Rain catchment care

[TexasArtist]

Who has a raincatchment system on their house. I dont mean for using the water for the garden. I meaning for useing the water for yourself (drinking, cooking, showering, and so on) I'm wondering how do you keep the tank clean (algae) and also how do you keep the misquitos out?

[RoseGarden]

I don't have a link for you, but you could probably find the website that Texas A&M has for a rainwater catchment system. I had found it and printed it off a couple of years ago and had it all in a notebook, and then lost the notebook. It was a pretty decent system, but I don't recall details. I am planning similar someday soon, so I guess I should go try to find it too.

[DalRaidan]

If it is a poly tank and light can get into the tank then paint the tank so light won't get in. That should solve the algea as it needs light to grow.

[debra in ks]

A friend of mine lives off the grid and uses a rain catchment system. He buried his tank and then has a pump which runs off his solar panels to pump water into the house. No light, no algea.

[TexasArtist]

how about misquitos?

[WisJim]

Here is a website by some folks who have been doing this for decades. The pictures are of their current house. In the former house the water tanks were inside the building.
http://www.geopathfinder.com/9566.ht...ession*id*val*

[backwoods]

I have been living with the Taxas Rainwater system spoken about above.
WE have dark green 2500 gallon tanks and hooked them to the house as suggested by Tank Town.Sorry no link,but you can type in Tank Town and get there I think.No light no algae and no bugs in a sealed system.We have had our up and running for about a year and LOVE it.All that water and no chemicals,it taste great.Good luck.

[uarelovedbygod]

Texasartist,

We have a rainwater collection system that incorportates 4 1500 gallon poly tanks. We have them buried under a deck, so we can access them in a pinch if we have to. We use a jet pump with a foot valve, which pumps the water through a sand filter, then a 1 micron whole house filter before we drink it or use it for bathing or cooking. We have used this system for 4 years. One year we ran out of water (due both to drought and lots of company bathing daily!) and have since then connected a spring to the holding tanks. We get around 300 gallons of water per day from the spring, so even with watering a garden and livestock, have not run out of water since then.

I was curious if anyone ever considered "shocking" a water cistern system. When we lived in Florida, we would shock our pool every so often to keep the water cleaner. While I prefer not to drink water with chlorine or other chemicals in it, I wonder if it would prolong the life of our system.

Any thoughts?

--Chris

[hunter63]

I had the pleasure of looking at a straw bale house last week end.
Was invited by the owner, who is also a neighbor, (I didn't know that it was a straw bale house).
He has the only grid tied solar system on the Co-Op lines at this point, ( I plan on being the second, and is how I met him, (officially)

Had been totally off the grid for four years, before getting tied in and is ahead of the game this year in KW hrs produced vs used.

His system is two #1000 gal(I think) poly tanks, inside an "equipment room" that is open to the house, but below grade. (basement/split level?). Is gathered by one half of his steel roof, to a sump pump, to the tanks.
Whole house in line filter, and 6 oz of bleach per 1000 gal.

No septic, has sawdust toilet (Humanure syle).
Has a lot of passive solar, and so far never has frozen up (SW Wisconsin).

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Our rainwater collection system has 11 tanks and 28,500 gallons storage. The best source for info is from the Texas Water Commision and here is their link to the manual for rainwater harvesting. I have pictures of my system if desired.

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publicat...3rdedition.pdf

[Rita]

Texas, If you are thinking of a real simple setup, a lady I knew had a 55 gallon container and tied a few layers of cheesecloth over the top so the rainwater could go in and the mosquitoes stayed out.

[SolarGary]

Originally Posted by TexasArtist

Who has a raincatchment system on their house. I dont mean for using the water for the garden. I meaning for useing the water for yourself (drinking, cooking, showering, and so on) I'm wondering how do you keep the tank clean (algae) and also how do you keep the misquitos out?

Hi,
The "Texas Manual On Rainwater Harvesting" that I think RoseGarden was referring to is here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

Its very good and very free.
There are also some other guides and some detailed examples of systems people have put in at the same link.

If you want to use the water for drinking, there are some issues to be aware of on the kind of surface you collect the water from, the gutter and first flow diverter arrangement, preventing contamination, and treating the water. It gets more complicated than if you just want to use the water for gardening.


Gary

[12vman]

I catch it outside and then move it inside for storage. I add a small amount of bleach to keep the slime away. No skeeters..

[TexasArtist]

Hello folks
Well first off thanks for all the comments if anybody has more please keep adding.
The suggestions for burying the tank won't work in my area unfortunately. I'm in the area of caves so there's tons of rocks and boulders making digging impossible.
Here's what I've thought of doing from the suggestions that have been given so far. The water comes off the roof into a 55 gals barrel, then into a large bucket containing layers of larger rocks (bottom), then sand, then charcoal, then sand, then charcoal, then smaller rocks on top making it a bit easier to clean any junk off. Then from there into my main tank. Does this sound like it would work folks?
Thanks

[backwoods]

I have a neighbor that did that very thing.It worked very well,you must seal your tank though to keep out skeeters.your tank will do very well above ground (thermal energy from the sun will stop it from freezing if it is large enough,say 1000 gallons or more).However you must keep your access from the tank to the house insulated or it will freeze.A lot less water in a small pipe.A whole house filter system is still a good idea,but drinking properly handled rain water is great.Good luck.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

"The water comes off the roof into a 55 gals barrel, then into a large bucket containing layers of larger rocks (bottom), then sand, then charcoal, then sand, then charcoal, then smaller rocks on top making it a bit easier to clean any junk off. Then from there into my main tank. Does this sound like it would work folks?"

It might work depending on the size of your roof. You catch rainfall at the rate of approx 630 gallons per 1000 ft of roof footprint. Your roof footprint is the area of your building plus the overhang of your roof. You gain nothing extra for the increased area of the slope of your roof. With many of our rainstorms here in Texas a LOT OF WATER may have to go through your 55 gallon barrel in a really short time.

The need to prefilter the water before going into your main storage tank is greatly lessened if you have a good roof washing system (a system that diverts the first 50 gallons or so) and a simple debris catchment screen at the top of the roof washing system. After that settlement in the tank takes care of most silt and chlorine bleach takes care of the nasties. We filter the water coming into the house with a sediment filter.

BTW - how many square feet is your roof and how big is your tank.

[VonWolfen]

We have a combination rain water/well water system. The rain comes in on stainless steel gutters (on barn) into a dark green 1100 gallon poly tank in the barn loft. Then too a 600 gallon similar tank in our power room at ground level. We use a Dankopf pump to send underground to the house. We have some fairly exotic filters in the basement and an UV filter for safety. The 600 gallon tank can be backfilled by a well pump when there is not ample rain. I put about 1 gallon of bleach per year in the 1100 gallon tank. We haven't had a problem with algae or bugs.

[TexasArtist]

well my cabin is 16x24. Not very big but there is a well for back up if needed. I'm wanting this set up because our electric goes out so often out here that I'm just wanting a safety net of sorts.
The water would go through the 55 gal barrel because I figured in a good down pour it would go to fast for the rock/charcoal/sand/small rocks filter to pass it through quickly enough into the main tank. The main tank I'm trying to get is about 500 gals. Now I'm thinking maybe bigger.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

I will assume that your cabin has at least 1 1/2 foot eave overhang to give a roof area approx 19 by 25. That will give you a nominal 300 gallons per inch of rain and here in Texas 2-3 inch rainstorms are common. EVERY gallon wasted (not caught because no tank space) is gone forever. I assume since you are in the Hill Country area that you get approximately the same rain we do which is approx 32 inches of rain per year. IF we were to get the average you need to be able to USE and STORE approx 10,000 gallons per year. I would have a 2500.00 gallon tank at the very least. Surprisingly these are not too much more than a 500 gallon tank, and are usually the best bargain of gallons per $ cost. Half full you could still catch all of the rain from a 4 inch rainstorm. BTW - I don't have 28,500 gallons storage because I just "like tanks".
\
BTW you really need to download and read the information I posted the link for earlier in my postings.

Your 55 gallon barrel will never handle the volume of water we are talking about in a good hard rain.