Change plumbing to collect gray water?

[Serena]

Is it feasible to have my MH plumbing redone so that the gray water could be collected?

We have a 100% watering ban and it is tedious to scoop out the bath water and save kitchen and bathroom sink water all the time. I really like having nice plants outside. (They are all native plants and low maintenance.)

I have iron pipes, except where it's been redone under the sinks. Those pipes are some kind of white plastic-looking things.

Thanks much!

[Greg]

It is possible, but I question how practical it would be. It would take replumbing and seperating the waste lines. In addition you would have to be VERY careful what you put down the "grey" drains. Greg

[Steve S.]

Hi Serena,
I think this is very feasible...and I have thought of doing it myself, but for different reasons (to help keep soaps and other chemicals out of my septic system). One would simply have to locate where the sink, tub, and/or washer drains empty into the main drain, pull out that T and re-route with an extension pipe out from under the house. The drawback is you have to tear into your underbelly material to access the plumbing, and not too many can conceive of doing this except when there is a leak that needs to be fixed. I'm no expert on plumbing but seems to me that it could be done. BTW, I enjoyed reading your tips on saving energy, and I thought I lived a downright spartan existence!
--Steve

[oldfart]

Aye folks it can be done and rest assured I have done it. It's not an easy task by any means given' the nature of our plumbing! Fact is I got fed up with clogged drains and decided to do something about it. Now, as a sidenote, in some locals this may not even be leagle. Some laws require all waste water to go to a common point. I ran 2 seperate 1 1/2in. lines to handle the tub, sink and water softener into 2 seperate gray water lines. The water softener was the worst offender. It purged huge wads of gunk (lime in my case..lots of limestone here in Pa.) into the septic line and gammahooched my every effort to eliminate clogs. And nothing short of dynamite will break up this...stuff. The overflow and purge lines both go into a single 1 1/2 in. gray water line now. The next worst offender is hair clogs in the tub/shower. We have several options here. #1 Shave the heads of all inhabitants of the home. #2..Install a screen device on the drain of the tub/shower drain. #3 Get a divorce. The cheapest option is #2. A chunk of steel-wool will keep the hair from clogging up the drain. Change it about every other shower. Cost...about 20 cents. Option #1 is still cost effective...WalMart sells "pet-trimmers" for under $30..use the short blade! I chose option #3!! Cost was about $100,000.00 but I haven't had a clogged drain since 2005....I don't have to pluck disgrustin' steel-wool out'a my drains and I go to the barber twice a year where he giggs me $11 for a haircut. Good trade..eh! "The cost of solving the problem....a potload! The value? Priceless!" Just my humble opinion of course. Audie..the Oldfart...

[oldfart]

Hmmmm...since I'm in such a humorous mood I thought I'd just share this story with ya'll. My older brother Art was perplexed for years with a recurrent problem of clogged drains in his kitchen. Seems every Fri. night his kitchen sink would clog up without fail. And every Fri. night they enjoyed spagetti in his home. Took him a while to figger it out, but seems his Missus dumped the pot of pasta down the sink to drain it and a lot of the pasta went down the drain to cause a clog God couldn't remove! Big Brother Art is not so...ummm.....restrained (?) as myself. He picked up an old Ruger flat-top .44mag. and stuffed it down the drain and pulled the trigger! Cleared the drain! Then he advised his Missus to.. "Not pour any more pasta in the sink to drain it!" They ain't had a problem since..and they're all deef..but it worked! I rekkin' they still got a bucket under that kitchen sink to collect the water. More'n one way to skin a cat..eh! Audie..ROTFLMBO..the Oldfart!

[Serena]

Thanks for the posts, everyone! I'm not worried about what goes down the drains as I use organic castile soap, baking soda, and vinegar for personal and household cleaning. (Sometimes hydrogen peroxide.) I use Seventh Generation Scent-free laundry liquid or powder. I don't eat meat, so no bacon drippings, etc. I use a little mesh sieve in the bathtub drain. A few tea leaves go down the kitchen sink now and then.

So, it's a question of work, cost, and legality, if I've got it right. The man who lives behind me told me he'd been thinking of redoing the plumbing on his MH, and then he went to his cabin in the mountains for the winter. I don't know why all houses, MHs or otherwise aren't built with gray water savers these days.

It's physically very demanding to fill up the buckets and haul them outside and then water the plants. I can only fill the buckets about 5/8 full or it hurts my back. If the plumbing project is too expensive or illegal, I may have to switch to cacti.

Thanks again, everyone.