rain water collection?

YourSQL

with impending water charges what would be the done thing for collecting rain water and using it in the house? is there a special tank one needs to buy to replace the one in the attic so it only uses the mains water when no rain water is available?

are there pre-made kits with pumps and sensors that will move the water into the tank available yet?

Macha

There are different categories of water and what it can be used for.

Greywater (including collected rainwater) can be used for activites, including watering plants and flushing toilets.

Dublin City Council shows a water butt that can be bought for €40.

Pete M.

There are a lot of options out there already.
Including it in a new build is easy peasy, but is a bit more complicated when retrofitting.

I have a 10,000L approx underground tank outside that collects all the rain fall from the roof and a pump in this tank pumps it up to a seperate header tank in my attic and then this distributes to the toilets, washing machine etc.

I can also switch over very easily to use all RW or all mains depending on the circumstances.

The simpler options like water butts and putting a brick in your cistern are the first things to consider though.

Cunsiderthis

We had a large tank in a roospace in a previous house which was rainwater which was diverted into the roof. We used the water for flushing loos and showers baths, and the advantage of keeping it at roof height was that we didn't have to use electricity to pump it!

Oldtree

How was the water diverted from the gutters? was the roofspace below the guttering?

superelectric

Pete M. wrote: »

I have a 10,000L approx underground tank outside that collects all the rain fall from the roof and a pump in this tank pumps it up to a seperate header tank in my attic and then this distributes to the toilets, washing machine etc.

I'm considering getting a 10,000 litre tank under my back garden from a company called Rainman. Unfortunately I've no side entrance to get a mini digger in so I have to dig a 2.5m hole by hand. Rainman supplies the tank and pump for €3,500 then it's up to me to find a plumber to connect it all up. Did you have any problems with the installation?

Pete M.

If you can't get a mini digger into where you are putting it, then how are they going to drop the tank in?
The lorry will have to drop it into the pretty substantial hole using a special frame and would have to get rather close. There's a fair length of an arm on the hi-ab, but you'd want to check that with them.
It'll be some craic digging the hole though. Make sure that it's definitely big enough. That was my only problem. Had to dig out a bleedin massive rock out of the side of the hole when they came and it took a while, but the lads were sound about it, fair play to them.

It only stuck out about 4 inches, but when we went pulling at it, it was the size of a, hmmm, I dunno, just over half a sheep, don't know what that is in metric

Hope you like digging and there ain't too many rocks. I had to get a jcb to dig mine, a mini digger wouldn't have the reach down to do it anyway.

Del2005

superelectric wrote: »

I'm considering getting a 10,000 litre tank under my back garden from a company called Rainman. Unfortunately I've no side entrance to get a mini digger in so I have to dig a 2.5m hole by hand. Rainman supplies the tank and pump for €3,500 then it's up to me to find a plumber to connect it all up. Did you have any problems with the installation?

Some mini diggers have rubber tracks that can be moved in so that it can get though doorways or other tight places. Call a few rental places they may one. You'll need to lay some plywood down on you floors though.

You'd need to hire a crane to get a 10kl tank in.

That'll get expansive fairly quickly. You could properly run your taps 24/7 for a few years and still not cost as much as this install.

superelectric

Rainman supplies the crane so the tank can be dropped over the back wall, as for the hole, well I've been given a few tips from a grave digger which was great but there's still no getting out of digging the hole by hand. It shouldn't take too long, it's only 10 foot square... (I feel sick just thinking about it).

Del2005

superelectric wrote: »

Rainman supplies the crane so the tank can be dropped over the back wall, as for the hole, well I've been given a few tips from a grave digger which was great but there's still no getting out of digging the hole by hand. It shouldn't take too long, it's only 10 foot square... (I feel sick just thinking about it).

Call around your local hire companies. They will have diggers that will fit through doors.

H2OConsult

There are lots of rainwater harvesting systems available on the market suitable for a private household.

The majority of the suppliers in Ireland do not recommend harvested rainwater to be used for drinking or bathing, without further filtration and UV treatment, which can be expensive to buy, run and maintain.

The size of the tank depends on either the non-potable use or the amount the annual rainfall for the area of the country you live in. The size of the tank, if too large, the water can become stagnant, without a constant through flush of "fresh" rainwater.

Domestic water charging will come in within the next 12 to 18months, the cost to the domestic user is not yet known, but if you look at the non-domestic sector, the costs are anything from €2.20 to €2.50 per 1,000 litres, depending on the area of the country.

An "average" person uses 150litres per day. for a 4-person house and assuming that the water charge is €2.40 per 1,000litres the cost would be approximately €525 per year.

If using the rainwater harvesting system for non-potable uses you could save up to 70% of the annual water use, which would only save €368 per year. The cost quoted in one of the posts is €3,500, but that doesn't include the groundworks etc, so if you factored that into the equation and rounded the cost up to €5,000. it would take approximately 13 years to pay for itself. But this period may reduce if water charges increase.

There are many other low cost ways you can reduce your water use before investing in such systems, Dublin City Council's website provides alot of advice on water conservation.

One reason that rainwater is not recommended for drinking and bathing is that it has been found through a number of studies in Europe and Australia that the water can become contaminanted with E.Coli. E.Coli, is used as an indicator for other more harmful bacteria, and without regular testing cannot be thought to be safe for potable use, so you wil be hard-pushed to find a supplier that will recommend it for drinking and bathing.

The systems also need to be maintained and cleaned, filters, pumps serviced, sludge cleaned out of the tank etc etc.

Mahatma coat

I'm really curious as to why people have an Aversion to Drinking Rainwater??

Seriously Whats the Problem, its probably the cleanest water you can get as it falls straight out of the sky and into your tank without hitting the ground and picking up residual polutants.

Here in Oz its taken for granted that you would try and capture as much water as possible whenever it rains.

Capt'n Midnight

Mahatma coat wrote: »

I'm really curious as to why people have an Aversion to Drinking Rainwater??

Seriously Whats the Problem, its probably the cleanest water you can get as it falls straight out of the sky and into your tank without hitting the ground and picking up residual polutants.

Whatever about falling rain , the real question is how clean is the roof, what about pigeon droppings, when were the gutters last cleaned, insects etc. ?
Also you have to consider the storage conditions, how often is the tank cleaned ?

Deffo want to purify it before drinking.

Pete M.

H2OConsult wrote: »

Domestic water charging will come in within the next 12 to 18months.

The systems also need to be maintained and cleaned, filters, pumps serviced, sludge cleaned out of the tank etc etc.

Is this just your best guess WRT timescale? It's certainly not clear yet.

As for the maintenance, then if the filters and pipes are ok, then there shouldn't be any real sludge so to speak.

Pumps can break down, but got mine replaced for free recently by the Rainman crowd and the service was pretty good too.

And would you believe that my tank was almost empty about a week ago. Imagine that then eh? 10,000 L tank empty in March. Quite remarkable I thought.

dapotter

hi, really interested in this, is there a reason other than aesthetic for putting it underground. my bro in oz says people over there have tanks in all shapes and sizes/colours onto the side of their house. thought it would be possible to save on pumping costs if you could get freeflow from side of house?

Pete M.

Well all the pipework for collecting rainfall from your down pipes etc. is generally below ground and the tank is rather large, so having it below this piping allows you to collect a large volume of water easily.
Sure you can have the down pipes divert to a tank at the side of the house, like a water butt or like the tanks which you see at lots of older cottages (most houses had a rainwater collection tank back in the day).
Doubt you'd save too much on pumping it unless all the taps were below the level of the bottom of the tank.
Having a expansion vessel attached to the pump from the collection tank to the header tank can reduce the workload on the pump though.

dapotter

great thanks will have a look at all that

69lolipop

I'm just about to implement some solution at my mothers house and my own place. Some prices for butts and tanks are really expensive. I'm going with IBC's, 1000ltr tanks. U can buy them for €50-60 second hand or around €160 new. I will be fitting a submersible pump with expansion vessel, float with mains water backup. This will be used to supply toilets and washing machine. Forget filtering for drinking, the cost of filters will exceed the council's charges.

Pete M.

Pete M. wrote: »

And would you believe that my tank was almost empty about a week ago. Imagine that then eh? 10,000 L tank empty in March. Quite remarkable I thought.

Out of curiousity, how big is the catchment area on your roof.

I currently have the house plumbed for a rainwater harvesting system, but haven't got round to installing (digging a hole) for the underground tank.

I intend to combine that job with some other external groundworks I have planned for the near future.

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Whatever about falling rain , the real question is how clean is the roof, what about pigeon droppings, when were the gutters last cleaned, insects etc. ?
Also you have to consider the storage conditions, how often is the tank cleaned ?

Deffo want to purify it before drinking.

Well, these will reduce the bird droppings problem.

smilingdolphin

Del2005

Deleted User wrote: »

Well, these will reduce the bird droppings problem.

That will only stop them landing on your roof. They may get revenge and cr@p all over your roof:D

passivetony

I was at the modern homes expo at the WIT the weekend and there was a Co. there promoting water butts. They had some interesting shapes and sizes for above ground, decorative etc. So they are out there.