DIY Rainwater Toilet Flushing

Mcfi5dhc

Hello

Has anyone actually done this for an upstairs bathroom from a loft header tank? I am considering doing it, but I need to check it will work




If I do it, my setup will be something like this:

• Water barrel connected to gutter downpipe (already have)
• Pump in barrel sending water up to new header tank in the loft (either solar PV, or mains, not decided yet)
• Overflow back to gutters in header tank just in case
• Mains backup (controlled with ballcock) in header tank
• Pipe down to bathroom
• Electrics controlled via control panel from REUK

However, I am unsure if the pressure from just the head of the tank will be enough to fill the toilet - at the moment it is filled very rapidly from mains pressure. Can anyone help? The toilet is filled from underneath.
The house is standard construction, 3 bed semi, standard height rooms, so I imagine the header tank in the loft will be 2.5 to 3 metres above the toilet tank.

I am aware of the legalities of doing this - they'll be no chance of the rainwater mixing with clean water for example

Thanks for your help

lomb

This wont save you a penny off your water bills why would you want to do it? Much of the green movement is propoganda , by going full green you put people out of jobs and the economy as we know it would collapse leading to mass starvation, only those who own land would survive. Besides the real truth are there are too many people on planet Earth.

Now that ive got that off my mind, the main problem with your arrangement is the mains will persumably always keep the tank topped up unless of course the ball !!!! is set to switch off at say 1/3 allowing the rainwater to fill the tank and then overflow back in to the gutters? I suppose you would be showering/washing with rain water this way? The water wont be chlorinated and isnt safe to store for any length of time imho. If I wanted to do it id have a seperate tank for the toilet.

lomb

This wont save you a penny off your water bills why would you want to do it? Much of the green movement is propoganda , by going full green you put people out of jobs and the economy as we know it would collapse leading to mass starvation, only those who own land would survive. Besides the real truth are there are too many people on planet Earth.

Now that ive got that off my mind, the main problem with your arrangement is the mains will persumably always keep the tank topped up unless of course the ball !!!! is set to switch off at say 1/3 allowing the rainwater to fill the tank and then overflow back in to the gutters? I suppose you would be showering/washing with rain water this way? The water wont be chlorinated and isnt safe to store for any length of time imho. If I wanted to do it id have a seperate tank for the toilet.Ps the pressure will be fine here in Ireland all houses have our toilets connected to an attic cold storage tank and as long as you have 2 meters head youl be ok. Pressure is very good, you may need to change the flow valve in the toilet from mains to tank there is a restrictor in it for mains use as standard(have experiance of uk plumbing also)

Mcfi5dhc

lomb wrote: »

This wont save you a penny off your water bills why would you want to do it? Much of the green movement is propoganda , by going full green you put people out of jobs and the economy as we know it would collapse leading to mass starvation, only those who own land would survive. Besides the real truth are there are too many people on planet Earth.

Now that ive got that off my mind, the main problem with your arrangement is the mains will persumably always keep the tank topped up unless of course the ball !!!! is set to switch off at say 1/3 allowing the rainwater to fill the tank and then overflow back in to the gutters? I suppose you would be showering/washing with rain water this way? The water wont be chlorinated and isnt safe to store for any length of time imho. If I wanted to do it id have a seperate tank for the toilet.Ps the pressure will be fine here in Ireland all houses have our toilets connected to an attic cold storage tank and as long as you have 2 meters head youl be ok. Pressure is very good, you may need to change the flow valve in the toilet from mains to tank there is a restrictor in it for mains use as standard(have experiance of uk plumbing also)

I'm on a meter so I will save money! (though thats not the only reason I want to do it)

I may count as a full greeny already, sorry (house has solar PV already) - I'm not too worried about putting people out of a job. My priority is my family - if I save a tenner a month off my water, thats a tenner a month more I can spend on the wife n kids.

The tank will be only for the toilet. It will be topped up from the rain barrel (s) unless it gets to a critical low, then the ballc0ck will kick in.

Thanks for the heads up though on the head info!

DVardysShadow

At 5 litres per flush, that is less than a penny saved, so you might need to go more often to save you tenner a month. As lomb says, you'll need to change the restrictor on the toilet cistern ball valve.