Aqua2use Gray Water Filter for Garden & Landscape

The good: all the plants that are watered by the gray water are really thriving! This is because the soap is a good fertilizer - the flowers and trees love it!The bad: you have to rinse these filters once every few months (I do it every 3 or 4 months), and it's not fun.We installed it about 44 years ago, and it works fine, still with the original filters being regularly rinsed.

don't waste your money if you plan to recycle grey water for edible plants. Probably ok for non edible plants in your garden. great idea though.

This is a great quality and thoughtful product. The designer/manufacturer has indeed put a lot of research into it. It is made as much fail-safe it could be made; of course there are scope of improvement.The good:1. The Matala filter: This is non clog type filter, just a wire-mess kind of design, but its a great idea.2. The overflow system: If by any reason, your system does not work, you won't end up with a flood of dirty water. If you do your plumbing right, the water will overflow into the city sewer line without your intervention. Just make the installation level right.3. Simple controller: The controller has 2 magnetic floats, one at the max water level and one at the lowest water level. If both the floats are up, the pump starts; the pumps stops when both are down. Very simple design.The bad:Not really any. I have used it for 2 months so far and everything works as expected, except the few things noted below as improvements.Scope of Improvement:1. The pump moves with vibration from each start and stop and sometime it touches the lower sensor. Once it touches the lower sensor, the sensor cant move with water level and it does not fall with the receding water level, causing the pump to run forever until you notice it switch it off. There should be a small partition in the bottom of the tank to keep the pump separate from the sensor. I had to restrain the pump's movement using zip ties.2. When you want to clean up the Aqua2use, there is a cleaning outlet at the bottom of the tank. But the problem is, your aqua2use will be either in a pit or crawl space or some awkward location. So it is difficult to direct the dirty water to outside or to the sewer line. I would expect a small/cheap pump as attachment which could make the cleaning part easy.3. Indicator: There isn't really any indicator to know if your aqua2use is on or off. I would expect some kind of indication light. And it will be great if you can take the light out of the box and install it somewhere you can see. Some kind of wired remote status indication and on/off switch. But the good side is, it is simple and no worry for the indicator wiring.Search "Aqua2Use Filter Replament" and "Aqua2Use installation in crawl space" in u tube for my posted videos.https://youtu.be/0p2RTtC9ZvYhttps://youtu.be/prVLY1R7DccUpdate 2016-JulyI had done a good job in making the overflow pipe flow back to the street sewer and was proud of it, but did not realize what it had kept for me. During the summer when we were out for summer vacation, my friend who was occupying the house used to throw a lot of tissue into the toilet bowl, while making them kind of bundle which does not dissolve into the water as flushed. Those tissue bundles got stuck where the home main sewer meets the city. From there onward, nothing from my house was able to reach the city sewer. All the waste water supposed to go to the garden anyway, but the black water goes to the city sewer. Now since it is blocked, in normal circumstance once the sewer pipes under my crawl spaced is filled up, one can't flush anything down anymore. But due to the overflow pipe from my Aqua2use, the black water along with solid moved into the Aqua2use and completely filled it up, while the water was being pumped out. Slowly as it was mostly filled up with the solids, the pump continuously kept running for a long time and very frequently. From that I noticed something was wrong and really had an horrible time cleaning it up.Lesson learned: Please add a sewage back flow valve in the overflow pipe.Update 2016-SeptFirst breakdown. The hose fitting adapter on the pump broke, see image. It is thin abs plastic and the constant bent tension from the ring hose that connects to the outer hose fitting, took its toll. I wrote to Aqua2use and they gladly sent replacement, completely free of cost. I still bought one later from amazonBanjo HB125 Polypropylene Hose Fitting, Adapter, 1-1/4" NPT Male x 1-1/4" Barbed just that I have it handy in future, only $1. I breakdown in 2 and half year, still pretty good.Update 2017-AprilPump broke. First suspect was the EPC sensor (that has floats and controls the pump). Wrote to Remy Sabiani, Owner Water Wise Group, Inc. [email protected], he gladly sent a free EPC. But then I noticed the pump has failed, It has run for 3 full years so far, 2014, 2015 and 2016. So I bought a new pump (total cost including shipping is $189), attached the new EPC I got for free, and the system up as new.Update 2017-AugThe cleaning has been a pain due to the slow discharge from the cleaning valve as well as the flooding of the crawlspace, dont ask about the stench. Bought this eventually, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GHJAR6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Very helpful; I usually drag a hose down to the crawlspace, remove the filter pads, spray hard inside to remove the accumulated debris, and then suck the water out of it with the Goplus utility pump. Any pump which can suck without the need of priming will work. I found this the best among the cheapest utility pumps. Now a filter pad change takes about 10-15 minutes plus cleaning the filter pads for the next use.

I had this unit for about 2 years and it works well, unit pumps well over a 200 feet in distance, on a leveled ground, mine is mounted hidden in the yard. Filters are easy to clean using a water hose; didn't say fun, but I do it every 6 months even though they suggest every 3 months. Recommend using plastic gloves and goggles when cleaning filters, you really don't want that scummy stuff hitting your eyes. Installation was easy, the only caveat was that they sent me metric fittings, but I made it work with a little effort. Great system, would love to add another one to another line, but I wish it were more in the $400 range. I sometimes add soil acidifier or liquid fish fertilizer, to the tank before the filters, making sure the fertilizer dissolves in the tank, this aids controlling some of the high soil pH, and your plants will definitely love it, unless you have acidic soil. I usually do this before that particular member of my family uses the shower, I think we all have a water hog in our home! Make sure your tank overflow is connected properly, as I couldn't connect it to the septic line, and dumping water where it will not matter, this happens sometimes because of power outages, or someone disconnects your 110 plug. I don't recommend using shower water on your edibles, just ornamental trees and flowers. Don't use drip irrigation emitters, they will clog in a week, use 1/2" drip irrigation hose connected to your line 1/2" to 1", with shut off valves that will control how much water your tree gets. You can buy these parts anywhere. I have about 12 trees connected to two 1" lines, which are also controlled by a shut off. Don't use a French drain as it will clog. Each of my trees has a few inches of mulch, away from the tree trunk, where the water is delivered by the pump, so the water doesn't spray up in the air and improves evaporation. I also installed a 2" Jandy valve actuator under the house so I can divert the water before the pump, using a switch located under the sink. This way all the kitchen water, laundry, and showers can be directed to the septic or the Aqua pump as needed when using harsh chemicals or bleach or on very, very rainy days. The pump also pumps all the water in the tank at 24 hours intervals even if the tank is not full, a very good option as the water turns into black water if it stagnates. This is a great item because I can afford to water trees during a very bad drought in California and it has helped my septic tank by diverting thousands of gallons of water out of it. Once you'll do your first system you'll become totally addicted to saving water and designing your system to become super efficient. Good luck!Update: Never overwater a California Oak, specially in the summer, or any plants that can't take to much water.

great product, saves thousands of gallons of water this summer