grey water recycling??

[mtkadan]

is there a adaptation to recycle grey water onboard an ollie?

 

with a composting toilet...both the grey and black tank could be used to filter/store water...

 

and make it potable??

 

please advise w/ thoughts.

 

10-q

 

mtkadan

[topgun2]

mtkadan -

 

Perhaps it was because of a late night last night, but, I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding exactly what you are asking.  There have been a number of discussions on the Forum about using the black tank as a fresh water tank, joining the (unused) black tank and the fresh water tank but I don't recall any talk about joining the black and the grey tanks (if that is what you are suggesting).

 

Bill

[Overland]

First question, can you recycle the grey water - Sure, the easiest way since you don't use the black tank would be to just collect the water from the grey tank drain in a bucket, and then pump it through a filter back into the fresh tank.  It would be a very expensive system and I imagine you'd go through a lot of very expensive filters, though.

 

Second question, can you get the grey water into the black tank - yes, again with a pump, and another pump to get it where you want to from there, with a filter so you don't contaminate your fresh water system.  You'd also need to add an overflow drain to the black tank.

 

If you don't want to filter it, then you'd need to make sure that whatever lines you're pumping the water through are completely separated from the freshwater system.  The only practical application I could see for doing it that way would be to separate the outside shower and use grey water there for hosing off muddy boots or something.

 

It would be an interesting project.  I'm waiting for someone to do something with that black tank.  I'm considering just pulling it out, mainly because I want to pull out the drain from there to the T at the grey tank to give me a better channel for electrical cables.

[John E Davies]

Can you please explain why you would like to make your stinky soapy gray water potable? There are plenty of water filtration systems available but they are best used for relatively clean water like from a stream or lake. And they will always be very expensive to install and operate. There are a few very high end expedition campers like the EarthCruiser that have such a system, but they don’t normally use it on grey water.... it would trash the filters pretty quickly.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[mariejustice54]

All of the above replies are very helpful.

[Overland]

I thought I'd revive this thread since Earth Cruiser just posted this video, in which Lance talks about their new grey water filtration system.  Unfortunately, he doesn't give any details and there's nothing I can find on their website about it.  The only info they give is that they worked with Oregon State to develop it, and that it's robust enough that their shower system is now completely independent with no grey water tank at all - just recycled water, over and over.  Which is pretty cool.

I'd love to know more, just for curiosity sake.

Skip to 3:45 -

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Overland

[BackofBeyond]

Interesting comments on "self sufficiency" - in areas of water scarcity, I fully understand, however, for all of my years of US based travel, H2O has not been an issue, nor would I consider the complexity of the filtration system, for similar travel.  I've explored the concept on home based systems, but more for other outdoor use, not continuous personal reuse. Hmm I'll have to wrap my head around that a little more. 

 

 

[Overland]

I agree, though I think anyone can appreciate the ability to take long showers while boondocking.

Moreso, I feel like these systems are moving toward an inflection point from the exotic to the practical.  If the price, complexity, and availability of these filters are, or become reasonable, I think that at least among boondockers, we'll eventually start to see them as indispensable.  

 

[SeaDawg]

11 hours ago, Overland said:

I thought I'd revive this thread since Earth Cruiser just posted this video, in which Lance talks about their new grey water filtration system.  Unfortunately, he doesn't give any details and there's nothing I can find on their website about it.  The only info they give is that they worked with Oregon State to develop it, and that it's robust enough that their shower system is now completely independent with no grey water tank at all - just recycled water, over and over.  Which is pretty cool.

I'd love to know more, just for curiosity sake.

Skip to 3:45 -

 

It might even be worth a stop in Oregon next spring. I'm intrigued. 

Grey water recycling has been mostly historically limited to toilet flushing, in residential applications.  (And that's pretty useless in rvs.)

I'm interested to see what the maintenance cycle is like.  I'd certainly love unlimited recirculating shower water when boondocking.  

Sherry 

[mtkadan]

ecovie aqualoop info...please see link:

https://www.ecoviewater.com/products/aqualoop/

ive emailed them to see if their system is affordable and rv capable...have not heard back.!?

seems promising....

10-q

dan