how to get water from bath to butt!

mrs_baggins

thanks all. Yep my bathroom is def higher. I dont use a great deal of soapy suds in my water so will have a bash at syphoning!!!

MONEYMAKINGMUM

I have bailed out bath water in buckets + carried downstairs to garden in dry summers.
The syphon looks a lot easier.

katyk_2

My main problem there would be no bathroom window! It is a fully enclosed room at the top of the stairs and I would have to run any type of hose or syphon through the hall and bedroom, out bedroom window and own over sloped roof.

sunset_gold

Can the same thing be done with dishwashers? SG

frivolous_fay

I'm guessing dishwasher water would be salty....? Not sure how much of a problem it would be.

WestonDave

Not tried it personally but I've heard it said that if you simply take a suitable length of hosepipe and put it entirely under the water in the bath, put a cork in both ends (so you have a hose full of water) and then feed one end out of the window, if you take the corks out (bath end first!) the water will syphon out. This may be cheaper than buying a special syphon hose thingy or it may not work at all!

Suzy_M

sunset_gold wrote: »

Can the same thing be done with dishwashers? SG

Started me thinking more about this now:

Because the various types of grey water from household use will contain all sorts of chemical residues etc. it's not recommended for putting straight onto the ground. However, if all the grey water goes into a water butt initially washing machine rinse water and shower/bath water should dilute it. If you had an additional standard water butt connected to your gutters you could of course dilute the grey water further with clean rainwater. - But as my earlier post we didn't have any noticeable problems.

The only real problems I can see are with getting dishwasher water and washing machine water to the butt as many machine these days are plumbed in to the waste sytem and built in units don't allow for alternative draining.

arkonite_babe

These older threads may be of some help to you:

Water Butt

HTH

VCE_in_Fornax

Hi folks
you can try to put some epsom salts (ie magnesium sulphate) in your bath water instead of bubblebath when you want to fill your water butt, find it for about £1.75 in Boots, it makes for a relaxing soak after you've done a lot of gardening, good for sore muscles, and then syphon it from the bath into the water butt. Try with a handful to start with, and if you have no reaction increase the dosage. By that I mean if you don't have to run for the toilet!! I find that one bath fills the water butt pretty much (admittedly it's a big victorian bath) and does very well for my plants. People in Japan have a shower and a scrub before they have a soak in the bath so that's a way round the grey water problem.
I got my syphon from a beer home brewing supplies company, sorry didn't save the link.
Good Luck!

adrewetx

I previously came across the following website: http://www.watertwo.co.uk/services.htm offering an interesting solution. It's best explained via the photos on the website. It's a valve that you connect into the external waste pipe that runs from the bath to the drain. You cut out a section of pipe and insert the value, which then has an attached pipe which you run to your water-butt or elsewhere. The valve then has a long string of cord hanging down to the ground floor. By pulling the cord one way, all waste water from your bath goes into the water-butt. By pulling the cord the other way, all waste water goes down the original route into the drain. Accordingly, you can decide (in advance) whether your bath water is destined for garden or drain. and as per MSE advice, if you're redirecting most of your bath water to the garden, you can get a reduction on your water bill sewage charge.