⚠️ This forum has been restored as a read-only archive so the knowledge shared by the community over many years remains available. New registrations and posting are disabled.

All times are UTC + 8 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 40 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Grey water
PostPosted: Sep 10th, '07, 20:37 
Almost divorced
Almost divorced
User avatar

Joined: Aug 25th, '06, 14:54
Posts: 1278
Location: Adelaide
Gender: Male
Hi all

I've been searching for info on grey water systems and I wondered if anyone here has one or knows anything about them (I'm sure someone here does). I'm thinking more about the diversion and pumping onto the garden part, not the treatment or storage of the water.

My front yard slopes down slightly to the road and my down pipes are all at or near the front of the house. I would only have room for a small rain water tank at the front. Given that most of our rain falls in the winter, I wouldn't be able to store much of the winter rain for use over the summer in the garden. Therefore I thought it may be more cost effective to have a grey water diverter conected to the shower + bath as a family of 5 would use >100 litres/day.

Any thought/ideas?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
    Advertisement
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sep 10th, '07, 21:33 
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
User avatar

Joined: Aug 7th, '06, 20:07
Posts: 8293
Location: margaret river West Oz
Gender: Male
Location: Western Australia
KE, I have a grey water system.
From my experience pumping or even gravity feed is a difficult proposition prior to treatment!
In saying this, a system of baffles will collect a fair deal of solids,
and further solids removal via gravel (bluemetal) may be sufficent filtering of solids to allow retic.
The issues you will need to address are the efficent distribution of treated water, the siting which I expect will be underground as a significant aroma can be present at times.
It is possible, just need to look at the available grey water systems in the market place.
PM me if you want my system specs!


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sep 11th, '07, 09:41 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Mar 22nd, '06, 00:28
Posts: 12757
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Gender: Male
Are you human?: YES- kinda
Location: Melb Vic OZ
i've been planning for a while to have a grey water system on my kitchen sink that will incorporate a soleniod valve switch on the wall. I use a fair proportion of kitchen water on rinsing of veggies and waiting forthe water to run warm. This water i would be comfortable diverting directly to a 200L holing tank for input into my AP.

When i ever get around to it i will post some picks, but it will involve a car door actuator solenoid onto a 3 way diverter fitting available from plumbing stores. i will mount a switch on the kitchen sink.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sep 11th, '07, 10:12 
In need of a life
In need of a life
User avatar

Joined: Aug 1st, '06, 12:19
Posts: 1884
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Another method KE, again depending on your space and proximity to it. You can dig a 'maze' of channels in the ground, line the whole lot with black plastic, fill with gravel and plant native water plants like reeds. These plants are very tolerant of the detergents in the greywater, they also aerate and help break down the bacteria in the water. Basically the water goes in one end and the clean water comes out the other. Ideally you'd have an underground storage tank at the end to store the water.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sep 11th, '07, 10:15 
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
User avatar

Joined: Aug 7th, '06, 20:07
Posts: 8293
Location: margaret river West Oz
Gender: Male
Location: Western Australia
TC- have you been to my place?
cept we have a maze made from rammed earth, about 30mtrs in length!
We use blue metal as a pre filter!
The chooks do the solids collection.hehe


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sep 11th, '07, 10:38 
In need of a life
In need of a life
User avatar

Joined: Aug 1st, '06, 12:19
Posts: 1884
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Yeah thats cool C1... See there you go...

Heres a good website... Puts it in laymans terms...

www.ceres.org.au/watertrail/files/reedbed.html


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Grey water
PostPosted: Sep 11th, '07, 17:48 
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
User avatar

Joined: Aug 24th, '06, 19:46
Posts: 6604
Location: sunbury
Gender: Male
Are you human?: no
Location: sunbury
Yes that ceres park is a good spot on grey water i have 2 systems running 4 years without hitch so far the onsweet shower water goes to a burried 50 litre dum then runs downhill to any newly planted trees and the washing machine water goes to a grey water tank with a submersable pump witch is pumped up hill to the front lawn and gardens


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 11:02 

Joined: Oct 9th, '07, 07:48
Posts: 3
Location: Melbourne
Gender: Male
I thought I'd add my grey water thoughts to this older thread, it's becoming ever more relevant as drought conditions continue (at least water restrictions).

I've been mucking around with grey water for a couple of years now and developed a system I'm happy with. I found that the shower was the best source followed by the washing machine final rinse water, both are relatively low on biological oxygen demand (BOD = food for bugs or treatment required) the washer water can be a bit caustic though.

After 12 hours or so (depends on the temperature) stagnant grey water can get pretty smelly which is a risk of transmitting disease via whatever you use the water for (vegies in my case). The stagnant conditions tend to become anoxic promoting the growth of smelly, potentially nasty bacteria (just think about what you wash in the shower). After getting fed-up with carrying water every morning to use it while fresh, I got into treating my grey water. Basically the continuous flow gravel bed aquaponics set up without the fish is ideal for grey water treatment.

I converted a system I'd been using as a AP trial to grey water treatment service. 250L sump dug in below the fall of the shower water diverter with 3x 60L gravel filled grow beds above. The circulation pump needs to be fitted with a pre-filter / strainer (mine's a submersible in the bottom of a small bucket filled with gravel) so that hair and leaves and stuff doesn't get into the impeller. After 12 - 24 hours of treatment, the aerobic bugs have used up allmost all the BOD meaning I can store the water indefinately in tanks etc. without it going smelly. This makes the grey water a little more independant from my irrigation system, I can build up an inventory and use it on hot days or when there's not been rain for a while.

I introduced a few reed type plants (weeds I had growing in the lawn) which has really helped polish the water better. I kept one gravel bed clear though to have a high flow really oxygenated bed since the reeds tend to choke things up a bit. Chior mulsh and garden lime added to the grow beds also help smooth out the pH swings (shower water with not much soap tends to go acidic once it's treated while washing machine water is caustic).

The water parameters are pretty good after treatment. I had to re-line a 2000L pond recently (punctured liner) and re-filled the pond with 50/50 rain and treated shower water. The fish are fine (Aus. Bass, Silver Pearch, Tandanus / eel tail catfish and goldfish) and I've had no algal blooms either (quite a suprise) and used no tap water. The treated water is low in nitrates (unless you pee in the shower) and should be suitable as a 'fresh' water source for AP water changes too.

This type of treatment apparantly constitutes a septic system and the council rules say that I need a septic system permit. I therefore changed the name to a "grey water fed hydroponic reed garden".


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 12:13 
A posting God
A posting God
User avatar

Joined: Sep 4th, '07, 04:16
Posts: 2475
Location: Texas
Gender: Male
Are you human?: YES
Location: Texas 75703
My gray water system consist of a 55 gallon drum for collecting solids and a couple hundred feed of 3 inch slotted flex pipe.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 13:09 
Legend Member
Legend Member
User avatar

Joined: May 28th, '07, 16:24
Posts: 667
Location: Adelaide
Gender: Male
Location: South Australia, AUS
pictures we love pictures :)


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Grey water
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 14:12 
Xtreme Contributor
Xtreme Contributor
User avatar

Joined: Feb 2nd, '08, 23:50
Posts: 149
Location: Brisbane, QLD
Gender: Male
http://www.wormfarm.com.au/domestic_waste_systems.php
This is a link to a system I've been looking at for my "green" house. It's meant for blackwater(poo) however I can't see why the principle couldn't work for a grey water system. It uses earthworms to break down the waste and convert it into liquid plant food. I think the plants would like it more than the fish for AP but I think your lawn or soil rooted plants would benefit greatly. I want to hook a system like this up to run into a seperate tank, dillute the worm urine with water and irrigate small crops on my property, eg. corn. From a little more research while typing this, you may still need the reed bed system or seperate hydro system to clean the water completely before putting it in your AP. Anyone thought of using a distilling process to purify water?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: our grey water system
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 17:23 
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
User avatar

Joined: Aug 7th, '06, 20:07
Posts: 8293
Location: margaret river West Oz
Gender: Male
Location: Western Australia
This is what we have...
Is made of rammed earth and has a maze about 30mtrs in length.
Currently as you can see tomatoes, dianella(?), choc mint and frogs oh and the occasional carpet python.
...and a grapefruit (red)


Attachments:
08-02-08_1806.jpg
08-02-08_1806.jpg [ 55.27 KiB | Viewed 8606 times ]
08-02-08_1804.jpg
08-02-08_1804.jpg [ 66.42 KiB | Viewed 8634 times ]
08-02-08_1803.jpg
08-02-08_1803.jpg [ 82.93 KiB | Viewed 8607 times ]
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 17:28 
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
Seriously, this cant be healthy.
User avatar

Joined: Aug 7th, '06, 20:07
Posts: 8293
Location: margaret river West Oz
Gender: Male
Location: Western Australia
I forgot bananas


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 18:21 
Almost divorced
Almost divorced
User avatar

Joined: Feb 22nd, '07, 18:27
Posts: 1280
Location: geelong
Gender: Male
Exactly what i have been thinking about Ben.
I thought I might divert the grey water to a blue metal bio then drain by gravity to an inground pond. (More digging for TT.) An 8-9000lt pond would take about a month to fill, we have 300lts of waste water a day. I could put a sliding gate valve on the grey water exit from the property. When the pond is full, we could just open the gate valve. Could have all sorts of things growing in the pond and it would just about get us off the water grid.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Feb 8th, '08, 18:41 
Bordering on Legend
Bordering on Legend
User avatar

Joined: Jan 14th, '08, 17:42
Posts: 427
Location: La Rochelle
Gender: Male
You could use skimmers to extract all the colloid product you use like oily stuff, shampoo, soap and others. It would make you be sure that you would have less excess chemical build up concentration in the pond. It could be done with a sort of venturi. It is what they use as a first treatment in water treating plants. Then an AP system and a pond to grow feeder fish, daphnia and green water... ;-)
Just have to be cautious of the use of the water in case of a disease outbreak, it would be pretty bad for you and the family if you had a problem.
But that would be really good to have a real good use of water.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 40 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

All times are UTC + 8 hours


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Portal by phpBB3 Portal © phpBB Türkiye
[ Time : 0.047s | 17 Queries | GZIP : Off ]