shower water

to111ny · Post by **to111ny** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:54 pm

has anyone figured out how to use grey water as a swamp cooler for your shade area

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:29 pm

I think so. Examination of threads in Tips & Tricks, Q & A sub-forum is liable to get you the best result.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:45 pm

Do NOT use grey water in a swamp cooler. You will make yourself very sick. You'd have to clean the grey first. if you can drink it, then you can put it in the swamp cooler.

-Badger

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:41 pm

Yes, avoid this at all costs, for gawd's sake! Have you ever seen grey water? The pubic hairs, soap scum, coffee grounds, veggie/meat bits? No amount of straining will make it suitable for your purpose.

If you insist on using it, please put up a sign stating as much so that I may at least avoid your campsite by 25 yards or so.

Thank you. That is all.

chiefdanfox · Post by **chiefdanfox** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:48 pm

@dragonpilot I think you just described Friday's dinner. Playa-coleman soup.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:36 pm

Bleach, a .2 micron water filter and a carbon cartridge combined with a reverse osmosis sytem will make your gray water just fine for using in a swamp cooler.

Using a spin-down beforehand will get rid of all the pubic hair and dirt and hippy chunks before it clogs the above mentioned system.

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:59 pm

OED's got the treatment system down right (plus some overkill).

We just fill up empty bottles with it and put it in the moocher cooler (not to be confused with the gifting cooler)

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:47 pm

@Snow

ROFL you have a moocher cooler?!?!? Is this what I think it is..a cooler for people who come to ninja beers from ya'll?

That's funny (although gross cause it could make people really sick but...). I saw so many coolers sitting right out by the "road" at the Lightning in a Bottle festival. I thought man that would be so easy to rip off...yikes.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:08 am

oneeyeddick wrote:Bleach, a .2 micron water filter and a carbon cartridge combined with a reverse osmosis sytem will make your gray water just fine for using in a swamp cooler.

Using a spin-down beforehand will get rid of all the pubic hair and dirt and hippy chunks before it clogs the above mentioned system.

What's a "spin-down"? Never heard of that before.

-Badger

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:13 am

pretty much the idea but we don't "really" put greywater in there. Being in a theme camp on the Esplanade we always get rummaged through at some point (even though in a "guarded" private area), so we make it easy to steal the stuff we don't mind getting stolen. A sacrificial lamb if you will.

OK back on topic. What would the difference be between a swamp cooler and the umpteen greywater evap systems already in use? Ideally only water would be evaporating and leaving the system, cleaned by distillation. Although not entirely true as any VOC's would also vaporize, but that would be negligible. Sure the cooler itself my get nasty and be a bio hazzard, but its vapor should be clean. I'd worry about the smell it'd be blowing in your shade structure. Now a greywater mister system would just be plain nasty (unsanitary).

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:15 am

A spin down filter works basically like one of the cyclonic vacuum cleaner. It removes larger chunks. Although in practicality bag filters are much easier to deal with in most cases.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:31 am

Snow wrote:OK back on topic. What would the difference be between a swamp cooler and the umpteen greywater evap systems already in use? Ideally only water would be evaporating and leaving the system, cleaned by distillation. Although not entirely true as any VOC's would also vaporize, but that would be negligible. Sure the cooler itself my get nasty and be a bio hazzard, but its vapor should be clean. I'd worry about the smell it'd be blowing in your shade structure. Now a greywater mister system would just be plain nasty (unsanitary).

That is true. The difference is that grey water evap is not sitting in your tent.

Thing is, you're not just getting vapor, but also a bit of mist from a swamp cooler. Plus if anything nasty grows in your cooler water, you can get those spores and such also. Bleah

Hmmm... how would you get rid of the VOCs?

-Badger

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:43 am

I well designed swamp cooler shouldn't have mist coming out of it at all, only "distilled" water. I wouldn't expect there to really be many VOC's just a touch from shampoo etc. I don't think he's talking about inside a tent, just a cool breeze under a shade, could be wrong though. On paper it could work, but you can't smell something on paper, that'd be my biggest worry. Air is already full of "spores" thats how things got in you cooler in the first place.

(I have 10 years experience turning haz waste water cleaner than drinking water)

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:19 am

I suspect most people are looking to cool inside their shelters.

Yes, air is full of spores and stuff, but nothing like all the body bits and bacteria that would be in shower water. Plus the concentration would of course be far higher that what's in the air.

Everything else aside, I still wouldn't want my shelter full of grey water smell.

My body is telling me the smell is "bad" because there is something there that is bad for me. If I can smell something, that means I'm getting more than just water vapor out of there.

With your experience, I'm sure you'd know what it is that casing the smell. Acetic acid? Sulfur Dioxide? Sodium Hydroxide? Random VOCs?

-Badger

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:22 am

My concern is that you don't run the cooler all the time.

When the cooler is turned off, the pad is going to turn into a petre dish from any bactirial residue left on the pad.

Treating the filtered water will bleach would fix that.

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:20 am

HAHA half asleep post up there. I'd highly recommend running the water through a carbon filter to get rid of most of the smells, and that would require filtration on the front end to keep it from being clogged. Simple cartridge filters would work but that requires a pump. Its probably easier to just bring more clean water and not have the hassles to deal with. THe last thing I want to do at the burn is eat up time messing with nasty water and a filtration system. It could be done, but is it worthwhile?

Even untreated, the smells wouldn't hurt you, just be unpleasant. The smells are any number of organic compounds from ammonia to VOC's. Hydrogen Sulfide ans methane are typically the ones that are the worst to smell for most people. To say for sure you'd have to run a sample through the lab. None of them are going to hurt you at the concentrations I'd expect to find. This isn't going to be as dangerous as everyone seems to think (otherwise everyone would be sick from merely walking by grey water ponds or going in the blue rooms). However DON'T DRINK THE WATER!!!!

Again, the bacteria, algae and fungus aren't going to hurt you unless you lick the cooler pads, or don't wash your hands after handling them. Bacteria is everywhere! EVERYWHERE

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:25 am

to111ny wrote:has anyone figured out how to use grey water as a swamp cooler for your shade area

See, it does pay to ask intelligent questions once in a while.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:51 am

ALRIGHT! Forget the advice! Use the frickin' grey water for your swamp cooler! Jeebus!!

Token · Post by **Token** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:22 pm

Burp!

Token · Post by **Token** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:23 pm

In my best "Butthead" voice:

Shut Up Beavis! I want to read about this in the Playa papers!

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:01 pm

But what about UV light filters?

CapSmashy · Post by **CapSmashy** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:29 am

You could also recycle grey water by first running it though a screen filter, pantyhose works well, for straining out the hair and chunky bits and then run it through a high end water filtration system like a First Need portable filter system.

http://generalecology.com/category/port ... rifier-new

This will filter out pretty much everything down to the virus level. You can get potable water from the First Need units by sucking up stagnant flood water in a disaster zone so grey water is not going to present any issues for one of these units. To clean it up a bit more in terms of any smells, a simple pass through carbon filter would neutralize any odors.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:58 am

Chunky bits? From your shower?

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:27 am

Ugly Dougly wrote:Chunky bits? From your shower?

Leprosy is a bitch...

-Badger

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 5:36 pm

When hippies exfoliate, the end result is a granola bar.

Trishntek · Post by **Trishntek** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 5:59 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:But what about UV light filters?

The dwell time has to be as high as possible for water to be treated with UV. My aquarium UV filter has a spiral configuration around the light source so the water actually goes around the light 4 or 5 times. I also have to limit the flow to 1 gallon ever TWO minutes. That is for a 9Watt UV. There is also an 18Watt that would probably provide a higher flow rate.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:12 pm

You are talking about an aquatic UV filter, those are like childrens toys compared to a full UV filter.

http://www.home-water-purifiers-and-fil ... lizers.php

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:33 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:When hippies exfoliate, the end result is a granola bar.

snort..........................

screen wipes please....

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:25 am

There are some people whose used shower water I wouldn't mind gargling with. But I can't get any of them to go to Burning Man with me.

marck · Post by **marck** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:53 am

Another option is to distill the grey water.

The free energy way is to put your grey water into a evap pond base(black plastic lined box) with a collecting container in the middle. Cover the base with a translucent to transparent plastic sheet with a weight over the collector that would cause the condensation to drip into your collector.

The powered way is to buy/build a water distiller and run it off your power supply.

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