Regarding grey water recycling, I have been doing it to a certain degree for thirty-five years.

My washing machine is in the basement, and there is no sewage line down there. I tried a large number of different kinds of pumps and finally settled on a pedestal pump... it was about the same price as a submersible pump but has an extraordinarily long life, counted in decades. I initially set up the pedestal pump (it came with a built-in level switch), and put it in the wash tub. When the washing machine ran through it's cycle, it pumped into the wash tub, and the pedestal pump then pumped the water through a hose and very discretely out into the back yard. I do reposition the end of the hose from time to time.

I was warned that all that laundry detergent would totally destroy the flora of the back yard. Thirty-five years later and it hasn't happened yet... Everything is thriving.

I do have a Euro-sized front-loader which is very thrifty on water and detergent, and I use the very minimum amount of detergent required, so I suppose all that has helped.

My one warning regarding grey water use is to set up your system so that the water is used right away, and not allowed to stand in any kind of tank for long. Grey water contains some kind of crud, or else it wouldn't be grey water, and if it sits it can get funky, and possibly dangerous.

The ground knows what to do with grey water, let the ground have it ASAP.

Where I live, we get occational freezes, so I need to postpone laundry cycles til after the freeze... no problem.

Best Regards,

-AC_Hacker

My tub, shower and laundry empty into a separate system from the black water septic. I have never had a problem with the water from the gray water system doing anything but making the plants grow. There is some lint that emanates from the washing machine. When I captured the wash water in a tank previously, I used a filter of pantyhose to capture the lint, mostly to keep it out of the pump. Fortunately my collection tank is out of doors and underground, because it will sour if you leave it stand indoors. If you do plan to store the gray water it's easy to make a chlorination device out of a plastic pipe "T" and some swimming pool chlorine tablets. I also like the pedestal pumps.

Turns out that there is a dandy Wikipedia entry on greywater, which contains this sentence:

...and also:

I have read some Permaculture books and watched some Permaculture films that addressed the subject of graywater, and I remember that the advice of Aussie graywater recyclers is to use graywater quickly.

I have also had quite some time to experience the effect of standing graywater and I would have to say that in my experience, 'putrefy' comes much closer to describing the situation than 'sour'.

I do concede that vmike may have storage conditions, weather conditions, or a graywater mix that is tolerant of storage... not the case for me.

Regards,

-AC_Hacker

I have one suggestion. Read Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster. This is one of the most thorough resources I have found for how to use and direct greywater to your plants. This book is filled with many practical examples of how to design and plumb greywater system(s) that are simple and unobtrusive.

Based on examples in this book I have built two simple branched drains in the front yard that direct rainwater from gutters to mulched basins that water multiple plantings. I will be adding grey water from our washing machine to one of the branched drains this summer.

FWIW,
Tim

You might keep an eye out for a small fountain pump, or a shurflo rv water pump or marine bilge pump. you could run a small diameter clear tube from the pump to the garden a small tube will not take up much space when not in use. Soap will not affect most plants, and may help keep aphids at bay. Where we place our grey water the grass is much healthier than the other areas.

Harbor freight has a ton of pumps.

harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=pump

I'd need guidance as to which one is best but the prices on most seem very reasonable. I would have to run it out my shower window right into the yard. I cant seem to think of a way to use my washing machine water, mine is deep inside my house in a laundry room. I too am in the desert so this appeals to me on a deep environmental level,

A friend of mine has a plastic barrel sitting on a milk crate that the washing machine drains into. She has a valve near the bottom of the barrel to drain the water into buckets to carry the water to her garden.

This site doesn't allow me to attach a photo or I'd show it to you, it's pretty simple. She simply puts the barrel away out of sight when she's not doing laundry.

mike

You should now have enough posts to attach pictures Mike.