gray water separate drain from septic

masraum · 03:38 PM

As many of you may remember, we've moved to the country and now have a well and septic tank (vs city water and sewer).

We have a small-ish home (~1500sqft) with a rarely used upstairs restroom, downstairs bathroom with sink, shower, tub and toilet, kitchen sink and dishwasher (also rarely used).

I'm 99% certain that the washing machine (clothes) drain dumps to a pipe that just dumps down a hill that's got a run-off ravine at the bottom. I've seen water and bubbles coming out of the ground once while walking outside, and have noticed that the grass (weeds) in the area are often healthier than in the surrounding area.

My wife likes to take a bath from time to time (pretty rare, but happens) with bath salts or bath bombs or bath oils. I've read that salts and oils and that sort of thing are bad for a septic system. I've wondered about taking the drain from the tub out of the septic system and plumbing that into the drain used by the washing machine. A lot of the stuff in the house is in series, so what that means is that the downstairs bathroom sink, shower and tub would go into the washing machine drain. Only the toilets and kitchen sink would still route to the septic.

Anyone see any issues with that or have any recommendations or alternatives?

Not a great drawing, but, take the red stuff from the left, disconnect it from the toilet drain on the left, and then run in to the drain from the washing machine (everything in red on the same drain, everything in black stays on the septic system).

Separate, but related issue. The wife loved the fact that this place has a shower and separate tub and the tub is a cast iron claw foot. Then she tried to use the claw foot. I guess it's too short (front to back) or something because she can't really sink down and submerge like you can in many more modern tubs.

stevej37 · 05-09-2021, 03:08 PM

Before you switch it over...best to check your counties/area rules.
Here...it's a no-no. Gray water needs to be discharged into the septic system or city sewer.
I checked into it last year for my place.

masraum · 05-09-2021, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

Before you switch it over...best to check your counties/area rules.
Here...it's a no-no. Gray water needs to be discharged into the septic system or city sewer.
I checked into it last year for my place.

We've already got gray water dumping out of septic or city. I don't think anyone would know.

stevej37 · 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

We've already got gray water dumping out of septic or city. I don't think anyone would know.

If so...just keep it. If selling, it might be a problem.
Mine was the same..open drain into an unused field. Township inspector said it had to be changed. I dug a new trench and laid perforated drain for a hundred feet. Washer water and basement floor drain both go into it. It takes it easily.

When you first posted about buying the property...I asked about where the gray water was discharged. It can be a real problem.

javadog · 05-09-2021, 03:53 PM

Once upon a time, I had a drain line that I could switch to two different destinations by turning a valve...

Jolly Amaranto · 05-09-2021, 04:14 PM

Just beware of the Borden Environmental Preservation Enforcement Bureau and the Colorado River Watershed Authority. You don't want them to come down hard on you.
If you decide to put in a gray water "Dry Well", just dig a hole about 8 feet deep and 5 or so feed square. We lined ours with concrete cinder blocks and poured a slab of concrete over it with a small access hole in in. The bottom was just sand/gravel. The gray water pipe came in through the side right below the top.

stevej37 · 05-09-2021, 04:28 PM

^^^ That is an excellent alternative to an open drain.

rusnak · 05-09-2021, 04:44 PM

Man, I would so not call the government permit dudes. If you're draining gray water into the ravine, then that is pure gold. I'd get away with it quietly as long as I could.

fastfredracing · 05-09-2021, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rusnak

Man, I would so not call the government permit dudes. If you're draining gray water into the ravine, then that is pure gold. I'd get away with it quietly as long as I could.

This .

dad911 · 05-09-2021, 04:58 PM

In the old days of the nasty detergents(pre-80s), at least in this area, it was common for the laundry to dump into the field, through a separate tank, past main septic tank. So the detergents would not screw up the bacteria in the main tank.

Never been allowed to outlet to 'daylight'

Now, septic systems are the biggest bane to used home sales around here. They are always tested, rarely pass (cover the inspector's ass) and require big dollar fixes.

Evans, Marv · 05-09-2021, 05:08 PM

When I built my house, I ran a line from the washer out to the outside slope. I could have connected some other outflows, but with just me & my wife, I don't feel it was necessary. I maybe should have done it with the dishwasher too.

masraum · 05-09-2021, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

When I built my house, I ran a line from the washer out to the outside slope. I could have connected some other outflows, but with just me & my wife, I don't feel it was necessary. I maybe should have done it with the dishwasher too.

Right, I've wondered about the dishwasher too.

Evans, Marv · 05-09-2021, 05:18 PM

The out flow from the washing machine doesn't seem to affect the plant life one way or the other.

masraum · 05-09-2021, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

The out flow from the washing machine doesn't seem to affect the plant life one way or the other.

That area seems a little greener than others, at least, earlier this year when we hadn't had rain in a while. But if you didn't know it was there, you'd have no idea, because it's not THAT different.

A930Rocket · 05-09-2021, 07:30 PM

Not a house, but with all of our construction trailers years ago, we’d place a 50 gallon drum we perforated and drop it in a hole with gravel. Run our sewer line to and we had our own little septic system. As we moved the trailer, we do it again. Can’t do that anymore.

I’ve thought about a floor drain in my garages and running it outside the garage for winter car washing, etc.

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

I don’t know why you would want to do this.

If your septic system giving issues? Is it at the end of its life?

First of all, the water in a septic field should never go down. It goes up, that’s the purpose of the field, it pushes that water up and it evaporates or waters the grass. If the water goes down, it’s contaminating your water table.

I think it’s a good thing to have more than poop and pee go into your septic system. This allows the system to run at lower capacity as the poop and pee concentration is a lot lower, maybe 5-10% whereas what you propose would make it closer to 50%. No system is designed for this.

masraum · 05-10-2021, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclebilly

I don’t know why you would want to do this.

If your septic system giving issues? Is it at the end of its life?

First of all, the water in a septic field should never go down. It goes up, that’s the purpose of the field, it pushes that water up and it evaporates or waters the grass. If the water goes down, it’s contaminating your water table.

I think it’s a good thing to have more than poop and pee go into your septic system. This allows the system to run at lower capacity as the poop and pee concentration is a lot lower, maybe 5-10% whereas what you propose would make it closer to 50%. No system is designed for this.

The problem is that the missus would like to be able to take a bath with stuff in it (oils, salts, whatever) and those things are not healthy for septic systems. So the initial thought is "route the bathwater away from the septic." That would leave the sink and dishwasher and toilets.