Private water supply from rain water

[Stefan (S.T.E.F.)]

I have been scratching my head the last two days and I am still not sure what to do about a water supply for the house.

Been round the neighbours to see their bore hole and treatment equipment, then the other neighbours to look at their rain water collection system.

The bore hole is considerably more expensive and some equipment overlaps.

SO I am thinking I am going for rainwater for now. 7000-10000L underground tank, filter, pump, sediment filter, uv light.
Anybody on here who uses rain water as a private water supply ?

Only thing I am worried about is our very high water table in the winter. Wouldn't want the tank to end up being above ground...

Any suggestions on equipment? Experience, good or bad ?

Let me hear it ;-)

[billi]

Anybody on here who uses rain water as a private water supply ?

Sure  100%

[EccentricAnomaly]

Billi, don't you have a well?

[Justme]

Only thing I am worried about is our very high water table in the winter. Wouldn't want the tank to end up being above ground...

Wont the tank be full in winter so wont pop up out of the ground due to the water table?
We went for the borehole method. But we just had them drill & line it & did all the pumps, pipes & controls ourselves.

[billi]

Billi, don't you have a well?

No   i dug a 3 metre hole in the ground  of a valley with my digger , placed 3 metre high 1 metre diameter  pipe in (upright) and  filled the surrounding   space with tons of sand and gravel and planted willow/iris  deep  into the gravel

there is no spring so  mainly surface water  running through our filters in the house

If one has enough land (wet)  i would built a pond with plants  and use water from there instead collecting it from roof in containers   (but edit  we still have too much  Iron /Manganese  so must run through the soil/ground to pick these elements up  , and i am still working on solving this  ,cause some   like white underwear    and my son and me are fine  in rusty colours out of the washing machine  )

But as i write i  question my self why i never thought of rainwater-collection from my roof , must have something to do that i like building ponds too much   and  the impression i have that i trust a planted water store more than an idle plastic container  


Billi

[profp]

It is worth bearing in mind that UV treatment lamps draw about 40W continuously, and that the bulbs are typically only good for 300 power cycles - so that's quite an overhead if you are generating all your own electricity. We expect to fit  http://fountainfilters.co.uk/caaa485.htm as a power-free alternative for spring water treatment, but it does require a reasonable head (3 bar I think?) which isn't a problem in our case.

We also wanted to use untreated rainwater for washing bodies - but this is apparently prohibited by the local water authority regulations. I suppose there is some sense to it, in that the very young and elderly might be susceptible to water borne pathogens, but it would be nice to have the choice - Bermuda has no issues, for example. As it is, we have settled for separate rain water tap in the kitchen, and also use it to run the very miserly washing machine, drawing water from the butts using a self starting 12V pump intended for RV/caravan use and powered off a small dedicated battery bank/solar panel set up.

[Iain]

Hi

SO I am thinking I am going for rainwater for now. 7000-10000L underground tank, filter, pump, sediment filter, uv light.
Anybody on here who uses rain water as a private water supply ?

I only use rainwater for 2 toilets and washing machine rinse. I use 2000lt/month just for those. I have storage for 6000 lts. So far it hasn't run out, but has been close. Perhaps larger storage(or one that can be added to, might be needed if you are using it for everything, unless you get loads of rain!.
Others might have more experience of total "no mains water" storage requirements
Iain

[dhaslam]

When I was  growing up the house only had rainwater off the roof. It was used for everything except drinking.       

I think you could get around the  UV  waste of energy problem  by  linking the UV  filter to the pump  so that it only comes on when filling the roof tank.    The reason why UV is not generally used in public systems is that  it doesn't protect stored water  but  they are beginning to be used now for small local  public water supplies that are supplied by wells.   

[billi]

It is worth bearing in mind that UV treatment lamps draw about 40W continuously, and that the bulbs are typically only good for 300 power cycles - so that's quite an overhead if you are generating all your own electricity. We expect to fit  http://fountainfilters.co.uk/caaa485.htm as a power-free alternative for spring water treatment, but it does require a reasonable head (3 bar I think?) which isn't a problem in our case.

thats why i did not consider UV , too much energy and too much lamps to replace

So went for "Ultrafiltration "   idea , that filters with pressure  that we need anyhow in the house

something like this http://www.dwc-water.com/technologies/filtration-systems/index.html

We do not drink our water even the tests showed  "Drinkable to EU Standards "

Billi

[Stefan (S.T.E.F.)]

I am not too worried about the UV lamp wattage as we are now connecting to the grid, safe water is more important as we have other people's kids to look after... the day we retire I will probably rip out the UV lamp and replace it with a non electric filter. I had a look at them but I am not sure if they will suffice with young children in the house.

We have composting toilets and use roughly 200L a day with 4 people. Suppose that will go up by roughly 30-50L per person when we have more children. In our area there is never any more than 7 days without rain. I think the longest that has been recorded was 12 days, so the tank should be full most of the time. We don't have 4 week sunshine like southern England.... we do have 4 weeks of constant rain sometimes though.... certainly no shortage of water up here... and if I really run out I can always get an IBC full from the neighbours well and top up my tank... we do each other favours up here like that... our other neighbours have come for a weekly shower in our rented house for well over a year as they are off grid and still have no running water... it's what we do....

I like the Graf Platin flat tanks, largest is 7500L. They are expandable, so could add another tank if we found that we run low too often. The roof is 180sqm, which should collect close to 250.000 L a year. Garden and livestock water is collected elsewhere, so this is purely for domestic use in the house.

I don't follow the poster who said to only have the UV light come on when filling the roof tank. What's a roof tank ?

Generally it would be good if the UV came on on demand only but I think that was discussed on here years ago and dismissed as not doable... or was it ?

Billi, if you water is drinkable, why don't you drink it ?

[Stefan (S.T.E.F.)]

Another thing I was wondering. I want to use an Ecocent in the house. No header tank, it works with mains pressure. So how do I get mains pressure (suppose around 2 bar?) to my DHW from a rainwater tank ? Do I pump the water from the tank into the house and then add a pressure vessel ? Or can I use a German Hauswasserwerk ?
Billi ?

 

[billi]

Billi, if you water is drinkable, why don't you drink it ?

Cause i drink only beer 

[billi]

Hauswasserwerk

Works fine  here  since years   this one i have http://www.al-ko.de/garten+hobby-wasserIpumpen-hauswasserversorgung-hauswasserwerke-2230.htm?prod_id=prod_2230

But  would take a lower  wattage (cause off grid and surge/start up load) one in my case the next time  and increase the pressure tank (i have 60 litres (i think) extra   pressure tank  so to avoid pump is starting too often

Billi

By the way .... a filter that consumes 24 hours electricity , does not mean that he is doing the right job 

[profp]

I am not too worried about the UV lamp wattage as we are now connecting to the grid, safe water is more important as we have other people's kids to look after... the day we retire I will probably rip out the UV lamp and replace it
Generally it would be good if the UV came on on demand only but I think that was discussed on here years ago and dismissed as not doable... or was it ?

It's not doable if you believe the manufacturer's specs. The bulb would need replacing after c.300 cycles as it would no longer be effective/may not strike.

[qeipl]

Another thing I was wondering. I want to use an Ecocent in the house. No header tank, it works with mains pressure. So how do I get mains pressure (suppose around 2 bar?) to my DHW from a rainwater tank ? Do I pump the water from the tank into the house and then add a pressure vessel ? Or can I use a German Hauswasserwerk ?
Billi ?

 

You can install the Ecocent as an open vented system - feed & expansion tank instead of pressurised set-up.
The snag is that you'll get very meagre flow for your showers.

Or you can use a pumped system like they use with a bore hole - that would give you mains equivalent pressure for the Ecocent.