Building an expedition vehicle: Kitchen – Part 2

Plumbing in kitchen, Expedition camper

How did we solve the grey water issue in the kitchen? 

 

No grey water tank

Early on we decided not to install a grey water tank underneath the camper.

Not only would this be complicated to install and take up valuable space and money, the tank would also need to be insulated or even heated to prevent the water from freezing in colder climates.

 

Grey water canister

Instead we modified one of our 22l water canisters to collect the  grey water directly underneath the kitchen sink. Our kitchen sink came with a siphon that was very unpractical and didn’t really allow for any (easy) modification. So we replaced it by a simple 40mm black hose we found, like all the other pipes, in the local DIY-store. The result of this project is that we have an easy and cheap grey water collecting system (see also picture above).

Tip: Important to use a hose with a smooth surface on the inside!

Update after 1 year of use: Turns out not installing a grey water tank was a good idea! We rarely use the canister. So if you still have a smaller one than ours in your garage, that one will suffice.

The added bonus of using a regular sink (see part 1) is that you can use wider hoses and pipes, and thus decreasing the chance of them ever getting clogged (which is a more common problem with the traditional caravan/camper sinks) .

Go green

Most often we camp in the wild. So we added the option to collect the “grey” water outside in a bucket or let it run freely .

A lot of the water that we dispose in the kitchen doesn’t contain any harsh products (e.g., rinsing out a cup). But when using soap (washing our hands or dishes) we use only biodegradable soaps.

Be aware!  Biodegradable soap in concentrated form can still be harmful to nature. So be kind and make sure the soap is diluted with enough water, don’t dispose it close to a lake or river, and spread it out instead of dumping it in one spot.

 

Do you have any more tips about what to do with grey water?

 


Join our family & Subscribe to our newsletter

In this newsletter  - max. 1x/month - you will discover what we're up to, tips & tricks, highlights from our travels, new interesting products and tools, ...  We will never sell your information to third parties & you can always delete your information from our list. (Read more in our disclaimer.)

4 thoughts on “Building an expedition vehicle: Kitchen – Part 2
    1. We don’t collect it 🙂 if we are on campsites we use their showers anyway.

Comments are closed.