another slight problem too, of faecal matter in the bath and shower water (washing off the nether regions!) and laundry for that matter, in nappies esp. but also underwear to a small extent. If E. coli or other bacteria is in the grey water and consequently on the garden, better to keep kids out of it!:eek:
Just another negative comment to what should be a straight forward and welcome recycling procedure!!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by masterblaster

Your grey water pipes are seperate from dunny and run down into underground aggi' pipes through the garden .

That's my problem MB, my wastewater plumbing is combined before I see it exit my house, what I was looking for was a solenoid to switch diverting to the garden (when emptying the bath) and to the main sewer line (for everything else). Most of the posters agreed the chances of contanimation too high to risk putting this water on the garden. Separating the plumbing would require a major bathroom mods -------- too hard basky.

Originally Posted by floppinab

That's my problem MB, my wastewater plumbing is combined before I see it exit my house, what I was looking for was a solenoid to switch diverting to the garden (when emptying the bath) and to the main sewer line (for everything else). Most of the posters agreed the chances of contanimation too high to risk putting this water on the garden. Separating the plumbing would require a major bathroom mods -------- too hard basky.

Yeah l don't blame you it is much simpler to just use a normal system especially if it's already in place . My new place here came with a brand new septic , setup to cope with the max . l'm so tempted to just run the lot back into that and be done with it , nothing else to touch or worry about then . But , the concept was to have auto watering , recycling, plus save some of my tank water so l persisted .
l'd definately give the solenoid thing a miss it'd be giving you hell 24/7 and the bad guys would be mixed in 1/2 the time anyways my guess .A greywater syetem the basin/shower/kitchen all run out into a seperate pipe so they can't be mixed up and the gravel trenches and filter system on side of house cleans the lot so it's basically back to clean water by the time it hit's the garden . lt is allot of hassel though l must admit it's like having two septics to worry about instead of one .
Cheers.
MB

I think that the anti phosphate advice is correct. I have a grey water system and I notice that since we installed a front loading washing machine, the area it waters is not doing well at all. These washers use a lot less water and hence would have a higher % of phospates etc. I have now routed the water back to the sewer.

I would still think that the shower/bath water should be OK tho. Much less soap concentrate than a washing machine and more water volume.

Re the minute amount of fecal matter, I would think that most backyards are already teeming with it, birds, dogs, cats etc.