C Lungpin

John C Daley wrote:I dont think you will have a problem, you are not using solids, and 2 inch pipe is the size grey water normally uses.
In you case the 4 inch is used for solids and the grey is just added.
I dont think an elevated dispersion field would be disprutive if planned properly.

Thanks John, I didn't know 2" was common practice for gray water. My existing setup transitions to 3" through the wall so could help me assuming it continues at 3" outside.
I've been told the construction of a elevated dispersion field would require dump trucks to enter the property and to do so a road would basically need to be created to drive on. I see this as very disruptive and destructive to what we've developed on the land. It's already an expensive fix but this being needed for access drives up the cost even further.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Septic systems are a giant barrel of laughs. I have issues too, and regularly fish in black waters.

I think a 2" drain can handle sink or shower. The tub is best turned into a planter or fish pond. Put low flow heads on everything -- the less water you put in, the less headaches you have to deal with downstream.

EDIT: If you mess with this system, make sure your black water system won't airlock. There's usually a roof vent or two and this ensures there is sufficient whoosh and flow to handle solids without plugging up.

Thanks for your input! I hear you on the the tub but we use it for shallow baths for our little one. I do plan to transition away from that soon and low flow heads for sure.
About the possibility of air lock... there are 2 roof vents. One on each existing black line. This has me thinking about where the portion of the old septic line will be removed. Does any remaining pipe here need to be capped as short as possible? This small vertical section will hold air I assume. Can this mess with the flow?

Thanks Matt, all input is welcome. Yes that is a fear, realistically and probably worse is that if it drains too slow it would back up into the washing machine first. Or maybe it would back up only the the sump pump causing trouble  there. I wonder if there are back flow valve options.
Maybe another approach would be to send the 4 inch out as a new second gray water line and leave the existing gray line as is. This would be quite a bit more work.

Our traditional septic system isn't functioning well at all. We have been told that installing a new leach field won't solve the problem due to our heavy clay soil not allowing percolation. The only traditional solution we've been given is to have a mound system installed where the black water would be pumped up into it. This is by far the most expensive and intrusive and destructive solution.
Rather than blow all of the money on poop management, we are going to begin using a compost toilet. I'm reading Jenkin's Humanure Handbook now.
I'm in a 1.5 bathroom house. The plan I've come up with is to keep the toilet in the small downstairs bathroom connected to the septic as it is already and then drastically reduce the water input to the septic. I'd like to decommission the upstairs toilet and replace with composting toilet. Here's the questionable part. I would like to send the upstairs bathroom sink, tub, and shower to an existing gray water line. My idea is to have it continue to be delivered from the bathroom via the black water line that currently leads to the septic tank. To do this, I would need to divert it before it hits the trap and heads to the septic. I will need to transition from 4" pipe down to 2" pipe in a pretty short span, maybe 3 or 4 feet. So I'm looking for opinions on this idea. Will it work? Is it possible? Can the transition be made from 4" to 2". Do I need another trap there or any special plumbing? Am I missing something?
I will also need to cap the septic line after diverting the upstairs flow to keep the downstairs toilet running to the septic tank.

(reminder: after the upstairs toilet is removed, only gray water will be following this path)

Thanks for any help! I can add more pictures if needed.

These plans recommend pouring a concrete slab for the base. In the Presentation: Water Biofilters and Composting Toilet Systems with Tim Barker they talk about ground contact being the way to do this. Trying to wrap my head around all of this and reading Jenkin's Humanure Handbook as well. Does anyone have any personal experiences to share? I'd like to start out with a compost pile that we bring buckets to and then evolve to an outhouse that receives deposits directly as well as buckets that come from indoors.

Wouldn't the carpet dolly model need to be altered to allow it to dump? How would you unload a version that looks like the carpet dolly?

I made Smen one time. I think I read about it somewhere and just went for it. It's a fermented butter from Morocco. You make an oregano tea and knead it into the butter and then let it ferment in a jar. It ends up tasting and smelling like a funky cheese. It was really good!

Thanks for your responses! Yes, I was referring to the structure painted red seen in the first 2 photos. I thought it was made from the curved metal poles of trampolines. I have a pile of trampolines that I'd like to build structures out of. I've seen a thread by another permie who bought some trampoline parts to do this, but I thought maybe you had done something similar.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Hi Tom,

It's been a few years since I built it.

The hops cover the trellis, and early succession plants cover the bare dirt, but here it is as originally built.  It has never leaked or overflowed or washed out.

Old post, but I see you're still an active permie... Do I see a hoop house or some kind of trellis made from trampoline frames in the background of your photos? Can you share anything about making it or how you use it?

I searched back for my source (had to use the wayback machine) and the recipe came from the Angelica Kitchen book. It was posted online by Gothamist. https://web.archive.org/web/20051104112726/http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/06/01/gothamist_cooks_kind_of_by_the_book_angelica_kitchens_cornbread.php

This source does say 3 cups cider/juice. There's  definitely a chance that they could have made a mistake in copying from the book. I did make this recipe a number of years before posting here. I assume that I used the same source and I doubt I would have been a confident enough baker at the time to make any adjustments. I do remember it being pretty moist but not in bad way.

Sorry for any trouble! I guess the next step is to track down the book.
How did the bread turn out with your adjustments?