• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Urine into gray water?

 
Posts: 69
2
dog rabbit bike
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm going to have my sink and shower water in a guest cottage flow into an in-ground gray water basin. I'm wondering if I could have a urinal flow into that as well so that my sawdust toilet is spared large volumes of urine. Any opinions on diverting urine to gray water systems?
 
pollinator
Posts: 1793
Location: Wisconsin, zone 4
97
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I can't see how that could cause any problems at all. I pee directly on crops with no problems, I would think what you want to do would be fine.
 
Posts: 63
Location: Hinesburg, Vermont
3
duck fungi trees
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Is it just a mulch basin or something like that? I think you'd be fine doing that. Even if your greywater is feeding plants I think it would be OK. If it was a lot of pure urine, maybe not. But since it will be just a small volume of the greywater, and especially if it's just a guest cottage, I can't see the harm. But I'm no greywater expert.

What I'm planning is to have separate pee/poo toilets (I really don't like the "urine diverter" setups I've seen), with the pee drain leading to a bucket full of sawdust, or maybe into a straw bale, which when saturated can be composted.
 
pollinator
Posts: 2392
104
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I believe if the water has urine in it, it's not gray water but yellow water. And the best words on this topic were written by the late Frank Zappa:



 
A Walton
Posts: 69
2
dog rabbit bike
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It might be a mulch basin I'm still trying to figure that out. I was thinking of using a brewers funnel for the urinal:

http://monsterbrew.com/Prod_8inchAnti-SplashFunnel.cfm?gclid=CjwKEAiAgKu2BRDu1OGw3-KXokwSJAB_Yy2QdtvxnEVzmL0BTqBXkF0pbvXN_SS5TjRAJRPiXkbugxoCtKnw_wcB

I'm wondering if running a line directly from this, out the wall, and into the graywater without a trap will result in odor? I was thinking of "flushing" the system with a glass of water or something. Clear I'm in the early stages of this thing
 
Ben de Leiris
Posts: 63
Location: Hinesburg, Vermont
3
duck fungi trees
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
That's actually my plan too. Make a trap from 3/4" pipe or so, and flush it with a cup of water so the trap isn't full of pee.
 
A Walton
Posts: 69
2
dog rabbit bike
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
After seeing this:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=274338

I think I'll go ahead and run water to mine and have a trap.
 
Posts: 30
2
duck trees chicken
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
For a flushing system on the "men's" toilet at his lake house he hung a pump sprayer with a mix of bleach and water to keep the smell down. The urinal was simply an inverted gallon bleach bottle with the bottom cut out so the urine would flow out what would normally be the top of the bottle down a hose into a 5 gal bucket filled with pea gravel and sand. The bottom of the 5 gal bucket had several very small holes drilled in the bottom to let the waste flow into the ground. It was very simple, cost effective and worked like a champ.
 
That feels good. Thanks. Here's a tiny ad:
the permaculture bootcamp in winter (plus half-assed holidays)
https://permies.com/t/149839/permaculture-projects/permaculture-bootcamp-winter-assed-holidays
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic