this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Laundry to landscape greywater system perfect splitter (self.permaculture)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by barbarosa to c/permaculture
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I am building a laundry to landscape greywater system. I have seen some people in some videos that are using T fittings as 50% splitter like in this image:

(taken from here)

You can see that the water that flows from the source pipe is being split to two destinations:

  1. The basin that is watering each tree.
  2. The continuation to the next tree.

My question is, is T fitting actually considered a 50% splitter ? Because I would imagine water will want to continue flowing in a straight direction, so most water will continue flowing and not "turn" 90 degrees in the pipe for the tree basin.

Remember that water is not going in pressure, but with gravity.

So why do I see so many of these designs and are they correct ?

Thanks

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where is the greywater treatment system in this? Do you want to water your plants with laundry detergent?

[–] barbarosa 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, there's no problem as long as you're using an appropriate detergent.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My guess is that they rely on the whole length of the outflow being at the same level - it fills as a whole and drains equally through each tee. Or, the system fills from the end upwards/backwards. Which in theory means the last tree always gets more water than the first

[–] TangledRockets 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're not wrong - the T-joint will not split the water 50-50 under normal conditions. The water will flow where it can. If you want to ensure flow through all outlets, the outlet ( ie each branch/exit) pipes should be significantly smaller than the main pipe.

This way, your main pipe will fill with water faster than the smaller outlets release it, and all outlets will receive water.

[–] barbarosa 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What if I connect the T this way ?

The 90 degree joint will to the rest of the line and the other end of the T will go to the basin

[–] TangledRockets 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The round frame is the basin? I'm not sure I understand your setup, but that's OK.

The basic idea is, water flow occurs due to pressure difference. To force the water to multiple exits, you need pressure. The easiest way to achieve this is to use a large-diameter pipe as the main feed, then place small-diameter outlet pipes along it.

If you have an open exit like in your picture, the pressure will be lost.

[–] barbarosa 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for your answers The round box is the basin in this example. But that's not exactly my setup. In my setup, instead of an open ended exit directly there, I would take it through a pipe to the basin where it would pour open ended... So not that different I guess.

I get what you mean about the pressure. My only doubt is that since it's greywater, it might have slight dirt / hair etc coming from the shower and washing machine that may clog small pipes. I know I can add a filter but I'm trying to keep it simple

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