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Guidelines for Graywater Filters to Protect Drainfields & Drywells SepticAPedia © Enter your search terms Submit search form   Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com Graywater filters & how to use them to protect the drywell or drainfield Our site offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest. We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices, false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at inspect-ny.com/appointment.htm. This document discusses the design and use of graywater filter systems to protect drywells or the septic drainfield or absorption system from clogging. Graywater filters may be placed at the inlet to a drywell or graywater disposal system. Washing machine filters are often installed at the clothes washer outlet hose. We include a list of product sources for these various types of drywell or gray water filters. Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author. Technical comments, questions, content suggestions, and product listings are invited. © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

Graywater Filters Protect the Drain Field or Drywell from Clogging

Just as a septic effluent filter will slow septic drainfield clogging by intercepting suspended solids before they leave the septic tank (or just after the tank if you use a separate septic effluent filtering chamber), gray water from building sinks, showers, and particularly from the laundry, contain suspended solids including un dissolved dry laundry detergent and mostly fabric fibers.

As fabric fibers and solid detergent can clog a graywater disposal system or drywell you can extend the life of these systems by installing a filter at the graywater outlet or at the entry to the drywell. Two common graywater filter points are used and are shown here.

First, a simple "sock" type lint filter (photo at left) can be installed at the clothes washing machine. This graywater filter method is easy and effective to install for laundry systems that empty from the washing machine into a laundry sink. We used to use an old pair of panty hose - which works but less effectively than a real lint filter. (Photo courtesy of thenaturalhome.com - see Product Source List below)

A second graywater filter system uses a filter installed inside a graywater pumping chamber or located between the building drain and the inlet to the drywell or to whatever other graywater dispersal and absorption system is in use. This system is used for either effluent filtering or gray water filtering when there is not room to install a filter directly in the graywater pumping chamber or in the septic tank. (Photo courtesy of thenaturalhome.com - see Product Source List below). Filter Chamber Installation: Whether the effluent or graywater filter is installed at the outlet end of a septic tank, the inlet to a drywell, or separately as an interim filtering chamber (as shown here), a riser may need to be installed to permit ready access to inspect and change or clean the filter. Some states (such as Montana) require that access risers to be least 21" in diameter, and to have an access cover within 6" of grade and even if your state does not, that standard makes sense. To protect the absorption system, the chamber which holds the filter must (in some states) have a shut off mechanism (such as a ball float switch) so that effluent will not pass through when the filter cartridge has been removed for cleaning or replacement. When a riser is installed (to give access to a septic tank cover or to a filter chamber), it replaces the lid (which was on the septic tank at the outlet end, for example) and a new lid is placed at grade to provide convenient access to the equipment. (Courtesy National Small Flows Clearinghouse, edited and added comments by DJF.)

Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

SEPTIC & GREYWATER FILTERS
  Signs of a Clogged Septic Tank Filter
  Graywater Filters
  Septic Filter Maintenance
  Septic Filter / Graywater Filter Sources

Product Source List for Septic Filters & Graywater Filters

• Graywater recycling kit sold by The Natural Home Building Source website
• Laundry Filter for laundry lint, the Filtrol 160 - a Septic System Filter also suitable for graywater systems
• Also See Media Filter Product Source List
• Product listing submissions are welcome; there is no listing fee. Our website has no financial or other relationship with any product or company listed on these pages, except that some companies have been generous enough to permit our use of their product illustrations.

More Reading:

More Information on Septic System Diagnosis, Maintenance, & Repair

• The Septic System Information Website home page for this topic
• Septic Systems Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance- online textbook. Detailed how to inspect, maintain, repair information
• The Home Buyer's Guide to Septic Systems
• Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump the septic tank
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• Septic System Drainfield Absorption System Biomat Formation - what leads to drain field clogging and expensive drainfield repairs
• Table of Required Septic & Well Clearances: Distances Between Septic System & Wells, Streams, Trees, etc.

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