grey water misting evap idea

[TomServo]

An idea I came up with a few months ago..let me know what you think? The idea is to pump filtered grey water through a misting system, using a 12 volt diaphragm pump. The hose will be arranged on a tomato cage, over a kiddie pool. The pool will be surrounded by panels of cloth to contain the mist and aid in the evap process. I may stagger them, to increase wind flow.

[Meat Hunter]

I have a 20 gal. tank-sprayer, with a 12v pump, that I use to spray the orchard on my farm. The nozzle can be adjusted from a stream to a fine misting spray.

What I have wondered about is how a pump such as this and the misting setting on the wand would work to disperse filtered and treated grey water into the air.

My pump would have no problem at all air-misting a 5 gal. bucket of liquid into the air in 3 min. or less without any of the water landing on the ground. Since I camp in one of the less densely populated areas of the city I would not have to worry about disturbing a neighbor's air.

[TomServo]

That's why we came up with the cloth panel idea..I doubt a mist droplet would survive a 5 foot trip beyond that. Given our camp size from this year and last, I think we can afford that kind of space.

[theCryptofishist]

Misting implies pretty small holes. Grey water implies particles in your water. Filtering may be the crux of this idea. Heck, don't misting systems with clean water get clogged from the dust?

[Canoe]

Misting implies pretty small holes. Grey water implies particles in your water. Filtering may be the crux of this idea. Heck, don't misting systems with clean water get clogged from the dust?

That pretty much kills that idea.
And any skirts had better be tucked into the inside.

What you want to maximize is:
- the surface area of gray water to the air - your cloth panels, if water was pumped to their top would do this well.
- the ability for the wind to flow across your surface areas, so the newly humid air next to the cloth is pushed away by new dry air, eager to absorb water faster. If your panels end up enclosing, or are even tight to each other, then you're not maximizing this.

Now if you put those panels into the pool (without their legs breaking/wearing through the pool and letting the grey water out), with large gaps between panels, and then tilted them into the center (sorta like a teepee made of panels), then you'd have lots of air flow and lots of surface area for evaporation. Needs to be secured to the playa too. I wouldn't want that blowing into my camp, and less so once it's had a few days worth of condensed grey-water flowing on it.

[GreyCoyote]

If you have properly treated the grey water, you can spray it directly onto the playa as long as you are not making mud. This year a 20x20 foot area was good for about 5 gallons evaporated to dryness in 10 minutes.

The problem I have with misting systems is they aerosolize the wastewater. Few people really do a good job in the treating department, so this stuff winds up on everything downwind. The spray-it-on-the-playa motif cuts the aerosols WAY down.

FWIW.

[TomServo]

Misting implies pretty small holes. Grey water implies particles in your water. Filtering may be the crux of this idea. Heck, don't misting systems with clean water get clogged from the dust?

Ive never had that problem, but have kept it in mind. I will bring replacement lines just incase. We already have an effective method for separating solids...that and an inline filter may work..may not. I plan on testing this in the Las Vegas heat...maybe ill toss in some playa dust to see what happens.

The whole idea of misting was to increase the surface area in conjunction with wind and heat. The panels, as I mentioned should contain most of the airborne water. The picture is a little misleading, as the mist lines will be well below the cloth panels.

[TomServo]

[/quote]Now if you put those panels into the pool (without their legs breaking/wearing through the pool and letting the grey water out), with large gaps between panels, and then tilted them into the center (sorta like a teepee made of panels), then you'd have lots of air flow and lots of surface area for evaporation. Needs to be secured to the playa too. I wouldn't want that blowing into my camp, and less so once it's had a few days worth of condensed grey-water flowing on it.[/quote]

I've never had anything I've set up, blow away. (Anything worth doing...is worth overdoing) But I think I would like to keep it all inside the pool.

[TomServo]

...and....the pump is soo cheap I'll have backups.