Recycled Water

[toasty]

Ok,

So with the talk of hosepipe bans etc, and also because we have a water meter, I've been looking at the possibility of collecting rain, shower, bath and basin water then using a large pump to water the garden.

Seriously giving the garden a good watering was taking 400-500 litres of water per night at a cost of nearly a pound a go. This was pretty expensive last summer.

I've bought 3 large (200 litre) water butts, a large submersible pump and some hoses and with a bit of rerouting of our waste water piping I'm collecting nearly that amount of water a day from showers and baths and although I still have one water butt to install the system is in and working a treat!!

The pump states it can shift 130 litres a minute, and whilst this is clearly reduced down 15 metres of 15mm hose, there is still enough flow to run two hoses (the wife and I can water the garden together now) at a similar rate that I used to get from the outside tap.

Really pleased with the system, total cost about £100 I'd say - the pump even has a float switch, so switches off when the butts are empty.

See attached pictures below:

This shows the submersible pump and my two-way adaptor that I made from a hoselock 3way splitter and some epoxy.
[url]http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0976.jpg [/url]

Two of the three water butts at the side of the house, the large white pipe carries both bath, shower, basin and all rain water from the roof.
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0974.jpg

The pump in place in one of the butts, you can see the float switch
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0980.jpg

The two hoses, I bought a 30m hoselock professional hose (really good hose actually) and cut it in half giving two 15m hoses
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0977.jpg

This shows the 15mm copper links between the bottom of the tanks, this keeps the levels in them all the same.
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0978.jpg

Another one of the adaptor
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/toastyboy1976/?action=view&current=DSCN0979.jpg

All in all a sucessful project, needs a bit of finishing off, I'm getting an outside socket fitted, cut the lids to shape, fit the final water butt in place, but it's working really well, I gave the grass the full 400 litres tonight and it's looking really green and lush, and best of all it didn't cost be a penny - well aside from the 100 or so quid but I love buying cool stuff like that anway.

Anyone else done anything similar?

Cheers
-Dan

 

[JamesA]

Nice system, its a shame you can't get a grant to pay for all that.

Is the water safe to use on vegetable plants?
I read you can't use "grey water" on vegetables because of the bleach and cleaning products used in the kitchen.
Are shower gels, soap etc safe to use?

The only minor criticism from an environmental point of view is that the pump is using electricity and it would be better to water by hand.
It sounds like you have a big garden so maybe thats unrealistic though.

Did you find a good supplier of water butts as I'm lookin to buy one or two?

 

[toasty]

I got the waterbutts from B&Q, they were £25 each.

The pump was £25 from tooled-up.

I only use water from the bath, shower, bathroom basin and the roof, kitchen water goes straight down the drain.

Fair point about bleach etc... but as I say, just a bit of shampoo in mine and I just water the grass with it.

Yep, would be better to water by hand, but I just know I wouldn't bother if that was the case.

Good luck with yours if you decide to do the same

 

[toasty]

Fitted the last waterbutt now, so I have 600 litres at my disposal.
It lasts about 30mins through the hoses, so I must be pumping around 20litres per minute which I think is comparable to a standard outside tap.

It's amazing though, even watering the grass every night (and we are only talking about 80 sq metres of grass) 600 ish litres barely gets it wet. It looks like such a lot of water when it's in the barrels, but it's amazing where it all goes.

-Dan

 

[Moz]

Hi Dan

What a cracking job , I described something similar to some one here awhile ago same set up as yours ,
Good work fella ..

 

[toasty]

Thanks mate,

Still working a treat, and the weather at the moment is such that I'm using it every night.

 

[Moz]

toasty
I'll bet you heath robinson affair has the neighbours green with envy now , you should install a few an get a few bob ?