I know sometime in the recent past, I saw something in one of the magazines about somebody that worked on a special project – maybe a home show or such – and he mentioned that there was a home water recycling system involved that impressed him. I can’t find the magazine and when I tried to Google the topic, the results were mindblowingly high – like 24 gazillion hits.
It’s a subject that I’m interested in learning some more about, other than keep a bucket handy for when you are waiting for hot water. I will (hopefully) be putting an extension on for a new kitchen this year and if a system is available that doesn’t cost as much as a new car, I might think about it.
Anyone got any pointers, thoughts or experience?
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations – New Construction – Rentals
Replies
Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but these guys used a hot water return system in their project:
http://www.bkgreenstone.com/greenfeatures.html#heating
Or do you mean something like this?
http://www.sinkpositive.com/
As I understood/recall it, the system that he worked on was a whole house recycling system. Some of what I saw in my Goggle search mentioned grey water recycling. I may look at that too, if I can't find anything else.
I like the toilet sink idea, but I'm thinking much more.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Don, while still in Denver I found a whole house purification system that worked very well. Drinking water at the end. Bypassed need for well and septic, recharged annually for losses. Cost was similar to a simple septic + well. Monitored over the phone line by the company computer.
Unfortunately it wasn't accepted everywhere, including the one mountain county I was trying to figure out how to build some townhomes (on otherwise unbuildable land). They admitted using septic approval as a zoning tool.
Still in my files no doubt, but unless the Va Health Dept accepts it, you're still stuck with a traditional system. Grey water btw, is required to go into septic last I asked. Through the toilet first, I don't think they'd have a problem.
The folks I know here who wanted to use their grey water generally had 2 drain systems. One for the inspector, and a second to hook in after the CO was granted.
You anywhere close to the proposed uranium mine/processing, couple thousand acres?PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I'm close to the proposed uranium mine/processing. It's a hot topic around here in Northern CO. Well at least for the people with their nose in the wind.
which site is that???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I'm not fully informed on it but from what little I've heard it will be a foreign co that will come in, extract the ore, use water to wash/filter the ore, and then put the water back in the aquifer. Not really a good idea for people downstream.I did a Google and came up with this. The bigger issue is mineral and water rights. The old laws basically say you can go in take stuff if you have the clout. The problem is we have LIMITED natural resources and the laws were put in place when people thought they were un-limited.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS255&q=larimer+county+CO+proposed+uranium+mining+site&btnG=Google+Search
I know where that is...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
We're new to the area so we don't know it well. This mining operation and the water in the Pudre river are two big issues over rights of people in an area. We did buy a bumper sticker that says "frankly my dear we don't want a dam." But that's about it for now.
There are small towns downstream that are taking on big loans in order to build houses around them. They need water for the homes. In order for the town to service the loan they HAVE to build the homes and sell them. They are lined up to get the water out of the river but it is already tapped to it's sustainable limit. If you take to much it turns into a foul smelling ditch.
Climax and one other are fixing to reopen...
more cans of worms...
sad thing is that money/greed wins...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Water rights are based on past use. Use it or lose it. Mineral rights go with the land, until they're sold separately. Generally mineral rights are nearly limitless, other than a promise to return the land to original condition. Anybody's title search would turn that up.
Va banned uranium mining some time ago. The landowners here are attempting to get that law reversed. 5th generation on the farm, IIRC, and claiming that there will be no degradation of the environment. Apparently the county involved has minimal zoning. My county wouldn't let it past the zoning ordinance.
Appears lots of money bet on rising yellowcake prices. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Didn't know about that one. Before heading up backpacking I used to drive past Rocky Flats, the bomb facility. Then suggest my passenger lean out the window and take a deep breath 'cause I'd forgotten my flashlight and needed someone that glowed in the dark.
Don's in southern Va, with a large mine proposed there. Might be a county or two over from him.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Hi Tom,
How you doing these days? I've been working on a few of the properties and while there's still lots to be done, I think I might be able to find some time to work on the house this year. I want to see some of the other Virginians too, so when you least expect it, look for a little pickup with a big driver. :-)
Pass along what ever info you have on that old system. I'm interested. I don't know what will fly around here, they are pretty tough. Not my favorite group of people.
As far as the uranium mine, we're close enough that it's made the papers. It's a couple counties over. We're in Mecklenberg. They have applied for permits to build trailers to store equipment and samples. It was denied by the original Board, but on appeal, they got an okay to build(the sample trailers). The argument was that the trailers are air and water tight, and will be guarded 24/7. Apparently, the Gov. has indicated someay that he's in favor of lifting the moratorium on mining. It may have something to do with the fact that this is one of the largest and best deposits of the stuff in the country, if not the world. The $$$$ definitely are important to the politicians. I think the appeal was granted because the State already let them drill, so how can the locality deny them permission to go forward? They really can't. I'm not happy about it.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Hey Don, love my filing system! In the Water file, and they're still around these decades later: http://www.purecyclewater.com/ Small cap NASDAQ even. At the time, Colorado Health thought the system fine but at least one county balked at approving it. Told me it "would allow wall-to-wall people here". I was trying to get 5 townhomes on 5 acres, an old mining claim. So many septic test holes there it looked like a war zone.
Our Health Dept. also treats individual counties differently sometimes. Septic approval here is considerably tighter than their state-wide standards. Requires half the slope, making maybe a quarter of the county unapprovable. Those, like one of my neighbors, living with a privy wouldn't care except you can't get a building permit without septic.
I read about the mine in the Roanoke paper, linked from an environmental news site. Our local rag hasn't mentioned it far as I know. Sounded like a real good fight brewing. Unsure how mines are categorized but I'm pretty sure they don't fit our rural/agricultural specs in Albemarle. Certainly processing wouldn't.
Me? Started looking for an attorney willing to take on Legal Aid in a foreclosure. I did something nice for some low-lifes and am getting a major run-around. A "we never got it" amortization schedule miraculously reappeared today. I'd offered to forgive two years' late fees ($5/day) and they're still trying to screw me.
Want a job?
Almost forgot to ask about your neighbor's shed. Still there? I bent Bertha's bucket, but she's still ready to go.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Edited 1/16/2008 1:05 am ET by VaTom
Not exactly recycling, more like re-cycling... there are some cistern systems using roof rainwater run-off that may be approved in VA for potable water. I'm working on a place right now that is digging in a 10,000 gal tank. The county inspector is still going around with the potability of the fitration system, but this system has been approved in Boone... so, it's instate now, kinda... be interesting to see how it goes, especially with the extreme drought we're experiencing.If you're interested, I'll find out some manufacture's info for you. Winterlude, Winterlude, my little daisy,
Winterlude by the telephone wire,
Winterlude, it's makin' me lazy,
Come on, sit by the logs in the fire.
The moonlight reflects from the window
Where the snowflakes, they cover the sand.
Come out tonight, ev'rything will be tight,
Winterlude, this dude thinks you're grand.
Thanks for the offer, but I was looking more for a system that used what was being wasted in the house. My other half uses more water to wash two plates than I would to do two trucks. Sometimes it bothers me so much that I do the dishes! :-)
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
"My other half uses more water to wash two plates than I would to do two trucks."
I got the perfect solution for that. Tell her that the water pump is out of commission and have her haul her diswater in buckets from a nearby stream. Quickest way to learn the value of water and how little it takes to do daily chores.
I live with no indoor plumbing and use perhaps a quart of water a day for dishes (of course that's dishes for one).
Riversong HouseWright
Design * * Build * * Renovate * * ConsultSolar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
Riversong-
Tried that. Our well is actually suffering because of the drought, and because it's old.We'll likely have a new well done this spring. Problem started a few months ago. She already does laundry at the laundromat in town and we do get most of our drinking water from a local spring with "medicinal" minerals. She still does it her way.
Not worth fighting about, she and I just have different points of view on conservation, especially water. She's more like most people today in terms of usage. I'm just more old fashioned. That's why I want to add the recycling system. I'll probably put in a dishwasher too when I redo the kitchen.
Out of curiousity, are you living in a cabin or building you are constructing? Why no plumbing?
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Out of curiousity, are you living in a cabin or building you are constructing? Why no plumbing?
It's a cabin owned by a friend that I barter carpentry work for in lieu of rent. It was all I could afford at the time (can't afford my own place and believe that rent is a form of financial tyranny).
It was a hunting camp. It had electric service but no phone, no heat (other than an portable electric space heater), and no plumbing. It has a bucket outhouse - I compost my humanure. I insulated the screen porch to make space for a woodstove and a 55 gallon food-grade plastic water barrel which I fill from the stream with a small gasoline pump.
I've been here 2-1/2 years and like the simplicity of it, though it's sometimes a hassle to get water in the middle of a frozen winter or keep from running out of cordwood. But it lets me walk the talk a little more faithfully, as I preach sustainability in my classes and elsewhere.
I'm probably one of the few households in the US with no indoor plumbing but high-speed wireless internet (which is my major utility bill) - I can send email from my outhouse!
Riversong HouseWright
Design * * Build * * Renovate * * ConsultSolar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
Do you have a low flow aerator on your sink faucet? I have never seen one rated this low:
http://www.savewaterus.com/Aerator.htm
We do have one on there. The rate is anybody's guess. I like the ad for yours, not the price - just the ad. :-) hopefully we'll be putting in a new kitchen this year, if time and budget allow. There will be a new sink and new faucet, I'm sure. Now, all I need to do is convince her that I need to pick it out...
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
A new mail revived the old thread and I realized I never responded to you. (IIRC, there was a little too much going on that week. Sorry.)
I can't help you with the foreclosure battle. I'm not licensed in Va, only NY. Funny that they will do civil cases down here. Te legal aid up north did almost nothing of a civil case. I feel for you. They will drag stuff out forever as a strategy and negotiating point. It's not fair.
Funny I saw the mention of the shed. I told the neighbors two sons at different times that it was time to get it moved. The second son I saw about two weeks ago. Well, who did I get on line behind in Loews today? The old man. I jokingly told him that I was going to go out and get a couple telephone poles and roll the sucker over to his property. He said he thought I could solve the problem by just buying his house and shop. (He doesn't live there. One of the boys did until a few months ago.) I declined and he said he would be getting back to me. The gauntlet is down.
Was just looking at the stuff on the uranium mine too. Looks like there's about 90 billion dollars of ore down there. The owner's ready for a fight. He isn't giving up. Like the local papers said, uranium can't be too bad for you - both his mom and dad drank from the well on the property where ore is and both lived into their 80's. Money talks.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Try the "Brac" system. I just finished a project with the system, and it works great.
It's the Metlund D'mand hot water system http://www.gothotwater.com/
Motion sensor or push buttton activates a very fast pump when you walk into the powder room or push a button in the master bath and quickly dumps the waiting cold water in the line back into the water heater either tank or tankless and pushes hot water out to your sink or shower.
Unlike the grundfos, taco, or laing systems it never moves hot water until you activate it so it doesn't use energy when you are out of the house or asleep. It may be being re-branded under other names but this is the only system that earns LEED-H or NAHBgreen points for both energy and water conservation and works with both tank and tankless systems.
------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Just got back to this thread after a few weeks. Thanks for the link on the hot water system, it looks interesting. But I think the system he was talking about was more for waste water, like the grey water systems.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
there is a company out of California , Oasis Design that deals with greywater recycling and other water issues. Their website is http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/index.htm. I recently purchased one of their books and it is full of info and good ideas. Check out there site.
I meant to reply the first go-around of this thread. I guess I got side-tracked.
AlasCan/Clearwater system received approval as an experimental system in Virginia, but I don't know if any have been installed. AlasCan of Minnesota takes you to this site: http://www.alascanofmn.com/#
I'm not promoting or endorsing the product, just passing on some info.
Nice to hear from you again. Thanks.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
You're welcome.