Tiny House Drainage

[@johncnorris]

Thanks for the video. I really appreciate the clips of Ben woofing. PS - building a weather tight skirt around your Tiny Nest can help keep your pipes from getting so cold that they crack.

[@tinynestproject]

Even got a howl on film! Skirting is something that we want to do, for aesthetics as well, but it's a somewhat low priority right now... I doubt we'll get to it this winter... but maybe ;)

[@gregcoste5332]

a bit crude, but competent greywater to french drainage system .. surprised at the length of your run (we'll see how it goes) .. also you might want to think about frost strategies for the winter (insulation, electrical tape) .. good job so far!

[@tinynestproject]

Yup, I mentioned heat-tape, and we have insulation ready as well... we'll be making a brief winterization video soon(tm).

[@ScottandTera]

Looking good jake and Kiva.................gooooooooooooo ben

[@tinynestproject]

HE'S A BEAST

[@yvettehoward5409]

Great job Hey it works

[@tinynestproject]

;)

[@thelwq]

I do not know the frost line at your area, but there in central Europe it is like 70cm or 2 feets ... If your drainage contans any deposits of water above freeze line, it would get frozen as easy as the temperate drops ...

[@tinynestproject]

It's definitely a climate-specific thing, but for us it shouldn't be a problem... if it is, we'll make an update video :)

[@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

Go with HepvO waste valves instead of standard p-traps.

[@tinynestproject]

You know, we had planned to use a membrane-based solution from the start, which is actually why we didn't plan for any venting, but the ones I had found were special order from the plumbing supplier and I hadn't thought to look for an RV-based product. Thanks for the tip on this particular brand. I watched a video about them and they look like the right solution for us. We'll make a video some time in the future if/when we go ahead with a swap from traps to membrane :)

[@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

@@tinynestproject These are all I use in my tiny house/accessory dwelling unit builds, van, truck, trailer and skoolie conversions, and RV renovations. Besides installation flexibility, these traps eliminate two common problems many tiny home owners, RVers and van dwellers experience: water seal loss due to evaporation and freeze-up (as they're waterless). They're affordable and effective, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed. P.S. Completely unaffiliated recommendation.

[@tinynestproject]

Ha, it's always a good sign when a regular recommendation sounds like a sales pitch... the mark of a good product :) That's how we started with Iron Eagle Trailers, and now we ARE affiliated so the transition was seamless XD

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

I was thinking this was going to end up more like the final stage of the Earthship 4 use system, though that's actually a black-water system. But why not just have the water go to pipes at the roots of trees so there's no surface exposure at all? Since it isn't black-water you wouldn't need the containment layer below so it would be easy to dig and bury -- he says, not having to do it himself. Have you considered venting the system, the way you would the drains in a house? I would try the pee-line without the trap to see if it really is a problem before going to the trouble of heating it. If you had a larger vent at the top of the system I would think air would go there instead. I have no idea what I'm talking about here.

[@tinynestproject]

We would like to water a garden of some sort with a perforated pipe/tube that snakes around beneath said garden... but that's another project that we're not ready to start yet. Venting the drainage is one of few things that we did not fully research and plan for. Previously, we had no traps at all, but after a while we could smell some unpleasant wafts coming up from the drain (was just the bathroom at the time). We now have S-traps made from the flexible tubing, but they are not vented like a P-trap... so far, it's proven to eliminate the smell, which suggests that the traps are keeping a seal (I know that it's possible for S-traps to unseal themselves due to suction). An issue with tiny houses and venting is that an open window in the loft would be so close to a drainage vent on the roof... would love to hear from some other tiny housers what their experiences are with all of this.

[@this1ray]

@@tinynestproject we simply tied into existing vents for venting our black water tank and actually run grey water into a open basin with a submersible pump that kicks on to pump waste water up and out, utilizing it as irrigation. The tiny house must be well skirted and insulated for this option.

[@tinynestproject]

What are the existing vents that you tied into? part of a main house's system that you're close to? Our first quick-and-dirty setup involved some buffer containers under the house that gravity drained to a tree through a regular garden hose, but every month or two we could start to smell them wafting out from under the house and had to clean them, which was a nasty job... does your open basin need regular cleaning?

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

Not a question for me, but have you showed your plumbing yet? (Can't recall.) Since only the drains need to be vented, and that's what you're showing under the house, I'm guessing you don't have any proper vents. I've never noticed if this is standard for Tiny Houses or not.

[@tinynestproject]

We've shown our plumbing supply yes, but no drainage until now. I think many builds do have vents, but it's awkward to fit into a tiny house design...

[@larryread5799]

This is why so many municipalities don't like TH, with this non-code style plumbing. You should be using 3" ABS pipe for your drainage. By code your shower needs to be a 2" pipe. After all the cool & innovative things you've done with your TH it's a real shame to see that you have 1/2 assed your plumbing. Not impressed & you're showing ppl the wrong way to do "drainage". If you would have put a 1/4 of the effort in this portion of your home as you have with the entertainment system you'd be well above minimal code. Sad

[@tinynestproject]

You seem unusually upset by this. We always appreciate feedback and hope that our transparency and honesty about our work, including amateur experiments, is appreciated by our viewers. The main thing you've pointed out is pipe sizing and its relation to the code. Obviously there are numerous elements to a tiny house that will not be able to meet residential codes due to size differences, which is why most who are interested in tiny houses are hoping for a bit of standardization/code to be able to follow (while still leaving room for some innovation). We don't have a dish-washer, washing machine, or even a single flush-toilet... on top of that, there are no solids entering the drainage which might need extra room to pass through. We have two sinks, both of which have 1-1/2" drains, and we will have one shower. In real-world operation, it's unlikely that even two of our sources of water-flow will ever be running at the same time. So with all that in mind, what is your opinion on the functionality of our drainage? (ignoring codes for a moment)