Grey Water and Black Water in "Homemade" Septic Systems
In this article I want to briefly discuss grey water and black water, because a lot of people I speak with seem to be confused by these terms.
In fact, it seems that most people don’t even know that there are different types of waste water.
Grey water is waste water that is relatively clean, such as the waste water that comes from sinks, showers, and washing machines.
Black water is dirty waste water that comes from toilets, dishwashers, and any other fixture or device that produces waste that is likely to contain pathogens.
Pathogens are basically germs that can cause a disease, and they can be found in feces, urine, and other bodily fluids. Pathogens can also be found in rotting food, or in any kind of waste produced by organic matter.
Why does this matter when it comes to septic systems?
Most homemade septic systems are not properly designed, and they are inadequate when it comes to handling and processing both grey water and black water.
In a full-size septic system, both grey water and black water enters the septic tank, is broken down, and is then dispersed in a leach field.
In a properly designed system, it is completely fine to allow both grey water and black water to enter the system.
Sometimes grey water and black water are separated in a home’s plumbing.
For example, in some homes the waste water from the sinks, shower, and washing machine is ran through a drain and expelled outside of the home, while the waste from the toilet, dishwasher, etc. is ran through a separate drain and into a septic system.
You DON’T have to worry about separating grey water from black water using my DIY Septic System.
There have been many times where I’ve had to explain to the owner of a cabin, camper, etc. that it is perfectly okay to have multiple plumbing fixtures, and they don’t have to be stuck with just a sink and a toilet.
In fact, I always tell people who are making an off grid home, a campsite, a lake cabin, or any other type of dwelling that they should go ahead and put in a shower and at least one kitchen sink as well.
My system will make any site a comfortable living space, allowing you to have showers, sinks, etc.
In fact, you can even have more than 1 bathroom if needed.
The key is designing the septic system properly, and I have spent 30 plus years refining the design of the DIY Septic System to make it the most compact, durable, and least expensive DIY system available.
Everything is spelled out for you step-by-step in the plans, so you don’t have to worry about planning or designing a system on your own, or hiring an expensive engineer to plan your system.
Every part of the design is detailed in the DIY Septic System plans.
What others have said about the DIY Septic System:
I would have gladly paid $1,000 for this information if I could have had it before I wasted so much money on another type of “DIY” waste system.
By Danny Wheeler on February 16,
Verified Purchase
My family owns some land in the mountains and we take our motorhome up there at least a few times a year. It’s a really great place because there aren’t any other people around because we own around a dozen acres. Anyway we wanted to put in a small septic system because we usually take 6-8 people and sometimes even 10 or more when we go up there and it’s really too much for the motorhome to handle and there’s no where to dump it. I got with a guy and his son who said they could intall a system that would work, so we ended up paying them almost $4,000. Well long story short the system ended up failing and it was a bloody mess, I mean a huge discusting mess. We ended up paying even more money to dig everything up. After that we didn’t know what we were going to do so I started doing some looking on google and then amazon for some books about putting in a small “DIY” waste system. I found this book and it was a lifesaver. I talked to the guy who wrote it (his name is Don) and he was just super helpful and friendly and we ended up basically using the exact septic system that is in his book. We havent had any trouble whatsoever since we put in his system and what really makes me slap myself is that Dons system was so cheap to put in. We could have really saved a lot of money if I knew about him sooner so I really screwed up. Anyway long story short if you need a “DIY” waste system I wouldn’t use anything else but Dons book and if you need help what’s really good is you can get in touch with him and he will help you.
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