Gravity fed sink

[78C-10]

Hello everyone, I do not have runnning water out to the new garage but I was thinking about a gravity fed sink. My idea is to build a wooden stand out of 4x4's and put a plastic 55 gallon drum on it and using a garden hose from the house I would fill the drum. Put a spigot at the bottom of the barrel and have a utility sink under it with a bucket under the drain in the sink. Has anyone done this? I was wondering how well it may work. Thank you

 

[Jeep Monkey RTR]

Should be doable. A few years ago, some hunting buddies if mine built a cover area at our camp for cleaning deer. They installed a gutter system that funneled rainwater into a 55 gal drum. We then gravity fed the water from a spigot. Worked pretty well but I wouldn't consider it drinkable.

Jp

 

[78C-10]

I was thinkning about a way to harvest the rain water as well to use as the barrel water. No I would not be using it for drinking, just washing my hands after working. The house is close enough for the toilet/shower and drinking. Just really want it to wash my hands. A bathroom with shower/toilet would be awesome though. I don't want to push my luck with the father in law, it is his land.

 

[crf731]

It will work.

I was at a fishing lodge in northern canada for a week and they provided water for the whole camp with a similar method.

They had a 500 gallon tank on the roof of the main lodge building. They would pump it full of water from the lake every day when everyone was out fishing. It gravity fed all the showers, toilets, and sinks in the place.

There wasn't a ton of pressure but it worked.

 

[justanengineer]

When I was in Iraq many of our barracks had plumbing fed this way. Sinks and showers both were fed by a hot water heater which was fed from a few hundred gallon tank on the barracks roof. A 3 story fall seemed like plenty of pressure to me.

 

[Shadowdog500]

That will work. I actually used a water cooler over a wash tub in my garage for a wile.

I would treat the 55 gal drum like the fresh water tank in a RV and would put a splash of bleach or hot tub treatment in with the water to keep it from getting funky.

Chris

 

[pmiranda]

Back of the envelope, half a 55 gal drum of water would weigh about 230 lbs, so with a 1" i.d. pipe you're looking at around 300psi... so yeah, it should work very well. Heck, a 5 gal bucket would probably provide good enough pressure, it just would last very long unless you have a flow restrictor on your faucet.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I would treat the 55 gal drum like the fresh water tank in a RV and would put a splash of bleach or hot tub treatment in with the water to keep it from getting funky.

I would worry more about the water getting funky than anything else.

During summer you might even want to drain and refill once a week.

 

[homeinthegarage]

Back of the envelope, half a 55 gal drum of water would weigh about 230 lbs, so with a 1" i.d. pipe you're looking at around 300psi... so yeah, it should work very well. Heck, a 5 gal bucket would probably provide good enough pressure, it just would last very long unless you have a flow restrictor on your faucet.

That's some mighty fine ciphering there….

 

[timewarp]

Back of the envelope, half a 55 gal drum of water would weigh about 230 lbs, so with a 1" i.d. pipe you're looking at around 300psi... so yeah, it should work very well. Heck, a 5 gal bucket would probably provide good enough pressure, it just would last very long unless you have a flow restrictor on your faucet.

The pressure you came up with is way too high, the only water that counts is the weight of the water column in the pipe and the same area as the pipe to the top of the water in the tank, the other water in the tank only adds volume not pressure.

 

[djjsr]

Back of the envelope, half a 55 gal drum of water would weigh about 230 lbs, so with a 1" i.d. pipe you're looking at around 300psi...

It doesn't work that way. You would need a very very very tall column of water to get 300 psi.

(less than 1/2 psi per foot)

 

[CNGsaves]

If you want to get real "fancy" then build both hot water and cold water gravity feed tanks.

Build a smaller steel tank painted black that would be up on roof or side of building that gets plenty of sunlight. Then route that "hot" water down to sink to be blended with cold water. Another cheapie way to get hot water is serpentine rows of black pvc plastic pipes full of water up on roof (especially shiny galvanized steel). Of course this is only useful in warm climates or seasonal in colder climates.

My grandpa's farm had the cold water as gravity feed from 300 gallon tank built up in attic of wash house, but did have LP hot water tank in same wash house for showers.

 

[stafford]

Why not just hook the garden hose to your sink when you're gonna be in the shop?

 

[Tarnished]

78C-10: I did something similar when i wanted water to flush my wizzer.
Mounted the urinal in the corner.

Put a 55g barrel overhead,

plumbed to a spring back flush valve, and drained to the buried eve drains. Works great, and no piss smell in the barn....

Only thing I have to watch is that I drain in winter.
Something similar should work well for your sink. Just don't P in the sink...

 

[InsanePyro]

Dunno where you live but if its cold 55 gl drums WILL freeze.

 

[JakeKohl]

Back of the envelope, half a 55 gal drum of water would weigh about 230 lbs, so with a 1" i.d. pipe you're looking at around 300psi... so yeah, it should work very well. Heck, a 5 gal bucket would probably provide good enough pressure, it just would last very long unless you have a flow restrictor on your faucet.

Water pressure is a function of the height of the water column, not the volume. You can have 1,000,000 gallons in a tank with the top of the water at 15 feet and a 5 gallon bucket with the top of the water also at 15 feet and the pressure coming out at the bottom will be the same.

 

[5lima30]

It will definitely work! I use 65 gal rain barrels w/ spigots and hose down at my garage which doesn't have water. I didn't want to have to winterize it so the rain barrels work well and are good for my garden which is nearby.

 

[blaperle]

Water pressure is a function of the height of the water column, not the volume. You can have 1,000,000 gallons in a tank with the top of the water at 15 feet and a 5 gallon bucket with the top of the water also at 15 feet and the pressure coming out at the bottom will be the same.

Correct each 27 inches or 2.3 feet of water column equals 1 psi guage regardless of volume
Brian

 

[vartz04]

Menards sells a folding table made for fish cleaning that hooks to the garden hose and then drains into a bucket or whatever you put the hose in. I'll fins a link when I get to my computer unless soneone finds it first. I think its called a sportsman table or sportsman sink

 

[mod600]

I've seen guys use an old water heater as a tank and pressurize it...don't have have to worry about gravity feed then. You need to re-pressureize it once in a while, but depending on how much you plan to use it, probably not a big deal. Most have an air compresser in the shop.

 

[BD1]

Correct each 27 inches or 2.3 feet of water column equals 1 psi guage regardless of volume
Brian

YEP ! I learned that in pipefitting school 40 years ago ! One pound of pressure will raise water 2.31 feet.

 

[pmiranda]

Doh!

The pressurized water heater is an interesting idea... just don't take off the T&P valve and leave the compressor running...

 

[mod600]

They just put a sharder (sp?) valve on it like a valve stem and put 30-40 pounds of pressure in it. It worked enoungh to wash your hands up after you were done working for the night....

 

[Lippyp]

I holidayed in Turkey one year and stayed in a small hotel, all the hot water was produced by having a black painted steel drum on the roof heated by the sun, only downside was the water cooled down overnight so the shower was on the cool side in the morning and once it was gone it took a long time to warm up!

Before we sorted out the plumbing at our house in France we used the simplest shower ever outside behind an old sheet for modesty and stood on a pallet to keep your feet out of the dirt !(just a bad idea to drop the soap as it got very gritty!) it was just a ********* vinyl bag like a camelbak drink system with a hose and small shower head, hauled it up with a pulley and bingo reasonable shower so gravity works fine.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Why not just hook the garden hose to your sink when you're gonna be in the shop?

That is basically what I do.

Jim

 

[JimVonBaden]

Menards sells a folding table made for fish cleaning that hooks to the garden hose and then drains into a bucket or whatever you put the hose in. I'll fins a link when I get to my computer unless soneone finds it first. I think its called a sportsman table or sportsman sink

This is what I currently have:

I drain it into a 5 gallon bucket. The sediment sinks and the excess water flows over the top. I do not use it for oils or chemicals other than soap.

This is cool too:

Jim

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you decide on build a platform to hold the 55 gallon drum, make sure it's stout. That drum will weigh in excess of 450 lbs full and will be quite top heavy.

Have you considered trenching a line from the house and running some black flexible pvc line to outside the garage and using a frost free hydrant ?

I'm not sure how far you have to run it here's a few links to show you how cheap it would be.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/100-psi-polyethylene-flexible-coil-pipe-1-in-x-100-ft-3151664

http://www.tractorsupply.com/hydrant-4-ft--3115943

The hydrants are made to different lengths according to how far you have to bury, which depends on where you live and the frost line. You'll have a few more bucks in some fittings and renting a trencher if you need to bury it deep.