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Clovelly Eco Home - Inner City Sydney
Frequently Asked Questions on Clovelly House
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The CENTAMETER is an innovative new electronic device, which measures the electricity being used and displays the cost per hour on a portable display located inside your home or business.

Clovelly Eco Home - Inner City Sydney

Friday, March 21, 2008

Frequently Asked Questions on Clovelly House

What is the site area?

234m2 - 39m x 6m

When was the house built?

Designed commenced in 2001, construction was completed in 2004

How big is the house?

The Clovelly House is a three bedroom, two story building with a gross floor area of 163m2, excluding the void over the living area.

Where did the idea of the green wall come from?

The idea was a result of a collaboration between Kennedy Associates and our environmental engineer, Toby Gray.

The clients had asked us to provide a house that addressed key environmental issues including water management. We were looking at how to accomodate a grey water treatment system in a small inner urban lot and Toby showed us some images of some 'green walls' in Scandinavia which were not used for grey water but which offered an interesting idea.

From there the idea took off with Toby doing the science on it and Kennedy Associates designing the system including the structure and reticulation system as well as coordinating its fabrication and installation.

There are a number of proprietary 'green walls' on the market elsewhere in the world but as far as we know none of them offer 'water pollishing' of the type achieved in Clovelly.

How big is the green wall?

The green walls is 6m long, 2.1m high and 350mm wide.

How does it work?

It is basically a huge water filter. It contains three 350mm high troughs, each wih a different filtration medium, such as sand, which filters and polishes the water.

Water is pumped to the top plante and then travels by gravity through each planter till it reaches the bottom holding tank.

Where does the grey water come from?

Water for the green wall is collected from floor wastes, showers, bath and bathroom basins. It is stored in a 300 litre holding tank under the courtyard before being pumped twice a day up to the top planter in the green wall.

What is the recycled water used for?

Treated water from the green wall is stored in a 600 litre holding tank under the wall and used in a toilet flushing and the washing machine. It passes through a UV filter on its way to the house.

Is it potable? (Drinkable)

No, the water is regularly tested and easily meets te requirement set down by the NSW Health for its use, but is not potable.

Can a green wall be used in other locations?

Definately.

What happens when the owners go away?

A solar powered re-circulating pump connecting the holding tank to the top planter is used when the house is unoccupied to keep both the water fresh and the plants alive.
If, over an extended period of non use, the water in the holding tank runs out, the tank is automatically topped up with rainwater from the rainwater tanks.

Are the plants part of the system?

The plants assit in the process by absorbing the nutrients extracted from the grey water. The species found to be the most suitable include cannas and liriopes in the top planter, arum lillies in the middle planter, ferns in the bottom planter.

Are special soaps and chemicals required in the system?

There are no special controls regarding chemicals etc. The occupants use normal soaps and shampoos however, the fewer chemicals put into the system will mean the longer the filter mediums will be effective before needing to be replenished.

How frequently will the filter materials need to be replaced?

We don't kow how ofter the filter materials will need to be replenished. We anticipate it will be between 5 and 10 years.

What are the other water management systems in place in the house?

9000 litres of rainwater storage in three specially designed tanks. Excess stormwater is directed to underground absorption pits that recharge the aquifer, as against running out into the street. Each rainwater tank is nominally 2.1m high x 1800mm long x 900mm wide and holds 3000 litres.

What is the rainwater used for?

The swimming pool, showers, baths, hand basins, laundry tub, dishwasher, garden and to top up the grey water if needed.

Where is town water used?

The only direct town water connection to the house is to the kitchen sink and roof mounted hot water system plus a top-up valve should the rainwater tanks run low.

Is the rainwater potable (drinkable)?

Our analysis suggests it is but we don't use it as potable water as both Sydney Water and NSW health do not support the use of rainwater as potable water.

How much water does the pool hold?

7500L which is exclusively rainwater.

The occupants have kept continuous records of their water usage since occupying the house in 2004. At thsi stage are achieving at least an 80% reduction in town water use (even with a pool!).

That is: The occupants use less than 100 litres of town water per day and are saving approximately 115,000 liters of water per year in a two person household.

Despite the fact that Sydney has been in almost constant drought since the house was occupied it has never run out of tank water and, as I said before, the grey water system is outperforming our expectations in terms of water quality.

Did the house require special plumbing?

Yes, the house has a three pipe reticulation system all in polypropylene pipe work (rainwater, grey water and town water supplies) with almost no copper. The additional plumbing added a cost of about $2000 to the project for both the supply and waste pipe work.

Wast it easy to get builders and plumbers interested in the project?

The builders were interested, if a bit daunted. The plumbers had some difficulty with the ideas. During the project we changed the plumbers to a plumber who was committed to sustainability principle (one of the few in Sydney).

What about Sydney Water and the local council?

After some initial difficulty with Sydney Water, they were supportive, if cautious. It was after all the first time some of what we were doing had every been done. Randwick Council were very enthusiastic and helpful. The Mayor has visited the house and written about it.

Is the house difficult to maintain?

No, the whole purpose of the project was to introduce a house which made our clients lives easier not harder.

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