Use Washing machine to power toilet and save water!

[bennelson]

I have some information up on how to re-use laundry wash waster to help conserve on my water bill.

Complete with photos!

Check it out at:
Ben's DIY Graywater System - EcoRenovator

[cfg83]

bennelson -

Thanks, I am sending this to my friend.

CarloSW2

[MazdaMatt]

So now you have a Lemmony Fresh smelling toilet?

[bennelson]

Well, I don't use lemon-scent laundry soap, so I don't have a lemony-toilet.

The toilet does end up with a tiny bit of soap in it. It looks about like it does right after you scrub the toilet, where there is a little tiny bit of soap bubbles left in it.

[vtec-e]

There will be more than bubbles left in it when i'm done with it!!
sorry, couldn't help myself!

ollie

[cfg83]

bennelson -

Originally Posted by bennelson

Well, I don't use lemon-scent laundry soap, so I don't have a lemony-toilet.

The toilet does end up with a tiny bit of soap in it. It looks about like it does right after you scrub the toilet, where there is a little tiny bit of soap bubbles left in it.

Do you bypass the fill bowl thingy? I think you do. If not, then what are your "wear and tear" predictions on the fill bowl equipment?

CarloSW2

[bennelson]

Right now, the graywater line is plumbed directly to the regular toilet water in line.

That means the regular fill mechanism works exactly the way it normally does.

I plan to still add an extra shut-off valve and T so that I can reach behind the toilet to switch from graywater to drinking water. I want this flexibility for when I run out of graywater or otherwise might need to troubleshoot the system.

I don't know if there will be any further wear on the tank fill valve from graywater compared to drinking water.

I had a filter on the system, but the lint gunked it up after only one load of laundry! I am going to put a more course filter in place of the original filter.

[hamsterpower]

Hi Ben,
Looks good so far but if I may, Please don't add a tee behind the toilet for clean water. instead add clean water to the tank at the other end of the system as needed. You CAN NOT have any chance of grey water getting in to the clean water supply.
Secondly for your filter you can use a fine filter inline like you had before but add a course filter, maybe sand or gauze, between the washer and the tank. A small container with a hole in the bottom covered by a few layers of fish filter cotton, followed by course sand on top of the tank would be ideal. Run the washer drain line in to this container. This way the tank stays somewhat clean too. In fact... if this was in the top of the tank.. like a rain water collection system you could run the overflow out of this container to your drain. By letting this overflow from time to time it might self clean this filter by back flushing to the drain.

There's my first post. I hope I made sense.

[cfg83]

hamsterpower -

Looks good so far but if I may, Please don't add a tee behind the toilet for clean water. instead add clean water to the tank at the other end of the system as needed. ...

Welcome to EM! I'm definitely a believer in the habitrail. It sound like the "other end" of the system would need a custom "float" mechanism for when the graywater got too low.

CarloSW2

[aussie_modder]

i have a very similar scenario. No mains water connection (rain water tank only) and a septic system. Initially, toilet is connected to pump running from rainwater supply. Being a typical engineer, i thought of a myriad of ways to use either shower water or laundry water, via a complex series of t-connections, holding tanks, float valves and the like.

Then it occured to me. Showering over a bucket, i can collect at least 9 litres (during a 4 minute shower) of soapy water or half that of cleaner water, each time. The toilet uses about 5 litres on the half flush cycle (a great aussie invention that one!!). A full five litres is more than enough to flush anything and is probably overkill for light duties.

To complicate things, the toilet is adjacent but in a different room to the shower (which would necessitate complex piping and pumps if opting for a automated approach).

MY SOLUTION:

Turn off the rainwater feed completely. Fill the cistern with my collected 9L of water from a bucket (the cistern holds about 12L). That gives 2 flushes during the day. In the evening, the baby has her bath, which leaves plenty of bucketfulls to flush down any of the duties which have been left to linger, and then top off the cistern once again. By day 2, my shower water is not needed immediately, thereby allowing me to leave the bucket next to the toilet during the day, in case a top-off is required.

For those that don't bathe an infant on a daily basis, its quite easy to collect a bucket-full of either laundry water or sink water (preferably filtered) to use within 12-24 hours.

To reverse the process, remove the bucket from the toilet room and turn the clean water tap back on.