Another great diy project from instructables.com by member hpstoutharrow. If you plan on working on this project, check out the original article for comments to improvise your design, and additional pictures to help you visually. Below are step-by-step instructions and a quick video showing the setup process, build and sink in action.

While this new wash station can’t make campers wash their hands, it can make it easier, and prevent a soaking; all while conserving water.

Pumping water, even with a foot pump, requires effort so you know water use will be kept to a bare minimum…letting gravity spill it on the ground is easy… and fast!

The same 5 gallons now lasts all day even with everyone washing their hands for meals.

Intro: Field Sink

Bring running water to remote locations with this foot pump operated wash station. Perfect for camp or the patio. Ideal for campfire or BBQ grill-side food prep clean-up.
Ready for a duch oven or BBQ outdoor cook competition yet miles from running water? Our scout troop uses this Hand Washing Station to clean up before, and during meal food prep.

Even if you are just grilling on the back deck, use this set-up grill-side to keep from from running into the house for a quick rinse every time sauce is slopped.  And if its a party…just watch guests try to open a screen door with sticky BBQ covered hands. This pump is made to be operated with a foot…can’t say the same for a sliding screen door!

This is ideal for an outdoor group washing-up before meals. Especially when cooking at camp, it would be nice for the cooks to easily clean-up while preparing food with a more traditional sink with running water to promote:

Safe Food Handling Practices

- No Faucet Handle to turn  ON and OFF with Dirty Hands.

- Its easy (and fun) to use…so it gets used!  (apparently its cool to squirt water with a foot pump)

- There’s room for a soap dispenser right there on the table (up off the ground).

It also helps with:

Water Conservation

- The on-demand pump system uses a lot less water (compared to letting gravity spill it from a water jug spigot.

How it works:
A foot pump transfers clean water from the lower bucket up and out the spout for hand washing. The wash water is collected a basin and drained and stored in a gray water bucket receptacle.

When all the fresh water has been transfered to the in the gray water bucket, the gray water is emptied into the fire ring to douse the campfire

The video shows the set-up, convenient “all-in-the-bucket” storage, and the Hand Washing Station in action.

Step 1: Materials

The central components of this project are 5 gallon buckets with lids and a marine (outboard motor) fuel primer squeeze bulb and hose assy.

The Squeeze Bulb is the pump
that moves the water from the Fresh Water Bucket
up to the Spout and out,
collected and funneled by the Basin
into the Gray Water Bucket
the rest is just plumbing and support

Major Components
(3) 5 gallon utility buckets
(2) 5 gallon bucket lids
Marine fuel primer bulb and hose assy
3/8″ brass fittings
Rubber O-ring
3/8″ tubing
various 1″ and 1/2″ plumbing pipe sections and fittings
Automotive steel fuel/brake line
Door hinge
Scrap wood

Step 2: Fresh Water Bucket

Drill a 3/8″ diameter hole about 1″ from the bottom of what will be the Fresh Water Bucket.

1. From the inside of the bucket, feed the male end of a 3/8″ 90 degree brass fitting though the hole in the bucket.

(Place an O-ring on the inside of the bucket at the base of the 90 degree fitting before pushing it though the bucket wall (Photo 2).  When the fittings are tightened the O-ring will seal the hole in the bucket.)

2. From the outside of the bucket, thread on a female 3/8″ barbed hose fitting.

3. Thread a second male barbed hose fitting into the 90 degree fitting inside the bucket. (Photo 3)

4. Angle the open end of the barbed fitting downward until it touches the bottom of the bucket. (photo 3) This will help to pull water from the very bottom of the bucket allowing it to almost completely empty the bucket before it needs refilling.

Alternate Construction Note: If you don’t want to add a hole to a perfectly good bucket to dedicate it to this project, you may be able to cut a hole in the fresh water bucket lid at the very outer edge and snake the hose down into the bucket (make sure the buckets will still stack).  This should also work, and eliminate the need for the brass hose fittings (less $) but, the hose may curl and not stay submerged especially because the hose will be coming out of the top of the bucket and will have to travel down to the pump on the ground.

Step 3: Basin

The Basin is a nice finishing touch.  It is not entirely necessary but it serves a few purposes.

Number one…it is a lid for the Grey Water Bucket. It keeps you from staring at bucket of dirty, soapy water from the last guy, while you wash your hands.  It also keeps that same dirty, used water from splashing back up on your clean hands while your are washing.

The Basin also allows hands to be washed inside the basin’s high side walls – keeping the falling spout water from splashing off your hands onto your pants.

Because the Basin sits almost entirely above the grey water bucket it does not compromise the storage capacity of the gray water bucket. This means that the gray water bucket does not need to be emptied until the fresh water bucket is exhausted and ready to be refilled.

Hand washing could be done directly over an open Gray Water Bucket without the Basin but, as it fills; imagine trying to wash-up with water splashing into a nearly full bucket of used water.

A similar commercial product (Wishy Washy) selling for $90 (buckets not included, shipping extra) is set up with an open gray water bucket.
The addition of the basin shown here and the provisions for stacking the two buckets to bring hand washing to counter height, improves on the comercial product and go a long way to make the system more practical than splashing water from a waist high spout into a open bucket of gray water on the ground.

By the way, the material to make the system shown here did not cost anywhere near $90..nor even Half that!   And both systems use similar Marine Outboard fuel primer squeeze bulb and hose assemblies that cost around $15-20. (or buy cheaper hardware hose (Chemical resistant hose is not necessary with water) and the squeeze bulb with check valve is around $12 by itself).  Another $15 for plumbing, tubing & fittings; throw in some scrap wood and it will land far less than $90!

Step 4: Basin Construction – The Bottom

The Basin is constructed from the the upper portion of a third bucket and a bucket lid.

Removing the Outer Rim of a lid creates the Trimmed Lid which will be the bottom of the Basin.

1. Remove the rubber seal from the underside of a bucket lid.

2. Cut along the bottom of the trench that the seal was in. (dotted path in Photo 2)
Cut all the way around the lid to remove the Outer Rim. (Photo 2 & 3 shows where to cut)

3. After cutting off the Outer Rim, clean-up the outer diameter of the lid by trimming any excess material so that the outer diameter of the lid is flush with the Upstanding Rib Wall.

When complete the overall lid diameter should not extend beyond the Upstanding Rib Wall.

Note: In the completed basin photos in step 5, notice that the bottom of the basin is concave.  To achieve this “bowl shape”,  the lid was heated in the oven at about 275 degrees F for about 15 minutes to soften the plastic.  While hot, it was worked over the bottom of a large glass mixing bowl to impart the concave shape.  The removal of the Outer Rim was done after this forming.

“Stretching” the lid to form this shape is not necessary, and was in fact, the most difficult part of the process.  (handling hot plastic while stretching and keeping it from buckeling and over-thinning is not so easy).  Well worth the effort thought…It gives it a true sink look and better funnels the water to the center drain…much better than a flat lid basin bottom.

Step 5: Basin Construction (cont.) – Join the Side Wall & Bottom

The Basin is just a shorter bucket with a center drain hole, that sits inside the top of the Gray Water Bucket.
The Trimmed Lid from the previous step, added as a bottom to the cut off top portion of another bucket, creates a shortened bucket Basin.

1. Cut-off the top rim portion of a third bucket.  The cut should be about 3/4 of an inch below the last flange on the bucket.  When cut, the removed upper portion of a bucket forms the Basin Side Wall.

2. Fit the the Trimmed Lid from step 4 into the Basin Side Wall.

3. From the underside of the Basin Side Wall, make sure the Upstanding Rib Wall on the Trimmed Lid is flush with the bottom of the Basin Side Wall. (photo 2)

4. Drill (4) 1/8 inch diameter holes through the Upstanding Rib Wall on the Trimmed Lid and the Basin Side Wall. Drill the holes at North, South, East, West)

5. Use Aluminum pop-rivets (with washer) to secure these two components through the four drilled holes.

Note the interface between the Trimmed Lid and the Basin Side Wall does not have to be a full waterproof seal.  Because the finished Basin will fit inside the Gray Water Bucket, any water that seeps through at this joint will drip into the Gray Water Bucket.

Step 6: Foot Pump

The pump is made from a marine (outboard motor) fuel line primer squeeze bulb.  The hose and bulb (with integral check valve) was purchased as an assembly from a sporting good / hardware store that sells marine supplies for outboard motors.

The pedal assembly was made from scrap wood, a door hinge, wood dowels, and a foam rubber toy ball.

The dowels (glued into holes in the wood base) allow the bulb to move up and down freely when pumped. The open top of the dowels make for easy installation and removal of the bulb for storage.

The foam rubber ball prevents damage to the rubber squeeze bulb.
The ball was cut in half and epoxied into a recess on the underside of the pedal.  The recess was cut with a hole saw drill bit and then the material inside the hole saw cut was chiseled out.

Step 7: Support Table

The Support Table serves a few purposes.  The wider stance of the table provides stability for the two buckets.  A nearly filled Gray Water Bucket stacked on top of a nearly empty Clean Water Bucket can be a bit of a top heavy tip hazard on uneven ground.

The table also holds the Clean Water Bucket a few inches off the ground.  This reduces the impact to ground cover when compared to a a bucket sitting directly on the ground for an extended period of camping.

The table is also a place for a bottle of pump soap and a wrist watch removed for hand washing.

Step 8: Spout Riser

The main purpose of the Support Table is to attach the Spout Riser.  The Spout Riser is a combination of 1″ dia. and 1/2″ dia. galvanized pipe sections threaded together and attached to theSupport Table.

The galvanized pipes that make up the Spout Riser threads into a plumbing mounting flange attached to the table.

Step 9: Spout

The Spout is formed from an automotive steel fuel/brake line.  (purchased as a generic 4′ section at the local auto supply store)

1. Bend it into a 180 degree cane shape.
The diameter of the bend should be 1/2 diameter of the bucket.  This will position the Spout nozzle over the hole in the bottom of the Basin.

Note: The flared end of the brake line adds a finished look to the open “Nozzle” end of the Spout.

2. Slide a 2″ section of clear hardware tubing onto the other end of the Spout.

3. Slide a 1/2″ to 3/8″ galvanized reducer fitting on the Spout.

4. Then slide about a 24″ length of tubing onto the Spout.
The reducer fitting will be trapped in location on the Spout by the two sections of tubing; yet free to spin and thread onto the Spout Riser.

Note: The contact area of several inches of tubing “sleeved” over the bottom edn of the Spout, and the low pressures involved, means a clamp is not required to retain the tubing or to prevent leaks at this joint.

5. Feed the Spout, and Tubing Assembly down through the Spout Riser pipes and thread the reducer fitting onto the top of the 1/2″ Spout Riser Pipe.

Ignore the wine cork shown in the photos it is remenents of an earlier spout locating scheme.

Step 10: Connect the Pump

After feeding the Spout and Tubing  through the Spout Riser pipes connect the clear tubing to the tubing attached to the squeeze bulb pump. (or it could connect directly to the squeeze bulb but because I bought the bulb and hose as an assembly I wanted to leave the factory clamps in place)

The reason there are two sections of tubing is so that the unit can be disassembled for storage.  The upper clear tubing remains attached to the Spout as a friction fit.  There is no room for a clamp inside the smaller diameter upper Spout Riser pipe so the servicable connection is made under the Support Table.

Step 11: Ready for Clean-up

Now that this handy wash station is assembled its time to clean-up.

Fill the lower Fresh Water Bucket with… you guessed it…fresh water.  Put a lid on the Fresh Water Bucket place the Gray Water Bucket on top and cover it up with the Basin.  Start pumping.

Health Note: One of the scouts suggested this would be a good “bug juice” (Lemonade) dispenser.  Sounds cool except, the Marine grade chemical resistant primer bulb specifically indicates it is not food grade safe. Water for hand washing should be fine…prolonged contact with ingestible liquids - not good.

Step 12: Storage

Note: Each of the components - Pump, Pedal, two sections of Spout Riser pipes and the Spout and Tubing Assembly are sized to fit within the height of the bucket for storage.

- Everything is stored inside the Gray Water Bucket.
- This bucket fits inside the Fresh Water Bucket
(The brass fittings in the Fresh Water Bucket are mounted low enough that they do not prevent the buckets from nesting fully together.)
- The Basin fits inside the top of the Gray Water Bucket
(the 1/2″ pipe portion of the Spout Riser fits through the drain hole in the Basin)
The Fresh Water Lid fits on top of the Basin to close everything up.

The Wabi Sabi Baby blog has posted a list of housecleaning products and methods that minimize use of materials, harmful chemicals, and expense. The list is broken down by room, and provides both “recipes” and techniques.

For me, mix-at-home cleaners are all about using the least number of products and ingredients, whether it’s synthetic, natural, or somewhere in between. I do not use natural soap, lemon juice, cream of tartar, club soda, or many food stuffs that you might come across in ‘natural’ or ‘green’ cleaning recipes. Oftentimes, you can usually find a much cheaper and debatably ‘greener’ alternative to the natural cleaners. [...]

I don’t use the typical ingredients in mainstream homemade ‘green’ cleaners. Hence, I’ll call these the Minimalist’s housecleaning recipes; I clean my entire house regularly with just 6 basic products/ingredients:

• liquid non-chlorine laundry detergent free of dyes and fragrance
• handwashing dish liquid
• borax
• baking soda
• regular distilled white vinegar solution – 5% acetic acid concentration
• water!

Check out the full post for details on using and combining these materials to complete just about every household cleaning task, for example:

Coffee maker: Pour equal parts vinegar and water into reservoir. Brew. Turn off and let cool, about 30 minutes. Discard vinegar water solution or repurpose (i.e. soak anything that needs mineral build-up removed). Brew a couple more times with plain water.

Bathtub: Sprinkle lightly with borax. Squirt liquid detergent onto damp no-scratch scour pad. Clean basin first, adding water as needed. Then, use the scour pad now soaked with detergent and borax to clean the walls. Rinse off with water.

(post photo by el_finco on flickr)

Whether for camping, emergencies, or the Third World, this man’s invention is something to think about.

A Swedish entrepreneur is trying to market and sell a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world.

Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.

The bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm.

“Not only is it sanitary,” said Mr. Wilhelmson, who has patented the bag, “they can reuse this to grow crops.”

The product site can be found at peepoople.com.

Today, every toilet company touts its latest innovations to overcome the problem [of low-flow toilets]. There are high-pressure blasters that run off electricity, designed to force a paltry 1.6 gallons of water through fast enough to make the difference. They are shockingly loud and scary. There are new shapes of tanks and new flow mechanisms that are said to compensate for the calamity, but this works only some of the time.

Each of these innovations is patented — meaning that a successful project cannot be copied and improved by other companies. So even if these are improvements, their distribution is limited and the successful aspects of them are not extended by others, for fear of patent lawsuits. The entire market is hobbled.

The result is an entire society of poorly working toilets and a life of adjustment to the omnipresence of human feces, all in a short 15 years. Thanks so much, Congress!

The article, while somewhat humorous, is actually a down-an-dirty illustration of just how far the government reaches into people’s most private affairs. Next they’ll be telling us with whom and how we’re allowed to have sex –– oh, wait…

If you prefer your toilets to be functional, here are some ways you can ditch that measly 1.6 gallon flush:

Get a Composting Toilet (dual benefit there)
Buy a Used 3.5 Gallon Toilet on eBay (if you’re into that)
Rig It With a Modified Flapper Valve (clever, very clever)