Just curious about some fresh ideas on how to filter rainwater prior to it going into a cistern.
Seems like the old filter boxes had gravel, sand,and some kind of fabric that the gutters would dump into. And then after it sifted through the gravel, sand, fabric, it would drain into the cistern.
Anyone have info on this stuff?
jt8
“If we don’t put effort into creating what we want, we must then put effort into coping with what we have.” –EPNIA
Replies
http://www.conservationtechnology.com/downloads/RainwaterSystems.pdf
carpenter in transition
I remember reading an article about a 'roof-washer' system for recuperating rainwater...but I don't remember where I read it. It may have been in FHB; but this was many, many moons ago.
I believe the term was 'roof-washer'....
Yup, it was:
Roof Washer | Rainwater Harvesting Guide
http://www.rain-barrel.net/roof-washer.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
Rainwater Harvesting and Purification System
ersson.sustainabilitylane.com/rainwatr.htm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
Roof washer
http://www.earthplatform.com/roof/washer - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
I've read a few articles on the roof washer method. People seem to have mixed reactions about them.
The basic ones which are little more than a bucket that holds the first 3-10 gallons of water and then let it leak off over time... In theory the first few gallons of rain wash the roof off and thereby you get the cleaner water in your cistern. But the down side is that when the drain that lets the water seep out clogs..you can get nasty stuff growing in your rainwater filter.
There are more advanced ones, some of which involve electronics, but seems like they have very mixed reviews, especially in a mixed climate of below freezing in winter and very hot in summer.
jt8
"If we don't put effort into creating what we want, we must then put effort into coping with what we have." --EPNIA
Here are two more links. The first is a company that sells rainwater collection systems, the second is good info on general principles of rainwater collection.
http://www.rainwatermanagement.com/
http://www.cabellbrandcenter.org/CB%20Center%20webpage%20Current%20Projects.html
I tried to use the link posted by timkline and it froze, so I couldn't see what it said, but I would think landscape fabric would keep the sand in the filter. I suppose activated charcoal wouldn't hurt. I suppose the web sites address all that. There are lagoon sytems too that use reeds and cattails and such to filter the water.
I tried to use the link posted by timkline and it froze, so I couldn't see what it said,
attached it.
jt8
"If we don't put effort into creating what we want, we must then put effort into coping with what we have." --EPNIA
Thanks to all for your info and links. I will read through them.
jt8
"If we don't put effort into creating what we want, we must then put effort into coping with what we have." --EPNIA
I have 2 rain barrels on downspouts. I ended up getting some inexpensive stainless colanders from a restaurant supply store. They're round and have lots of 2.5mm holes. Seems to be a good balance between not getting overwhelmed by the flow and filtration. The top of each barrel has a cutout that the colander sits down in.
At one point, I had visions of a 275-gal tote or more manifolded barrels in the back of the yard for longer term storage. My thought was to make essentially a slow sand filter for the feed. That'd be a 10-12 gallon bucket with PVC manifold w/ lots of small holes in the underside, bedded in gravel, with 1'0" or so of sand on top. The idea would be to pump from the barrel into the filter bucket, which would drain into the bigger storage by gravity. Scrape off the top sand when it gets gunky.
The barrels by themselves have worked fine, though. Water gets a touch anaerobic and slightly stinky after a few weeks. But we just made it through a couple weeks w/o rain and 100F temps and managed to get the garden started w/o running out.