Re-Newable use from waste water

[Nick]

Has anyone any ideas on this subject ie: using the waste water from yhe washing machine, bath,shower etc to flush your toilet. It would have to incorporate settling tanks some form of filter and a pump powered by the solar panels   Perhaps Ivan you could have a look at this one

[Amaterasu]

Hi Nick
As a newbie can I suggest you read the FAQ (frequently asked questions pages and others that relate to searching this forum etc).

Many of the contributors and moderators do this in their free time.
Often the questions asked by new forum members have been asked and answered before, so we ask that everyone does a simple search to see if their particular interest has been discussed previously.

This particular post query has been covered at

http://navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=387.0

Regards

[Ork-NAK]

Nick,

I had some experience some years ago when a grey water recyling system was installed in my house as part of a trial of a proprietory grey water system being sold. There were 10 such units installed and I recall that only 2 of them got to the end of the trial because of technical problems. Copies of the report can be obtained by post by going to http://www.fwr.org/nwdmc.htm and allegedly you can get the report from the Environment Agency's web site if it is working at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waterres/286587/286911/548861/565687/?version=1&lang=_e

The system comprised a collecting tank on the bath, shower and upstairs basin water. It passed through a 3 stage filter into a sump whereupon it was pumped to a 2nd loft tank for chlorination and storage. The water then was used to flush the toilet(s).

If you want all the details I'll gladly provide them, but the edited highlights are:

1. The chlorination process needs to be reliable. It failed on one occasion and the resulting slime in the nutrient rich loft tank had nearly got as far as evolving to a higher life form in the few days of warm weather when it went wrong! NOT NICE!

2. The filters needed frequent cleaning (monthly)

3. The cost of the system was half the cost of the kit, and half was the installation. The total bill was around £1500 10 years ago. The water saving was around 30% if you kept the thing going, so the economics never stacked up.

4. In the end I saved more water by peeing into a gallon can and emptying it on the compost every week. Capital cost £0, payback time = 1 use.

To my mind I would instal a waterless urinal, low flush loo, spray taps, and sparingly wash clothes in an efficent machine. I am sure it will all have a greater effect with less risk of problems.

As for putting grey water through a solar panel..... DON'T

Neil