how would I build a small septic tank just for a washing machine water?

Answer 1

You could just make a dry well. Or as mentioned use the "gray water for irrigation'

Answer 2

Small Septic Tank

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how would I build a small septic tank just for a washing machine water?

Answer 4

You probably wouldn't, septic tanks are for degrading human waste which isn't very abundant in washing machine water. I would just dig a dry well outside, say a 5 x 5 by 5 foot pit filled 2/3 with graduated gravel and 1/3 topsoil. Run a drain pipe from the washer to the pit. a septic tank would require a non-biodegradable collection tank and a drain field and of course public inspection.

Answer 5

Dry Well For Washing Machine

Answer 6

instead of a septic tank run a gray waterline. Take it from washing machine and run it, it a tree or somewhere where it can run off..

Septic tank would be to expensive and gray water is the easiest way to go.

Answer 7

So, you have to empty the septic tank or to change the septic tank. We can conclude this from your question and you must have to do it otherwise you have to empty it in short period of time which is cost effective too.

Answer 8

septic tank... your better off buying a sewar ejector and running the outlet pipe somewhere in your back yard cheaper more efective and lot easier

Answer 9

we used to bury a fifty five gallon barrel in red rock (volcanic). Make sure you put holes all over first and just plumb your washing machine in.

Answer 10

Generally gray water is defined as waste water from clothes washers, dish water, and bathing. Some people are advocating that, in times of drought and water shortages, gray water should be recycled for home irrigation.

However, use of gray water is illegal in Washington State, although some new regulations are under consideration which might permit strictly controlled use. The concern is that waste water frequently contains as much bacteria and fecal coliform as "black water" from toilets. Indiscriminate use might contaminate soils, garden produce, and surface water.

One waste water form that is legal and logical to use is water running from the hot water tap while waiting for hot water to arrive at the faucet. This can be collected and used for watering house-plants, container gardens, or precious trees or shrubs. Pans of water used to wash and peel fruits and vegetables can be reused in the same manner.

One acceptable use of gray water is to pour bath water into the toilet bowl to flush the toilet. Before trying to recycle gray water for any other purpose, check with your county health officials for their regulations.

If you decide to use gray water, do not use the following types of water:

• Laundry water containing bleach, boron or liquid fabric softener.

• Softened water.

• Water with soaps and detergents on acid-loving plants such as azaleas, camellias, and rhododendrons.

• Bath or shower water from persons who are sick.

• Greasy kitchen sink waste waters.



Generally, people using gray water need to store the water at times. Storage creates additional problems. Storage containers need to be tightly covered and stored where it can not confused with drinking water. Do not store gray water for more than 24 hours. Containers used to store gray water should be carefully cleaned before any other use.

If you decide to use gray water, here are a few tips.

• Make sure the water is cool. Hot water can damage plant roots and stems.

• Do not put gray water directly on plant leaves. Use it only for root watering.

• Use of gray water on vegetables is not advisable for health reasons.

• Don’t pour gray water directly around the trunks of trees and shrubs. This could encourage crown rot. The feeder roots that take up water are located farther out.

• Do not use gray water on potted plants. Their restricted root zones make them more damage-prone.

• Rotate the application of laundry water to different places. This will help prevent build-up of harmful chemicals.

• Watch your plants for symptoms of damage. Excess salts such as sodium ions cause "burning" of the leaf edges.

As its name connotes, graywater is of lesser quality than potable water, but of higher quality than black water. Blackwater is water flushed from toilets. Also, water from the kitchen sink, garbage disposal and dishwasher usually is considered blackwat er because of high concentrations of organic waste. Graywater derives from other residential water uses. Water from the bath, shower, washing machine, and bathroom sink are the sources of graywater.

Not a water for all uses, graywater is most suitably used for subsurface irrigation of nonedible landscape plants. Graywater could supply most, if not all the irrigation needs of a domestic dwelling landscaped with vegetation of a semiarid region. Alon g with its application to outside irrigation, graywater can be used in some situations for toilet flushing.

Graywater derives from domestic water use. During 1989 residential water use for the three largest Arizona Active Management Areas (Tucson, Phoenix, and Pinal Active Management Areas) respectively was 116, 153, and 230 gallons per capita per day (gpcd) . Multiply this amount by the number of family members to determine a family's total water usage.

The amount of water a household uses for interior and exterior purposes determines to some extent the family's potential graywater supply and demand. A percentage of a household's interior use represents supply, and its exterior applications generally represent demand.

The amount applied to interior and exterior uses greatly varies among different households. For example, interior uses range between 100 percent to 20 percent of the total family water budget. About 60 to 65 percent of water applied to interior uses po tentially can be recycled as graywater.

A household applies from zero to 80 percent of its total water budget for exterior uses depending upon a number of variables including type of landscaping, season of the year, residents' water use habits, etc. Graywater can be used to meet many exterio r water needs.

As can be seen from the above figures graywater represents a possible water source to meet exterior-use water demands. For example, as much as 31 percent of Casa Del Agua's total water budget is recycled graywater. By storing winter graywater for use d uring the hot dry summer months, sufficient graywater is recycled to meet Casa Del Agua's landscape irrigation demands.
Pros and Cons of Graywater Use

The most obvious advantage of domestic graywater use is that it replaces potable water use. If graywater is used on vegetation, potable water is saved or conserved. Graywater use might be a fitting item on the water conservation agenda.

Not only does its use on landscape conserve potable water, but graywater actually may be better for plants, its use resulting in more vigorous vegetation. Graywater may contain detergents with nitrogen or phosphorus which are plant nutrients. It may al so contain, however, sodium and chloride which can be harmful to some sensitive species.

With water costs rising, water, even graywater, will be considered a resource of greater value. This shift in perception might prod homeowners and policy makers to view graywater as a valuable domestic water resource. Unused graywater might be seen as money wasted, its use a financial advantage.

Graywater use also offers potential financial advantages to regional sewage treatment facilities. Their capital and operational expenditures may decrease because graywater use diminishes sewer flows, thereby lessening the need to expand such facilities .

Diminished sewer flows from domestic graywater use may have a downside however. Some officials fear this situation will result in insufficient sewer flows to carry waste to the sewer plant. Others see this as an unlikely problem, except possibly for se wer systems lacking significant slope.

Officials also have voiced concern that with increased use of graywater, less effluent will be available for treatment resulting in less reclaimed water for municipal uses. This likely would be a problem for a community that reclaims all its wastewater . Domestic graywater use then would represent a decrease in municipal water supplies.

Such a situation brings up the need to interpret water use, including graywater use in a broad context. For example, energy and expense is involved in treating wastewater for distribution and use, especially if treated to potable standards. This water then might be used on landscape. With a more rational water management process in place, graywater could be used instead. An energy savings would result since graywater could be used with less treatment, and it provides plant nutrients at the same time. G raywater use offers more water allocation options and underscores the need for better water management.

Concern is raised about the public health implications of graywater use. What, if any, health hazards arise with graywater use? What circumstances cause graywater to be hazardous to health? Most officials agree that more work and research is needed to determine the risks--and benefits--of graywater use.
Graywater Systems Vary

Graywater systems vary from simple low-cost systems to highly complex and costly systems. The technology involved in such systems ranges from the sophisticated to the crude, from engineered systems with filters and pumps to a washing machine draining d irectly onto oleander bushes. (Official acceptance correspondingly varies from approval to disapproval.)

Graywater recycling systems are commercially available. The more sophisticated graywater systems treat graywater prior to disposal to reduce groundwater contamination and surface ponding problems. Some of these systems are able to remove pollutants and bacteria from graywater. The better systems include settling tanks and sand filters. Improvement in technologies and systems' innovations regularly occur.

The system installed at Casa del Agua drains graywater from the household's water-using appliances into a 55-gallon sump surge tank. A filter is fitted over the graywater drain line where it enters the sump to remove lint and hair before the water is p umped to other components of the recycling system.

The sump fills to a level that activates a float switch and then the graywater is pumped into various treatment systems. The graywater then is pumped through an underground drip irrigation system to the landscape or for use in the toilet.

Construction of the Casa del Agua's graywater treatment and distribution system was about $1,500. Storage cost for 5,000-gallon tanks is estimated to be about $0.50 per gallon. Cost obviously are prohibitively high for an individual household to purcha se and operate such a system.

The question of cost is an important issue relevant to both graywater use and rainwater harvesting. If installing such systems in the home is unduly expensive, their acceptance and use will be limited. Such systems may be viewed as impractical, or wors e, elitist.

Such is not the case however. Expensive units are indeed available, but a person interested in graywater use and rainwater harvesting is not limited to these options. With a modicum of mechanical skills, a person can devise or improvise methods to use graywater or harvest the rain. In fact, these activities invite the ingenuity of backyard technology.

For example, a graywater use system was designed to recycle washing machine rinse water back into the washer for use in the wash cycle of the next load. Clothes thus are washed in the rinse water from the previous load, and water is saved.

This system consists of a 32-gallon trash container placed adjacent to a washing machine, but at a slight elevation. After the wash cycle has drained, the drain hose from the washing machine is removed from the sewer standpipe and positioned to drain t he rinse water into the container. The rinse water later flows back into the washing machine through a one-inch gate valve for use in the wash cycle of the next load.

The device that stands as the archetypal graywater use method and which prompts the most enquiries to officials is the washing machine draining directly onto outside vegetation, usually oleander bushes. This is the image in many people's mind when the topic of graywater use arises. It also is a fitting image to begin discussion of graywater use regulations.