Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Nov 16, 2009 9:51 pm Sorry if this is a stupid question but I got really no idea. Do I need to plan for special plumbing if I want to use greywater or is it automatically accessible? I mean, do I have to tell my builder that I want all the water coming out of the bathrooms and the laundry to go to a different pipe system from the rest of the house (toilet, kitchen) so that I can just tap into it if I want to use a greywater filtration system? On a side note, where does the different water waste in the house go? Toilet water to sewerage then to filtration system somewhere then to ocean? Kitchen, bathroom, laundry water to a separate drainage then straight to ocean? Again, sorry if this is stupid question. Oxford 22 @ Stage12a Point Cook Site Cut : 05/03/2010 Slab Pour : 24/03/2010 Frame Inspected : 06/04/2010 Pre-plaster Inspection: 22/04/2010 PCI: 16/07/2010 Final Inspection: 30/07/2010 Landscaping: who knows??? MyHomeoneThread Our Oxford22 Blog Re: Greywater plumbing 3Nov 17, 2009 2:19 pm draco76 On a side note, where does the different water waste in the house go? Toilet water to sewerage then to filtration system somewhere then to ocean? Kitchen, bathroom, laundry water to a separate drainage then straight to ocean? Again, sorry if this is stupid question. Well here is the fun part Most sewer water is sent to a poop farm where it gets strained, sifted, filtered, aerated, sterilized and pumped around for days. Then we dump it into the ocean still full of poop, nutrients and contaminants. 1 the Containments are great fertilizer. 2 the water (all of it) could be reused hundreds of times through the same process as desalination. Recycling it to a cleaner product than dam water. Think about it, desal uses a process to filter salt atoms out of the water so how is a giant virus 10,000 times larger going to get through? 3 The cost of building these is the same as a dam, a dam has limited supply - desal in infinate. 4 The impacts of desal (electricity use) can be totally offset using solar and wind energy. Making them greener and cleaner than dams. 5 Once a liter of water is used it can be reused infinite numbers of times and after each use is scrubbed to water so pure it makes Evian look like glorified creek water. (which it is) Re: Greywater plumbing 4Nov 19, 2009 3:30 pm Great idea to plan for it. They are based on the maximum home occupancy, you will probably need council approval of the installation but please don't view these as the be all end of water efficiency. There are changes you will need to make for their use. The detergents and soaps you use will have to change as will how you clean your home and what you put down the drain. That will be an excellent lifestyle change though. simple systems start around $3k and can go as high as $30k for systems that allow the water to be re-plumbed into the home. Re: Greywater plumbing 5Nov 19, 2009 7:06 pm well, just thinking about it and it depends on how much the builder will charge me for the change in the plumbing.. Oxford 22 @ Stage12a Point Cook Site Cut : 05/03/2010 Slab Pour : 24/03/2010 Frame Inspected : 06/04/2010 Pre-plaster Inspection: 22/04/2010 PCI: 16/07/2010 Final Inspection: 30/07/2010 Landscaping: who knows??? MyHomeoneThread Our Oxford22 Blog Re: Greywater plumbing 6Nov 19, 2009 8:15 pm Draco Much easier to run the pipes seperately now and then join them outside the house, and when you want / can install a greywater system it'll be much easier to do it. The costs now will / should be much lower than trying to do it later. Re: Greywater plumbing 7Nov 19, 2009 10:44 pm draco76 well, just thinking about it and it depends on how much the builder will charge me for the change in the plumbing.. We had our builder do separate plumbing runs for the water from the kitchen sink and toilets from everything else. At the moment they join up just before going to the sewer. But in the future we plan to install a grey water system. It cost us about $600 to get the builder to do this but ours is a fairly long house so was quite a bit more pipe. If you do this I'd recommend checking they have the pipe work done properly before the concrete is poured. Its still pretty uncommon and ours would have been missed if we didn't check ourselves and there's not much the builder can do after the slab is down. Re: Greywater plumbing 8Nov 26, 2009 1:05 pm Draco I am assuming you want to use greywater on the garden. This would normally be my recommendation as it is more complicated to try and re-use in toilet. Out of your house you have 2 pipes - storm (rain) water and sewer. All waste water (shower, toilet, kitchen) goes into the 100mm white PVC pipe the sewer pipe (you can see this outside your toilet wall). Normally, a good plumber will run the connection as short as possible ie the waste pipe from the shower will connect to the waster pipe from the toilet asap ie in the the slab. Once you have done this the only way to get access is to cut the slab. Assuming you are building on a slab, you need to - run the bath / shower / laundry wastes in a SEPARATE 50mm (or 100mm) pipe to the outside of the house. - then connect this 50mm line to the sewer line OUTSIDE your slab ie the grey water and black (toilet) come out separately and join outside the slab. - this way you can tap into the grey water later I would only connect bath / shower/ wash machine to the second 50mm line. ie run kitchen, hand basins, laundry trough into the usual black water line inside the slab. This water is not grey water becuase of the food waste, poo, toothpaste, bleach etc and not great to go on the garden. You can see a picture of how I have done the same thing have done at http://www.greenesthome.com.au Re: Greywater plumbing 9Dec 02, 2009 10:35 pm Hi There Western Australia are already running dual lines for sewer on new houses to make them grey water ready. I suggest you talk to your builder about and plan on where you want the grey water system to go and get the plumber to run the grey water and blackwater pipe seperately and join them together past a certain point. Once installed I would measure the distance from external walls and mark where the pipes are buried and make yourself a map. This comes in handy down the track when you are trying to locate the pipe to connect into. Regards Shane In my experience roof is essential element of the building envelope and hence a common property and should be covered by owners corporation however a detailed review of… 3 5361 For anyone that comes across this issue in the future - Just did what aussieta said and found a plumber to inspect it and sign off on it. Was difficult to find someone to… 3 5285 5 3211 |