Ask the flist: Greywater DIY?

[andygates]

Has anyone got any wisdom to offer with regard to installing a small domestic greywater system?

With the walls off my bathroom, I can see almost all the pipework.  There's plenty of space back there.  I'd quite like to intercept the sink waste and use it for toilet flushing.  The pump and overflows I can probably manage.  How about treatment? 

Comments

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you think is faff.

Do you have a hippo in your cistern?

Washing up bowl shouldn't count as greywater because of the icky bits. What do you want to do with the water? I need to calculate salt concentrations and I'm concerned by the icky bits. Could you separate the solids?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I have a brick in my cistern.

Faff? Installation faff is not a problem; servicing stinky filters every week would be. I'm only thinking of using it to flush the loo.

Removing the ick from the kitchen water would be prone to occasional errors, so to speak.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

It makes a difference in terms of solids filtering, that's all. It should be possible, although, counter-intuitively, it's easier with larger volumes because the dilution is greater. Let me do some sums and get back to you. You might need to put a small reed bed next to your wormery if it's too concentrated.