"gray"watering

[cfz2882]

anyone collect and reuse your washer drain water for lawn watering purposes?I have been doing it for a while with no ill effects:washers drain into a laundry tub equipped with a ball valve that can be closed to fill the tub-a haier countertop dishwasher pump works decent to pump water from basement tub to vortex type sprinklers as this type will not clog with lint particles.The haier pump is reversing type with separate drain section,so I had to disable and block the drain section.Very dirty drain water is ran down the drain with just the rinses recovered.

 

[alr2903]

Cfz, many grandmothers back in the day with wringer machines on the back porch drained soap, bleach and rinse water on the yard, watered vegetable gardens and flower beds with rinse water. Since you are using the rinse water you should definately not have a problem.

 

[wayupnorth]

There is nothing in normal gray water nowdays that will harm the environment. Since phosphates are totally banned in soaps, the water should not harm anything. Where I live on a lake, we are extra careful of anything, especially with septics. Worst offenders are the jerks that have to fertilize their beautiful lawns right up to the shore and it runs off into the lake next rain. And what is in that fertilizer, phosphorus, causing the damage.

 

[rp2813]

I'm capturing only the Affinity's rinse water in a large oblong mopping pail placed in the laundry sink.  I don't capture all of it, but it has been enough to water the shrubs and potted plants.  I'm also catching clear cold water that's run while waiting for it to get hot. 

 

Between those two sources, I've managed not to use a garden hose at all this year.  An elaborate grey water irrigation system for the lawns would be expensive to engineer and install, so that's not going to happen.  Most lawns are brown or barely green around here, including my own. 

 

[arbilab]

Solution to phosphate runoff: Eat more algae. Algae makes oxygen and it doesn't cutoff your power or crush your house in a storm like trees do.

Gray water irrigation is illegal in many municipalities. I'd guess most of municipal California, where they need it most. I know it's illegal in Austin TX. But I bet the number of tickets written for it approaches zero.

 

[tomturbomatic]

In past years, during dry periods, I would catch the rinse water from the top loaders in a 30 gallon container that has a submersible pump in it. The pump was connected to a garden hose that went outside through an unused dryer vent and I watered plants in dry areas of the yard. I really need to drill another hole through the back wall of the basement over the sink to pump the rinse water from the front loaders outside to use that water easily, but except for the bananas and some seedlings, nothing here needs much water with all of the rain we have had. I guess I could save some of the 190F wash water and pour it on some weeds to see if it would kill them, but it probably would not.

 

[cuffs054]

Tom, pouring hot water on weeds will only piss them off. Use a flame thrower.

 

[retro-man]

When we lived in the country I had the top loader drain into a barrel with a submersible pump with a garden hose attached and went out through a cut out near the dryer vent and that went out into the back yard. Never had a problem with it killing anything. All was green and growing where the hose drained. Now on the other hand when draining and cleaning the hot water heater, anything that was in the path of the water from it killed everything. Don't know if it was the heat of the water, usually shut if off then took a shower and ran a load of wash to use the hot water first then drained, or was it the sediment in the bottom of the tank that wiped out everything.

Jon

 

[yogitunes]

people have been draining wash and rinse water out a window or a port of some sort for years......in fact, seems the flowers and grass love it, you can't get this vibrant a color or growth from fertilizer.....

if you see anyones lawn super green and plush on one side of the house, chances are, it's from the washing machine...

just about anyone with a septic either has a gray water setup, or the water is running out on the ground whenever possible....

a lot of people will save water from their shower or kitchen sink to water their flowers during a drought.....

some locals have a barrel under their downspouts to collect rain water....

 

[supersuds]

Very few brands of lawn fertilizer seem to have phosphorus any more. It's in the new lawn starter formulae, but all of the other stuff I've been able to get the past couple of years is nitrogen and potassium only.

I've got a rain barrel but the problem is that when it has something in it, it means it's been raining and there's nothing to water!

 

[twintubdexter]

Kudos to you Ralph for using your machine's rinse water to water the garden. You are obviously doing your part during the current drought situation. My 90/90 Aunt in San Jose (90 years old & weighs 90 pounds) said she was helping doing her part by saving the small amount of water used when washing vegetables and using it to water a tree. When she told me she almost fell during one of her trips to the tree I told her to skip the watering thing and try and use as little water as possible. 

 

 

 

[brisnat81]

We have a diverter valve fitted to the drain line on the laundry tub at mums, it then has a 60 foot hose connected to it that you can move around the lawn in the back yard.

The washer drains into the laundry tub which provides a head as the long pipe doesn't drain rapidly. The diverter lets us set the tub to drain back down to the sewer, but generally she just lets everything go onto the lawn.

This only works if your laundry is above ground