Grey Water Questions from The Noob

[Elliot Naess]

Have not done that. But my first thought is "cross contamination".
Of course, that could happen only if you tied gray and fresh together.

If you supply the toilet with gray water only, it might be OK.
Just remember that when you start on a trip, you would need to have some water in the gray tank to begin with. Of course, you could simply run some fresh down the sink as needed to flush.

What I would avoid... is.... And this was my first thought on how to do this, which is what alarmed me.... My first thought was to connect both fresh and gray to the toilet with a T connection of some sort, and switch between the two as called for. Then you could get germs and gunk from the gray into the fresh.

Also, I'm thinking that the pump for the gray might be prone to clogging, since there will be food scraps and hair and whatnot in the gray.

Then, there is the esthetic consideration. When flushing, dirt should be replaced with clean -- not more dirt.

Which brings us to.... Even though Millicent's toilet is top of the line, RV toilets do not flush very well. It's the basic water-conservation issue. So I often have to wipe the bowl down with a wad of tissue. In which case I prefer to work with clean water flowing around my hand rather than dirty.

[CanadianSkoolee]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Have not done that. But my first thought is "cross contamination".
Of course, that could happen only if you tied gray and fresh together.

If you supply the toilet with gray water only, it might be OK.
Just remember that when you start on a trip, you would need to have some water in the gray tank to begin with. Of course, you could simply run some fresh down the sink as needed to flush.

What I would avoid... is.... And this was my first thought on how to do this, which is what alarmed me.... My first thought was to connect both fresh and gray to the toilet with a T connection of some sort, and switch between the two as called for. Then you could get germs and gunk from the gray into the fresh.

Also, I'm thinking that the pump for the gray might be prone to clogging, since there will be food scraps and hair and whatnot in the gray.

Then, there is the esthetic consideration. When flushing, dirt should be replaced with clean -- not more dirt.

Which brings us to.... Even though Millicent's toilet is top of the line, RV toilets do not flush very well. It's the basic water-conservation issue. So I often have to wipe the bowl down with a wad of tissue. In which case I prefer to work with clean water flowing around my hand rather than dirty.

I was thinking just GW to the toilet with it's own pump, no cross T connections. I suppose I would still have to filter the GW from particulates in order for it to work properly. May just be more problems than it's worth?

Just a thought I guess.

Kelly John

[jackofallmasterof0]

I visited these guys earlier this year, quite amazing what they have accomplished using recycled materials. Read up on their grey water recycling work to get a better idea of what it can and cannot do. I was amazed by the greywater indoor greenhouse, I'd been in New Mexico for a week in winter and it was the first time I experienced humidity, and there was no sewer smell. I'm curious if this large scale system could be turned mini and reduce waste water storage needs.

How to Build the Greywater Planters in an Earthship - Earthship Biotecture