off town water set up

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by macey, Nov 21, 2011.

  1. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    Just wanting ideas on setting up rain water as the main source of water to a property.

    I am in the process of retro fitting the house with energy and water harvesting technologies and am a bit stumped on how best to implement water for the house.

    The overview of what I have planned so far is this:

    either one large or 4 smaller tanks downhill from the 2 buildings to collect rainwater from the roofs (1st flush etc. taken into consideration, not wanting input on the actual harvest side of things!).
    The tank or tanks will be enclosed in a straw bale structure with insulated roof as a means of bushfire protection and to serve as a cool room, utilising the thermal mass of the water and the insulation of the straw bale to maintain a stable year round temperature. Overflow will be recaptured by a swale down hill of the tank(s).

    Now I'm wondering about how best to use the rainwater for the house. Do I try and have the whole house connected to tank water using a pump? My concern is having a pump cycling on and off every-time there is a pressure drop due to a leaking tap or anything else. Also during the day it would be using guilt free energy from the sun either from the main array or from it's own stand alone system but overnight or in low light it would require grid or battery backup!

    A main priority is having the water available for drinking water but I'm keen to have to rely on town water as little as possible.

    Is there any sense in connecting a pump to just some dedicated outlets such as a drinking tap and a few other things, maybe washing machine?

    My further thought for using the tank water, was to use a solar pump to take water to a header tank during the day (overflow being either returned to the tanks or a dam or using a stop cock to cease the pump once the header was full) and using gravity to feed outlets for drinking water and possibly some other purposes as well.

    If I went a really big tank it could also serve as irrigation water, my preferance though is to install a dam connected to swales for this purpose with either a header tank fed from the dam and then gravity fed to zone 1 and 2 areas, or irrigation direct from a solar pump.

    Thoughts?

    Macey
     
  2. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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    Im connected to town and tank
    I only use tank,for everything,but the system is set up that I can flick one tap and be on either.
    It needs non return valves on the tanks to stop you filling them up with town water.
    It also has an isolation tap so I can remove the pump for repair and still have town water.
    My pump is under the bed room (highset),it allows me to hear it turn on and off and lets me know if I have a leak or air in the pump that needs bleeding.
    It also has a pressure tank so the pump doesn't run constantly when the tap is on.
    Talk to a few pump guys they will tell you what size you need and brand to get.
    I have 3 tanks total 11,000 litres (location, rainfall, personal use varies) I would love to get another tank at the top of the hill and a solar pump to feed it and then have it gravity feed,it would be 4 metres above the roof height (problem is dollars..so it might be one piece at a time over a few years )
    You have to weigh up the cost of a solar pump as compared to the cost of electricity offset by solar panels ,the last one will probably win, as the payback on a solar pump would be decades based on power savings over a standard pump.(if you already own one)
     
  3. ppp

    ppp Junior Member

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    I have only tank water for all of my needs. In fact most properties in my area do not have town supply. Buy the biggest tank you can. The cost per Litre drops with larger tanks.plus the big saving is in requiring less plumbing.
    Get a pressure pump, connect from your tank to the pump then into your house and taps. You should be able to have no leaks and therefore the pump will not cycle. You can even achieve that yourself using the correct fittings and thread tape.
    If you really feel like using some water by gravity alone just turn the power to the pump off. We drink the water straight out of the tank. If you have ever cut an old water pipe into a house on town water you will understand there is life in all pipes even with chlorine added.
     
  4. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I grew up just like ppp's setup. Second house had a garage tank with pump directly above it. Only barely hear it but allowed you to keep a watchful ear on it, just in case. We also drunk out of the creek if necessary, old diesel pump to house tank.

    Both houses didn't have first flush and I have no idea about silt levels inside the tanks. Both concrete, both semi-underground to underground.
     
  5. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day macey,

    if you have town water installed, leave it as it is, run separate pipes from tank(s), unless space is cramped no need to have tanks a long way below the roof pipe, water finds its own level, and if you keep the tank close to the house less pipe will be needed and less wiring for on demand pump. by a 4 tap stainless steel pump, grundfos not bad and reliable. run water to kitchen for drinking and cooking etc.,. have an outside if need be for garden watering. suggest one 22.5k/l tank or 25k/l tank should be sufficient as you will be using town water for bathroom, laundry etc.,. 2 tanks even better can't have too much hey.

    len
     
  6. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    thanks, lot of things to think about still!
     
  7. springtide

    springtide Junior Member

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    hi macey, i grew up in merricks so not far away, we had a 120k + tank which was fine until the garden got too big, then we got a 5k header tank for the windmill and dam. With no first flush we cleaned out the main tank after 10 years and found about 7 centimetres of silt which i thought was ok. You could try windmill and header tank for your drinking water (its just another pump afterall) or with a good size pressure tank - 20 litres or more an electric pump wont come on that often - its what i grew up with. You could also look at a 24 volt dc pump with batteries for solar house pressure. I would definately reccoment a header tank for grey water - you can also get low pressure auto timer taps now from bunnings for header tanks - garden, etc
    (sent via mobile)
     
  8. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

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    Recently a friend of mine were discussing setting up a car altenater (spelling ) with fan blades connected to an imvertor so it would be wind driven to pump water for my pond. The overall cost wouldn't have made it worthwhile just to run a pond pump but could work in your situation. The altenater would charge the battery and then feed the invertor thus powering my pump. You could mount it on a windmill with two pulleys and a belt. Food for thought.
     
  9. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    Windmill and a large header tank (large in case of non wind periods) , a lot of people cant cope with windmills i have never understood thier fear , they are incredibly simple bullet proof creations , with a little maintenance will outlast all of us , like push bikes nothing cheaper in the long term . To push water up hill you just need a compensator and air tank . For roof catchment work out your total possible catchment to guide you on tank purchase choice , every mm of rainfall on a square metre of roof will give you a litre of water . Run seperate pipes as Len has said . grundfos pumps are terrific even real old ones can be rebuilt most of the others are throw away items .
     
  10. MelMel8318

    MelMel8318 Junior Member

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    Does anyone know where I could find information on irrigation windmills in the US? This is my chosen water supply, but I'm having difficulty finding information.
     

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