Advice needed on shower gray water system in Los Angeles
 

Hello,

There may be a "green" board that covers this but this group seems to
know everything. Several years ago when a wall was open I segregated
off a shower drain for garden use-- now working on the hookup system.
BG; house is in Los Angeles and have about 1000 sf of lawn. The
shower is used 2-4 times daily. House has approx 3ft crawl space and
just a few 3 ft square access openings.

The plan: because of crawl space opening issues; use series of 20'-4'
pvc drain pipe to create a downward sloping, winding "intestine"
containment system. At the end if it, in ground would be a holding
tank with a (switched) sump pump with garden hose attached. At the
junction of the split-off of the shower drain line there would by a
"y" so that when the system was full the overflow would go directly to
the sewer line.

Questions; is this feasable? Does the tank need its own vent?
Filters-- wasn't planning any-- it's heavily diluted shower water
only. The sump pump-- prefer not to buy some big unit but am hoping it
will be strong enough produce small spray from sprinkler.

Thanks for advice, and while cost of water here is low we pay for it
both ways; coming in and in sewer charges. More than that having a
lawn in a semi-desert is not that repsonsible and this plan helps
mitigate that.

Advice needed on shower gray water system in Los Angeles
 

On Sep 22, 12:42*pm, eco-la wrote:
Hello,

There may be a "green" board that covers this but this group seems to
know everything. *Several years ago when a wall was open I segregated
off a shower drain for garden use-- now working on the hookup system.
BG; house is in Los Angeles and have about 1000 sf of lawn. *The
shower is used 2-4 times daily. *House has approx 3ft crawl space and
just a few 3 ft square access openings.

The plan: because of crawl space opening issues; use series of 20'-4'
pvc drain pipe to create a downward sloping, winding "intestine"
containment system. *At the end if it, in ground would be a holding
tank with a (switched) sump pump with garden hose attached. *At the
junction of the split-off of the shower drain line there would by a
"y" so that when the system was full the overflow would go directly to
the sewer line.

Questions; is this feasable? Does the tank need its own vent?
Filters-- wasn't planning any-- it's heavily diluted shower water
only. The sump pump-- prefer not to buy some big unit but am hoping it
will be strong enough produce small spray from sprinkler.

Thanks for advice, and while cost of water here is low we pay for it
both ways; coming in and in sewer charges. More than that having a
lawn in a semi-desert is not that repsonsible and this plan helps
mitigate that.

You should be able to pass a 55 gallon plastic drum through a 3'
space. most have bungs that can be plumbed.
As for venting- remember anything plumbed to a sewer line needs a vent
so that water in the traps isn't sucked out allowing sewer gas in.
But you might cheat with one of those vacuum breaker valves.
I doubt you will find a small pump to power a sprinkler as most are
designed to run on 40 psi or better.

Advice needed on shower gray water system in Los Angeles
 

On Sep 22, 12:42*pm, eco-la wrote:
Hello,

There may be a "green" board that covers this but this group seems to
know everything. *Several years ago when a wall was open I segregated
off a shower drain for garden use-- now working on the hookup system.
BG; house is in Los Angeles and have about 1000 sf of lawn. *The
shower is used 2-4 times daily. *House has approx 3ft crawl space and
just a few 3 ft square access openings.

The plan: because of crawl space opening issues; use series of 20'-4'
pvc drain pipe to create a downward sloping, winding "intestine"
containment system. *At the end if it, in ground would be a holding
tank with a (switched) sump pump with garden hose attached. *At the
junction of the split-off of the shower drain line there would by a
"y" so that when the system was full the overflow would go directly to
the sewer line.

Questions; is this feasable? Does the tank need its own vent?
Filters-- wasn't planning any-- it's heavily diluted shower water
only. The sump pump-- prefer not to buy some big unit but am hoping it
will be strong enough produce small spray from sprinkler.

Thanks for advice, and while cost of water here is low we pay for it
both ways; coming in and in sewer charges. More than that having a
lawn in a semi-desert is not that repsonsible and this plan helps
mitigate that.

I think you need to check your local building code. Make sure it's
legal to spray the gray water onto the lawn.

Advice needed on shower gray water system in Los Angeles
 

If I lived there in the desert I would use all the water, grey and black
for irrigation and fertilizer. Plants
will love it.

In Tucson AZ, during construction, I ran the drain line for my washing
machine to the ABS and ran it out beneath the soil outside rather than into
the sewer (septic) system. The washer put out 100 gallons of water on
laundry day..once a week.I ran the pipe down a short grade outside in the
yard to where I buried a ~30 gallon plastic pail ( originally for 3" pool
pucks). I ran two 1/2" blk vinyl drip water lines out of the bottom/side of
the pail and circled the 1/2 acre front yard where there were native
Mesquite and Acacia trees..probably 15-20 of them. I also ran some 1/4"
dripline to a large Ocotillo and a couple of Fan-Tex ash trees I had
planted.

The trees loved the stuff..didnt care about the soap..had the best looking
yard in the neighborhood and FREE drip water.
BTW, no lawn, all aggregate paths & rocks with a couple of bridges over
small washes.