Rainwater Harvesting?

Silver Bullet · 16-06-2014 1:29pm #1

Hi folks,

Does anyone know of a Dublin/ Leinster based company that sells & installs simple rainwater harvesting systems?

I saw one company advertising on Gumtree a while ago but no sign of them now? it was advertised as a business opportunity?

If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Wearb · 16-06-2014 1:38pm

http://www.carlowprecast.com/index.php

Perhaps these can help, or at least point you in the right direction. They do advertise rainwater harvesting on a hoarding.

Giving it holly · 22-06-2014 4:40pm

How big a system you looking to put in? How much are you willing to spend? I know a guy down south who installs simple systems for a fair price.

Silver Bullet · 23-06-2014 9:14am

Hi There,

Rainwater collection for a three bed house so water butts with taps, butt stands, and whatever other possibilities that can be harnessed over time i.e pumping back into house for toilets etc
It was a business opportunity that I saw advertised and can't find the details now, can't believe it's this hard to find a guy who was advertising on the net and when i want to have a look it's gone. Anyway if you have that chaps contact details that your talking about
he may be of help.

Thanks

Sleeper12 · 23-06-2014 12:14pm

Silver Bullet wrote: »

Hi There,

Rainwater collection for a three bed house so water butts with taps, butt stands, and whatever other possibilities that can be harnessed over time i.e pumping back into house for toilets etc
It was a business opportunity that I saw advertised and can't find the details now, can't believe it's this hard to find a guy who was advertising on the net and when i want to have a look it's gone. Anyway if you have that chaps contact details that your talking about
he may be of help.

Thanks

Anyone who installs rainwater harvesting systems for a living will tell you that the average house needs 5000 litre storage.

A few water butts here & there are ok for watering the flowers put useless for flushing toilets etc.

You need to think a lot bigger for it to be worth your while.

Any trade counter for plumbers will have or can order in anything to do with rainwater harvesting. Chadwick, heatmerchants etc

murphaph · 24-06-2014 11:51am

These large 5000L type cisterns are quite popular in Germany (I guess water is expensive here). They are usually buried in the garden to save space and help keep the water cool so bacteria don't thrive in it. With enough capacity you can substitute 50% pf your water needs with rainwater (toilets, garden, washing machine all obvious uses). Just no good (without filtration and treatment) for washing or drinking.

North West · 13-09-2014 11:38pm

Hi Silver Bullet.
There are many different applications you can use harvested water for. The general public ( through no fault of their own ) have any concept of the water they use in general in the home both internal and exyernal.
what you need to do is sit down write out exactly what you want to do with the water - - eg. external gardens,cars etc. In house toilets,washing machine etc. I can they do a calculation for you based on what you want to use the water for.
NW

North West · 13-09-2014 11:40pm

Tank sizing see attachment.

S.O · 19-09-2014 4:55am

I rang up a few different companies that supply rainwater harvesting systems prices vary from company to company; most rainwater harvesting systems are only suitable for toilets and watering the garden only- to use rainwater for other purposes in the house showering etc require special UV filters which are costly, I called into a company a while ago to enquire in person about the whole rainwater harvesting set up, one key thing about rainwater storage I learnt about to bear in mind if you purchase a big tank for rainwater collection and there is unused left over rainwater in the tank for over a 7 day period the water in the tank goes stagnant.

North West · 30-09-2014 6:36pm

Hi SO
A rainwater harvesting system has to be sized properly for each house. No two houses will be similiar. The standard the tanks are sized two is related to a BS8515, which takes a lot of stuff into consideration to size tank to a proper size. Google BS8515 if you require more information. It's not as simple as ordering a tank. A tank size may not always be your choice depending on survey of your property. This will enable the supplier to properly size your system.

NW

tommer · 02-10-2014 9:35am

Check out sturdy tanks in blessington co wicklow they do r/w harvest system

North West · 02-10-2014 10:09pm

Hi Tommer
The Sturdy is a nice little system. Would suit 1 to 2 person household, with no allowance for outside use. A 1 person household would use approx 10,192 Litres of water just flushing the toilets yearly and approx 6,240 Litres of water using a washing machine twice a week. hard to believe the total water usage just to flush toilets and a washing machine twice a week would add up to 16,432 Litres of water. This figure does not take into consideration any external use like watering garden plants/washing the car etc
NW

tommer · 03-10-2014 9:18am

North West wrote: »

Hi Tommer
The Sturdy is a nice little system. Would suit 1 to 2 person household, with no allowance for outside use. A 1 person household would use approx 10,192 Litres of water just flushing the toilets yearly and approx 6,240 Litres of water using a washing machine twice a week. hard to believe the total water usage just to flush toilets and a washing machine twice a week would add up to 16,432 Litres of water. This figure does not take into consideration any external use like watering garden plants/washing the car etc
NW

Would you need a filter from water butt to a washing machine

Markcheese · 03-10-2014 11:11am

tommer wrote: »

Would you need a filter from water butt to a washing machine

Well a simple one wouldn't hurt !! You might need a pump , and you'd need to know there was enough water in the butt ...
When I was in Australia, a farmer I knew used to put a tiny bit of bleach in the tank ,after it rained ... And someone on the farming slot recently suggested adding lime to the tank to keep it sweet..

lgk · 03-10-2014 3:10pm

tommer wrote: »

Would you need a filter from water butt to a washing machine

Yes, you will. A lot of grit, bird excrement, etc. gets washed off your roofs with rain. The water will also need to be stored at a height to give sufficient hydrostatic head to meet the minimum pressure needs of your washing machine. So in a lot of cases, a raised tank, pump and pressure switch will be required, along with a means of topping up the raised tank when there isn't sufficient rainfall to meet demands.

The guy from Sturdy tanks was on the news during the week and said the cost of water delivered from rain water harvesting systems currently on the market was still starting out at over €5 a cubic metre, so more expensive than current Irish Water charges.

North West · 03-10-2014 8:19pm

Hi Tommer
What size is your water butt ?. Washing machine will use approx 60 Ltr per cycle. A 200 ltr butt will only give you 3 washes. You will need to filter 5 micron to clean the the water and a pump. Most machines need 0.4 bar to open the solinoid valve in machine to meet the demand needs through the cycle. If your going putting in pump, put in a pressure vessel . Then the machine will empty the vessel first then pump will turn on and fill pressure vessel again, Helps burn out on pump it wont be on / off every time you use machine
NW

18-10-2014 10:22pm

That's great Pete42, however it is 'big bucks' which results in a long payback time.
Do you work for them ?

Rainwater Harvesting?

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