Recycle sink water

[DeeHill]

I have searched the internet and have not found existing hardware to accomplish this. At my home I wash vegetables from the garden and other things for personal use. Usually the resulting wash water is quite clean. It is mainly the physical force and mass of the water that does the cleaning. Is there a system I can install into a utility sink to recapture that wash water and pump it back to the sink (most likely through a separate third faucet or sprayer) to use the water again? At some point I would need to switch to a final drain.

This sink has not been purchased yet. It’s at the conceptual design phase. So if it requires a 2 basin sink, that could be an option.

 

[2stupid2fixit]

Seems like you are asking for a cistern solution. Two sinks will make the project easier unless you design a valve assembly to go under the sink, like valve turned to the left makes the wastewater drain to a 55 gallon drum outside for reuse, but turned to the right goes to wherever your dirty water already goes. Then... you would probably want to build some sort of filter for the gray water,meaning run it over a layer of activated charcoal, just to let carbon do its magic. Do not underestimate this step, use Google to evaluate the effects of percolating water of any kind over activated charcoal. Then, whatever is recovered from that filtered gray water, you could have a sump pump feed a bladder tank that is plumbed back to a "vegetable" water faucet on your sink.

About the recovery tank/filter setup:
Your filter/catch storage could be a 55 gallon poly drum with a screen installed somewhere near the top so you can put activated charcoal on it. That would allow water to percolate but not let the charcoal drop beyond. Then, the percolated water, once at the right level, would trigger the pump's float float, a sump pump that sends this resulting water into the above mentioned bladder tank, Then, you could have your non-potable but useful water on demand via a special faucet or vegetabe sprayer on your sink's deck. Unless you engineer your system to have a storage capacity, the laws of physics say that you will not have as much of your own water as you would from the original supply.

Also, I read that you haven't found any ready-to-use systems like this.
My guess about that is, while this may be a practical idea, using "gray" water for anything else but sewage is illegal in so many jurisdictions. I'm an idiot and if you do anything I suggest, the results and consequences are yours. I was just imagining things and telling you all about what I imagined without knowing if its legal or not.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Chucky_ott]

The gray water you plan to capture and store is likely to start growing micro-organisms, depending on how long you store it. Not sure it's something I'd even consider. Maybe the best solution would be to use it to water your garden.

 

[oldVermonter]

The gray water you plan to capture and store is likely to start growing micro-organisms, depending on how long you store it. Not sure it's something I'd even consider. Maybe the best solution would be to use it to water your garden.

Agree entirely. No way would I use grey water for domestic consumption. But it's excellent for irrigation.

 

[Reach4]

Classically it is used for toilet flushing.

They sell purple pex for grey water, although I think that is not mandatory to use.

 

[2stupid2fixit]

Hotel On Premise Laundry (OPL) systems, especially for large hotels, can have water reclamation facilities. Basically, the big 100lb load or larger washers divert the final rinse water to a storage area, and then that is re-used for the first stage pre-wash water. But in a system like those, the rinse water that's being diverted for reclaiming was already hit with bleach in the previous stages of the cycle, effectively killing 99.9% of all microbes. Sodium Hypo does pretty decent job of that. You will want a way to sanitize the water prior to storage for reuse, something more thorough and beyond my original suggestion of simply percolating the reclaimed water through activated charcoal. Otherwise, as reach4 pointed out, u will be able to safely flush the toilet with your reclaimed water, and you could use it to water your lawn, but beyond that, I wouldn't use it to water a vegetable garden for fears of a listeria outbreak.

 

[2stupid2fixit]

Since we brought up the topic of "Greywater", I have a problem with water from domestic bath/showers being included in the definition of "greywater".

Wikipedia says:
Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from toilets. Sources of greywater include sinks, showers, baths, washing machines or dishwashers. As greywater contains fewer pathogens than blackwater, it is generally safer to handle and easier to treat and reuse onsite for toilet flushing, landscape or crop irrigation, and other non-potable uses. Greywater may still have some pathogen content from laundering soiled clothing or cleaning the anal area in the shower or bath.

Focus on where its mentioned "Cleaning the anal area".
Doing so introduces countless pathogens into the water, like pseudomonas aerugnosa, cryptosporidium, e. coli times every variant, stapholococi times every variant. Then, this observation I am about to state is only an exercise in biologic function and has nothing to do with gender identification. Human females, of childbearing age, routinely discharge via the menses process, blood, blood products, and organic tissue, which is perfectly normal and natural. What is NOT normal or natural is to label the water in which said bathing occurs as greywater, since the content of the water will contain active specimens of every bloodborne pathogen introduced.

To prove my observation had nothing to do with gender, I know of a college roommate of someone that had the habit of dropping off a number two in the shower and then squishing the log into the drain with his foot. Crazy right? People are crazy.

The whole point of this post: water drained from bath/showers is NEVER GREYWATER. It from the start is 100%, BLACKWATER.

Remember that the next time you are working on a shower drain.

 

[Fitter30]

There are hundreds of articles written on grey water non are good without treatment and filtering. From disease-causing organisms to problems in watering a garden. Capturing rain water and filtering would be better and easier to use it for flushing or watering a garden. But then your still running a pump and for the investment not worth my time.

 

[DeeHill]

Seems like you are asking for a cistern solution. Two sinks will make the project easier unless you design a valve assembly to go under the sink, like valve turned to the left makes the wastewater drain to a 55 gallon drum outside for reuse, but turned to the right goes to wherever your dirty water already goes. Then... you would probably want to build some sort of filter for the gray water,meaning run it over a layer of activated charcoal, just to let carbon do its magic. Do not underestimate this step, use Google to evaluate the effects of percolating water of any kind over activated charcoal. Then, whatever is recovered from that filtered gray water, you could have a sump pump feed a bladder tank that is plumbed back to a "vegetable" water faucet on your sink.

About the recovery tank/filter setup:
Your filter/catch storage could be a 55 gallon poly drum with a screen installed somewhere near the top so you can put activated charcoal on it. That would allow water to percolate but not let the charcoal drop beyond. Then, the percolated water, once at the right level, would trigger the pump's float float, a sump pump that sends this resulting water into the above mentioned bladder tank, Then, you could have your non-potable but useful water on demand via a special faucet or vegetabe sprayer on your sink's deck. Unless you engineer your system to have a storage capacity, the laws of physics say that you will not have as much of your own water as you would from the original supply.

Also, I read that you haven't found any ready-to-use systems like this.
My guess about that is, while this may be a practical idea, using "gray" water for anything else but sewage is illegal in so many jurisdictions. I'm an idiot and if you do anything I suggest, the results and consequences are yours. I was just imagining things and telling you all about what I imagined without knowing if its legal or not.

2S2F- Thank you for your suggested design and valuable information. It appears that by placing the valving below the sink drain and assuming I can place a greywater collecting tank below that and with the use of a bladder tank, I can do this with just one pump. I will keep in mind the importance of a charcoal filter upstream of the greywater tank. I will post it when I have a preliminary design along with the cost. Thanks so much.

And, yes, technically, we are not supposed to use greywater even though it costs the city to treat and dispose of it. I keep that in mind.

DeeHill

 

[DeeHill]

The gray water you plan to capture and store is likely to start growing micro-organisms, depending on how long you store it. Not sure it's something I'd even consider. Maybe the best solution would be to use it to water your garden.

Chucky_ott- Yes. There is no way I would keep the grey water longer than a day or two. It would be pumped to the sewer or irrigation. Dee Hill

 

[DeeHill]

There are hundreds of articles written on grey water non are good without treatment and filtering. From disease-causing organisms to problems in watering a garden. Capturing rain water and filtering would be better and easier to use it for flushing or watering a garden. But then your still running a pump and for the investment not worth my time.

Fitter 33- Yes. I understand that the cost of this idea may not be worth any benefits. It is just worth a look. Dee Hill