rainwater to flush my toilet - how can I set this up

EricMears

I believe WC flushing accounts for approx one third of a typical household's water usage. Obviously there will be some households who use masses of water washing cars & sprinkling lawns so WC usage becomes a very small percentage and others where a quick wash & occasional cup of tea is only other use so WC usage is way over 50%

Money saving wasn't the only reason for installing our rainwater flushing system. I regard it as a waste of resources to spend effort refining water to potable standard then flush a third of it straight down the lavatory.

However, it really is a money-saving exercise too. I've already explained how the scheme saves me over £50 a year (and most people would save over twice as much as I do as they'd also have a saving on sewage disposal bills) and the total installation cost for me was probably less than £100. Had I been buying all new components, I believe I could still do something similar for under £500 .

All sorts of practical problems retro-fitting to an existing house but nothing that couldn't be overcome reasonably easily.

albyota

When building this house five years ago now, the first thing to go in was an underground 4000 litre rainwater harvesting tank...it cost about £1700 iirc for the full set up....tank, pump, gauge, float switch, pressure valve, manhole cover, filters, pipe and fittings etc, quite a bit of money at the time, however......5 years on....my water bill is still less than £20 / month, we use it to flush loos, garden hose / outside tap, and the washing machine....we also get a £30 reduction off the water bill for not sending surface water into the storm drain. probably hasn't quite paid for itself yet...but for me, it was more about reducing my monthly outgoings.

guineapig

We use washing up water and bath water for 98% of ALL our toilet flushing.

We have a bath everyday and leave in the plug then either using a jug or a pump ( we bought specially) we can either flush the toilet using the buckets OR directly using the pump.
We find using buckets gives a bit more of er,a push to get the heavy stuff around the bend!
We hardly ever need to flush direct, and it pains me when we don't have any/enough used water, though that isn't very often.

We also use washing up water ( I wouldn't have a dish washer thrown at me!).

We used to catch shower water in the bath, so it works either way.
When we moved into this house almost 15 years ago the Water bill ( on a meter) was £26.00 it is now £14, given the fact that prices have gone up in that time, I am quite happy with that.
Plus I lived through the drought of 1976 and hauling buckets really does concentrate the mind!) I think that must have been what set me off with my "thing" about not wasting water ( I was a teenager at the time).

FWIW, having a bath, about 6 inches of water, has not cost us any more in gas either, on the whole the consumption of gas has gone down too, so win-win!

EricMears

guineapig wrote: »

When we moved into this house almost 15 years ago the Water bill ( on a meter) was £26.00 it is now £14

Are they annual figures ? I think our standing charges are probably more than that !

Marco_Panettone

I also use Grey water from the shower to flush. Keep a bucket in the bathroom and put the plug in when you shower. Scoop water out and use the bucket to flush.

You start to use less water in the shower too as you aim to waste as little as possible through the plughole.

soba

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding your question but my mum and dad have a water butt and they use that to fill empty 2l milk bottles with water and then use that to flush the toilet. They replace the bottle tops to prevent spillage. Doesn't look particularly pretty in the bathroom but saves them some money on their water bill.

nadmaj

thank you everyone for your input and suggestions -. I,m going to be doing the extra things- I already use our shower water, for flushes use the excess cold water that comes out the tap before the hot keep it all in a bucket in the bath now I'm going to tape over the flush buttons as my hubby forgets and flushes!!
also as ken68 said I'm gonna try to catch the laundry water

anyway here are the stats for the water bill for 6 months

united utilities charges £185.26
total used 49 cubic metres
with the water increase - waterwaste charge £97.16
total water usuage charge £88.10

Banio_Medico

Hi, I also put in the plug and retain the shower water for Flushing the loo, as I live alone this no hard ship for me, I use a five litre plastic square container(bulk buy bleach or detergeng type) with the top completely sliced off this is better than a bucket to scoop up plenty in one go to flush the loo ,it will scoop out a sink full also.
Quite recently welsh water refunded me a £142. rebate, so just shows you what a waste it is to use clean water, also have a couple of filled litre containers in the cistern as well.

Cleopatra

I live in Devon with the highest water charges ever so I had a water meter put in years ago and it saves me a fortune. I bought 3 "colour-coordinated" buckets which sit in my bath and, every time I have a shower, I keep the plug in and use a cheap plastic jug to fill the buckets. Then I refill the cistern from them whenever I flush (I turned off the tap to stop the cistern refilling from the mains). I find it more effective for the loo to flush "properly"from the cistern than to throw a bucket of water down the loo. The tap can be turned back on easily if I wanted to- mine is like a screwhead that takes half a turn to cut the water off and only affects the cistern.

Ken68

I also use a bowl for personal washing and doing the dishes, they get emptied into a large bucket (lidded) for loo use later.Also catch water in a wheelie bin.
Not in the shower for long enough, but will give it a go to see what saving.
Last six monthly bill was for 4 cubic metres at SOLOW rate.£16 something.
Neighbour does similar and she is at work all day.
Down to habit.