Eco House Thailand

[Smithy]

Eco House Thailand

One guy I met at the Surin Vaccine Center yesterday was guy that post's under the name 'Bandersnatch'. He posts on 'Aseannow'  ( old Thaivisa)  and various other Forums. If you're interesting in building and living off the grid then this guys blog explain how he has achieved this .

Here's his blog ...........Eco House Thailand

[Bandersnatch]

Thanks @Smithy

I introduced myself here: http://www.buriramexpats.com/forum/index.php/topic,10331.0.html

[iammike]

Welcome to BE.

I like what you did with the water.

We have a similar setup. Now using 21x2500 Liter tanks. All filled with Rain Water only using it for the Garden/Washing/ Showering!
(All these tanks are interconnected). The Blue Pipe you see is coming from the roof of the house! And when it really rains it will fill up all our tanks in no time. (so at the moment it's closed )

The DOS tank you see is for storing Drinking Water.

[Bandersnatch]

@iammike wow thought I was the only crazy water hoarder

Have you considered installing a "first flush system" Any debris from the roof drops to the bottom of the lowest point and collects at the bottom, it can be flushed out occasionally
   

[Smithy]

We are old school , we have just 2 concrete water jars ( think they hold about 1500/2000 L ? ) They are about 18 years old now and get cleaned out once a year . We wait for a good day of rain to clean the roof and gutter and then fill them. If the rain is heavy it only takes a few hours .These 2 water jars hold enough drinking water for the whole year
We also recycle all the plastic , glass and paper/cardboard we use but I try to buy our fresh produce from the local market as most things come without packaging . I've been using cloth shopping bags instead of plastic for years , even before most of the Supermarkets stopped using them . That's about it on the ECO front, I'm sure I could do more though !!

[iammike]

555555, I would like to have more, but as you can see with those Black and Blue Tanks the space is already used up by my wife and her love for ecology garden fertilizer (Ps: It smells awful but it's great stuff for her garden)

Thx for the idea, but all pipes from the roof (that go into the tanks) are detachable and the one that comes from the main house has a Ball valve so no (dirty) water goes in to the tanks

Plus when we think the water is clean enough, we put those "anti-mosquito" nets (what you see on the first tank on top of every tank that has a water inlet from the roofs.

Also we have 2 filters in place in between the tank and the pump that feeds the water from the Water Storage to our House tank and I check those regularly and haven't found any major "debris" or sand in them so it must be working. (one more thing we also clean the gutter of the "water storage" often and because the "Water storage area" is lower then the ground surrounding it (see picture) that is easy to do.

And just in case you are wondering if we don't get flooding because of the lower level, in the 1st year we did, but that was mainly because we left all the pipes in place (even after the tanks were full) (BIG MISTAKE) and now we only get a small bit when the rains hit it from a different angle.

But that problem we solved with a Submersible Pump with a float valve that is placed even lower then the Tanks!

@Smithy. Were we live we don't have any water mains, so we totally rely on Rain Water for Washing etc etc

We used (in our previous house) also those concrete tanks, but the issue with them was algae growth because of the influence of Sunlight hitting the water. We solved that problem by buying Food Safe Tanks in which you can safely store water for drinking!

[iammike]

Here a close-up picture of our Food Safe tank where we store Drinking Water (This one is 2000 Litres)

[Smithy]

@Smithy. Were we live we don't have any water mains, so we totally rely on Rain Water for Washing etc etc

We used (in our previous house) also those concrete tanks, but the issue with them was algae growth because of the influence of Sunlight hitting the water. We solved that problem by buying Food Safe Tanks in which you can safely store water for drinking!

We have ever had a problem with algae growth, we have metal lids so how can the sun get in ?  In 18 years I've never had any problems with the drinking water Jars . Only problem I have had in the past was our well water rotting the stainless steel tank so we changed over to a concrete water jar and rigged a flow switch up ( the type with the 2 floats ) on the metal lid . The odd thing is the water rotted the stainless steel tank but now we pump the water straight into the house from the well and never had an issue with our Washing machine, showers or anything else in the house rotting apart from the Toilet . The water stains it and I won't use bleach or any other chemicals as it will kill the bacteria in the cesspit system ( that has never been emptied in 18 either ) . I just buy a new toilet every 3 or 4 years !!

[iammike]

No idea and yes we closed them with the (thin) metal lids as well, but maybe it was because they were standing in full sunlight without any covering.

You can buy eco-friendly cleaning stuff that don?t hurt your septic tank

When I am behind a pc I will post a picture of it

Edit: found it on Lazada (bio degradable)

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/pipper-standard-natural-bathroom-cleaner-orange-blossom-scent-500-ml-bcob500-90510608-1-pcs-i223247778-s340702874.html

[Smithy]

No idea and yes we closed them with the (thin) metal lids as well, but maybe it was because they were standing in full sunlight without any covering.

You can buy eco-friendly cleaning stuff that don?t hurt your septic tank

When I am behind a pc I will post a picture of it

Edit: found it on Lazada (bio degradable)

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/pipper-standard-natural-bathroom-cleaner-orange-blossom-scent-500-ml-bcob500-90510608-1-pcs-i223247778-s340702874.html

Yes I do clean the bathroom  but those type of products done clean the brown staining caused by the water sitting in the toilet

[fishy]

The Bug in the cesspit likes an alkaline environment along with dead dogs and cats alike... Impossible to teach my Issan Luv Machine but simple vinegar for cleaning is the go. I think the main ingredient in the eco friendly stuff is an alkaline. 

[fishy]

@iammike....Just bought 4 of your cleaning products to see if I can talk my Luv Machine around to using instead of using bleach.

[iammike]

@iammike....Just bought 4 of your cleaning products to see if I can talk my Luv Machine around to using instead of using bleach.

555555. We use it all the time with our Toilets and no issues yet with our Septic Tanks!

@Fishy question please.

I've heard about for cleaning the toilets to use Baking Soda and Vinegar? Any truth in that?

[fishy]

I've heard about for cleaning the toilets to use Baking Soda and Vinegar? Any truth in that?
[/quote]

Correct it is an old wives recipe that works. I have septic in Ozz and never have to touch (pun intended) I only use vinegar however you can add baking soda which makes it froth up. Leave in the bowl o/night.