Saving of the washing machine water.

This al started in ..the little outback town in WA…when George was the publican.  Here was a pipe running out his from laundry door, around the front, and into his vegy garden.  Out from it was a steady stream of water.  Ah!  Upon going into his laundry, here was the pipe, affixed to the drain pipe on his washing machine.  Hooo boy!  What a good idea!

So, now in Queensland, I’ve copied his idea.  Slightly modified, admittedly..going into a couple of garbage bins.  One wasn’t enough, I soon found, on account of washing up water dribbling over the top, and onto the ground.  Two were needed.  Accomplished..but..how to have water going into both of them?  All sorts of scenarios occurred to MyVeryGoodSelf..drilling holes and installing piping between the two wasnt the best of ideas, but would have worked…a syphon hose was employed.  Trouble there, was that I had to coil up the hose, fill it with water, wait for the bin to get half full, and..seal both ends, plunging one end into the second garbage bin.  Sigh..  Two or three attempts were needed to get it right..darn it.  Then, another aha..stick one end of the hose into the outlet end of ..the pipe from the washing machine, and the other end into the second rubbish bin.

Worked a treat.  The pipe from the washing machine Had to be of larger diameter that the washing machine outlet pipe..you dont want the pump to be unnecessarily stressed with too big a load. To foil the hose from escaping the rubbish bins, I threaded it through the rubbish bin handles..better than electricians tape.  Aaand, the washing machine end needed some work.  More tape around the two pipes’ join.  Huh..soon got sick of  that!  Some sort of connector was needed, one that you could couple and uncouple easily,  didnt have to be screwed on all the time, one that would go down the drain hole in the sink as well.  Tall order for starters, until, after a measuring tape was employed, we got the dimensions right, and voila! Tiny doohickey, that went down the drain hole when not saving the water, and easily coupled up to the other fitting of the..doohickey in the hose that goes to the garbage bins.

Coupled

Last but not least..other bit of the doohickey, hung up on a potplant, employed so we dont lose the water iffen the hose is left on the ground. (It syphons back out of the rubbish bins..the hose is full of water, its end needs to be higher that the top of the rubbish bin..)