Using 2 garden hoses rather than one 1" pipe. PHOTOS posted.

[rusty]

My landscape is under reconstruction thanks to an encroaching public street expansion. So, I'd like to have the flexibility of moving the laundry water around until the street construction is finished and I figure out a more permanent landscape plan. I understand how one garden hose could be too restrictive and cause problems with the washer pump. Is it safe to assume I could install a "T" to the 1" line and run two garden hoses from there?

[oasis]

If the total cross sectional area is greater, you're OK.

The cross-sectional area changes by the square of the radius, so a 1" tube has more flow capacity than two 5/8" garden hoses, though two 3/4" hoses would work.

You can check the cross-sections and flow using the calculators at http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/laundry/#calculator.

Note that many tubes of 1in2 total cross-section have more resistance/ less flow than one tube of 1in2 cross-section; but for this purpose it is sufficient to just go over a bit on the cross section without attempting to calculate the exact flow.

Yours,

Art

[rusty]

Excellent. Thanks, Art, for this forum and your ongoing greywater commitment.

[oasis]

You're welcome.

This multiple hose/ tube thing is an intriguing idea that bears more investigation.

There's been a 6 x 1/2" drip hose variation on the "mobile drain out back" in Create an Oasis with Greywater, which I made in Tijuana, and at the very end of the Laundry to Landscape video, under "Super Simple Systems" there's your two 3/4" garden hose system.

Doubtless there are hundreds of other installations that have been independently, convergently deveveloped, but these are actually the only two I personally know of.

Please post photos and let the forum know how your system works out...

Art

[rusty]

Yeah, I saw the (6) 1/2" lines in Create an Oasis w/ Greywater. Great idea...and it may have been what gave me the idea of going with two garden hoses, I don't know.

At any rate, yes, I'll report back after I get this thing going. Once this road construction is over, I'd like to experiment with other methods as well.

rusty

[rusty]

I finished this system over the weekend. Seems to work beautifully! I have two 50' long 3/4" garden hoses split upon exiting the house. Took me a while to find a T and the necessary fittings that weren't too restrictive.

The real challenge was finding a barbed fitting that would fit in the 3/4" garden hose yet not choke the flow. I ended up using 1" brass barb fittings w/ a 3/4" id. With a small amount of heat, the garden hose was flexible enough to quite easily slide over. The hose may eventually break there but I'll just cut that off and slide it on again if it does.