did forget to add our current av' daily usage with 3 adults is just
over 210 litre per day.

On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 18:45:06 +1100, "jones" wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Thanks Len,

I have your website bookmarked and will check out the homemade detergent
recipe.

I do like twin tubs. We have a top loader, a smallish one. Sometimes when
the clothes are not too dirty (but still need a wash), I put it on prewash a
few times, or leave them to soak in a dish before washing, then put them on
prewash instead of a full cycle (which does take a lot of water).

Katherine
ps - If there are only a few pieces, I do them by hand.



"len garden" wrote in message
...
g'day katherine,

we sue the water from both cycles on our gardens, but we also use a
homemade laundry detergent recipe, that the wife is wrapped in, the
recipe is on our remedies page.

also if you check on our permaculture essay page we have a pic of how
we set up 44 gallon drums to collect water and this water is then used
for clothes washing using a boat submersable and a battery booster
pack from the auto shop all up cost around $110.

we also use a twin tub washer, the only way to conserve water and most
likley power (as the pump only gets used when emptying the machine a
single time other machines would use their pump twice per load), our
machine take 90 litres a fill for both wash and rinse purposes, and we
use that fill to do 3 loads of washing (4kg machine). once you get
into a routine usinbg a twin tub isn't that much more difficult when
comapred to at least water management.

so each drum does 6 loads of clothes (2 complete washes).

and yep that's a hell of a lot of water 160 litres for a single load
of clothes, if you could use it all for say 3 loads of clothes that
would be much better (but very hard to set laundries up to do this
with auto' machines), so you water use is mainly for washing clothes
along with toilet and shower/bath.

they not only keep pushing the price up a fed gov tenent, but they
keep cutting the water allocation litreage down as well so double
jeophardy.

the sooner the bullet is bitten the better for the family often it is
left to the very last then there is an all fired panic.

On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 18:45:06 +1100, "jones" wrote
in aus.gardens:

Then you see other neighbours just wasting it, how they like.
Aaaarrrggghhhh.

Funny thing though the water bill is not much lower. I think Sydney Water
keeps bumping up the price without telling us. :-)

Katherine


If you look at your water bill you will probably find the cost of
water is the smallest part of it. $115 of my bill is a water sevice
and sewerage charge the water costs less than $40. and at $1.20 per
thousand litres any saving is marginal even though it has recently
gone up from under $1 per Kl

At that rate my 5000 litre tanks (2500 x 2) hold $6 worth of water
which makes the approx $1500 cost seem ludicrous.

I can't really save water on the garden because I never watered it
before (a brown lawn never needs mowing) but I use the water to wash
the car and our clothes. From a purely financial point of view water
tanks make no sense at all however from a moral and environmental
standpoint...


Regards
Prickles

Timendi causa est nescire
This message only uses recycled electrons

Since you put it that way about not saving much, you are right most of it is
not for water used, but their charges etc.

Water tanks are too expensive for most people to get, and I agree the small
rebate doesn't make you want to run to buy one.

Katherine


"Spiny Norman" wrote in message

If you look at your water bill you will probably find the cost of
water is the smallest part of it. $115 of my bill is a water sevice
and sewerage charge the water costs less than $40. and at $1.20 per
thousand litres any saving is marginal even though it has recently
gone up from under $1 per Kl

At that rate my 5000 litre tanks (2500 x 2) hold $6 worth of water
which makes the approx $1500 cost seem ludicrous.
From a purely financial point of view water
tanks make no sense at all however from a moral and environmental
standpoint...