The indoor toilet has always been my favorite thing in my house in mmm-BELLY-may land, even though I had to dump water into the tank by hand to flush it. But, during dry season when water is scarce, I feel really bad about dumping nice clean water. So, my houseguest Marianne and I set up a system to pump dirty water from washing clothes into the bathroom. For some reason, dirty laundry water gets really smelly after a few days, so I don’t want to store it inside.
We hooked up the hose to the 12 volt bilge pump (thanks for the pump, Chris S.!), hooked the pump up to a battery, and ran the hose through the window and into the bathroom. The instructions said that the pump could only lift water 6 feet, so we raised the water bucket up as high as we could get it.
Then we hooked up the power for a test run, and the water came flowing in.
And flowing and flowing. It didn’t stop, even when the power was disconnected.
Must be all the extra water in the hose, right? But, it kept coming and coming and coming…
Maybe we accidentally set up some kind of siphon thing. I have bad luck with siphoning. If I kink the hose, that will stop it.
Or not. Smelly water is still pouring into my bathroom. Marianne is flushing away so that it doesn’t overflow.
Finally, from the depths of the past, a physics class came to mind. Something about water seeking its own level.
The bucket was up higher than the toilet tank.
So, we put it down on the ground outside, and once again, physics saved the day.
So, I now have a flush toilet thanks to Mr. Blunk. Physics is Phun!
Well that gave me a laugh! You have created a “grey water” system, which is used in parts of Europe and Asia, I believe. Their systems funnel drain water from the bathroom sink into the toilet tank to save water. That’s a good idea you had!