This Old House

So,

I'm setting up an automatic grey-water drip irrigation system. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Unfortunately, I broke the hose spigot off the side of my house. It took two trips to the hardware store and lots of frustration.

Either way, it's fixed now. Here's what happened. I learned how to solder, though, so I'm happy about the new skill.

 There was a coupling that attached the above "T-joint" to the hose spigot shut-off valve. I snapped that in half and it's stuck int the joint. What you are seeing coming out of the house is the main water line, and coming down is the sprinkler system, which has been shut off due to excess and inefficient watering.

 The only way to fix this joint was to solder. I tried using the simple fix of a washer and nut compression joint shown below, but of course it didn't fit over the T-joint. I cleaned the outside of a piece of half inch copper pipe with sandpaper and the inside of the broken pipe. Then I proceeded to put on the soldering paste and solder with a torch. It was definitely scary, and I thought that I needed to have the solder on the outside, but it turns out you need to heat it enough to fill the inside gaps. This may have been obvious, but I had to be told this by a very helpful neighbor. It worked on the first try, so I am very excited that we were able to turn the water back on in the house.

You've probably seen my plans for the drip irrigation system in my post entitled "Oh My Sod!".
The cool part about those plans is it's all automatic.

Materials:

• 32 gallon trash can with lid
• Sharp knife
• Float valve
• Hose bib with barb
• Automatic water timer
• Braided toilet connector
• Toilet connector to hose bib adaptor
• Hose bib to Drip line adaptor
• Waterproof epoxy
• Drill and appropriate hole bits

Steps:

1. I didn't have the appropriate drill bits for the holes that I created, so I used a knife, probably not the best idea. I put one hole in the bottom of the trash bin for the float valve, and one for the barbed hose bib. I would seal these with epoxy unless you have the drill bits that create a a perfect hole. I found that I had problem with them leaking, so after the installation put waterproof epoxy because the caulking didn't work.




2. I attached a braided toilet connector to the float valve. Then I attached the hose bib adapter, so I can attach the connector to the hose spigot that I just fixed.
   
   
   
   
3. I pushed the barbed hose bib through a hole in the front, low down, opposite the float valve. To this, I attatched an automatic water timer. To this you can attatch a drip line converter if you're using 1/4 inch drip line.
   
4. I'm going to drop the end of the output hose from the washing machine over the top edge of the trash bin. This way, the float valve will keep the water circulating, and full to a certain point, but the grey-water will be stored and available for use in the drip lines. The automatic timer will let water though the exit at whatever increments I set, and having the float valve installed will insure water circulation and that there is enough water at the ready.

Using the grey-water from my washing machine will recycle 20 gallons for each load of laundry into my garden. If we wash only one load a week, that accumulates to 1,040 gallons a year that would have been wasted otherwise. Of course, you must use biodegradable/nontoxic soaps, but the extra filtration through the tank and drip water systems will help control toxins. The food will be safe to eat, not to mention the added benefit of pest control. Many organic farms will use biodegradable/nontoxic soaps as pest control. I don't think there will be a heavy enough accumulation of soaps to have this effect, but never having done this before, I can't be sure.