How to Make a Laundry Water Recycler (Gray Water System)

Step 6 A Couple More Things And You'll Be Ready To Go...

Here's another safety feature to add: Hang a length of the same chain used to hang the platform between the two front chains. This will prevent the tank from sliding off of the shelf in the event of an earthquake (Shown in Step 7 Photo).

And, here's another improvement that I just thought of: The rinse water has a fair amount of lint in it. It doesn't cause any harm, but I'm going to hang a large piece of fiberglass window screen across the top of the tank and beneath the washing machine hose. With such a large surface area, I should only have to clean the screen every month or two, and it should remove most of the lint from the water.

Comments

[RoyalPayne]

And since we're all being so green, you'll take that lint filled stocking, turn it inside out, removing the acumulated lint, lay it length ways on a large tree limb to dry,and leave it for the birds to use as nest lining materiel. This instruct makes me wish I had a top loader instead of my front. Wonder if a person could convert this to a gray water garden waterer? University of Arizona, you said?

[uberdum05]

You could probably use this with a front loader by connecting the water output of the tank to the cold-water input of the washer and just cap off the hot water input and just do a cold wash :P

[weblar]

.........or, to separate lint out of the water, cut the leg off a pair of women's stockings/hose and fasten that with a rubber band to the end of your drain hose "hook" (an old trick known by people with septic tank sewer systems to keep lint of the system). If you use a long section (the whole "leg") of hose, it will hold a LOT of lint.

[MikeTrenshaw]

Don't use too long a length of hose. They really stretch and it might get down into the tank drain and stop it up.

[dlginstructables]

Great suggestion! I'll give it a try.