Can i flush my toilet with washer water ?

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We have city water and sewer. For each unit of water we use we are charged for a unit of sewer use.I would like to flush my toilet with recycled wash water stored in a tank and pumped to my toilet through a dedicated line with a 12 volt pump. the pump would be powered by a battery and would be kept charged by a small solar panel.There would be no inter connection between my city water and the graywater.The pump would be activated by a pressure swich.It seems like a waste to put all that good water down the drain. What do you think ?

-- Jim Baker (JBakerBosco@cs.com), March 15, 2001

Answers

yes,, dont know about the legal (code) part,, but it wont hurt anything. Though I would but a fil;ter, of some kind,, nylon or something, to keep the hair out

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 15, 2001.

I have a cistern and we have to have all of our water hauled in(until I can get my system set up to collect rain water). We use a composting toilet most of the time but occasionally we use the flush toilet.....especially when we have guests:o). Also use it when the weather is lousy since we have to take out the compost every other day by hand. I use a wringer washer to save on water and it is fairly easy to drain the water into a tub and then fill up gallon jugs. We store the jugs and then use them to flush the toilet. Even though the toilet is a low flow model it still takes 2 gallons to flush it. I've used some pretty grungy water with no ill effects. Another source for toilet flushing water is when you are waiting for the shower to heat up. Catch the cold water that runs until the hot gets there.....we catch 3/4 of a gallon for each shower. With 4 people taking showers that really adds up. We also bought a special showerhead(wal-mart) that has a switch on it so that while you soap up the head just trickles...this way you can effectively turn off your shower but keep it at the same temperature when you turn it back on to rinse with. Trickling uses less water than waiting for the hot water to get there again and you don't have to waste water readjusting the temperature. I believe it is called a navy shower. The only problem I can see with your proposed system is possibly larger particles or hair in the previously used water might clog up the pump. The toilet should have no problems with a bit of dirt in the water though. Something my Granny did that I didn't realise was to save water till I got older is to use a dishpan. This was a large pan that sat in her sink that she used instead of filling the entire sink with water....lol....I thought everyone used them. She also used a small stream of hot water from the tap to rinse or 'scald' dishes with. I can only assume that when she was younger that all the water they used they had to haul.

-- Amanda in MO (aseley@townsqr.com), March 15, 2001.

Of course you can. I re-use all my washer water by filling up 5 gallon buckets, just take the hose out of the wall. The lint and dirt will settle in the very bottom, so have the hose probably 1/2 way up from the bottom of the tank so you won't collect the settled dirt.

I use the water for all my trees and flowers, and I actually time it so I have to do at least 2 loads, and I pour the clean rinse water back in the washer for the next wash. Saves allot of water and 220 from pumping it. If the water starts to smell sour, put a little bleach in the bottom of the empty washer tub with some hot water and let it sit, water stays in there and gets icky.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.


Yes you can. What you might want to do is get a large tank. feed the waste water from the washer, shower and possible the sinks into the tank. Then put a pump and pressure tank in. plumb your toilets to the seperate water system. Maybe even a seperate water faucte to the outside. Note if you put anside line it should be marked as non drinkable.

As someone noted a small filter might be needed just to clean up floating crude and break up the soap suds.

-- gary (gws@redbird.net), March 16, 2001.


I would just dump it from a bucket. Why filter it if it's going down the same drain anyway? When your washer dies, you might consider a water conserving front loader. They wash better too!

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), March 16, 2001.


When your washer dies you might even consider not replacing it at all like I've done over 6 years ago with absolutely no problems at all. It's easy to recycle that water for toilet flushing and perennial watering. An average load only takes me less than 5 gallons to both wash and rinse. It's a lot easier than everyone seems to think but most aren't willing to at least try. If someone would offer me a washer and/or dryer I would definitely refuse it. Carla Emery agrees.

-- Sandy Davis (smd2@netzero.net), March 16, 2001.

To Sandy Davis: I don't understand HOW you do your wash with less than five gallons to wash and rinse if you didn't replace your washer? What are you using? Thanks!

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), March 16, 2001.

Bonnie, great minds think alike. I've already sent her an email asking just that question. If she doesn't see the post you made and post the imformation here I'll post her response to me. I wanna know too!

-- Amanda in MO (aseley@townsqr.com), March 16, 2001.

I know this isn't a response to Jim's question, but I wanted to comment that you can get small part, with a knob to turn off the flow, to attach to your shower arm. It goes on the shower arm just above the shower head, and can be used with most any shower head. You can turn the water flow down or even off. Most hardware stores have them, or a plumbing supply. Some are made of plastic, but I'd get a metal one (the knob can be plastic). We had one on the shower when I was a kid, and I've always used them in my places since then. They're inexpensive, just a few bucks, and you can really cut down on the amount of water used while showering -- if you use the thing of course! I am constantly amazed at how many people don't even know they exist.

-- Joy F (So.Central Wisconsin) (CatFlunky@excite.com), March 16, 2001.

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