Ben's DIY Graywater System - Page 7

greenbean · 08-30-10, 12:07 AM

i just thought of ur door to your crawlspace also...whatever you use must fit through it. lol rubber bladders would work but u risk one puncturing. dont need that. and you could use several in series with pipe between them near the top to hold what you need or want it too. like an overflow tube between 2 of them. just brainstorming lol

AC_Hacker · 09-28-10, 05:20 PM

Here's a recent Norwegian TV program on the need to re-capture phosphates.

YouTube - Scientists warn about food shortage in 2033

-AC_Hacker

bennelson · 02-26-11, 07:30 PM

If you aren't watering plants with your greywater, no need to remove phosphates! (The toilet doesn't care about phosphates!)

I'm doing a little more work on my system. I was having trouble with my one-way valve that keeps the pressure in the pressure tank. I think it just finally got gunked up.

The water hasn't been getting filtered very well lately, so I thought it was time to clean some things out and do a little upgrade.

My current upgrade is a drain valve and overfill protection. I picked up some PVC connectors and pipes at the store and am currently working on it right now.

I'll get some photos up soon.

bennelson · 02-26-11, 11:14 PM

Okee Dokeee.
Here's some photos.

Here's the pile of parts I bought at the store. I pretty much built my project in the store isle to make sure I had all the right parts and adapters.

First thing was to put an adapter into the 1.25" drain plug in the bottom of the stock tank. This is where I will now draw water from. (Previously, the water was drawn out the top of the tank, through some flexible PEX tubing, to the pump.)

I used a bushing adapter to take the 1.25" connection down to 3/4", which I used for the rest of the project.

Right there, I also added a union - a way to connect and disconnect everything without trying to unscrew a big mass of pipes in tight spaces. Coming off that is a cross connector. That gives me one in (the tank) to three outs - a drain, an overflow, and the pump.

Here, you can see the valve with the blue handle is going to be the drain branch.

The elbow on the back, facing up, is for the overflow. I measured a distance up to a point that would be just below the top of the tub - about 9 inches.

On top of that, I put a tee, with the top open to atmosphere, and the side port going out to the drain.

Here's everything all together.

In the upper left, there's the brass check valve going to the pump. Off to the bottom left, those two pipes go to my sump pump crock. Should I need to drain the stock tank, I can open the blue valve. If the tank gets too full, it will go to that top pipe and start draining before going over the rim of the tank. The open-topped tee prevents the overflow from siphoning out all the water once it got going.

I filled the tank directly (that's what the garden hose is for) and tested the drain, then filled it all the way to test the overflow. After that, I plugged the pump back in. It seemed to work fine. However, I am still getting a bit of a pressure drop after the pump kicks off. It might be because the check valve is higher up. I should probably have it at a lower point.

Oh well, for now, I will try as it is.

Here's the pump with pressure tank and pressure valve.

spiritofscouse · 07-17-17, 05:29 AM

Hello what filtration are you using?

Im thinking of using sand and gravel filtration together with mesh .
Did you do anything for the odour? Attached is my planned set up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bennelson

I can't believe the filter clogged up already!

I have had the graywater system running for less than a day, when the pump started running without stop.

I checked the pressure guage, and sure enough, the gauge was LOW, and the pump was cranking away.

I pulled the filter cartridge out, and it did look all linted up.

Mostly, I just was too keep anything from going through that will gunk up my pressure tank, shut off valve, or toilet valve.

I put the filter unit back together, WITHOUT, the actual filter, and everything runs great again!

Maybe I just need to replace the stock filter with a course one so that it only filters out the big stuff.

skl727 · 08-07-17, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bennelson

The lint sock on the output of the washer seems to help.

It does not good on the intake garden hose, because It just gets sucked in and gunked up, so I took that one off.

Overall, the system seems to be working well, other than the garbage can only holds about one laundry load worth of water.

That means, do a load of laundry, wait until all the water gets used up, do another load of laundry.

SO, I DO want to upgrade my graywater storage container to something bigger. But to do that, it has to fit in the crawlspace. What is no more than 22 inches high, and can fit through the access hole to the crawlspace?

The best suggestion I have heard so far is..... A WATERBED MATTRESS!

I actually think it's a pretty good idea. A waterbed mattress is designed to hold all the weight of the water, and it's the right shape. It can also be squished up to fit down into the space.

I would need to have a good filter system, as it would be a huge pain to try to clean out the inside of a waterbed mattress!

Don't forget that there are hundreds of hot water heaters being tossed every day. Most of them are fine for water containment but have corroded heating parts. On trash day I seen many just lying around, 40, 50 even 75 gallon.

skl727 · 08-07-17, 10:55 AM

For filtering take a look at the spin down filters or irrigation filters. At least with these you can either back wash or take apart to clean off the mesh.

02-26-11, 07:30 PM	#63
bennelson Home-Wrecker Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: SE Wisconsin Posts: 546 Thanks: 3 Thanked 165 Times in 96 Posts	If you aren't watering plants with your greywater, no need to remove phosphates! (The toilet doesn't care about phosphates!) I'm doing a little more work on my system. I was having trouble with my one-way valve that keeps the pressure in the pressure tank. I think it just finally got gunked up. The water hasn't been getting filtered very well lately, so I thought it was time to clean some things out and do a little upgrade. My current upgrade is a drain valve and overfill protection. I picked up some PVC connectors and pipes at the store and am currently working on it right now. I'll get some photos up soon. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-26-11, 11:14 PM	#64
bennelson Home-Wrecker Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: SE Wisconsin Posts: 546 Thanks: 3 Thanked 165 Times in 96 Posts	Okee Dokeee. Here's some photos. Here's the pile of parts I bought at the store. I pretty much built my project in the store isle to make sure I had all the right parts and adapters. First thing was to put an adapter into the 1.25" drain plug in the bottom of the stock tank. This is where I will now draw water from. (Previously, the water was drawn out the top of the tank, through some flexible PEX tubing, to the pump.) I used a bushing adapter to take the 1.25" connection down to 3/4", which I used for the rest of the project. Right there, I also added a union - a way to connect and disconnect everything without trying to unscrew a big mass of pipes in tight spaces. Coming off that is a cross connector. That gives me one in (the tank) to three outs - a drain, an overflow, and the pump. Here, you can see the valve with the blue handle is going to be the drain branch. The elbow on the back, facing up, is for the overflow. I measured a distance up to a point that would be just below the top of the tub - about 9 inches. On top of that, I put a tee, with the top open to atmosphere, and the side port going out to the drain. Here's everything all together. In the upper left, there's the brass check valve going to the pump. Off to the bottom left, those two pipes go to my sump pump crock. Should I need to drain the stock tank, I can open the blue valve. If the tank gets too full, it will go to that top pipe and start draining before going over the rim of the tank. The open-topped tee prevents the overflow from siphoning out all the water once it got going. I filled the tank directly (that's what the garden hose is for) and tested the drain, then filled it all the way to test the overflow. After that, I plugged the pump back in. It seemed to work fine. However, I am still getting a bit of a pressure drop after the pump kicks off. It might be because the check valve is higher up. I should probably have it at a lower point. Oh well, for now, I will try as it is. Here's the pump with pressure tank and pressure valve. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by bennelson; 02-26-11 at 11:15 PM.. Reason: pump photo

08-30-10, 12:07 AM	#61
greenbean Lurking Renovator Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	i just thought of ur door to your crawlspace also...whatever you use must fit through it. lol rubber bladders would work but u risk one puncturing. dont need that. and you could use several in series with pipe between them near the top to hold what you need or want it too. like an overflow tube between 2 of them. just brainstorming lol

08-07-17, 10:55 AM	#67
skl727 Lurking Renovator Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	For filtering take a look at the spin down filters or irrigation filters. At least with these you can either back wash or take apart to clean off the mesh.