Greywater Diverter Valve
Greywater Diverter Valve
Find out about greywater diverter valves and how they are used in water recycling
waterGreywater is
waste water from baths, showers, and so on which can be used to water plants and wash cars amongst other things. In almost all homes this expensively treated water goes straight down the drain and into the sewerage system to be expensively treated again. At the same time there are currently
hosepipe bans across many regions in the UK and water usage meters are being fitted to many homes.
Saving and recycling
greywater is a cheap and easy way to save energy and save money. In conjunction with
rainwater collection, and a simple
irrigation system gardens, greehouses, and polytunnels can be watered entirely from
recycled water.
Collecting Greywater
The simplest way of
collecting greywater is to simply an
equal tees waste pipe splitter (pictured above) into the bathroom wastepipe before it joins the sewer pipe. All water from showers, baths, and the sink can therefore be diverted to your greywater storage vessel.
This is by no means a perfect scheme though. For example, if you clean the bath out with
chemical cleaners, they will be washed down and into your greywater tank. Small amounts of bleach will do no harm, but if large amounts of harsh chemicals build up in the greywater tank together with soap and shampoo etc, the collected water will not be good for the garden.
Therefore an ideal system will give you a way to decide whether the water going down the plug hole should be sent to greywater storage, or straight down to the sewers (or septic tank). If you are putting chemicals down the plug, if your greywater storage vessel is full, or in a hard frost all waste water should be sent to sewerage rather than being collected. This is achieved using a
greywater diverter valve.
Greywater Diverter Valves - Interior Plumbed
Pictured above is an example of a great
three-way greywater diverter valve available in the USA for $49. This device (
Jandy Never Lube Three Port Valve), a fairly typical robust greywater diverter valve has three ports - one through which the
waste water enters, one which is connected to a pipe going to
sewerage, and one which goes to
greywater storage. A simple manual
switch is fitted which is simply rotated to select between sewerage and storage. Such a
diverter valve should last a lifetime.
Pictured below is the Never Lube Three Port Valve fitted in a typical home plumbing system.
Greywater Diverter Valves - Exterior Plumbed
Pictured below is the
Water Two greywater diverter valve (designed in England by
Water Two UK LTD. This simple device - available in the UK for under £30 is fitted to the bathroom waste pipe outside the home just before it meets the main (sewerage) down pipe. Pull cords are fitted to control the device - pull one cord down to send all waste water to the
down pipe, pull the other cord to send it to
greywater storage.
Diverted water is sent down a standard hose pipe to the greywater storage vessel - water butt or tank. Installation should take a fairly incompetent DIYer under an hour.
NEW A detailed
Review of Water Two
is now available.
Ideally the collected water should be passed through a suitable
greywater filter before it is stored. A couple of tablespoons of chlorine bleach per gallon of stored water will disinfect it and prevent it from stagnating.
Article Last Modified: 17:01, 18th May 2007
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