Is Installing Gray Water Systems Without Plumbers Wise?

Many homeowners who are considering installing gray water systems in their homes wonder if they need plumbers to do the job. So many individuals are home repair weekend warriors who figure they can do anything. How hard could it be, they figure, to run a few pipes hither and yon? Guess what? It's harder than one would anticipate. Simply running pipes around does not constitute a functional gray water system.

Gray water systems are ways to save natural resources. Everyone knows that the planetary resources are limited and by recycling items, including H2O, the earth will be a better place for future generations. The idea behind a gray water system is that the liquid runoff from certain appliances and fixtures such as bathtubs, bathroom sinks and washing machines will be clean enough to use for watering the garden and trees on the property. A homeowner who recycles H2O in this way will need to be sure to use "green" laundry detergents, shampoos and cleansers. Using harsh chemicals and allowing them to run off to hydrate one's garden would be a bad idea. Using toxic substances such as bleach and ammonia to clean a bathtub and bathroom sink would be disastrous to the landscaping if reclaimed water was being used.

As with all plumbing, the way pipes, drains and fixtures are placed will have a huge impact on how the flow and drainage works. An incompetent homeowner can run into a slew of troubles if he or she decides to install a gray water system without knowing what he or she is doing. Here are some problems that can occur:

- Runoff can cause erosion of property: If the pipe that's allowing the runoff is placed haphazardly, it can gush out along terrain and wash it away. This can destabilize the foundation of the land and put the entire household structure at danger. Individuals may not realize how much fluid gushes from a simple washing machine until they see it spouting out into the yard.
- Bugs can enter the bathroom via the drains: If the system isn't set up properly, the same opening that allows flow to go outside the home is also available for bugs and creepy crawlies to enter up through the drain. Eco-proponents may think twice about being so environmentally conscious if they see giant spiders crawling up through the drain when they're just about to step in to the shower to shampoo their hair or see a roach crawl out of the sink when they're just about to brush their pearly whites. Why not just live in a tent because it sure feels like camping?
- Pipes can freeze in winter: When winter brings freezing weather, this can turn this garden watering system into a popsicle of pipes. There's a science to this, people, and plumbers are the scientists.

A gray water system can be a splendid thing if it's installed properly. Homeowners should hire plumbers to do the job or end up eroding their land, living with insects and dealing with frozen pipes during the winter.