Tiny House Plumbing System: Build It Yourself

The main idea of living in a Tiny House is having Independency, in every way. When contemplating staying in a tiny home, it is perhaps one of the things people are most worried about. There is one wide field where your small house is going to be somewhat different from a typical house. Plumbing, particularly when you have zero construction experience, is one of the scariest aspects of any house. 

But, plumbing in a small house is not as difficult as other people think. The materials are for the most part, very similar to those you will see in the RV industry and conventional housing. How those things line up is largely based on how you work. 

For starters, if you know you’ve made a mistake and you need the sink a little farther down, you can just snip the tubing, put a coupler in and shift it to where you want it. 

If you find out your needs, then plumbing in a tiny home is easy. We’ll discuss all plumbing systems for small homes through the article, stay tuned;

Building your Tiny House Plumbing System Yourself

Through the article, we will take you through some essential and individual steps. This will not take much of your time if you read through them carefully. All these steps are recommended by experienced tint homeowners, designers, and engineers. 

There are several small house plumbing options available, with both on and off-grid systems that are easy to set up and manage. To interpret this article right, you would need to study the following terms: off-grid on-grid, freshwater, gray water, and black water. Don’t worry, we’ve identified all of them. 

Keep reading to know the fundamentals of a tiny house plumbing, and how to design one for your own home.

Terms and facts you need to know

• Freshwater

The freshwater tank holds the clean water you’re going to have in your tiny home. This is usually the biggest tank in your tiny home and is built to have ample fresh water for at least one week of use. 

Freshwater tanks are designed to carry the water you’re drinking and use for washing, such as dishes and bathing. On average Americans use 80 to 100 gallons of water a day per person. If you live in a small house, you’re going to need to limit it to between 5 and 15 gallons. 

Apart from RVs, a freshwater tank will not fit automatically in your small house; you can select a tank that best suits your household. Learn how much the house consumes an average day before purchasing a tank. In a central position, place your water tank so that it is accessible to the toilet, shower, and sink when you hook it up.

• Greywater

The grey water tank contains dirty water, excluding human waste, from washing and showering. If you can empty it regularly, you do not have to purchase a large gray water tank. A tank of 35 to 100 gallons is sufficient for one to three persons. 

One of two tanks holding wastewater is the Greywater Tanks. Greywater is every type of wastewater without human waste. Think of the dishwater, the water in the shower, and all the drain that isn’t a toilet. 

You can either choose a standard freshwater tank or a black wastewater tank when shopping for a tank that holds greywater. Because in greywater there are no pathogens, any tank type is going to do so. Portable tanks are also available; they can often be stored while parked under your small house. 

It is all right to allow greywater to return to the environment as long when you are bathing or cleaning with biodegradable products.

• Black Water

In contrast to grievous tanks, in official dumping areas blackwater has to be dumped. Black tanks contain human waste. The black tank is typically the smallest of the three in RV standards. Local services are also available if you don’t want your black tank to handle it. 

A tank of no more than 30 gallons is recommended. This would allow you to empty it more regularly and alleviate any leaks or pollution problems. You don’t need to make it as big as your freshwater tank when you scale a blackwater tank. Just a small part of the water you use can go into the toilet during the day. 

Most RV and small home dwellers’ favorite task is to empty a blackwater tank. Flush your black water first when emptying your black and gray tanks. Then drain the greywater out and wash the excess black water out of it. You should swap out your normal toilet if you don’t want to empty your black tank.

• On-Grid Or Off-Grid
• On-grid: Your tiny house’s plumbing system will depend on your lifestyle. If you’re living on-grid, your plumbing would look similar to the set-up you see in traditional homes. Meaning you are connected to a supply line either from the city or an RV park. 

You can use permanent connections plumbed directly into the system. This only applies to the foundation built tiny homes. The wastewater disposal, in this case, is via a city sewer system. Also, depending on your locale, it could be a septic system.

In grid-connected plumbing, you can make use of permanent connections that are plumbed directly into the grid system. Take note this is mostly done when a tiny house is foundation-built.

• Off-Grid: The most stability is offered by an off-grid water infrastructure. You should create a flush toilet for quick urban sewer connectivity to keep your THOW safe for the future. If you want a small house on wheels, you can build a plumbing device like an RV. You would need an off-grid water supply if you intend to take your small house with you. The vast majority of smaller dwellers depend on RV systems that have been planned and proven. 

Many of the households without a grid (that means no supply lines are connected) rely on portable water and waste storage tanks but we also advise to get households. Best is a hybrid system than an off-grid system alone. That it helps you to use plumbing facilities while in a campground or RV park.

Build the System Yourself

Now let’s get down with the steps that will help you to build the Plumbing System all by Yourself.

• Manage the Pipes

PEX tubing is the perfect option for a small house. The lightweight construction material used in plumbing applications is PEX tubing, short for cross-linked polyethylene. 

It weighs less than copper pipes and is easier for a DIY constructor to deal with. Freezing conditions can be treated much more safely and removed and fixed fast and effectively. Most notably, PEX tubing costs much lower than metal piping for small residents on a budget.

• Water Filtration System

It is better to outfit your small house with a reliable filter system, since the standards of water and camper water are not similar in city filtration. 

• Inline Water filter:  You should put on your freshwater pants inline filters. This water filter provides another line of protection against debris and harsh minerals if your small house already has filtration systems in place (ex.: when you have filters on your faucet). It is simple and incredibly cheap to use. 
• Canister Water filter:  Filters are convenient for travelers full time. Two kinds of boxes are available: regular boxes, which can already be tailored for you, or larger boxes with a filter system. To delete sediment and fix taste and scent problems we consider using a two-canner water filter system. 

We suggest the use of CBC-KDF filtering canisters, avoiding the growth of bacteria even though water is stagnant.

• Drainage System

Make sure your fittings are secure around the drain before emptying your gray and black water tanks. You will empty the gray and black tank with the same shaft. You link your small home with the septic system that is accessible. You hook up the gray and black water tanks while you’re off the grid. 

Greywater is more tolerant because it may sometimes be vacated on the field, via a French irrigation scheme, or by a sewage hookup. Blackwater must be discharged at designated disposal stations, on the other side. We recommend that you click the deposit end of the RV pad before emptying them. 

That’s basically to stop it from being unloaded when the trousers expel the garbage. Do not make the mistake to leave your drainage tube outdoors in the winter; the waste can freeze and congeal, making cleaning difficult.

• Inlet System

The inlet is just the opposite of the drain. When filling in your inlet, it is advised to use a pressure regulator to regulate pressure. This is to receive pressurized water that is directly circulated in the installations. 

We heard reports of water supply ruptures due to high water load. With a valve, you can monitor the water supply better and protect the plumbing structure from unnecessary leaks. 

Many small homes have only one inlet and valves to regulate the temperature.

• Toilet System

The small house owners on the road could have a few issues going to the toilet. 

There are two waterless choices to choose from when blackwater tanks and the standard toilets are like too much effort. 

• Composting:  Perhaps the perfect solution to a splashing toilet is the composite toilet. It’s great for off-grid life when your black water tank doesn’t have to keep wondering. Composting toilets can quickly disassemble and easily manage waste without needing to use chemicals or water. You should build a mound of compost in your field and drain it so that you can extract your waste safely. 
• Incinerating:  The toilet is a top-of-the-range choice for small homes. There is no sewage or blackwater to think about, as is the composting toilet. When you flush, the waste falls into the combustion chamber and turns into ash automatically. For decades in isolated cabins, incinerators have been used. The only negative is that the incineration of toilets ($3,000 to 4,000) may be costly, but it is worth it if you don’t want to do something. Essentially it is not appropriate to clean up.
• Water Heater

It doesn’t just say that you have to give up hot water when you are in a tiny house. Like every other home, the same small houses are fitted to heat their water. The electric or propane/gas heating system is a common alternative for two. You have to prepared for the winter.

For grounded small houses, electric heating is always the alternative. Or those with access to enough control in long-term parking scenarios. During propane tankless heating the alternative is for those who prefer to live off-grid or on the lane. Furthermore, this plumbing set-up is simpler to manage and easier to replace while traveling.

• Build Rainwater Catchment 

A rainwater catchment system is one of the better ways to boost your small home off-grid power. The roof of your house is used as it rains to turn water into a holding tank. Of course, you do need to clean this water, but the time you will remain away from society stretches tremendously. 

All the water you need in places with decent rainfall is easy to get. What is remarkable is how easy it is to get a rainwater catch. You might have drains on your roof already. You just have to put a rain barrel under one barrel to absorb the rain.

Some important FAQs

Here we present, some mostly asked questions by many tiny homes to be users. We hope these will come in handy;

• Plumbing Mechanism?

Small homeowners frequently prefer the water tank in the kitchen cabinets. This is your spot to store your water. You fill the tank with an RV shaft attached to your water source or with a jug of water in your water tank.

• Plumbing used in a tiny house?

Plumbing Tiny House Isn’t Complicated. There are various material choices for plumbing your small house, including Pex, copper, CPVC. We recommend that you adhere to CVPC since you can work with it quickly.

• Water used by Tiny House?

In a small house owner, it is potentially possible to use about 3 gallons a day. Drinking water is not included. By installing a dry composting toilet we have improved most of our water intake as proposed.

• Can kitchen and bathroom pipes connect?

Your sink and toilet have separate drain pipes, but they both connect to a single sewer pipe.

Final Words

More people tend to join the small house trend by constructing a small house of their own. The campaign started as an instrument for encouraging people to sustain a healthier environment by limiting their households to less waste and less energy. One significant explanation is that more than half the small households show more savings than the average US. The saved money will lead to substantial improvements in life quality. 

Naturally, it has its struggles to survive in a small house. First of all how the plumbing system should be developed and managed. We listed in our article what you need to know about portable, grid-connected plumbing systems and off-grid plumbing systems.

Go through it and we hope, it will the guide that will help you the most.