why don't we use more grey water or have something built into
(maybe newer) houses
Entirely sensible. As a species we seem to not pull to invention and change unless pushed or there's money in it. We have to be kicking and screaming before adapting.
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People are also much too worried about 'what the neighbours think' and 'what if it doesn't work'. On your own property and if it doesn't interfere with others try anyway and see what happens.
You might be able to use a tap adaptor. The sort you could put on your ordinary (old style) kitchen tap. Theses will often reduce from over 1 inch down to a 1/2 inch hose fitting. That said I think unless you are using very mild detergent I wouldn't use grey water from a washing machine, maybe from the later rises or spin cycle, but the would be a heck of a faff.
I asked Yorkshire water about using a hose to syphon grey water and they have confirmed that it's OK during the hose pipe ban (and that it's OK to use my mains drip irrigation system, with timer and pressure-reducing valve). A triumph of sensible-ness
I've set up a hose similar to @Fire's but the cheap syphon pump I got doesn't connect well to the standard hose so I need to do some finangling with connectors or jubilee clips. That's a job for later today.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I've set up a hose similar to @Fire's but the cheap syphon pump I got doesn't connect well to the standard hose
Usually you just shove the siphon tube into the hose end. Pouring very hot water over the hose can help it to become softer to work with. I guess it depends which type of siphon you have
It's just a tiny bit too big to shove into the end of the hose. I've connected it with standard hozelock-style connectors and will try it next time I have a bath. In the meantime the water butt tap has broken so I think I'll replace that while it's empty.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I'd been working on something usable to empty the bath water over continuing to carry buckets down the stairs and looked at different syphon bulbs and pumps- but simply unscrewing the shower head off the shower so you're left with the pipe and then holding the garden hose pipe (with no attachment on) against this and turning the shower on until the hose fills with water is enough to get the syphon running it only takes a few seconds. Some people might be able to hold it against a running tap but my taps are the wrong shape to get enough pressure to force the water up the pipe and out of the window. You can tell when the pipe is full. Then quickly put the end of the hose under the water in the bath and gravity does the rest. You can weight it down with something because you need the end of the pipe to be as low in the bath as possible, but the best thing I've used is a suction cup with a ring on, suction it to the bottom of the bath and put the hose through the ring.
There's enough pressure to still use the hoselock nozzle attachment on the other end and water as normal. I don't think there's enough pressure for the lance. So leave the nozzle at the other end open in order to get the syphon flowing and and once flowing you can turn it on and off as needed and it will stop and resume the flow as needed until the bath is empty.
So I'm using a combination of watering with it as a hose like this for what I can reach and filling watering cans and buckets for the back garden (to then fill cans, it saves time to have a bucket filling while you're off watering with the can which you can then tip in).
Few strange looks - and one person who came to speak to me about using a hosepipe! - who I explained it was bath water to. But yes you're allowed to use a hosepipe to use grey water and it works well once the syphon has gotten started. I'll happily continue to use it after the ban is lifted simply for making better use of water. One bath tub makes for more than enough to water the front and the back gardens and lawns for me, it's almost as much as a water butt holds and it all usually goes down the drain.
I've put a hook outside the bathroom window and hang my hose there on the hose lock fitting. Then I bring that in and attach it to my sump pump. Turn it on and pump all the water out from our 4 showers. Good coverage for the garden, I was doing it everyday as it was so dry and hot, but now it's quite moist, so reduced it down to twice a week currently.
I was umming and arghing over putting in some copper pipe for a more permanent install, but it's quite pricey to buy the bits and I only need it for a few months a year, so I'll just keep using the hose. Certainly going to continue to do this for the years ahead.
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There's enough pressure to still use the hoselock nozzle attachment on the other end and water as normal. I don't think there's enough pressure for the lance. So leave the nozzle at the other end open in order to get the syphon flowing and and once flowing you can turn it on and off as needed and it will stop and resume the flow as needed until the bath is empty.
So I'm using a combination of watering with it as a hose like this for what I can reach and filling watering cans and buckets for the back garden (to then fill cans, it saves time to have a bucket filling while you're off watering with the can which you can then tip in).
Few strange looks - and one person who came to speak to me about using a hosepipe! - who I explained it was bath water to. But yes you're allowed to use a hosepipe to use grey water and it works well once the syphon has gotten started. I'll happily continue to use it after the ban is lifted simply for making better use of water. One bath tub makes for more than enough to water the front and the back gardens and lawns for me, it's almost as much as a water butt holds and it all usually goes down the drain.
Then I bring that in and attach it to my sump pump.
Turn it on and pump all the water out from our 4 showers.
Good coverage for the garden, I was doing it everyday as it was so dry and hot, but now it's quite moist, so reduced it down to twice a week currently.
I was umming and arghing over putting in some copper pipe for a more permanent install, but it's quite pricey to buy the bits and I only need it for a few months a year, so I'll just keep using the hose.
Certainly going to continue to do this for the years ahead.