In 2010 we had our bathroom renovated, which included among other things replacing the bath with a spa. As part of the renovation, I asked them to put a two-way valve in the drain line so that I could run the greywater either down to the sewer or into the back yard and into the banana circle. They did as I asked, gluing in a blocked off pipe into the line into the back yard to prevent leakage and left the valve running to sewer until I got a chance to plumb it in properly. Five years later I finally got around to setting it up only to find that the original valve had been glued shut when installed. I had to get some plumbers in to replace the valve, I completed the set up and ran perfectly. (for more detail check here)
The original set up, with the drain from the spabath coming down, through the valve and over to the sewer
Line coming out the front of the valve, out through a ventilation gap in the bricks and into the banana circle
Until it didn’t!
Mammoth Hair Ball
In early 2023 the valve blocked up with a mammoth hair ball that required much work and climbing under the house to fix and an application of too much water pressure blew the top out of the valve. Eventually I got it cleared and working again, then installed a hair filter over the drain to prevent it happening again. (for more detail check ‘I am getting too old for this crap!)
October 2024 Update
It didn’t work!
We started to get issues with the spa not draining properly again. I checked the end of the hose in the banana circle and while water was coming out, it was not what I would describe as free draining. Over the years a banana had grown over the middle of the drain tube, compressing it somewhat and I figured this might be the problem. So I got some flexible tubing to fit the end of the drain tube coming out from under the house and cut the drain tube before it went into the banana circle. When I checked it, there still wasn’t much water coming out of the cut end so clearly the problem was up stream.
I applied water pressure to both ends and a small hair ball was belched up into the spa (looked disgusting!) but I still had very poor drain flow. After battling with getting under the house again I chickened out and rang a plumber. He turned out to be local, he crawled under the house and was able to clear the blockage. What he did say was that there was an issue with my original design, where the PVC pipe came out of the valve was 40mm in diameter and the flexible hose I used was only 25mm, it resulted in a place where blockages could occur.
New system showing drain pipes now going out through the house back wall
The other issue which I knew about but did not have a resolution for was that the valve to change the greywater from the spa between going into the sewer and going into the banana circle was under the house. If I wanted to change the direction of flow I would have to climb under the house (again!) and as I get, aahhh shall we say more ‘mature’, this is getting more difficult.
His suggestion was to actually change the piping so that the valve was located outside the back of the house, easy access to change and if there were blockages again I could open the top of the valve and access the areas that were prone to blockages. While this would cost some cash, it would prevent the need to pay someone to crawl under the house to clear the blockage as I could access all the blockagey bits at the back of the house.
Valve now outside the back of the house and fully accessible for maintenance
We agreed a price and a couple of plumbers turned up a few days later. There were some initial technical difficulties to be overcome to make it work but in the end after quite a bit of work and under-the-house-crawling by the plumbers, the relocation was completed, tested and declared to be operating.
It works really well, and I am not on tenterhooks waiting for the next blockage to occur, causing me to crawl under the house or pay someone else to do it! Money well spent!
