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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 3 Feb 2016 05:53pm - Edited by: Julie2Oregon
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My front load washer broke at my house. I'm not investing in fixing it since I wasn't going to take it with me, anyway. I bought a compact portable washer, instead, to use since it's what I'd planned to buy for the cabin. Which got me thinking about my cabin plumbing again.  It may be good that I'm getting this washer now so I can set it up in my bathroom and attach it to the faucet as I will in the cabin.
I have 3 main considerations with my cabin plumbing -- simplicity, freezing, and careful water/energy use. I won't have a well and will be using a cistern and I'm also not installing a water heater. Every appliance/item I'm choosing is water and energy efficient. And I want my pipes protected as much as possible.
With meal preparation, dish-washing, and house cleaning, the kitchen will be the greatest water user. I plan to have that faucet connected to a large tank with a pump and simply heat water when I need to wash dishes.
The bathroom is a bit different. The toilet will be waterless and for showers I'll be using the Zodi Outback in which the hot water is self-contained in its own steel canister. The faucet will then be used for hand- and face-washing, brushing teeth, and then the compact washer probably twice per week. The washer uses 12 gallons to do a regular full cycle, less for a quick wash. Daily water use will be minimal, except on wash days.
So here's what I'm thinking -- with the type of uses in the bathroom, the minimal amount of water used, and no hot water heater, perhaps having a gravity-fed, 15- or 20-gallon water tank in the loft plumbed down to the bathroom faucet below it would work really well? This way, the water wouldn't be cold and I could even add very warm water to the tank if I wanted to control the water temperature to the bathroom for a wash or something.
My question: Do standard, one handle bathroom faucets require a certain amount of pressure to work properly? I've read that the washing machine is affected by too much pressure but nothing about it not working with too little pressure. About how much pressure does gravity provide? I'm guessing there would be about 8 or 9 feet between the actual faucet and the tank connection.
If I do gravity feeding at all, I'd only feel comfortable doing it for the bathroom since it would require a smallish tank and wouldn't put a huge amount of extra weight in the loft. And it would keep the bathroom water at room temperature plus give me the ability to adjust that a bit. If the pressure was great enough, I'd consider plumbing in the shower from that tank, too, actually.
Thoughts?
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Nate R
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# Posted: 3 Feb 2016 06:20pm
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I know I've seen minimum pressure specs for some washers, so you'll have to be careful there.
Gravity provides about .43 PSI per vertical foot of distance, so you're looking at 3-4 PSI or so. Really not much, but I think it might be enough for washing your hands, etc.
I would think a normal bath faucet would work OK for that, but not sure if the aerator would interfere/hold back the flow enough to make it awkward to use?
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2016 12:17pm
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I think it would work fine for the faucet and the shower. As Nate said, you might have to pull the aerator out of the faucet. You might also have to play around with different shower heads to get the right spray pattern.
Your problem might be with the washer. See if you can locate specs for it or even contact the manufacturer. You might even set up an experiment with it now to see if it will work on low pressure.
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2016 06:17pm
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I found the washer manual online (it hasn't been delivered yet). It says it takes 20-70 psi.
Now, with it being portable, I could always move it to the kitchen for use if it won't work with the gravity feed. But I had hoped to simply have it stay put in my bathroom, as that would be the best and most convenient place for it. And for the ability to wash with warm water at times. Interestingly enough, a hot water wash isn't an option with this machine.
Yeah, I may have to experiment with it. I've read a lot of reviews of this machine and some folks have said you can hand-fill it for wash and rinse; others have said you can't. If you CAN hand-fill then I'd think low pressure would work unless the computer mechanism keeps track and times out the wash if it doesn't fill fast enough. In which case, babysitting it and adding water to speed up the fill might work.
Hmmm. If the washer has to be used in the kitchen, I have the Zodi shower, and the bathroom sink is only used for hand-washing, brushing teeth, and low water uses, then maybe just a 3-gallon bucket of warm water in the vanity and a hand pump faucet on the bathroom sink makes the most sense. Or simply having a pitcher of water, lol. But plumbing code might require a working sink, not sure.
What would be magic and the ONE solution would be to have a solar cistern. I'm not talking about a solar water heater. Those are very involved and mechanical. I'm just thinking about a water tank that is insulated, partly buried, with insulated pipes going to the cabin and a top that allows the sun's rays during all seasons to warm the cistern water so that it doesn't freeze in the winter, nor do the pipes. Algae would be a concern so that would have to be addressed.
If something like that existed, then pipes wouldn't freeze, the on-demand water heaters would work better and use less fuel.
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