Using water butt water in the home

indierocker85

Hi guys

Me and my wife live in a four bedroom terraced house, and we're on a water meter. I noticed our bills went up since covid, home more etc etc. I recently installed a 210 litre water butt to my guttering down pipe, and to my amazement, it is nearly 3/4 full already after just 1 day of rain last night, which I wouldn't have said was particuarly "heavy".

I am conscious of the water stagnating, and also I would like to put it to good use if it is filling so quickly in the months when I don't have flowers that need watering. What would be the easiest way to use this water for, say toilet flushing? I did literally fill a 7 litre watering can, and then after flushing, tipped the watering can water into the cistern as opposed to letting it fill? I figure this at least was saving a fraction of water, and if done a few times a day, could be a saving. Albeit minimal. Is there an easier way? I thought about maybe filling a 2 litre empty milk bottle and "flushing" with that instead? 

Are there any other uses for the water around the house? I thought emptying it or using the water will help ensure it stays clean etc. I really didn't think it'd fill so fast I'm glad it is, as it put me off putting more flowers in my garden as the bills would go up. I'm happy now, as I can have more plants in my garden rather than the expensive hosepipe

Thanks

Rodders53

My current home has a rainwater harvesting system that stores thousands of litres in an underground tank.  This is then pumped (in a separate network of pipes) to fill the toilet cisterns, use for an outside tap, and has an outlet for the washing machine {that we've never had a desire to use}.

Rainwater is excellent for washing the car.  It tends to not leave streaks/spots like you get in hardwater areas when the water dries.

You will find that your water butt will not last long in the Summer and may want to invest in more.  I'd certainly not worry about it going 'stale' or growing algae - unless the top lets in a lot of light.  We have to exercise caution with toilet flushing in the drier months or the harvester starts to refill from the mains water supply.  You'll save some water by not flushing every time someone has a wee  

[Deleted User]

indierocker85 said:

Hi guys

Me and my wife live in a four bedroom terraced house, and we're on a water meter. I noticed our bills went up since covid, home more etc etc. I recently installed a 210 litre water butt to my guttering down pipe, and to my amazement, it is nearly 3/4 full already after just 1 day of rain last night, which I wouldn't have said was particuarly "heavy".

I am conscious of the water stagnating, and also I would like to put it to good use if it is filling so quickly in the months when I don't have flowers that need watering. What would be the easiest way to use this water for, say toilet flushing? I did literally fill a 7 litre watering can, and then after flushing, tipped the watering can water into the cistern as opposed to letting it fill? I figure this at least was saving a fraction of water, and if done a few times a day, could be a saving. Albeit minimal. Is there an easier way? I thought about maybe filling a 2 litre empty milk bottle and "flushing" with that instead? 

Are there any other uses for the water around the house? I thought emptying it or using the water will help ensure it stays clean etc. I really didn't think it'd fill so fast I'm glad it is, as it put me off putting more flowers in my garden as the bills would go up. I'm happy now, as I can have more plants in my garden rather than the expensive hosepipe

Thanks

I suspect that you would get rather fed up of carrying in buckets of water. You will also find that as the volume of water in the butt decreases, then so does the flow of water.

I recall that one water company used to tell its customers ‘if it is yellow then let it mellow; if it is brown then flush it down’. Clearly, that advice isn’t quite as sophisticated as dual flush controls on a toilet. As an alternative, you can also get toilet gel packs from your water supplier (free) to reduce the volume of water in all systems.