grey water

[REDSAW]

would it be a good idea to have waste water from the basin draining of into the toilet cistern to use for flushing.
after you have cleaned your teeth it will leave your bum smelling minty fresh?.

 

[justlead1]

And after a shave itchy

 

[WHPES]

I know someone who has done this. They have rigged up a similar arrangement to a water butt filler for a special tank which feeds the downstairs loo.

The main trouble is you can't flush the loo once the holding tank is empty until someone has used the basin upstairs and filled the cistern.

You could have alternative mains fill but you need to be careful of design to meet the water regs (see section regarding weir overflows)

Trouble is it could easily end up looking like a Heath Robinson affair.

 

[Renewable M]

on the water-butt job, if you put a ball-cock a foot from the bottom of the butt, it would fill just a small volume from mains water if there was insufficient water coming in from recycled sources, but obviously wouldnt attempt to fill the whole butt.

 

[Puddle]

on the water-butt job, if you put a ball-cock a foot from the bottom of the butt, it would fill just a small volume from mains water if there was insufficient water coming in from recycled sources, but obviously wouldnt attempt to fill the whole butt.

neat idea,nice one
how would ball valve hold up being under slightly soiled water alot if butt fills up,maybe you could put a sealed box over ball valve head so when butt filled past valve a air pocket was formed around valve head keeping it dry
Also would have to brush my teeth more than once a month and stop weeing in the sink

 

[Renewable M]

brass valve would be alright, would have thought.

Have to start weeing in a pan or old milk bottle.

 

[migoplumber]

dosnt sound right to me that idea, and i imagine building inspector would have a field day. grey water in a tank, covering ball valve, with just a rubber washer stopping it from mixing with the mains ?

 

[kirkgas]

you all need to have a quick (or perhaps not so quick) look at the water byelaws, there is no way it is possible to connect a mains fed ballvalve low down in a water butt then have it submerged with grey water(even with a double check valve) the chances of cross contamination is too great, move to Scotland, we have tons of rain and no water meters so dont need ant daft gadgets to save water/money

 

[Puddle]

We could have a small tank/container on the side,top part of the but/or intrigated, that fills with water via mains ball valve,then tank water runs down pipe to supply water to ball valve in question to keep butt filled enough to supply cistern at all times,for back up as said

 

[Renewable M]

puddle, you got it.

sorry, kirkgas, I have vastly oversimplified!!! (that's not like me, I can bang on for hours)

Or as you say, move to scotland.

Or....... ball valve over water butt. rigid wire stem descending almost to bottom butt with the float on it.

There's your air gap requirement. keeps everybody 'appy. And keeps a minimum level.

Until it freezes. lol.

 

[Smcart5]

Sounds a bit mucky to me, What happens when the sink is used with a full cistern, if you have to flush the toilet to drain the sink because no one has used the toilet and you need a shave it defeats the objective of saving water.

Having a separate tank to be filled with basin water means extra parts and maintenance/cleaning as all sorts of crap goes down the basin, toothpaste residue, shaving foam residue, saliva, hairs and if you have kids god knows what else.

 

[REDSAW]

excess water goes the same place as usuall, down the pan via internall overflow, cleaning the bowl as it goes.

what about all that waste bath water then?, can it be pumped into the attic storage tank and used as a feed?.