recycling water..(grey water line?)

[remuda1]

Just a friendly word of caution... My hubby is a septic installer. Where we live, unless your grey water system (that just runs out into your landscape or yard) is grandfathered in, it is illegal to do so. Here, the penalties are pretty stiff so please be careful and check with your local environmental health department so that you never hear that dreaded knock on your door or receive that lovely peice of certified mail. All it takes is a neighbor that is miffed at you or an inspector driving by.

 

[shadowpaints]

lol its really not too bad. my roomie and i haul it out side after each time it spins so its only 20 gallons each time, we dont let it get full. unfortunatly, untill spring, we cant get a line going outside, as there is no were to get th hose outside unless we leave the back door open. BUT as soon as its no longer freezing at night we will figure out how to get it outside with out hauling it.

with 5 kids between the 2 of us we are doing approx 5 loads of laundry a day .. thats a TON of water going into the septic.

we have a 'dip' about 20 ft from the back door (where the laundry room is) and so we are just hauling it to the 'dip'

 

[shadowpaints]

i will definatly check it out, and make sure its legal.

 

[gryeyes]

When I bought my house up here in the foothills, there was a house inspection report, of course, recommending all grey water to be piped to the septic system (1,000 gallon holding tank underground, then leach lines out from it). After the septic inspection! The tank was left uncovered "to facilitate" the connections. There was no washer/dryer or dishwasher in the house. When my contractor and I discussed the issue, he said "Of course the official real estate reports would require that, but nobody up here does it. You'd have to be careful about what products to use, and no bleach. Diluted bleach won't harm the soil but it will kill the bacteria in the septic system. Even if you don't use bleach anyway, why load up the tank with all that good, grey water?"

I agreed with him and he piped the washer water underground but past the septic system to the gully. The sinks and bath water, unfortunately, are still piped into the septic system as those were already in place.

 

[gryeyes]

Whoops, double post. Sorry!

 

[dewey]

Yep, it's done all the time by folks, and the powers-that-be who regulate it are well aware of that but it's checked out only via complaints. Could you imagine the public outcry if the outlaw-washer police starting rounding up a bunch of grannies for watering their gardens.

 

[woodmort]

When we had our septic system redone about 20 years ago the installer recommended that, since we live uphill from woods and control about 3 acres below us, we not fill the new septic tank and clog the new drain field with detergent and go to a grey water system. In fact, it empties into a pit in the chicken yard. Actually the water that comes out is only from the clothes washer--all the sinks and bathroom go into the septic tank. The only problem we've experienced results from our using cold water for laundry--the end of the pipe has frozen a couple of times and, when doing several washes, water has backed up into the washer. Its only happened when we've had extremely cold weather and no snow but means I have to schlep down there with a crow bar and ram it in the end of the pipe(2") to knock the ice out. We then go to warm water washes until it warms up. I have no idea how legal/illegal it is except the guy that did it is a licensed septic plumber and the two plumbers we've had work on our system have never had a problem with it. Again there is no one within a couple of miles below the outlet plus, except for damp ground below were the pipe comes out, there is little evidence that it is there.

 

[zippitydooda]

the end of the pipe has frozen a couple of times and, when doing several washes, water has backed up into the washer. Its only happened when we've had extremely cold weather and no snow but means I have to schlep down there with a crow bar and ram it in the end of the pipe(2") to knock the ice out.

Ok, so the pipe is attached to your washer drain? With my luck we would end up with rodents climbing in through the pipe, into the washer and then into the house. Do you have some kind of screen to prevent that? I totally hate mice in the house..... nasty little critters. They are SO destructive.

 

[woodmort]

No screen so, I suppose, rats, mice or snakes could come in except it is a long walk plus they'd have to get by a couple of traps and not be washed out by laundry water. <knock on wood> Hasn't happened that I know of.