Washing Machine Drain Line Options

hitekcountry · May 21, 2005

She then uses the buckets of wash water to water her herb garden 

Would it be safe to assume that you could use wash water on a vegetable garden? Any reason not to?

Buckcreek · May 21, 2005

I have an aereator sewage plant and my washingmachine is breaking me up on chlorine, The county inspector told me , of course this was off the record to put a seperate lech field in for the washing machine with a pipe running out to a branch that runs throug my property. he said i could put a cap on it and open it if i had any problems to let the field drain. But just dont tell anybody he said to do it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Highbeam · May 21, 2005

Here is a somewhat different idea. How about a second tank for all of the domestic grey water. Everything but toilets. The black water dumps directly in to the septic tank as designed. The grey water tank is built like a septic tank with an inlet and outlet at the same elevation. The outlet from the grey tank overflows into the black water line before the septic tank. So if you sell the house, nobody knows any different, everything still works the same.

Now in that grey water tank, set a sump pump with the discharge connected to jive with your desired use. Use as desired to irrigate or send it to a seperate discharge full time, whatever you want.

The tank isn't expensive and can be added to an existing system with the biggest challenge being seperating the drain lines into gray and black. A typical septic tank is 1000 gallons. If you use 15 gpm, the typical city max flow rate, then the full grey water tank will allow you to irrigate for a long time.

This system should not effect the total load on your septic system as designed. If you added downspout water to the grey tank, you would run the risk of overloading the septic system but you would have more free water.

OkeeDon · May 21, 2005

Of course, separate black water and gray water tanks are exactly what a motor home uses. To me, gray water is no different than running a hose at the side of my house and, using a bar of handy soap, washing off a lot of the mud before I enter the house. The gray water (dirty, soapy water) simply runs on the ground.

My current motor home, a well-used 1988 Pace Arrow, is now serving as my construction "trailer"/occasional "motel" on my Okeechobee property. I keep the valve on my black water tank (from the toilet) firmly closed, and when that tank eventually fills, I'll drive to the nearby KOA and use their dumping facilities. In the meantime, however, the valve on my gray water tank (shower, sinks) is open, and the gray water is running onto the ground. I should add that I do little cooking in the motor home, so there is no food waste going down the drain -- just soapy water (and a little toothpaste, well diluted).

I first learned this trick with my first motor home, a 1972 Winnebago, which had no gray tank. There was a black water tank for storage, and a cap that could be removed to allow the gray water to run on the ground. The cap had a hose thread on it so the gray water could be diverted some distance from the coach. To use the sinks and shower, one had two choices -- be hooked up to sewage at an RV park, or let it run on the ground.

I believe it's not a state law, but set county by county, but many areas in Florida allow drainage of gray water into a drywell. When I was constructing custom outdoor patio kitchens, we often had customers who wanted a bar sink, but had no hookups. We would run a cold water line from one of their outdoor taps, and run the drain down into a 5 gallon plastic pail buried in the ground and filled with small rocks. We cut a lot of holes in the borrom and lower sides of the pail, and put a lid on it before burying it to keep the dirt out. Years later, no problems were reported to us. (If the customer wanted hot water, we installed a small, local hotshot heater). The 5 gallon pail was enough for a small bar sink, lightly used; I would use a 55 gallon drum for a laundry. The primary reason for the drywell is to keep the water from making mud where you don't want it.

Oh, in answer to a question above, I suppose the soapy water would be OK for vegetables; we eat the herbs and are still here. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

MMM · May 21, 2005

I have an areated plant with 6 sprinklers and don't want the antibacterial soaps and grease in the system. All of my gray water runs to pasture or garden. I have 100' of buried 2" PVC that ends on side of a hill. The grade is important because you need pipe to have a fall to prevent soap/grease build up. At the end of PVC there's 50' of flex sump pump hose to water garden with or send to pasture when irrigation isn't needed.

JerryG · May 22, 2005

I've not tried it myself, but a neighbor told me that one of the most beautiful lawns in Dallas is regularly fertilized with Tide laundry detergent and nothing else. Has anyone else tried that?
I have often wondered how the grass took to the detergent. Does any one know the anything about using Tide?

Bird · May 22, 2005

( I have often wondered how the grass took to the detergent )

Jerry, I don't know about different detergents, but I mentioned above that one guy just ran the washing machine water out of the ground and down a slope. I do know the grass grew faster there than anywhere else on his property, even more so than the grass right over the leach field lines. Now I can't say for sure whether it was the detergent or just the fact that the grass got more water there, but at least I know the detergent sure didn't hurt the grass.

bgott · May 22, 2005

I dont know about now but years ago detergents had nitrates in 'em. Nitrates are what they use in fertilizer. They had to change the formula because it was causing algae blooms or some such thing in waterways. I do know that it seems that wash water still seems to do a good job of promoting growth, it might just be the constant watering.

MMM · May 22, 2005

Dtergents are wetting agents and decrease surface tension of water. This helps water soak in, instead of run off.

JoeDizzy · May 23, 2005

Over at my mothers house, the wash water is (gravity)drained to a concrete grease trap (approx 30 gal) buried in the ground. There is a pipe connected to the side (near top) that drains out to the field. Works well. It was there when the place was bought. I am not sure if it would pass inspection now. I would assume that it wouldn't. I had to re pipe it a few months ago due to the old resin piping collasping and backing up.

Just a side note, she uses tide detergent and I don't notice any big difference in the color or lushness of the grass in the area where it drains.