Rainwater Harvesting

CatFromHue

With the advent of water charges being brought in has anyone thought or already installed a rain water harvesting system?

Or what is anyones experience with them?

I've looked at a few websites, not in detail, but it does look expensive enough. I did see one place recomending a system for for a household of 4+ costing 4k+.

Or has anyone just bought the components and installed them themselves? In theory there isnt too much to it if you are just going to use the water for the toilets.

coolemon

I have been looking into making one myself. A 1000l tank can be got for 40 euro - http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/machinery/1835271

Divert the gutter and fit an overflow and hey presto. Pumping the water to, say, a cistern tank without an electric pump is the main issue.

CatFromHue

yeah in theory it isnt too difficult for rain water to be used for flushing the toilets.

the toilets would have to be isolated from the mains water and connected to a new tank in the attic. water from the roof is channeled to a large tank and then pumped up to the attic tank by a water pump. the attic tank has a low and a high level switch indicating when water needs to pumped up. the main tank has a level switch indicating that it may need to be topped up from mains water.

so in theory all you would need is one large and one smaller water tanks, 3 level switches, one water pump, one mini control panel, and then pipes and labour to install it all.

Low Energy Eng

I reckon if they bring it in it'll be a fixed charge, really wouldnt be feasible metering everyone...Sooooo, if thats the case, is there any point installing a rw harvesting unit

CatFromHue

other than if the council limit or shut off your water supply for a period of time not really.

godtabh

Matt Cooper had a thing about this week and said that new build systems could cost upto €4k but retro fitting could be as little as €2k

CatFromHue

i heard that segment too. thats what put the idea in my head.

i did look at a few websites and while prices arent mentioned on most, i did see a price of 4K for a house with 4+ people in it. this was retro fitting if i remember correctly.

i think there was also some guy son dragons den who were setting up a business in this area. they didnt get funding but for such a simple set up it should be utilised more.

con1982

CatFromHue wrote: »

i heard that segment too. thats what put the idea in my head.

i did look at a few websites and while prices arent mentioned on most, i did see a price of 4K for a house with 4+ people in it. this was retro fitting if i remember correctly.

i think there was also some guy son dragons den who were setting up a business in this area. they didnt get funding but for such a simple set up it should be utilised more.

Hi Catfromhue,

I'm working on a small project were we are retro-fitting a rainwater harvesting system to a four bed house. The tank itself costs between 300 - 500e. We have to excavate, pour a concrete base and surround the tank with 150mm concrete on all sides. I think this element is about 700e. The pumps cost about 600e and then you need a control panel and modifications to the cistern in the attic.

Rainwater harvesting was a condition of planning on the job. I suppose if you are thinking in terms of saving money long term you need to assign a cost per cubic metre to the water and a standing service charge from the council. That's all assuming they eventually metre usage and not go down the fixed charge route.

Personally I don't think it makes financial sense for a single house. Although I do support the idea of making it mandatory on all new developments, along with solar tubes.

CG

godtabh

Why are you putting it underground ?

con1982

The rainwater outlets are below attic level, so we let gravity bring the rainwater into the back garden then pump it up to the header tank/ cistern

godtabh

con1982 wrote: »

The rainwater outlets are below attic level, so we let gravity bring the rainwater into the back garden then pump it up to the header tank/ cistern

Yes but you might save a lot of money by having the tank above ground. It will help with then pumping head as well

ddubs

Lidl have these in on thursday -

http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_ie/hs.xsl/index_13466.htm

It may not be the best for linking into the houses tank, but for well under €100 you could make a neat little system for gardening/car washing/etc.. All you'd need is a barrel or two and a little bit of a butchers job on your down pipes, and rig up an extra bit of hosing to draw overflow water down the drain.

sam34

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r3nu41

I have studied rainwater harvesting systems in Ireland and there is already a large system in place at Queens university Belfast library if you wish to have a google of it, designed by an irish company,it supplies greywater(toilets, cleaning, fire sprinklers) but not drinking water, but it is easy to make rainwater drinkable with the use of UV treatment, sand filtration etc

In the future I can see rainwater harvesting going in a different direction, water off car parks and other large semi impermeable surfaces could be used for greywater, and drinking water if the hydrocarbons can be removed and then a regular water treatment system, but that is the future

recedite

In a rural area, boring an old fashioned well is effectively harvesting rainwater.

energyfanfor life

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CatFromHue

Any time it rains now all I think is that I could be harvesting this! I think if the govt. brings in water metering this topic will be fairly popular on boards.