This system has been featured on the Grey Nomads Forum in the past. However, I have received several requests for details and as well, people in caravan parks/camps wanting to take photos of the system.
So recently while under the van rubbing back the surface rust and respraying axles I finally managed to take a few pics.
The system was installed in 2014 and the only issues have been the caps in that the rubber seal wears out causing system to leak. Replaced once in 5 years.
System is 2 x 150 x75 sewerage grade pvc holding 32.5 litres per length giving total storage of 65 litres.
We usually empty our grey water at dump points and travel with our caps off for airing purposes and being empty.
We utilize a small karcher to clean and understanding the system is NOT of sealed tank type build the cleaning process is a pure breeze.
Very simple system but very effective with a fit out cost of less than $300-
JohnR
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:54:19 PM
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:58:33 PM
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:59:18 PM
That's a great system JohnR. Well thought out and well executed. Could you please explain the 2 x 150 x 75 please. It looks to me that it should be 2 x 150 x 2400 if the pipes go right across the width of the van.If this was the case you would have a volume in excess of 70l. Cheers
Possum3 said
10:34 AM May 26, 2019
John, I can't see how fluid equalises between the two holding tanks, or do you fill them one at a time?
blaze said
12:46 PM May 26, 2019
good on you for your system and sharing, but a grey water tank of 50l capacity is 0n $50 odd dollars from caravanplus, seems a lot cheaper and takes up a lot less real estate cheers blaze
-- Edited by blaze on Sunday 26th of May 2019 12:47:35 PM
JohnR said
05:32 PM May 26, 2019
Thanks for your feedback.
Patrol 3
Sorry the dimensions should be 2 x 150 x 175 giving roughly 65 litres.
You can check it with Mr Google.
Possum 3
The pvc pipes are individual. The front pipe services the sink and vanity.
The back pipe is dedicated to the shower. No grey water flows between the pipes and both pipes have breather holes in the top.
Blaze
This is not a sealed tank system and thus the beauty of being able to access to clean and allow to breathe. Consequently you do not have the smells etc.
A bonus is that you can be parked in some ones driveway overnight or on a sealed parking area in camp/caravan park/ or the back of a pub. You have a legal approved Grey Water holding capacity of 65 litres leaving no trace or mess. Not hard to move it to a dump point in a clean and practical manner.
Cheers
JohnR
JayDee said
07:32 AM Jun 1, 2019
John R,
You have done it again.
What a great system.
I am sure that others will take advantage of your set up. Keep your ideas coming, for if there is one thing we are short of ... it is ideas, no matter how sort of silly they may be.
Jay&Dee
Well done.
Ron-D said
09:05 AM Jun 1, 2019
We dont have grey water tanks we let the grey water out on the grass and grass thrives on the stuff the sink water is filtered first,in dry country towns you can see the positive effect it has on the grass,Showgrounds in dry country towns actually ask you to leave your water on the ground theres people here that would have experience this,places that demand grey water tanks we have not found one yet just lucky I guess,on hard surfaces in towns ect,when pulled up for a break ,we empty our water into the toilate cassette so theres no water left on the hard surfaces...
-- Edited by Ron-D on Saturday 1st of June 2019 09:12:55 AM
T1 Terry said
05:43 PM Jun 1, 2019
JohnR wrote:
Thanks for your feedback.
Patrol 3
Sorry the dimensions should be 2 x 150 x 175 giving roughly 65 litres.
You can check it with Mr Google.
Possum 3
The pvc pipes are individual. The front pipe services the sink and vanity.
The back pipe is dedicated to the shower. No grey water flows between the pipes and both pipes have breather holes in the top.
Blaze
This is not a sealed tank system and thus the beauty of being able to access to clean and allow to breathe. Consequently you do not have the smells etc.
A bonus is that you can be parked in some ones driveway overnight or on a sealed parking area in camp/caravan park/ or the back of a pub. You have a legal approved Grey Water holding capacity of 65 litres leaving no trace or mess. Not hard to move it to a dump point in a clean and practical manner.
Cheers
JohnR
Hi John, great system, is there any reason why you don't link the 3 tubes together so they can balance across to increase the holding capacity?
Nothing worse than pulling up in an over night stop over and finding the last person just let their grey water run on the ground. The area smells and often the mud ends up walking inside. Makes it rather unpleasant to sit outside around the choofer enjoying the view and a glass of what ever you enjoy.
Emptying the grey water into a bushy area or a spot where others aren't likely to walk or camp so it can soak in and water the vegetation is fine in my books, but just dumping it on the ground is practically 3rd world stuff. Way too many free campers travelling these days to be doing that sort of thing, so your solution is easy enough for anyone to fit up a grey water holding system of heir own.
T1 Terry
Sorry, no idea where I got the idea there were 3 pipes, but I guess if they linked together the third pipe could increase the holding capacity.
-- Edited by T1 Terry on Saturday 1st of June 2019 05:46:26 PM
JohnR said
10:45 PM Jun 1, 2019
All good positive feedback.
Just a little general information.
We are grey nomads full time on the road in between our house/farm sitting gigs.
Our 5 year old Jayco Sterling Outback has 200 litres of water holding capacity.
So if we both have showers, wash up from dinner and breakfast plus water out via the vanity etc????
What is going to catch this amount of grey water certainly not a 10 litre bucket or 20 litre bucket.
Yes, we have a 20 litre bucket and for instance last year in North West WA at Edaggee recreational reserve watered the trees, and have done this on many occasions utilizing our taps on the grey water system.
We also witness on regular basis in Rest Areas on sealed services old grey nomads too lazy to even put a bucket out and just make a terrible mess.
Very easy to find dump points these days and not hard to unload both black and grey water.
Gee you gotta love the life style.
Tomorrow we head off in the direction of Bendigo from the base camp in the Central West of NSW (family) for house sit then 5/6 weeks outside Ballarat on farm sit, then north to Hervey Bay for a month on the Esplanade (Holiday from Holiday) then 6 weeks at Caloundra (Little Mountain) all in sunny QLD before returning to Nations Capital around Bywong to work for a few weeks and bloody hell its Xmas???
JohnR
Ron-D said
09:27 AM Jun 3, 2019
I have never seen anyone emptying grey water at a dump point ever ,no doubt some people do,most I would think and If the truth could be admitted would save the hassle of emptying great loads of water at dump points ,very time consuming and it would interfear with people trying to empty there cassette,they would empty there tanks where there camped and can get away with it , I Have observed several emptying driving along that constant little dribble coming from the back of the van is hard to miss .
rockylizard said
12:31 PM Jun 3, 2019
Ron-D wrote:
I have never seen anyone emptying grey water at a dump point ever, no doubt some people do, most I would think and If the truth could be admitted would save the hassle of emptying great loads of water at dump points, very time consuming and it would interfere with people trying to empty their cassette, they would empty their tanks where they're camped and can get away with it, I Have observed several emptying driving along that constant little dribble coming from the back of the van is hard to miss .
Gday...
Struth Ron not ever??
After 10 years on the road, I have seen 100s of RVs at dump points dumping their grey water. Heaps of motorhomes, many 5th wheelers, and many buses.
And that doesn't count the many vanners with 'portable grey water tanks' from 10ltr to 20ltr who I have also chatted with while they lightened their load.
Cheers - John
Ron-D said
04:45 PM Jun 3, 2019
John I cant rember ever seeing a caravan or motor home parked alongside a dump point with there vehicle hooked up to a dump point with the lid pulled back emptying there tank. Maybe it does not happen much ?.you know as well as I most places dont police Rv ground water ,why would you bother with dump points its only water not sewerage,its plain and simply water ,I know some silly greenies will say it can kill some plants ect ect,but you know as well a I dump points are mainly used for sewerage,some people will get up on there high horses saying the dreaded caravan sink and showe water is toxic there nuts in my book,there entitled to there opinions Iam entitled to mine...
rockylizard said
06:59 PM Jun 3, 2019
Ron-D wrote:
John I cant remember ever seeing a caravan or motor home parked alongside a dump point with there vehicle hooked up to a dump point with the lid pulled back emptying their tank. Maybe it does not happen much ? you know as well as I most places don't police Rv ground water, why would you bother with dump points its only water not sewerage, its plain and simply water ,I know some silly greenies will say it can kill some plants ect ect,but you know as well a I dump points are mainly used for sewerage, some people will get up on there high horses saying the dreaded caravan sink and shower water is toxic their nuts in my book, their entitled to their opinions I am entitled to mine...
Gday...
I understand your point of view, Ron. However, once that 'plain and simple water' - grey water - is held in an enclosed tank etc for more than 24 hours, and kept untreated, it becomes quite toxic, smelly and damned unhealthy - if you do some research via any council or other water treatment/provision utility you will find that is so.
It is not toxic or a problem to let it run on the ground directly from the van without any holding tank, although it all too often creates a damp/wet patch that many find unsavoury.
It is only when contained for 24 hours or more that the problems begin and 'grey' water then becomes classified as 'black' water.
Cheers - John
-- Edited by rockylizard on Monday 3rd of June 2019 07:01:22 PM
JohnR said
09:08 PM Jun 3, 2019
How about a real actual experience especially for you Ron D.
We are currently parked up at the Finley O/N Rest Stop adjacent the old railway line and on sealed bitumen surface that is a carpark. Not alone there is a Motor home behind us.
So we have washed up dinner meaning the front tank has grey water from crockery cooking utensils that were all wiped first with paper toweling. Tomorrow morning there will be showers x 2 and water over the vanity.
You know what there is a dump point about 100 meters away from our camp and tomorrow morning I will drive to the dump point, unscrew the caps with water straight into the dump point via 20 litre bucket.
Ron D you are missing a vital feature of the system being the holding capacity even if the dump point was 5klms away we have the ability to transfer 65 litres of soiled water to a correct collection point.
The other alternative would be to drop 25/35 litres of soiled water on black hard surface.
I don't think so.
Cheers
JohnR
Ron-D said
08:27 AM Jun 4, 2019
My water does not go into a holding tank it Simply goes onto the ground,theres no sewerage in it .ithat goes into a dump point where it belongs,any water that would go on hard surfaces is captured and it goes into the dump point,as I said sink water what little there is of it is filtered,if thats being environmental bandit in some peoples minds thats There problem along with common sense....
T1 Terry said
02:38 PM Jun 4, 2019
On one of our trips to the Maleny showground, there was a van parked up beside the toilet block dumping its water straight onto the ground. It had formed quite a decent size pool and the smell was getting rather hard to handle. Even though the water was not held in a storage tank, the ground was so saturated it became a storage tank of its own.
Why should others have to put up with that sort of nonsense when it has been shown how simple it is to make a storage system for grey water?
T1 Terry
Ron-D said
08:44 AM Jun 5, 2019
my mates just bought a new van and all Water goes into the grey water tank ,he freecamps with us at this stage its never been used for storage of grey water you just simply leave the valve open The grey water tank is just a big box that water flows through,unless you close the valve .his water does not stink at this stage cause its let straight out on the ground ,and only becomes putrid if its held in storage For a period of time, so your friend was obviously emptying his grey water tank full of putrid storage water from a grey water tank.
Peter_n_Margaret said
08:30 AM Jun 6, 2019
If you have a grey water thank, you may choose to use it, or not, depending on where you are.
If you have no grey water tank, you can not use it. You have no choice, even when dropping it where you are is totally inappropriate.
Do the right thing folks. It is not hard.
Cheers,
Peter
Ron-D said
05:17 PM Jun 6, 2019
I agree if your in a spot where they make grey water tanks compulsory dont camp there without one,we dont have one and I would suspect most members are in the same boat,are they environmental bandits ,no way its simply water and if its managed properly without polluting it this dry country of ours loves the stuff,or fit a grey water let it sit pollute it then dump it down a dump point makes sense...
Whenarewethere said
06:06 PM Jun 6, 2019
We only live out of the car so we can't waste water as we can't carry enough.
So we basically have half a mouthful each after cleaning teeth to rinse. Washing hands we drip the water out of a SIGG water bottle using PH neutral soap. You can get away with an eggcup volume of water cleaning hands.
For breakfast for example we wash our bowls with part of our cup of black tea so no water wasted. Dinner, rince bowls with a spoon full of water & drink, repeat a few times, no water wasted.
We only steam or boil while camping so no complex cleaning up, just couldn't be bothered. We are in a town often enough to get our greasy food hit!
If you can't dump grey water don't create it. It's not difficult. The maximum we use is up to 3 litres each a day including drinking in hot weather.
This system has been featured on the Grey Nomads Forum in the past. However, I have received several requests for details and as well, people in caravan parks/camps wanting to take photos of the system.
So recently while under the van rubbing back the surface rust and respraying axles I finally managed to take a few pics.
The system was installed in 2014 and the only issues have been the caps in that the rubber seal wears out causing system to leak. Replaced once in 5 years.
System is 2 x 150 x75 sewerage grade pvc holding 32.5 litres per length giving total storage of 65 litres.
We usually empty our grey water at dump points and travel with our caps off for airing purposes and being empty.
We utilize a small karcher to clean and understanding the system is NOT of sealed tank type build the cleaning process is a pure breeze.
Very simple system but very effective with a fit out cost of less than $300-
JohnR
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:54:19 PM
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:58:33 PM
-- Edited by JohnR on Saturday 25th of May 2019 09:59:18 PM
good on you for your system and sharing, but a grey water tank of 50l capacity is 0n $50 odd dollars from caravanplus, seems a lot cheaper and takes up a lot less real estate
cheers
blaze
-- Edited by blaze on Sunday 26th of May 2019 12:47:35 PM
Thanks for your feedback.
Patrol 3
Sorry the dimensions should be 2 x 150 x 175 giving roughly 65 litres.
You can check it with Mr Google.
Possum 3
The pvc pipes are individual. The front pipe services the sink and vanity.
The back pipe is dedicated to the shower. No grey water flows between the pipes and both pipes have breather holes in the top.
Blaze
This is not a sealed tank system and thus the beauty of being able to access to clean and allow to breathe. Consequently you do not have the smells etc.
A bonus is that you can be parked in some ones driveway overnight or on a sealed parking area in camp/caravan park/ or the back of a pub. You have a legal approved Grey Water holding capacity of 65 litres leaving no trace or mess. Not hard to move it to a dump point in a clean and practical manner.
Cheers
JohnR
John R,
You have done it again.
What a great system.
I am sure that others will take advantage of your set up. Keep your ideas coming, for if there is one thing we are short of ... it is ideas, no matter how sort of silly they may be.
Jay&Dee
Well done.
We dont have grey water tanks we let the grey water out on the grass and grass thrives on the stuff the sink water is filtered first,in dry country towns you can see the positive effect it has on the grass,Showgrounds in dry country towns actually ask you to leave your water on the ground theres people here that would have experience this,places that demand grey water tanks we have not found one yet just lucky I guess,on hard surfaces in towns ect,when pulled up for a break ,we empty our water into the toilate cassette so theres no water left on the hard surfaces...
-- Edited by Ron-D on Saturday 1st of June 2019 09:12:55 AM
Hi John, great system, is there any reason why you don't link the 3 tubes together so they can balance across to increase the holding capacity?
Nothing worse than pulling up in an over night stop over and finding the last person just let their grey water run on the ground. The area smells and often the mud ends up walking inside. Makes it rather unpleasant to sit outside around the choofer enjoying the view and a glass of what ever you enjoy.
Emptying the grey water into a bushy area or a spot where others aren't likely to walk or camp so it can soak in and water the vegetation is fine in my books, but just dumping it on the ground is practically 3rd world stuff. Way too many free campers travelling these days to be doing that sort of thing, so your solution is easy enough for anyone to fit up a grey water holding system of heir own.
T1 Terry
Sorry, no idea where I got the idea there were 3 pipes, but I guess if they linked together the third pipe could increase the holding capacity.
-- Edited by T1 Terry on Saturday 1st of June 2019 05:46:26 PM
All good positive feedback.
Just a little general information.
We are grey nomads full time on the road in between our house/farm sitting gigs.
Our 5 year old Jayco Sterling Outback has 200 litres of water holding capacity.
So if we both have showers, wash up from dinner and breakfast plus water out via the vanity etc????
What is going to catch this amount of grey water certainly not a 10 litre bucket or 20 litre bucket.
Yes, we have a 20 litre bucket and for instance last year in North West WA at Edaggee recreational reserve watered the trees, and have done this on many occasions utilizing our taps on the grey water system.
We also witness on regular basis in Rest Areas on sealed services old grey nomads too lazy to even put a bucket out and just make a terrible mess.
Very easy to find dump points these days and not hard to unload both black and grey water.
Gee you gotta love the life style.
Tomorrow we head off in the direction of Bendigo from the base camp in the Central West of NSW (family) for house sit then 5/6 weeks outside Ballarat on farm sit, then north to Hervey Bay for a month on the Esplanade (Holiday from Holiday) then 6 weeks at Caloundra (Little Mountain) all in sunny QLD before returning to Nations Capital around Bywong to work for a few weeks and bloody hell its Xmas???
JohnR
I have never seen anyone emptying grey water at a dump point ever ,no doubt some people do,most I would think and If the truth could be admitted would save the hassle of emptying great loads of water at dump points ,very time consuming and it would interfear with people trying to empty there cassette,they would empty there tanks where there camped and can get away with it , I Have observed several emptying driving along that constant little dribble coming from the back of the van is hard to miss
.
Gday...
Struth Ron
not ever??
After 10 years on the road, I have seen 100s of RVs at dump points dumping their grey water. Heaps of motorhomes, many 5th wheelers, and many buses.
And that doesn't count the many vanners with 'portable grey water tanks' from 10ltr to 20ltr who I have also chatted with while they lightened their load.
Cheers - John
John I cant rember ever seeing a caravan or motor home parked alongside a dump point with there vehicle hooked up to a dump point with the lid pulled back emptying there tank. Maybe it does not happen much ?.you know as well as I most places dont police Rv ground water ,why would you bother with dump points its only water not sewerage,its plain and simply water ,I know some silly greenies will say it can kill some plants ect ect,but you know as well a I dump points are mainly used for sewerage,some people will get up on there high horses saying the dreaded caravan sink and showe water is toxic there nuts in my book,there entitled to there opinions Iam entitled to mine...
Gday...
I understand your point of view, Ron. However, once that 'plain and simple water' - grey water - is held in an enclosed tank etc for more than 24 hours, and kept untreated, it becomes quite toxic, smelly and damned unhealthy - if you do some research via any council or other water treatment/provision utility you will find that is so.
It is not toxic or a problem to let it run on the ground directly from the van without any holding tank, although it all too often creates a damp/wet patch that many find unsavoury.
It is only when contained for 24 hours or more that the problems begin and 'grey' water then becomes classified as 'black' water.
Cheers - John
-- Edited by rockylizard on Monday 3rd of June 2019 07:01:22 PM
How about a real actual experience especially for you Ron D.
We are currently parked up at the Finley O/N Rest Stop adjacent the old railway line and on sealed bitumen surface that is a carpark. Not alone there is a Motor home behind us.
So we have washed up dinner meaning the front tank has grey water from crockery cooking utensils that were all wiped first with paper toweling. Tomorrow morning there will be showers x 2 and water over the vanity.
You know what there is a dump point about 100 meters away from our camp and tomorrow morning I will drive to the dump point, unscrew the caps with water straight into the dump point via 20 litre bucket.
Ron D you are missing a vital feature of the system being the holding capacity even if the dump point was 5klms away we have the ability to transfer 65 litres of soiled water to a correct collection point.
The other alternative would be to drop 25/35 litres of soiled water on black hard surface.
I don't think so.
Cheers
JohnR
My water does not go into a holding tank it Simply goes onto the ground,theres no sewerage in it .ithat goes into a dump point where it belongs,any water that would go on hard surfaces is captured and it goes into the dump point,as I said sink water what little there is of it is filtered,if thats being environmental bandit in some peoples minds thats There problem along with common sense....
Why should others have to put up with that sort of nonsense when it has been shown how simple it is to make a storage system for grey water?
T1 Terry
my mates just bought a new van and all Water goes into the grey water tank ,he freecamps with us at this stage its never been used for storage of grey water you just simply leave the valve open The grey water tank is just a big box that water flows through,unless you close the valve .his water does not stink at this stage cause its let straight out on the ground ,and only becomes putrid if its held in storage For a period of time, so your friend was obviously emptying his grey water tank full of putrid storage water from a grey water tank.
If you have no grey water tank, you can not use it. You have no choice, even when dropping it where you are is totally inappropriate.
Do the right thing folks. It is not hard.
Cheers,
Peter
I agree if your in a spot where they make grey water tanks compulsory dont camp there without one,we dont have one and I would suspect most members are in the same boat,are they environmental bandits ,no way its simply water and if its managed properly without polluting it this dry country of ours loves the stuff,or fit a grey water let it sit pollute it then dump it down a dump point makes sense...
We only live out of the car so we can't waste water as we can't carry enough.
So we basically have half a mouthful each after cleaning teeth to rinse. Washing hands we drip the water out of a SIGG water bottle using PH neutral soap. You can get away with an eggcup volume of water cleaning hands.
For breakfast for example we wash our bowls with part of our cup of black tea so no water wasted. Dinner, rince bowls with a spoon full of water & drink, repeat a few times, no water wasted.
We only steam or boil while camping so no complex cleaning up, just couldn't be bothered. We are in a town often enough to get our greasy food hit!
If you can't dump grey water don't create it. It's not difficult. The maximum we use is up to 3 litres each a day including drinking in hot weather.