Rainwater / Greywater ideas

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Miskaroo, May 21, 2011.

  1. Miskaroo

    Miskaroo Junior Member

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    Hi

    After the government kindly scrapped the rebates (a few days after I moved into my first home) we do not have funds to get a proper system plumbed in. Has anyone here done a DIY job and could a beginner do it? :)

    Any ideas welcome.

    Cheers
    Miskaroo :)
     
  2. purecajn

    purecajn Junior Member

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    plenty of DIY videos of rainwater systems on youtube (sorry 4 the plug) if all else fails.
     
  3. ptpermaculture

    ptpermaculture Junior Member

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  4. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    If you are in Sydney or Melbourne you can pick up some 200L barrels very cheap and plumb them in to collect rainwater for your garden. I made a 800L set up for under $100.
    Permablitz have had great success in putting mulch basins next to newly planted trees. You can get some long hose from your washing machine and feed into different mulch basins.
    Brad Lancaster's books on Rainwater Harvesting are a great resource. From diverting greywater to ways to collect in the ground. He is on youtube as well.
     
  5. Miskaroo

    Miskaroo Junior Member

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    Thanks

    Many thanks for the info guys -will check these out. I would like to get at least 2000litres off my roof and a little extra from greywater. The previous owners of the house have put all wastewater underground so there is no easy way I can see to use a standard diverter to get greywater into a holding tank without some serious plumbing....will check out those books etc! cheers
     
  6. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    Not too long ago it dawned on my how much used toothpaste was going into the grey water. We're not supposed to swallow it because of the fluoride, yet if there are even only two people brushing 2-3 times a day, that's a lotta fluoride going into the grey water! So that stopped for me :)
     
  7. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    We have the hand basin plumbed seperate - goes straight to the reed bed with the laundry. The reason is for the hair that clogs the filter for the grey water tank but this is another reason though I just realized that we don't use toothpaste with flouride.
     
  8. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Sweet pea did you stop using the grey water or stop brushing your teeth?
     
  9. Miskaroo

    Miskaroo Junior Member

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    Fluride

    Hi Sweetpea, good point...

    We stopped using fluride toothpaste 15 years ago. No change in tooth health (we also remove all fluride from mains water using reverse osmosis)...

    If you look at tooth health in places with fluride compared to no fluride added to water the results are identical...

    PS I also stopped using it when I found out the death camps in WW2 used it added to water to stop unrest and rebellion...
     
  10. PeterD

    PeterD Junior Member

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    I picked up a couple of 200L food grade barrels used to import ?olives? a few years ago in Canberra for about $25 each which seems in line with the pricing you mention.

    Do you have a source in Melbourne and are they food grade?

    Only reason I ask is I now have gone rural and all my 2 200L barrels are completely full of grain and feed because of the mouse and rat plague problems and I desperately need a lot more barrels for storage.

    Cheers,
    PeterD
     
  11. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    I didn't say thay quite right, did I? Sorry! All toothpaste remains don't go down the drain into the grey water.

    But this has made me rethink the fluoride thing, and if it doesn't help with cavities, then why bother? They are finding more stress fractures and brittle bones in people who drink fluoridated water. And it affects the thyroid hormone which affects intelligence. Rats that drink fluoridated water are less intelligent.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/article/g...r-because-too-much-fluoride-can-cause-health-
     
  12. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Fluoride is a waste product from I forgot what common chemical process. It was shortly after WW2 we started adding it to the common water supplies because as previously mentioned, it was used in WW2 by the Nazi's to make people compliant & docile in the face of adversity. It's about control of the masses... ..control of you, me and everyone else by our governments.
     
  13. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    Well, I'm pretty sure my husband would love to have me be more docile and compliant, but the amounts of fluoride I've ingested just haven't done the trick!! :rofl:
     
  14. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    lol sweetpea
     
  15. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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