Rainwater Harvesting

Rushy Fields

Hi all just wondering if anyone out there has experience in rainwater harvesting systems. I have a 7000 ltr concrete tank system underground in the garden. The rainwater is pumped through a three filter system in the garage and a uv bulb also up to a 330l cylinder in the hot press in the first floor. My query is..... Why my water is cloudy in the hot water? I would expect it if the source was from a well where there would be high levels of lime....... Can anyone shed any light on the matter? Should i drain down the tanks and clean them out? The pump is suspended from the roof of the tank to within 2 ft off the floor.

Not sure if this query needs as seperate thread??

DOCARCH

Started a new thread for you.

Calahonda52

What surface is the rainwater being collected from?
What's the size of the smallest filter?

On a separate note, how do you know if the UV is working?

Metric Tensor

When you say the water is cloudy - what happens if you leave it sit? Does sediment build up at the bottom?

If there is sediment in it - as CH52 points about above - the UV is not working. The sediment blocks the light from accessing all of the water. Mind you the UV lights normally come with a filter for exactly that reason.

Can you tell us exactly what your three filter systems includes and also when you last changed the consumables.

Rushy Fields

Thanks guys for setting up thread.
My rainwater harvesting has the following Filtration in the garage:
Stainless steel 90 micron
Cotton wound 25 micron
Carbon block with 10 micron filtration
Then UV Bulb

The rainwater is collected from Natural Slate pitched roof 44deg. into pvc guttering and into pvc underground pipework to tank that has a debris filter which is generally clean.

The UV is working because i get the water tested for bacteria every 6 mths. There is an alarm if the bulb needs replacement.
i'm not overly concerned about the UV as we have a public supply to two downstairs taps for drinking water. Im just curious why the hot tap is cloudy ...... like a typical high lime content in water.?

Metric Tensor

Does the cloudiness settle to the bottom if you leave the water to sit in a glass?

Calahonda52

Thanks for intel on the set up.
Just on the UV, it is important because of the risk of legionella multiplying in the warm water in the hot water cylinder.
What temp are you heating the water to in the cylinder?
Keeping water temperature either above or below the 20–50 °C (68–122 °F) range in which the Legionella bacterium thrives.

Have a read of this
http://www.home-water-heater.com/milky-hot-water.html

is your system pressurised?/pumped ?

Rushy Fields

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Thanks for intel on the set up.
Just on the UV, it is important because of the risk of legionella multiplying in the warm water in the hot water cylinder.
What temp are you heating the water to in the cylinder?
Keeping water temperature either above or below the 20–50 °C (68–122 °F) range in which the Legionella bacterium thrives.

Have a read of this
http://www.home-water-heater.com/milky-hot-water.html

is your system pressurised?/pumped ?

Thanks for the advice Cala.
The system is pumped .
I think the water is heated to 60 but i doubt it would be maintained at 60...... is that a problem?
I have geothermal so my heating is priority and the hot water is secondary. The water in my 300ltr cylinder is only heated in 2 nr 1hr blocks in the morning at 6am and again at 5pm in the evening as we do not have a great demand for hot water.

Calahonda52

I think then the bubbles are due to the pressurised system...

I doubt if the geothermal is even doing 60 constant: get a cheap thermometer in woodies or similar and measure the temp when running.

If you have immersions on the cylinder then I would give it a blast up to 70 degrees every so often.

Research the time/temp profile required for killing it off.

Rushy Fields

Calahonda52 wrote: »

I think then the bubbles are due to the pressurised system...

I doubt if the geothermal is even doing 60 constant: get a cheap thermometer in woodies or similar and measure the temp when running.

If you have immersions on the cylinder then I would give it a blast up to 70 degrees every so often.

Research the time/temp profile required for killing it off.

Thank you for your insight and help on this query. I really appreciate it.

Metric Tensor

I was trying to politely get at what CH was asking re the cloudiness - is it just bubbles?!

CH is less afraid to call them as he sees them!

Rushy Fields

Metric Tensor wrote: »

I was trying to politely get at what CH was asking re the cloudiness - is it just bubbles?!

CH is less afraid to call them as he sees them!

It would seem like bubbles but they must be very tiny....
There is no settlement in a glass ..... its cloudy for about 10 seconds and then clear in the glas. If i run the tap very slow the water becomes very cloudy. if i run the tap fast there is no clouniness at all. The pump system is approx 3bar.

So im almost certain that its air as CH has mentioned.

Calahonda52

Rushy Fields wrote: »

Thank you for your insight and help on this query. I really appreciate it.

You are most welcome!

The address for the case of bubbly is...:D

Rushy Fields

Calahonda52 wrote: »

You are most welcome!

The address for the case of bubbly is...:D

Bubbly water !!!!:P

Johnnyhpipe

Harvested water, even filtered etc, is only ever used for toilet flushing or irrigation in my experience.

Are you heating this water and showering/washing with it or am I misreading your post?!

Rhinohippo

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Harvested water, even filtered etc, is only ever used for toilet flushing or irrigation in my experience.

Are you heating this water and showering/washing with it or am I misreading your post?!

This is exactly what I was going to say. Lots of water is used on flushing toilets and watering gardens (in the summer), so from my experience, that's what harvested water has been used mostly for.

Calahonda52

Rhino and Johnny, while your experience is important, there is little point in ignoring the OP's set up and his questions.

Rhinohippo

Agreed. Unfortunately I don't have the technical knowledge or experience to answer some of the questions asked but just offering what I've seen and heard. I am very interested in water harvesting, am anxious to learn more and am doing what I can, even if it is on a much smaller scale than the OP. Sorry if that's not helpful.

Metric Tensor

I've seen harvested rainwater treated to drinking water standards previously.

It works well when used as a supplement to an existing well - but the guy who owns it is an engineer and actively manages it carefully so possibly not a direct comparison with a lay person!

delfagio

On your original query, the cloudy water you refer to sounds like it is air trapped in the tank. When air is trapped in water the water goes cloudy, and usually when you say fill a glass of water and let it sit the cloudiness will clear after a couple of minutes

This could be a case of flushing the air out of the system

Johnnyhpipe

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Rhino and Johnny, while your experience is important, there is little point in ignoring the OP's set up and his questions.

Agreed, I just wasn't sure if I was reading this correctly..

chillit

I had a similar situation before. cloudy water which was actually just air bubbles. happened on both cold and hot water. Eventually I removed the little filter/aerator at the end of the tap and this solved the problem