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Sink Positive

2010-04-13 15:26:37.579295+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Sink Positive is a sink top for your toilet tank that allows the bathroom greywater to be recaptured and used for flushing. I'm a bit skeptical that keeping greywater in a toilet tank is a good idea, there's lots of opportunities for beasties to grow in that, but I'm intrigued.

comments in descending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-20 22:37:11.700411+00 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, the greywater goes into the holding tank. I know one person who has this, but they only use it for hand washing, so I still don't know on my sediment issue.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-20 21:27:50.404722+00 by: Shawn

As I understand it (although I've only read a couple of lines from the site), you won't be doing your hand-washing and tooth-brushing with the grey water. The site says; "Fresh water for your hands, grey water for the bowl." So, other than nasties possibly migrating out of the water across bathroom surfaces, I'm not seeing how their existence would be a problem. (Although letting the water sit in the tank for a long time could get ugly.)

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-13 23:12:38.090114+00 by: Dan Lyke

Shadow, perhaps, but I'm gonna let someone else figure out the protocol before I drop the bucks to try it out. For shaving and toothbrushing, I'd also be worried about sediment accumulation inside the tank.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-13 22:47:55.831673+00 by: TheSHAD0W

What about using one of those dissolving tablets you put in the toilet tank? Wouldn't that kill any bacteria growing in the tank?

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-13 21:19:15.87745+00 by: Dan Lyke

Already got the book. And, yeah, that's exactly what freaked me out about that device, I've heard people having okay results using it for hand washing, which might be okay with anti-bacterial soap, but for tooth brushing and shaving I'd think the toilet water would be quickly too disgusting to contemplate.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-04-13 21:15:08.780547+00 by: dexev

See if you can find a copy of "Create an Oasis with Greywater" from oasisdesign.net or ISBN 0 9643433 0 4. It's a practical guide written by a greywater systems designer.

The short answer is: keeping greywater around for more than 24 hours isn't a good idea -- as the oxygen in the water is consumed, the nastier anaerobic bacteria come out to play. I'd expect much shorter storage times for toilet tank, especially with more than one user.