Eric wrote:
>Anyway, a gray water system would seem to do more
>than a composting toilet.
Yes, i like your use of "would seem" <grin>. There
are so many exceptions to every situation that it pays to be
cautious.
>I have wondered lately about leach fields; any info appreciates.
One problem with leach fields is including them in nutriment
cycles. Growing deep rooted plants can plug up the systems
and the shallow rooted plants are not effective at grabbing
all the nutriments. Also, they require water to keep
working. The standard advice is to avoid growing food crops
over a septic system, although i've never tracked this belief
down to its source. This gets interesting if we compare a
leach field to a sewer system that is processed for
agriculture. I think the leach field wins because no hauling
is needed and it doesn't take and energy. Also,
the sludge has metals and chemicals that sneak in.
We have a leach field now and it works well in pasture areas,
but i'm hoping the family will consider a composting toilet.
So far all i've got is raised eyebrows and worried looks <grin>.
Cyndi wrote:
>If I were building a house from scratch, particulary a "country" house, I
>would put in solar hot water (maybe...for smaller homes they aren't always
>cost effective) fed into an electric tankless heater
Interesting post, i can see that a solar pre-heater would be expensive
to install but would save on energy use. If energy became more expensive
the idea would be more attractive. Also, places that have sun half the
year and none in the other half might find this combination attractive.
In the summer the solar would do all the work and in the winter the
heaters would take over. A place which had full sun might be better
off going all solar. Another factor is the presence of a wind or
water power systems. These energy sources can divert their extra
energy to heat water or whatever. We use ours to heat a small
greenhouse and think this was a mistake. Heating water is a better
idea and compliments the solar heater.
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Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
