Using well water to flush the loo?

[Llantony]

We have 2 indoor wells, (fontaines really as they are only 4ft deep) which when emptied fill again quite quickly.  At different rates so presumably different sources.

We wondered if it would be possible to use this free water to flush the loo - but that is upstairs so how would it be done?  Don't really fancy having a pump in the room all the time and pumping up water every time someone needs to flush!  Might be useful for the washing machine too.

Any thoughts?

 

[cooperlola]

I have water butts all around the house to collect the water from the downpipes.  I always have a bucket of rain water by the loo for flushing purposes!  Probably not altogether practical for you.  However, I would guess you could have a seperate tank to pump the well water to, which could feed the "non potable" bits of your water system.  When looking at houses, I did come across one with this system so it's obviously do-able.

[Pierre ZFP]

I saw a complete 'off the shelf' system for this on Saturday at a big Brico.  You get an underground tank (like a small fosse septic) header tank, automatic pump, pipework etc.  Looked very good but at 2000 euro plus fitting you would have to go to the loo an awful lot to make it worthwhile.  It was claimed that this would save 17 euros per person per week but I couldn't see how they justified that.

[cooperlola]

That's one heck of a claim, Pierre!  My water bill is barely 17 euros a month!!!!

[Catalpa]

We've got a rainwater capture system and use it to flush the loos and for garden stuff. I'd say stuff like washing cars... but we don't do this as it is against our environmental beliefs. [:P]

You need a pump. Power of your pump will depend on how high the pump has to get the water. There'll be some re-plumbing needed, obviously. You'll also want the option to switch over to mains water should the wells run dry.

Rainwater capture is certainly worthwhile. We had a couple of storms over the past few days and have captured somewhere in the region of 2,000 litres of water.

[cooperlola]

The rain's the rub, Catalpa. We haven't seen a drop since February (apart from about 5 minutes yesterday.)  As you say, you need to be able to back it up or things could get messy in a drought!

[Bob T]

The way that I have done this is to have two float valves inside the toilet cistern. Each has a tap on it so the mains one is turned off normally. The other is connected to 600 liters of rainwater butts, outside, above the level of the cistern. It has worked fine for a year now.

When there has not been enough rain, I can fill the water butts from the pump in the well.

I didn't do this to save money on the water bill, but to do my bit in saving the planet.

[Hoddy]

When we bought our house the whole water system came from the well. That included the bathroom and even the kitchen sink. I think in the forty years that the house had laid empty the quality of the water had deteriorated because it tested as unfit for drinking. We did consider keeping part of the system, but in the end it all became very complicated and we got ourselves connected to the mains.

We do use it for garden watering and car washing though.

Hoddy

[Gluestick]

If you look here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/926517/ShowPost.aspx

We were discussing a similar concept at length. It should prove helpful.

As water resources become more stretched and costly, more and more people are evaluating Grey Water Technology and systems.

Obviously, as Cooperlola states, it is really a matter of cost, at present. My French water bill is very cheap: just last September the Syndicat imposed an abonnement, which is more than the water cost!

However, those living in Calais pay between 3 and 4 times more.

Saving rainwater and tapping natural water tables for non-potable water purposes is the future.

With correct Reverse Osmosis and High Frequency Ultra Violet treatment, rainwater and well water can be safely used for drinking and cooking, too.

 

[cooperlola]

I'm with you, Bob.  I use as much grey water as I can, even though cost is not the issue.  My dobbins, for instance, only get fresh tap water when there's none left in the 8 large butts around my house, and the two huge stone troughs which are fed by the guttering from their barn and shelter. I wouldn't have enough water left for drinking and cooking but if I were in this situation, I would consider using it in this way.  But the claim (by the system manufacturers mentioned by Pierre) seemed rather far-fetched to me.  I feel that they should be using the "green" argument rather than the cost one but of course, people's wallets are so often more important to them in the short term than the environment so I can see why they do what they do.

[Llantony]

Thanks for all the replies - I thought it worth posting as you're such a helpful lot! 

Our house is odd in that it's small and the garden is above it, accessed by steps up the side of the house, so we have nowhere to put a container, above or below ground, to collect rainwater.   We have a pump which we have used to pump water up from the fontaines to fill 2 butts at the top of the garden and also to water our plants with a hosepipe - so pressure is OK.

Hard to say what water bills will be when we live there full time.  Last year my OH left the water on (against my advice!) with a timer to water some new plants.   The water was later cut off and then presumably came back with enough force to blow the connector off the tap.  We arrived to find water coming through the ceiling.  The water bill was 100 euros more than usual.  Not that much damage luckily as not covered by the insurance anyway.  It set me to wondering if we could save on water with our alternative supply.

[Chancer]

If your water costs the same as mine then you had a very lucky escape, 100 cubic metres of water weighing 100 tons passing through your ceiling without damage!

They dont make houses like they used to!

[Wozza]

We had an indoor well in our house in Wales and used the water for everything except the kitchen sink. The system was very sinple and can be easily replicated in France - you just need a loft.

We had the usual UK water header tank in the loft, with mains water fed by a float valve. There was then an electric float valve set at a higherr level than the mains valve so that when the water level dropped, it switched the pump on, until the float turned the switch off.

Pump was a small centrifugal pump bolted down onto concrete in a cupboard, so very quiet and only ran about three times a day for a couple of minutes a time - 1 1/2'' pipe I think.

No special equipment - you can probably buy it all from Screwfix.

The well once ran dry in a rare hot summer, so we had to rely on mains only for about a month, but otherwise rarely used the mains to the tank (kitchen was fed direct off mains pipe).

Make sure your pump inlet pipe is fitted with a filter and a non-return valve (or get a self-priming pump i.e. not a centrifugal pump).

Am going to try and recreate something similar here at a later date, but at present, just having a toilet in the house would be nice, I don't care what flushes it!!