My House Project (Digestor and Water system)

Digester design and construction info

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Antonio Malker
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My House Project (Digestor and Water system)

Post by Antonio Malker » Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:03 am

Hi everybody. I am going to build my house in a 1 or 2 year so am am making plans how to do the thing. I would like to construct something like green, eco..., low energy house. As I have enough time (1 or 2 years)
I am thinking about and looking ideas. I am going to use solar, eolic energy, Anaerobic digester, and recycling used water and looking for the hints ...

Would like to consult with people my ideas. I have been thinking about including digestor to the water system-septik. In the image above is the idea what I would like to do and interchange opinion with experienced people.

Image

Image


The idea is to store rain,bath water, goes to the toilet; from the toilet to the digestor, from the digestor to the 3 level septik. See the image.

We are going to be 4 persons, about 10 chickens, 10 rabbits 1 dog, 1 pig, cooking waste, human waste, 1000 m2 garden, trees, I have 1600 m2 land, 600 for the house, 1000m2 for the garden.

Thanks in advance for every hints about this project. Welcome every ideas. :D
Amalker

Antonio Malker
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Image

Post by Antonio Malker » Thu Nov 13, 2003 5:03 am


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Bob
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System design

Post by Bob » Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:17 am

Hi Antonio,

Interesting idea. It looks like it should work in theory. However, the devil is in the details, as they say.

For example:
  • How to deal with sludge buildup in the gray water holding tank.
  • Why add drinking water to used water tank?
  • Some minimal treatment of gray water before using for toilet flushing? (i.e. to avoid grease & scum buildup in float valve, toilet bowl, etc.)
  • Separation of solids from water in toilet waste holding tank, prior to anaerobic digester?
  • Final (secondary) treatment after septic prior to re-using water for irrigation -- for health safety?
Also, what is "eolic energy"?

Antonio Malker
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Joined:Fri Sep 19, 2003 6:33 am
Location:Spain
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Water System - Digester

Post by Antonio Malker » Mon Nov 17, 2003 6:07 am

Hi Bob, thanks for your hints and coments about this project.

>How to deal with sludge buildup in the gray water holding tank.
The sludge will accumulate at the bottom of the tank. From time to time (once a year) it should de removed by pump directly to the digester.
The outgoing water will be filtered by an apropriate filter ( at the moment I do not know what kind of filter, but will look for them. I saw some of them but must look around for more details)

> Why add drinking water to used water tank?
Normally don?t add drinking water. It should be added only if the level of the rain or used water is very low, because we always need water for the toilet.

>Some minimal treatment of gray water before using for toilet flushing? (i.e. to avoid grease & scum buildup in float valve, toilet bowl, etc.)
Yes, I am looking around for the aproprite filter, as mentioned at the first answer.

> Separation of solids from water in toilet waste holding tank, prior to anaerobic digester?
I don?t understand well, why to seperate solid form the water. This little tank is in fact an intlet to the digester, so solids and water is needed, plus green garbage.

>Final (secondary) treatment after septic prior to re-using water for irrigation -- for health safety?
The septik is in fact a cleaner, should have some treatment as a 3 level mini cleaner with some active elements. The output from the digester is good fertilizer and plus 3 level septik(or mini cleaner) I beleived it would was enough.

Eolic energy - I mean electricity form the WIND (just like experiment) because I will have electricity from the grid)

I am going to update the image and add some details.

Once again, thank you Bob for your hints and comments. I apreciate your colaboration.
Amalker

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Bob
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Post by Bob » Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:38 am

The sludge will accumulate at the bottom of the tank. ... The outgoing water will be filtered by an apropriate filter...

What you need to do is design the tank so that sludge will settle. This will require that it be large enough relative to peak flow rate through it, that settled sludge won't be disturbed. Settling rate is also related to overflow surface area. A "filter", per se (as conventionally understood), would probably require more maintenance (regular cleaning, unclogging or replacement) than you'd like to have to do.
Normally don?t add drinking water. It should be added only if the level of the rain or used water is very low, because we always need water for the toilet.
I would expect your used water to always exceed the amount of water you would need for toilet flushing, eliminating the added expense of connecting fresh water to the tank. (And if you ever did need more flushing water, just run water in one of the sinks or shower.)
I don?t understand well, why to seperate solid form the water.

The reason to separate, or at least to be able to control the concentration of solids in the wastewater is so that you can regulate hydraulic retention time vs. organic loading rate for the digester for optimum operation.
The septik is in fact a cleaner, should have some treatment as a 3 level mini cleaner with some active elements. The output from the digester is good fertilizer and plus 3 level septik(or mini cleaner) I beleived it would was enough.
Whether or not it is safe enough to re-use for irrigation all depends on exactly what those 'active elements' consist of. E.g. do they include secondary treatment? Some method of reliable (fail-safe) sterilization? And, of course, it will also depend on what crops you irrigate. Irrigating trees, ornamentals and berry bushes might be safe, where irrigating lettuce, carrots & other root crops might not.

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