Rain Water Harvesting System 10 Point Tips To Consider For Rain Water Harvesting
Rain water harvesting system originated during the Roman times. The Roman has developed an organized solution to harvest rain water. Today this method is widely use by us as we know that harvesting rain fall is beneficiary towards the environment and could save a good deal in water bills. Usually water harvested is use for gardening. I've think of a 10 point time for people to take into account when they would like to harvest rain water.
1.When you are going to install a rain water harvesting system, it's important which you find a nice cool spot to burry your tank. An excellent temperature to bury the tank reaches places in which the temperatures are 10 degrees Celsius is the better as only at that temperature the bacterial growth is minimum and this make sure the water collected do not turn yellowish.
2.One other good pointer is the fact that always plan the rain water harvesting system together with your architect. It will be better is you obtain specialist and opinion plus in case you are doing renovating work or getting into new homes, to install the system so you do not need to stress later.
3.The very best tank for rain water harvesting product is a tank that confers with BS8515 2009 regulation. I advise people to acheive it right in the beginning in order to get the approval by council people of your states.
4.Should your rain water harvesting product is not put in place near most of your drainage, it is advisable to dig a hole as a soak away to the overflow water on the tank. That is to make sure that overflow water features a place to operate to which ultimately cuts maintenance costs.
5.Ensure that the pump you acquire for the rain water harvesting system is a floating system pump. This can make sure it skims the cleanest water just below the outer lining.
6.Make sure that the floating pump you acquire features a floating switch. This will make sure that if your tank dries up, you won't burn up itself. This will be significant as we can't confirm the tank that regularly especially during summertime when rain fall is shorter.
7.Before putting the tank in, make sure to check on the grounds you might be installing the tank. Check for underground water system. If you were to realize that the place has underground water, it'll be good should you concrete the tank in to ensure that it will not float particularly when the tank is empty.
8.A great rain water harvesting system, you should make sure the down pipes from your roof top gutter are connected and channel for your rain water harvesting system. This can make sure all water is directed to some single point source.
9.Ensure that you only channel rain water from roof top as channeling water on ground level isn't good. Most ground water is contaminated in a way as you don't understand what water has been exposed to.
10.I recommend one to use a smart header tank inside your rain water harvesting system. Numerous relating to this is the fact that it saves a lot of electrical costs as well as stronger compare to other.
I really do hope that my about pointer would help you implement an excellent rain water harvesting system.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Rain Catcher | Why Mosquito Loves Rain Catcher So Much
Rain Catcher Why Mosquito Loves Rain Catcher So Much
Mosquito could fly very far looking for food also to breed. The female will feast upon blood whereas the males will prey on plants. The females will search for still water to lay eggs your rain catcher is the greatest ideal place to do that thus it is necessary that you simply ensure this doesn't occur. You may not wish your barrel to become a breeding site.
Your outdoor rain catcher is often a perfect habitat for this pests, these annoying pest will feed on your blood at dawn and dusk. The fear of mosquito is we are afraid they carry disease like malaria or West Nile Virus which is deadly to folks. It is therefore extremely important that we make sure and we don't let our rain catcher be their nesting ground.
It's relatively simple to prevent pests from breeding in your rain catcher. Usually rain catchers that people buy possess a preventive way of mosquito from breeding. They're manufactured in this way. Should you see mosquito larva in rain catchers those are likely to be self made barrels. We are not saying that you should not make a rain catcher yourself but if you're you have to know how to find measures and designs one that won't invite disaster. Self made barrels are dangerous in a fashion that they could lead to contamination on the water by bacteria. If you want to make your own barrel, please make sure that you know what you're doing and take the appropriate measures to make them safe.
A rain catcher looks quite simple to make and the average person, they'll believe you just need just go out and get yourself a 60 gallon water barrel, cut an opening onto it and let the water flow down from the down spout. If you believe such as this, you are inviting much trouble. You're actually inviting mosquito to lay millions of eggs in your barrel. The best method of prevention if you insisted in using a self made barrel is by using a screen to cover up the top of the barrel. You have to seal this nicely and also the screen should be fine enough to ensure mosquito could not move through.
A best material for the screen for the rain catcher is definitely ladies stockings. These are very fine with no mosquito could go through that. The downside of using stockings is they could tear off easily thus it is necessary that you simply check them regularly and replace those which are torn. One other way is to buy a specific unit barrel which willkeep the pest away. This can be achieved by buying a unique downspout kit in your local hardware shop that seals the hole and only permit the water to go through. This special kit swill only allows water to undergo the hole and not the pest mosquito.
I would say that self made rain catcher is a good way to harvest water for the garden watering needs butyou have to just be sure you do your very best self to ensure your barrel isn't a breeding ground for this little pest that looks so harmless.
Mosquito could fly very far looking for food also to breed. The female will feast upon blood whereas the males will prey on plants. The females will search for still water to lay eggs your rain catcher is the greatest ideal place to do that thus it is necessary that you simply ensure this doesn't occur. You may not wish your barrel to become a breeding site.
Your outdoor rain catcher is often a perfect habitat for this pests, these annoying pest will feed on your blood at dawn and dusk. The fear of mosquito is we are afraid they carry disease like malaria or West Nile Virus which is deadly to folks. It is therefore extremely important that we make sure and we don't let our rain catcher be their nesting ground.
It's relatively simple to prevent pests from breeding in your rain catcher. Usually rain catchers that people buy possess a preventive way of mosquito from breeding. They're manufactured in this way. Should you see mosquito larva in rain catchers those are likely to be self made barrels. We are not saying that you should not make a rain catcher yourself but if you're you have to know how to find measures and designs one that won't invite disaster. Self made barrels are dangerous in a fashion that they could lead to contamination on the water by bacteria. If you want to make your own barrel, please make sure that you know what you're doing and take the appropriate measures to make them safe.
A rain catcher looks quite simple to make and the average person, they'll believe you just need just go out and get yourself a 60 gallon water barrel, cut an opening onto it and let the water flow down from the down spout. If you believe such as this, you are inviting much trouble. You're actually inviting mosquito to lay millions of eggs in your barrel. The best method of prevention if you insisted in using a self made barrel is by using a screen to cover up the top of the barrel. You have to seal this nicely and also the screen should be fine enough to ensure mosquito could not move through.
A best material for the screen for the rain catcher is definitely ladies stockings. These are very fine with no mosquito could go through that. The downside of using stockings is they could tear off easily thus it is necessary that you simply check them regularly and replace those which are torn. One other way is to buy a specific unit barrel which willkeep the pest away. This can be achieved by buying a unique downspout kit in your local hardware shop that seals the hole and only permit the water to go through. This special kit swill only allows water to undergo the hole and not the pest mosquito.
I would say that self made rain catcher is a good way to harvest water for the garden watering needs butyou have to just be sure you do your very best self to ensure your barrel isn't a breeding ground for this little pest that looks so harmless.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Rain Barrel | Are Plastic Rain Barrels Good ?
Rain Barrel Are Plastic Rain Barrels Good ?
Many individuals know that using rain barrels to reap water is a very good way to store water as well as costs. Many people uses plastic barrels just for this, but are plastic an excellent material to get rain water?
Some serious rain water harvester commented that plastic rain barrels usually are not practical for being use for water harvesting. For me personally I collect rain water making use of 60 gallon plastic barrels. We and a lot people feel that it is better to collect rain water using plastic rain barrels than the actual rain water tank because on the downspout positioning. For most people who harvest water using downspout, many of them is position in a way that you can only use rain barrels rather than tanks.
To me, I feel that making use of rain barrels are a good way, that you can channel additional water for some other barrels when they are full easily using pipes. A lot of people who uses plastic rain barrels uses the downspout. Either they channel the rain water to new barrels when full or divert the water to the ground. Both is possible to accomplish this, if while using the plastic rain barrel.
This is actually the reasons why professional rain harvester hate using plastic rain barrels, they reason that rain barrels completed fast and the rest of water is wasted if you don't have enough barrels to attached with. They also say if we were to carry out a suitable good storage tank system, no water could possibly be lost. This is why professional harvester condemn using this method.
Although some people might says that plastic rain barrels are impractical, there are solutions to make sure they are more practical and efficient. Firstly, Personally i think that one could use several barrel. After sometime you can know roughly simply how much water could possibly be stored and you also attach more than a barrel to them using pipes. With this, when one barrel is complete, it automatically flows and fill the following barrel. With this no water are going to be wasted, but maybe it's quite expensive for keep purchasing barrels. Another good way is to put together an overflow, this really is good way as if the rain barrel is full the excess is going to be channel to your garden.
Most people garden uses deep watering system thus whenever you channel excessive flow of water towards the garden instead of to the drainage. Whenever you try this, be sure that the overflow is directed to the part of the backyard that requires most water. There isn't any point directing water to the part where the soil couldn't soak water. It will be a total waste of effort.
Came from here you can say that using plastic rain barrel is good and useful. The impractical is only going to comes once the person is not able to do it properly especially when you set up thus ending up with a problem of excessive water being channel to the drainage.
Many individuals know that using rain barrels to reap water is a very good way to store water as well as costs. Many people uses plastic barrels just for this, but are plastic an excellent material to get rain water?
Some serious rain water harvester commented that plastic rain barrels usually are not practical for being use for water harvesting. For me personally I collect rain water making use of 60 gallon plastic barrels. We and a lot people feel that it is better to collect rain water using plastic rain barrels than the actual rain water tank because on the downspout positioning. For most people who harvest water using downspout, many of them is position in a way that you can only use rain barrels rather than tanks.
To me, I feel that making use of rain barrels are a good way, that you can channel additional water for some other barrels when they are full easily using pipes. A lot of people who uses plastic rain barrels uses the downspout. Either they channel the rain water to new barrels when full or divert the water to the ground. Both is possible to accomplish this, if while using the plastic rain barrel.
This is actually the reasons why professional rain harvester hate using plastic rain barrels, they reason that rain barrels completed fast and the rest of water is wasted if you don't have enough barrels to attached with. They also say if we were to carry out a suitable good storage tank system, no water could possibly be lost. This is why professional harvester condemn using this method.
Although some people might says that plastic rain barrels are impractical, there are solutions to make sure they are more practical and efficient. Firstly, Personally i think that one could use several barrel. After sometime you can know roughly simply how much water could possibly be stored and you also attach more than a barrel to them using pipes. With this, when one barrel is complete, it automatically flows and fill the following barrel. With this no water are going to be wasted, but maybe it's quite expensive for keep purchasing barrels. Another good way is to put together an overflow, this really is good way as if the rain barrel is full the excess is going to be channel to your garden.
Most people garden uses deep watering system thus whenever you channel excessive flow of water towards the garden instead of to the drainage. Whenever you try this, be sure that the overflow is directed to the part of the backyard that requires most water. There isn't any point directing water to the part where the soil couldn't soak water. It will be a total waste of effort.
Came from here you can say that using plastic rain barrel is good and useful. The impractical is only going to comes once the person is not able to do it properly especially when you set up thus ending up with a problem of excessive water being channel to the drainage.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Rain Water Harvesting System | The Roof Harvesting System
Rain water harvesting system is a very good environment saving to recycle precious water to be used despite drinking. Many countries actually promote rain water harvesting, another method of harvesting rain is through the roof system.
The roof harvesting system in rain water harvesting system is a way whereby rain water is collected and harvested from the roof catchments, and then diverted and stored in rain barrels and tanks. This is one of a method used by people to harvest rain water. The main idea of catching rain water using the roof technique is because they are simple techniques to be implemented at minimum costs.
Benefits of Roof Harvesting System
The roof harvesting system in rain water harvesting system is beneficiary because firstly water demands are increasing every year due to global warming. This rain water harvesting system also reduces the run off of water which will choke storm drains, which could also results to floods. Thus by harvesting the rain thru roof system, water does not have to flow down to storm drains, and floods the roads.
It is also stated that rain water harvesting system with roof system also decrease ground water pollutions and indirectly increase the quality of ground water. Many people now also feel that this method of harvesting also decreases soil erosion, especially on hilly areas.
Advantages of The Roof Harvesting System
There are many advantages of using the roof harvesting system, firstly water collected through the rood system are better quality compared to other methods, the water collected tends to contain less minerals thus very suitable for watering of plants and our lawns. Secondly also this system is required very minimal costs to set up and relatively very easy to maintain. Not much is needed for the roof harvesting system, because most of the houses have a good gutter system, we are just using what are available. In costal areas, this method of rain harvesting is more encourage because rain water collected are better quality and when they are recharge to ground water, the salinity is reduced further and this helps us to maintain a better balance between fresh saline water. In island areas on the other hand, roof harvesting system provides good freshwater for domestic usage.
Tank Storage of Rain Water Collected
I feel and would suggest that the best way to store rain water collected from roof harvesting system is with the use of storage tank or rain barrels. It is best that the storage tanks not to ne located too close to any source of pollution like septic tanks, drainage as we fear that this water may sip up to our storage tank. It is also logical that the rain barrel or tanks to be located in lower ground so that water could be stored and filled in easily. We must also install an overflow pipe or diverter that will flow to appropriate non flooding areas. This is vital as sometimes our tanks are filled and we do not want an over flooding which will in long run damaged our foundation of the house. We must also ensure that the rain barrels are easily accessible for cleaning purposes. Although there are filter installed, once in awhile we need to wash the tank or barrel.
The roof harvesting system in rain water harvesting system is a way whereby rain water is collected and harvested from the roof catchments, and then diverted and stored in rain barrels and tanks. This is one of a method used by people to harvest rain water. The main idea of catching rain water using the roof technique is because they are simple techniques to be implemented at minimum costs.
Benefits of Roof Harvesting System
The roof harvesting system in rain water harvesting system is beneficiary because firstly water demands are increasing every year due to global warming. This rain water harvesting system also reduces the run off of water which will choke storm drains, which could also results to floods. Thus by harvesting the rain thru roof system, water does not have to flow down to storm drains, and floods the roads.
It is also stated that rain water harvesting system with roof system also decrease ground water pollutions and indirectly increase the quality of ground water. Many people now also feel that this method of harvesting also decreases soil erosion, especially on hilly areas.
Advantages of The Roof Harvesting System
There are many advantages of using the roof harvesting system, firstly water collected through the rood system are better quality compared to other methods, the water collected tends to contain less minerals thus very suitable for watering of plants and our lawns. Secondly also this system is required very minimal costs to set up and relatively very easy to maintain. Not much is needed for the roof harvesting system, because most of the houses have a good gutter system, we are just using what are available. In costal areas, this method of rain harvesting is more encourage because rain water collected are better quality and when they are recharge to ground water, the salinity is reduced further and this helps us to maintain a better balance between fresh saline water. In island areas on the other hand, roof harvesting system provides good freshwater for domestic usage.
Tank Storage of Rain Water Collected
I feel and would suggest that the best way to store rain water collected from roof harvesting system is with the use of storage tank or rain barrels. It is best that the storage tanks not to ne located too close to any source of pollution like septic tanks, drainage as we fear that this water may sip up to our storage tank. It is also logical that the rain barrel or tanks to be located in lower ground so that water could be stored and filled in easily. We must also install an overflow pipe or diverter that will flow to appropriate non flooding areas. This is vital as sometimes our tanks are filled and we do not want an over flooding which will in long run damaged our foundation of the house. We must also ensure that the rain barrels are easily accessible for cleaning purposes. Although there are filter installed, once in awhile we need to wash the tank or barrel.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Rain Catcher | It’s All In The Filter
Rain catcher is a form of rain harvesting system, there are many types of rain catcher in the market today as people sees the importance of recycling free rain water for usage. An average American can safe a huge amount of water bills by rain harvesting.
The Filter
The most important thing in any rain barrel is the filtration unit. Without proper filter installed in your rain barrels system water collected are less valuable, it cannot be used for landscaping, laundry, toilet flushing and no portable water demands. If you do not have good filter installed debris will be plentiful and water will become smelly and such water is useless. The tag is “ It’s all about the filter”
There are many kinds of filters in the market, in finding a perfect filters there are a few aspects you need to take into consideration.
· How big is your pipe?
· The type of debris ? Am I looking for filters for big particles or fine debris.
· How easy to assemble?
· How often do I need to clean the filters?
The Types Of Filters
Rainus Filter
It is a squares filter and is installed in the lower section of the downpipe, It is small, very easy to be installed and relatively very reliable. It is also hassle free thus making cleaning easy. There are many section in the filter thus rainwater have to pass through several section before accumulated in the barrel. The upper of the Rainus Filter is has a baffle, where water is calmed in small volume, water will pass thru the sump lip and distributed evenly across the cascade which is where the first filter is located. This cascade will filter out big particles like leaves, and big debris. Below the cascade there lies the second filter. This filter will filter finer debris and can filter out particles the size of 550 microns. The advantage of this filter is that the big particles and debris is ejected out to the front making cleaning particularly easy.
Graf Universal external filter
This is an advance type of filter giving maximum filtration with maximum water quality yield. This is the expensive filter, thus making it very good, and guarantee 95% of water yield if used. Once fitted they are relatively low maintenance due to its special self cleaning technology. This is why this filter costs more. They are TUV safe and tested, it is also childproof as it is lockable.
I hope that by giving you two model to compare, you will know more about the rain catcher filter and you could use both as a comparison when you are choosing for a filter to be installed.
The Filter
The most important thing in any rain barrel is the filtration unit. Without proper filter installed in your rain barrels system water collected are less valuable, it cannot be used for landscaping, laundry, toilet flushing and no portable water demands. If you do not have good filter installed debris will be plentiful and water will become smelly and such water is useless. The tag is “ It’s all about the filter”
There are many kinds of filters in the market, in finding a perfect filters there are a few aspects you need to take into consideration.
· How big is your pipe?
· The type of debris ? Am I looking for filters for big particles or fine debris.
· How easy to assemble?
· How often do I need to clean the filters?
The Types Of Filters
Rainus Filter
It is a squares filter and is installed in the lower section of the downpipe, It is small, very easy to be installed and relatively very reliable. It is also hassle free thus making cleaning easy. There are many section in the filter thus rainwater have to pass through several section before accumulated in the barrel. The upper of the Rainus Filter is has a baffle, where water is calmed in small volume, water will pass thru the sump lip and distributed evenly across the cascade which is where the first filter is located. This cascade will filter out big particles like leaves, and big debris. Below the cascade there lies the second filter. This filter will filter finer debris and can filter out particles the size of 550 microns. The advantage of this filter is that the big particles and debris is ejected out to the front making cleaning particularly easy.
Graf Universal external filter
This is an advance type of filter giving maximum filtration with maximum water quality yield. This is the expensive filter, thus making it very good, and guarantee 95% of water yield if used. Once fitted they are relatively low maintenance due to its special self cleaning technology. This is why this filter costs more. They are TUV safe and tested, it is also childproof as it is lockable.
I hope that by giving you two model to compare, you will know more about the rain catcher filter and you could use both as a comparison when you are choosing for a filter to be installed.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Rain Barrel Diverter | Rain Spout Diverter Unit
A rain water diverter is a simple gadget that is installed to ensure that when your rain barrel is full, no more water is channel to the rain barrel and this small gadget will stop water and channel water back to the old gutter system. This rain barrel diverter is a must as imagine the damaged you will have to boar of overflowing of water will create big problem and damaged to your foundation of the house.
The Y Down Spout Rain Barrel Diverter
This is the most common and best diverter unit, it is relatively simple and works wonders.
This is how a Y down rain barrel diverter looks like, very simply designed and could be easily available in the market. There are two sizes, the 2’ x 3’ and the 3’ x 4’, you buy what suits your gutter system. You can see that the diverter is Y shaped and the idea is that you can switch if off when your rain barrels are full and the gutter system and water will flow to the drainage instead.
There are many kinds of rain barrel diverter in the market and I am just highlighting to people on the importance of having this unit to prevent damages.
The Flaws Of Rain Barrel Diverters
There is no perfect products in the market, although I said that is advisable to have a rain barrel diverter installed, the limitation which I have come to see are that firstly there are two flaps attached to the rain barrel diverter (as above), so many people do argue that if you are serious about harvesting rain water, why do you need a rain barrel diverter, just add another tank or rain barrel. People argue that it defies the reasons, if one is serious in rain harvesting why are we diverting water back to our drainage?
Secondly, they are ugly. Most rain barrel diverter has many hoses and pipes attached to the downspout thus imagine having many attachments in front of your houses. Although many manufacturers are trying to limit the number of downspout now but they could still be easily seen from a distance because of their sizes.
So again, you might have to weigh the above pros and cons of rain barrel diverter and decide on yourself on whether or not to have one installed in your rain harvesting system.
The Y Down Spout Rain Barrel Diverter
This is the most common and best diverter unit, it is relatively simple and works wonders.
This is how a Y down rain barrel diverter looks like, very simply designed and could be easily available in the market. There are two sizes, the 2’ x 3’ and the 3’ x 4’, you buy what suits your gutter system. You can see that the diverter is Y shaped and the idea is that you can switch if off when your rain barrels are full and the gutter system and water will flow to the drainage instead.
There are many kinds of rain barrel diverter in the market and I am just highlighting to people on the importance of having this unit to prevent damages.
The Flaws Of Rain Barrel Diverters
There is no perfect products in the market, although I said that is advisable to have a rain barrel diverter installed, the limitation which I have come to see are that firstly there are two flaps attached to the rain barrel diverter (as above), so many people do argue that if you are serious about harvesting rain water, why do you need a rain barrel diverter, just add another tank or rain barrel. People argue that it defies the reasons, if one is serious in rain harvesting why are we diverting water back to our drainage?
Secondly, they are ugly. Most rain barrel diverter has many hoses and pipes attached to the downspout thus imagine having many attachments in front of your houses. Although many manufacturers are trying to limit the number of downspout now but they could still be easily seen from a distance because of their sizes.
So again, you might have to weigh the above pros and cons of rain barrel diverter and decide on yourself on whether or not to have one installed in your rain harvesting system.
Rain water harvesting system
Many countries see the importance of rain water and many are promoting and educating its people on how to harvest precious rain water that will go to waste. Although water is cheap to most countries, but imagine if you have a good system of harvesting rain water, and averagely saving 14,000 gallons of water yearly, how much will you save long term in Rain water harvesting system is long term investment, you just have to create a system that works for you and that system will run for long term. You must always remember, water is not god given. It is a form of resources and like all resources in the world, it will deplete and we must treat this precious resource with respect and not abuse it.
A Simple Rain Water Harvesting System
Many people have the misunderstanding that rain water harvesting system are expensive to set up and installed. This is relatively not true, yes some complicated system are costly, but you do not have to invest in those expensive system unless you want. I always tell people to start with a simple system, and if you like it gradually and slowly modifies it. It is as simple as that. I am going to talk on a simple rain water harvesting system here.
The simplest rain water harvesting system is by using rain barrels that will costs you around $90 to $120 depending on the sizes. You can view my other blog for this. Here we are going to talk about a more extensive system a step above using rain barrels. There are (4) steps in a rain water harvesting system, the first step is capturing, then conveyance, storing the rain water and lastly the distribution.
Capturing Rain Water
All rain water harvesting system catches the rain water using the roof, common sense will tell you that a slop roof system captures rain water better than flat roof. Water from the roof are channel to the gutter and usually there are (4) points of collection channels. The most important aspect to ensuring a good capturing system is clearing all debris ensuring that rain water collected are free from debris. A relatively simple way is installing a screen to the channels to capture large debris from entering. You can buy screen in any convenient store and what I usually buy is the typical traditional big window screen. This will ensure that particles will not enter and you do not have to clean that so regularly. If you buy fine screen, you sometimes have to clean the screen frequently to prevent blockage. By having a screen to capture large particles, water harvested are free from debris, this does not mean you do not have to clean the tank, in which you still need to do but in a yearly basis.
Conveyance
The second step is rain water harvesting system is the conveyance, it means getting the rain water from the roof to the tank. A simple way of doing this is to place the tank directly under the canal. This cut the rain water traveling time to very short thus it is very cheap. Most people choose to bury a tank, a good conveyance system consists of underground piping that moves the water from canal to the tank. We must fully use nature law of gravity and water pressure. Both will push the water from the canal to the pipe and to the tank. Most material I used in my simple rain water harvesting system is easily available in our convenience store. In this we use the 4 inch black flex pipe.
Storing of Precious Water Collected
The third stem is storing of our rain water, the most basis and cheapest way is using the plastic polypropylene tanks. They are easily available and cheap storing system. There are many sizes available thus you will need to choose one that will suits you nicely. In my opinion, a good size of tank is 1700 gallon tank which will take up around 10’ x 20’ space (small compare to the price you would be paying in water bills). You can start with this and you can upgrade it by adding more tanks later. You can be amaze that this small tank would help you water your lawn for one month during draught.
Distribution.
This is the last step for the whole rain water harvesting system and also the most costly to be implemented. In this last step, we need to purchase a pump to pump out water collected. The cheapest will be to invest in a ½ horse power pump, the pump must be submersible and have a float. This pump will be hooked to the places where you want the water to be channel, mostly the sprinkler system or an outdoor water faucet. In purchasing a pump. Also makes sure that the pump you purchased have an auto shut-off, this is very important to prevent burning off when there is no water to pump.
So from here you can see that it is relatively very simple to harvest water and all can be done by you without having to bring in experts. I do hope that this will give you a very basic idea of rain water harvesting system so that you could help mother earth to conserve and recycle water.
A Simple Rain Water Harvesting System
Many people have the misunderstanding that rain water harvesting system are expensive to set up and installed. This is relatively not true, yes some complicated system are costly, but you do not have to invest in those expensive system unless you want. I always tell people to start with a simple system, and if you like it gradually and slowly modifies it. It is as simple as that. I am going to talk on a simple rain water harvesting system here.
The simplest rain water harvesting system is by using rain barrels that will costs you around $90 to $120 depending on the sizes. You can view my other blog for this. Here we are going to talk about a more extensive system a step above using rain barrels. There are (4) steps in a rain water harvesting system, the first step is capturing, then conveyance, storing the rain water and lastly the distribution.
Capturing Rain Water
All rain water harvesting system catches the rain water using the roof, common sense will tell you that a slop roof system captures rain water better than flat roof. Water from the roof are channel to the gutter and usually there are (4) points of collection channels. The most important aspect to ensuring a good capturing system is clearing all debris ensuring that rain water collected are free from debris. A relatively simple way is installing a screen to the channels to capture large debris from entering. You can buy screen in any convenient store and what I usually buy is the typical traditional big window screen. This will ensure that particles will not enter and you do not have to clean that so regularly. If you buy fine screen, you sometimes have to clean the screen frequently to prevent blockage. By having a screen to capture large particles, water harvested are free from debris, this does not mean you do not have to clean the tank, in which you still need to do but in a yearly basis.
Conveyance
The second step is rain water harvesting system is the conveyance, it means getting the rain water from the roof to the tank. A simple way of doing this is to place the tank directly under the canal. This cut the rain water traveling time to very short thus it is very cheap. Most people choose to bury a tank, a good conveyance system consists of underground piping that moves the water from canal to the tank. We must fully use nature law of gravity and water pressure. Both will push the water from the canal to the pipe and to the tank. Most material I used in my simple rain water harvesting system is easily available in our convenience store. In this we use the 4 inch black flex pipe.
Storing of Precious Water Collected
The third stem is storing of our rain water, the most basis and cheapest way is using the plastic polypropylene tanks. They are easily available and cheap storing system. There are many sizes available thus you will need to choose one that will suits you nicely. In my opinion, a good size of tank is 1700 gallon tank which will take up around 10’ x 20’ space (small compare to the price you would be paying in water bills). You can start with this and you can upgrade it by adding more tanks later. You can be amaze that this small tank would help you water your lawn for one month during draught.
Distribution.
This is the last step for the whole rain water harvesting system and also the most costly to be implemented. In this last step, we need to purchase a pump to pump out water collected. The cheapest will be to invest in a ½ horse power pump, the pump must be submersible and have a float. This pump will be hooked to the places where you want the water to be channel, mostly the sprinkler system or an outdoor water faucet. In purchasing a pump. Also makes sure that the pump you purchased have an auto shut-off, this is very important to prevent burning off when there is no water to pump.
So from here you can see that it is relatively very simple to harvest water and all can be done by you without having to bring in experts. I do hope that this will give you a very basic idea of rain water harvesting system so that you could help mother earth to conserve and recycle water.
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