Gray water drainage design help (see drawing)
Hi everyone, I'm working on my very first DIY camper conversion, using a 2010 extended Ford E250. I'm trying to plan out my gray water sewage system, I want to keep everything above the floor in...
Forum Discussion
evy writes "couple of questions for you.
1 -I will have a very good strainer in the shower, also in the bilge pump tank I planned on having some sort of method for separating the "solid" from the liquid, either with a mesh/screen or a 1" high partition wall that the water would have to go over to get to the pump.
2 -my complete system is designed to be in the heated area so no freezing anywhere...
3 -Ok so I should get rid of the check valves, I don't think the system will stop working because they're gone.
4 -I'm not "bent" on my plan in any way, and I would prefer 100 times using gravity in a simpler design, but hey I built the thing already so I'm just looking for a system that would work with what I have right now, keep in my mind the bilge pump would only work when taking a 5 minute shower...
for whatever reason if the pump stops working water starts filling the shower base and I will notice right away.
5 -So you're proposing that instead of having a permanent system I would use a transfert pump on the outside to drain a temporary holding tank under the shower, again I don't think I have the space under the van in that area.
6 -I think I have some space underneath the van near the kitchen area for a gray water tank, I could add it there only to drain the shower by gravity, I would have to insulate it tho like someone proposed, I drew up a sketch take a look."
1 Hair is finer than any reasonable strainer will be able to handle, you would have to have an extremely fine mesh and the finer the mesh the slower it will allow liquids through without pressurizing.
Any hair that gets through will eventually wind its way around a pump impeller.. or gather and clog.. A bilge pump is not a trash pump, it isn't designed to pump trash..
I take it you have never been around plumbing and one or two women in a household? Keeping my home bath tub and sink drains open is a full time plumbers job.. Just glad I am handy with the plunger, I couldn't afford to pay a plumber every few months..
Fail.
2 HEAT, well lets say if you have a failure of your heating source at any time everything will freeze.
Never rely on a heating system as being fool proof, always make sure all your drain lines go downhill to a drain point. Drain when in doubt, much easier and less money spent fixing things after the fact.
Fail.
3 Yep, reduce potential mechanical failure points..
Good designers use the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Silly) method, no need for "Rube Goldberg" contraptions which add in extra points of failure which any one can foul up the whole machine.
PASS, but still needs much more simplification for more reliability.
4 Bilge pumps never drain the tank completely and you will also have lines with water in them.. Not to mention the tank sitting on a cold unheated floor.. Guess what will happen overnight while you are sleeping.. ICE in the bilge pump..
Epic Fail.
5 Absolutely, all you need is a simple drain hole to the underside.. How darn hard is that?
Because you are stuck on your current plan and have painted yourself into a corner this IS the best way. Not trying to pump up and over head, your bilge pump may not have enough head height to even accomplish that task easily.. Takes a pretty good pump to lift water 6 ft into the air and be able to pump the water fast enough..
FAIL.
6 I would suggest you consider this, gravity does the work work and enough insulation and if you wanted to make sure a small heat pad should get you through without a freeze up.
Pumps are a point of failure and a decent sized pump will draw a lot of power from your battery.. A small heating pad won't use any more power than the high current draw of a bilge pump.. Consider that a wash.
1 -I will have a very good strainer in the shower, also in the bilge pump tank I planned on having some sort of method for separating the "solid" from the liquid, either with a mesh/screen or a 1" high partition wall that the water would have to go over to get to the pump.
2 -my complete system is designed to be in the heated area so no freezing anywhere...
3 -Ok so I should get rid of the check valves, I don't think the system will stop working because they're gone.
4 -I'm not "bent" on my plan in any way, and I would prefer 100 times using gravity in a simpler design, but hey I built the thing already so I'm just looking for a system that would work with what I have right now, keep in my mind the bilge pump would only work when taking a 5 minute shower...
for whatever reason if the pump stops working water starts filling the shower base and I will notice right away.
5 -So you're proposing that instead of having a permanent system I would use a transfert pump on the outside to drain a temporary holding tank under the shower, again I don't think I have the space under the van in that area.
6 -I think I have some space underneath the van near the kitchen area for a gray water tank, I could add it there only to drain the shower by gravity, I would have to insulate it tho like someone proposed, I drew up a sketch take a look."
1 Hair is finer than any reasonable strainer will be able to handle, you would have to have an extremely fine mesh and the finer the mesh the slower it will allow liquids through without pressurizing.
Any hair that gets through will eventually wind its way around a pump impeller.. or gather and clog.. A bilge pump is not a trash pump, it isn't designed to pump trash..
I take it you have never been around plumbing and one or two women in a household? Keeping my home bath tub and sink drains open is a full time plumbers job.. Just glad I am handy with the plunger, I couldn't afford to pay a plumber every few months..
Fail.
2 HEAT, well lets say if you have a failure of your heating source at any time everything will freeze.
Never rely on a heating system as being fool proof, always make sure all your drain lines go downhill to a drain point. Drain when in doubt, much easier and less money spent fixing things after the fact.
Fail.
3 Yep, reduce potential mechanical failure points..
Good designers use the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Silly) method, no need for "Rube Goldberg" contraptions which add in extra points of failure which any one can foul up the whole machine.
PASS, but still needs much more simplification for more reliability.
4 Bilge pumps never drain the tank completely and you will also have lines with water in them.. Not to mention the tank sitting on a cold unheated floor.. Guess what will happen overnight while you are sleeping.. ICE in the bilge pump..
Epic Fail.
5 Absolutely, all you need is a simple drain hole to the underside.. How darn hard is that?
Because you are stuck on your current plan and have painted yourself into a corner this IS the best way. Not trying to pump up and over head, your bilge pump may not have enough head height to even accomplish that task easily.. Takes a pretty good pump to lift water 6 ft into the air and be able to pump the water fast enough..
FAIL.
6 I would suggest you consider this, gravity does the work work and enough insulation and if you wanted to make sure a small heat pad should get you through without a freeze up.
Pumps are a point of failure and a decent sized pump will draw a lot of power from your battery.. A small heating pad won't use any more power than the high current draw of a bilge pump.. Consider that a wash.
