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I heard that you can get subsidy of upto $1000 if you have a grey water tank installed that goes into your flushing system or something like that, but it has to be installed by a licensed plumber, I guess how much will a plumber charge to do that changeover?:?
In Vic there are some rebates for rainwater tanks that vary acc to tank size and whether connected to the laundry. They end the end of June.
Something like $150 for tank, and between 500 and 1000 depending on tank size if connected to the laundry/toilet.
Which are a complete waste of time because you have to have a plumber install the tank before you get the reabte. It's cheaper and better to do it yourself, save the plumber's fees and forget the rebate (and that way, they don't know you have a tank either):DQuote:
Originally Posted by rsser
Yeah, well I'd plumb mine myself, but if you wanted to stay legal you need a certificate.
Staying legal would probably mean a council permit as well. After my last experience with such an inefficient, over bloated, red tape crazy bureaucratic bunch of tossers, forget it. :UQuote:
Originally Posted by rsser
Yeah, like a $440 standard building permit fee irrespective of project's cost.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby
Tossers most certainly.
If you're building a stand I think you need a permit; not if you're putting the tank on packed sand.
I've only just found this thread so my post is a little late. I installed 3 x 1000l ex vanilla flavouring tanks as rainwater tanks about 2 years ago and they've proved to be fantastic. They cost about $200 each and I put in 3 to get the council rebate, by the time I paid for delivery I got back the $750 which was the max the council would do at the time. Because they're 3 units I was able to reconfigure them when I renovated under our Queenslander. I wasn't going to post photos until I've built my first workbench, but I'll take photos of the tanks and associated plumbing asap. The best thing about 1k tanks is that you can store stuff on top of them - currently a toilet and pedestal basin, xmas decorations etc! I have had a bit of fun linking them up - I'm a carpenter not a plumber! -but they work ok now. Torrential rain on Thursday night harvested about 2,200 litres - and thats after losing some down the overflow as the linking pipes couldn't keep up. I plan to add an extra inlet to fix that, when I have a spare hour or two.
I'll be working on grey water systems this winter so I'll keep you informed of progress there too.
Oh.. an extra note on council regs - I had to submit photos of the connection to the storm water to get the rebate so I dutifully connected it all up and took the photos. First big storm and the storm water connections gushing water all over the place - must have been blocked up for years! So I disconnected it again, and it's currently just spread around in some spare slotted ag pipe spread out along the fence - one day I'll pipe it out to a bog / sump in the front yard.
Of course 3000 litres doesn't last long when we don't get any rain between Easter and October, hence the need for a grey water system. If I'd realised that 2 years ago I'd have done grey water first.
Good point rhancock.
Heard a guy on ABC radio say the min tank size should be 5000 l. Clearly it depends also these days on rain intervals as well as annual averages and usage intervals and rates.
As for permits, I expect they're going to vary by shire or municipality as well as state. Down here you can't even replace your gutters or downpipes unless you're a licensed plumber.
I recently went to a local hardware store, where they had a fancy diagram about various filter that go before water goes into a rain water tank, how important are those things??:?
Depends on what sort of sh*t lands on your roof... in short - if you've got trees dropping leaves on the roof, then you need a)gutter guard b)leafeaters; if you've got animals of just about any sort, then you need a first flush diverter of some sort (There are the commercial ones, and then there are the 'build your own').Quote:
Originally Posted by some_one
It also depends on what you're using it for. I only water the garden with mine, so as long as it doesn't jam the pump I'm happy, whereas my brother feeds his to his 1 year old son, so he's got the whole works, and still boils it or puts it through a filter jug before he drinks it.
Some_one, what are you using the water for? What sort of roof do you have? how many downpipes feed the tanks? What is likely to land on your roof?
Quick update - have now found a couple of pallet tanks for $80 each - that's the sort of price that is reasonable for 1000L (x2!) Hope the deal goes through ok :)
My grass is looking very green these days - had to mow it today, was getting way too long!
Can you share the source of those cheap tanks?:oo: :o
Friend of a friend, but I'll check (once I get mine :D) if there are more available for forum members.
yeah im a plumber some of the stuff in this post is pretty dangerous,
Heres a few tips,
Do not let any waste water stagnate for too long it can attract vermin, insects and even kill you.
Do not connect the washing machine to the extension hoses they sell at bunnings , some NOT ALL washing machines will burn out the pump alot faster if it is overloaded by having too much length. instead connect the hose to the outlet of your laundry sink so that it drains away properly.No point breaking your perfectly good washing machine is there.
The reason your installation needs to be inspected is because it is HUMAN WASTE and if your soaking area is too small then you can present a significant health risk to those around you. You need at least 200 sqaure meters of area to soak,
Do not let small childeren play on the soakage area for shower, bath or kitchen sinks, at all ever FULL STOP,
If the water in the pipes does not empty compleatly every time it is used you may as well have just left it in a bucket it is just as dangerous as stagnant water.
In most areas rain water and stormwater can be done by you as they are not plumbing systems they are included in the building code, however you need a plumber if you connect it into your sytem because you may backflow into the mains under certain circumstances,
Im not here to give you guys a headache, but many think they know better but dont, ill start a new post for you to ask questions to a liscenced trades man, however if its not good for you to do it be prepared for me to tell you so.
Have fun,
Thanks for the heads-up Rhett.
Hi Guys,
Have followed with great interest! I too have done something along the lines that Stuart has done with his grey water system (nowhere near as intricate).
As my 'storage' bin is above the level of the whole block, I only used a cheap pond pump as I didn't have to worry about pumping up hill (head). Clogged the inbuilt filter after a few weeks though! In the process of creating a pre filter system similar to Stuart's!
Would recommend, if you can do it with you washing machine, is to only catch the final rinse as the first rinse is mega full of lint, detergent etc! Bit of mucking around but I think worth it long term.
Also check out "Euca" detergents - very low sodium and phosphorus. http://www.lightningcleans.com.au/index.html
I am about to get my 14000 litre tank in from a plumber mate, but I do have a bit room to put it - only a 3m diameter foot print. Main purpose for us is to keep the vege garden etc alive and kicking through the hotter months, and I will look at plumbing into the house as well for the loo and washing machine etc.
Great thread! Thanks for all the thought and input on this very important topic!:2tsup:
Stuart was going to let forum members know if there were more tanks? Humm did I miss something?:D :?
those cage tanks are sold at:
A & R Recycling Pty Ltd
1485 Hume Hwy Campbellfield VIC 3061
ph: (03) 9357 2900,
on the Hum highway just up from the Western Ring Road crossover.
Second hand so the price is pretty cheap, but I forget the exact price.
Thanks mate I will suerly give em a ring and find out more.
Cheers.:2tsup:
So, Wilr86 your first 6 posts are all recommending a new product.... suspicious.... I take it the Wil is short for Wilson, and the R for Richard, as on the Contact Us page: http://www.gardenresq.com.au/contactus.htm
Product looks ok though. Looks neat and compact. More details on the quality of the pump would be important, and the same for the filter. Without an assurance that these are high quality, its just a box with holes in it.
AFAIK, Brisbane City Council and QLD state govt haven't yet approved any grey water systems, so not a lot of potential here. Shame as I have a couple of clients waiting for grey water systems.
Queensland Government have approved Diversion systems. Here is the link:
http://www.lgp.qld.gov.au/?id=4077
That's good then, cos I"ve got one of these: http://environmentshop.com.au/Produc...s.asp?PID=2909
I"ll take photos tomorrow, but here's what I did:
Of course I didn't get it approved or use a plumber....
I decided to just use the bath water, as its our highest single volume usage (5 of us at home including 2 small children), its the cleanest water we throw away, and contains the least ugly chemicals.
I think the Nylex is a pretty good half way option. It cost about $130, took half an hour to install, and had kept selected parts of the garden alive. My main issue is that it doesn't store any water - the tank is only 5 litres or so, so its not great for a gravity fed system. The Nylex instructions say you should bury a 90mm slotted pipe under your yard, which is a great idea, if you thought to do it before you built the house, or landscaped the yard...
Originally I just plugged one of Bunnies $20 washing machine water diverter hoses into the Nylex diverta outlet which worked ok, but meant the grey water had to be spread on the surface which isn't good, especially with little kids who ust have to pick up the end of the hose to see whats in it.
At the moment its connected to a 20 litre water barrel with 13mm irrigation pipe connected to it, which goes out to 100mm dripper spikes (like these http://www.wisewally.com.au/) I've got it watering a small veg garden at the moment and it seems to be working a treat.
The real plan is to get one of these barrels http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....MEWA:IT&ih=014 and connect it to about 4 or 5 runs of 13mm pipe spread around the garden to maximise water distribution. I'll get some sponge from Clarkes rubber to put in the top to add an extra filter, as well as the filter inside, and then I will get rid of the Nylex Diverta.