Rainwater Harvesting

joefizz

My experience isnt quite what the op needs but I'll add my 2p in anyway.
Ive a couple of 200L water butts fed off the house and garage roof drains. Both just the blue barrel 5 quid off gumtree type with some taps fitted with in built hoselock connector.
I did consider getting a 600l or 1000l ibc tank but its too much for me at the minute plus I live on the north side of a mountain in NI, the 2x200L have only run dry once.... for an afternoon.
We dont pay for our water here yet but probably will do soon so Ive started making preps for it.
Im redoing the wall behind my garden so will put in founds for a surface level 1000l IBC tank, fed from the house roof.
I have a mains fed cold water tank in the loft and its probably around the 200 odd litre mark. It feeds the heating system, hot water tank and bathroom sink, toilet, shower. Its a bungalow so the height of the tank is no more than about 2m above the cistern.
I thought about feeding the cistern direct from the nearest water butt anyway but over the winter the ballcock on the loft tank started to fail so I replaced it and added a second feed to the ballcock input with gate valve. For sheer laziness I fed this gate valve with a bit of pipe and a hozelock connector (which connects above the tank just in case it drips...)
If all else fails I simply connect a length of garden hose to it, another piece to one of the water butts and feed using a 12v boat pump I have spare. Ive 2 cars a camper and a boat so always have at least 6 12v lead acid batteries on the go somewhere, at least 3 of them topped up with small solar panels. If that fails Ive a drill driven pump which has hoselock connectors and is painfully slow but the battery powered drills do drive it.
If that all fails a ladder and buckets, or just use buckets to flush the toilet.


Going back to my comments last year about the security of the electricity network, they did say that one of the first casualties may be clean water if the power goes out for more than say 12 hours..


Even a small header tank on a platform in the garden, fed from a water butt should be enough to run a garden hose through a window to fill cistern, etc without relying on buckets.


Id really like to do more with the grey water from the shower/sink/dishwasher with the toilet cisterns/garden etc but one thing we are not short of is excess rainwater!

mmmmikey

Thanks for comments re: valves etc., something I'm still thinking about. I have overlooked one fairly obvious contingency though, and that is when I build my extension in the next year or so, I could make the toilet in the second bathroom flush from mains water. Alternatively, that would be a better time to add a header tank.

The tank is finally in the ground after much fun with scaffold boards, builders' trestles and a chain hoist. I now have about 5 tonnes of sand and hardcore to move for the backfilling, I'm becoming something of an expert with a shovel and wheelbarrow - there's nothing complicated or difficult in anything I'm doing but it certainly is hard work

Will post some pictures when I work out how

agentk

I use two ibc's connected with hozelocks and garden hose and feed to copper 15 mm to washer and wc collected off roof and a pump senses demand and switches on and off via (PRESSURE SWITCH) has cannister filter on it.

yes it uses mains power but hoping to add battery solar panel and 12v pump jabasco! again with switch.

I have had it running for 2 years and no problems apart from freezing for a few days each winter. My water rates were 700+ a year switched over to a meter and with the above now 200+

I am old enough to remember taps marked not drinking water so did feel we had gone backwards.

Will be upgrading to mdpe pipe on the to do list.:rotfl: