So...I'm about to do Rainwater Harvesting

[Pocster]

I originally was going down the route of rwh .

Even got a non return valve put in at the request of Bristol water .

Guy came out and actually told me it probably wasn’t worth it ; his reasoning :

 

maintenance / replacement pump

 

suggested not using it for toilets as can stain ( so some chemical agent needed adding to the stored water )

 

So use for what ? Watering the garden ? - that’s about it .

 

With the purchase costs of a tank etc I just couldn’t get any sensible roi .

So dropped the idea . As our water is metered it is relatively expensive , but even if I did install and used for garden , toilets , washing machine - I think savings would be minimal.

[Nickfromwales]

53 minutes ago, Pocster said:

I originally was going down the route of rwh .

Even got a non return valve put in at the request of Bristol water .

Guy came out and actually told me it probably wasn’t worth it ; his reasoning :

 

maintenance / replacement pump

 

suggested not using it for toilets as can stain ( so some chemical agent needed adding to the stored water )

 

So use for what ? Watering the garden ? - that’s about it .

 

With the purchase costs of a tank etc I just couldn’t get any sensible roi .

So dropped the idea . As our water is metered it is relatively expensive , but even if I did install and used for garden , toilets , washing machine - I think savings would be minimal.

Yup. Spend the money on something that has no moving parts, near zero maintenance, and gives an instant RoI. 
 

Solar PV, or more solar PV, or a battery.

[Pocster]

2 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Yup. Spend the money on something that has no moving parts, near zero maintenance, and gives an instant RoI. 
 

Solar PV, or more solar PV, or a battery.

I did Uncle Nick.! PV, battery, then more PV and another battery.

With my EV ( admittedly low annual mileage ) my ROI is around 6 years from when first installed. If we have a stellar sunny summer I reckon I won't be far off break even this year.

[Nickfromwales]

54 minutes ago, Pocster said:

I did Uncle Nick.! PV, battery, then more PV and another battery.

With my EV ( admittedly low annual mileage ) my ROI is around 6 years from when first installed. If we have a stellar sunny summer I reckon I won't be far off break even this year.

Good girl. Help yourself to a cookie. 

[Pocster]

Just now, Nickfromwales said:

Good girl. Help yourself to a cookie. 

You've said that before haven't you?

[Temp]

We have an underground rainwater harvesting tank with a leaf filter on the input. It's been in use since 2007 and has accumulated about 1 ft of sludge in the bottom. 

 

We only use it for gardening and car washing but the water does have a brown tint to it. 

[Pocster]

28 minutes ago, Temp said:

We have an underground rainwater harvesting tank with a leaf filter on the input. It's been in use since 2007 and has accumulated about 1 ft of sludge in the bottom. 

 

We only use it for gardening and car washing but the water does have a brown tint to it. 

Out of interest are you going to ( able to ! ) get in there and suck the sludge out ?

[saveasteading]

40 minutes ago, Temp said:

about 1 ft of sludge in the bottom. 

That seems an awful lot, after a leaf filter. 

My 1920s brick single chamber  cess tank had that much on the bottom. Not bits of leaves.

Any idea what it is? would you change anything another time?

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Pocster said:

You've said that before haven't you?

Yes. I'm sorry.

 

 

 

 

There are no cookies. "somebody" ate them.

[Temp]

On 27/01/2025 at 14:14, Pocster said:

Out of interest are you going to ( able to ! ) get in there and suck the sludge out ?

 

Yes. There is a manhole big enough to climb in but that might be dangerous (lack of oxygen or too much CO2 etc).

 

I can see me hiring a cespit company to pump it out at some point.

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Sounds like a silt chamber is a really useufl addition to RWH.

[Temp]

On 27/01/2025 at 14:28, saveasteading said:

That seems an awful lot, after a leaf filter. 

My 1920s brick single chamber  cess tank had that much on the bottom. Not bits of leaves.

Any idea what it is? would you change anything another time?

 

We have a lot of trees and I think some leaf fall rots in the gutters before being washed through the leaf trap when there is a heavy downpour. I have to vacuum out the gutters twice a year with a wet vac but it's impossible to get all the "compost" out of them.

 

 

[Stu789]

I'm considering rainwater harvesting and thinking that a gutter outlet spider + downpipe leaf filter + silt trap + deeper tank so pump draws from higher up the tank more of the time is going to give the best chance of cleaner water - if the downpipe leaf filter is good enough then maybe delete the spider.   Really interested how clean the water is for an installation where someone has taken these steps - brown muddy water in the toilets and washing machine will be a tough sell to my other half!

 

Also clear that financial considerations are very much secondary - assisting site water management & being environmentally responsible being my drivers.  

[Gone West]

56 minutes ago, Stu789 said:

Really interested how clean the water is for an installation where someone has taken these steps

My Victorian underground rainwater tank only had a two stage sand filter bed and the water was crystal clear in the tank. The pump drew the water from around 300mm off the bottom of the tank.

[ToughButterCup]

On 28/01/2025 at 14:46, Alan Ambrose said:

Sounds like a silt chamber is a really useufl addition to RWH.

 

That is exactly what it is @Alan Ambrose

 

@Temp needs to add a settlement tank to his set up with a 3 foot sump at the bottom of it so he can use a standard 2" pump to get rid of the sludge - once very few years. And have an overflow into the operational tank of course...... in effect, a skimmer.

Sorry @Temp, talking about   you .....didn't see you standing there 😑

[SteamyTea]

Seems to me that it is the filtration/treatment of RWH that is the problem.

It should be possible to design a self cleaning vortex filter for the input and then a regular water treatment filtration and sterilisation system for the output.

[ToughButterCup]

14 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Seems to me that it is the filtration/treatment of RWH that is the problem.

It should be possible to design a self cleaning vortex filter for the input and then a regular water treatment filtration and sterilisation system for the output.

 

...  And hence the expense, which makes it unviable.

Settlement, however only needs expenditure once - a second tank(let) which needs cleaning every once in a while. And a chlorine ( Chlorox ?)  tablet once in a while,  dropped into the settlement tank.

[SteamyTea]

25 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

And hence the expense, which makes it unviable.

That is probably because not many are made, and none of them are for RWH as they are usually modified swimming pool filters.