Rainwater First Flush System Modification Part 8
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 чер 2011
- It is finally raining here in Houston. My rainwater first flush system is working great but not perfectly. With a couple of small modifications my first flush system is doing everything I had hoped it would do. Take a look.
- LDS Prepper PREMIUM Plant Micro-Nutrient Mix: • DIY Ultimate Plant Foo...
LDSPrepperStore.com
- LDS Prepper Premium Plant Micro Nutrients
- Mittleider Gardening Course Book
- Heirloom Garden Seeds
- Berkey Water Filters
- Off-Grid Portable Solar Generator
This is just such a cool set up! Very smart idea.
I appreciate how explicit and detailed you made these videos. The venting and the flush systems were easy to understand. Thank you!
"Man I love rain water it is so good tasting." Amen brother!
Great series of videos. Thank you for posting them. I have used them as reference to setup my own rainwater retention system and your experience has helped me tremendously. Thanks again
thanks for taking the time to respond, your series was great and I'm going to give it a go this weekend. Take care!
Awesome series, man. Thanks for taking the time to record the process. Can't wait to get started on my own.
Hi, great videos and clear instructions. Thank you.
I've used your idea and changed it. I inverted the two main 4" tubes, put a T at the bottom, and added a flush valve to clean it. This way I don't need a ball or bottle inside. Just put a mesh filter at the output to prevent any debris from coming into the tank. No need to clean it either as the debris clears every time it's flush.
Works great.
I started watching this video trying to figure out what the "first flush system" was. When I realized it and how it worked I was extremely impressed. Very ingenious system for keeping the dirt and dust of the gutters out of your water.
I'll send the rain we are getting here your way LOL...Good job.
Thank you for all your water harvesting videos, I watched them all.. They have all been very helpful to me to build my own two tier harvesting water tanks similar to yours. I live in England, UK and while we do get a lot of water fall here, I wanted to use harvested water for my garden particularly in the spring/summer months. So far it's been great but I did struggle with all the different pipe fitting and size differences, all very confusing but I worked it out 😱. Cost wise my solution may have cost me more as I struggled to source parts but now understand more and have experience. I also need to see how it all copes with our winter as tanks are not insulated. My next project may be to consider (after further investigation that is) a filter system and/or how to increase water pressure. Thanks again for all your help👍
Thank you. I started with 55 gallon barrels and quickly realized there was no way I could store enough barrels for my needs and it would be very costly to go that route. This has really worked out well for us. We use them almost every day in the garden.
Awesome. We use our system almost every day. We love it.
Well I am new in this whole prepping thing. I LOVE your set up. I had been thinking 55g barrels but I am now convinced otherwise. Thank you for the in depth series... I am liking this one but have watched all. Thank you.
You screen out large debris (leaves twigs etc) before it even enters the gutter pipe, the first flush system is mainly to flush out small debris, dust/dirt and bird crap before it goes into your holding tank. The bottle works as a diverter to the holding tank only after the "flush" tube has been filled with the "first" of the rainwater runoff which contains the dust/dirt, bird crap etc.
Awesome project and results. Thanks for the video and inspiration.
Awesome that your system is working, better yet that you got some much needed rain. nice job you have to love it when a plan comes together.
Looks Great! I really enjoy this set of videos.
@rchopp You are right. I love the rain and that the system works, with a little modification.
I'm really enjoying your videos... I'm learning a lot. Thanks.
lots of great info...watched all 8 vids....good job...my rain water catchment is half done
great great great video series. I think this is a great idea and I have already started searching CL for the totes. thanks for sharing!
Others may have noticed that the paper label on the water bottle is not going to be your friend over time.
You spent a lot of effort keeping foreign matter out of the system, but that paper will gum up the works as well as anything else.
Awesome, enjoyed the video . Thanks!
First off .... Great idea.... I modified mine in a different way that simplified the construction. 1. I inverted one container in the holder and sealed things with Teflon tape with both caps together i removed the bungs and with a threaded PVC coupler replacing the bungs i coupled them with a no hub coupler.
2. The upper drain now on top is the fill valve.... Using a no hub coupler to attach PVC a T is used and the upper side has a air vent attached like what you show in your video at 24" above valve. 3. Instead of wrapping each container inside its frame i took a heat sealer and made a single trash bag like cover that covers all containers as one unit and is easyer to replace when it becomes damaged in the elements. 4 i used a toilet ball float instead of your water bottle. 5. The only other thing i did was under the black cover was to insulate the containers with foil covered foam insulation this keeps things from freezing
Good video... Looks like the totes can handle double stacking... I was going to go for a triple stack, but not sure about how the concrete slab of the inside of my garage will hold. I also like the black plastic wrapping. I live in zone 6a so I would have to get some sort of tank heater, or insulation... You probably don't have the freezing problem in Houston. Good videos. Thank you for posting these!!!
On the first flush system I'm finding the caps very hard to unscrew and screw back on because the threads fill up with dirt,sand etc. and too much water comes out because you can't screw the cap on tight anymore. I plan on drilling a hole about a foot up from the bottom to let water out slow but still leave enough water to flush the dirt out.
If you elevated the totes a little and connected the outlets to your household water supply, you could have pressurized water from your system to your house. That means you could take a shower, flush your toilet, and have water to the kitchen sink. You would have much more water pressure on the first floor of your house, of course.
thanks for doing these vids!!
In one of my other water retention system videos I show four tanks stacked 2x2 and how I connected them. I put down cinder blocks and leveled them then put the totes on top. It has been a year and everything is still stable.
I like what you have done here. The only thing that I think I would change is flip the bottom water cube so that the built in ball valve would be at the top instead of the bottom. Then do the drilling of the supply valve with the hose hookup. Also, I might put the float bottle into the freezer without the cap for about 20 minutes so that there is cold air inside the bottle. When the cap goes on, the cold air will expand as it warms, creating more pressure inside the bottle. This may help the bottle to float a little higher as it rises inside the first flush system. ( just a thought)
@Achaeosic I needed 10' of first flush for the size of my roof. I couldn't go higher so I split it into two pieces. Sounds like you have a great plan for your system. Thank for commenting.
@eternalwolf777 I am glad to hear that. Thanks for the comment.
@1kunda9 Thank you for your persistence and comment. I hope the videos were helpful.
Thanks for the awesome ideas, I'm just started to plan put my system. Where is your vent plumbed in to your bottom tank? Should it be plumbed in to the top of the top tank where the air collects?
@watrocket Correct. I have six 275 gallon totes. 6x275=1,650 gallons. Very cool, huh. I got the totes off of craigslist for $75 each. Do a search on craigslist for "55 gallon" "water barrel" or "275 tote".
@hoz49 That is what I thought when I saw it. Such a simple solution. Thanks for watching and commenting.
you need to look up CHEM TRAILS in the sky above. Now I have a rain water tank but I also bought a BERKY from US of A best thing I ever did my water is Crystal Clear and Tastes 200%.
Cheers from down under (AUST)
Thank you for your work and your determination. Your work is appreciated. Where is your assistant cameraman? I do not know if anyone else suggested it or not, but the purification deal, well, dust particles, airborne chemicals, etc do attach to falling rainwater. Before building one of these, anyone have any coal burning power plants up wind? Watch the h2so4 levels. It was the acid rain that killed (indirectly) a whole lot of the sugar maple trees in the NorthEast.
After seeing the silt in potable water coming from the Houston water supply, anything is an improvement. Brilliant!
I don't quite understand the purpose the bottle serves. As the water fills up the lower catch it seems it would naturally overflow into the other pipe whether there was a bottle in the pipe or not. The bottle isn't diverting anything or stopping anything. It's just in the pipe floating around. Can you explain the purpose please?
It stops any floaties that my be in the water from entering the tanks.
originaLkomatoast I think hes concerned that the bottle is half the size of the pipe. Its just bobbing and twiddling in there, meanwhile contaminants are coming up around the sides.
I saw no point in what he was trying to show, when water was coming out the top when the bottle floated up. Of course if the bottle is there, the waters there. The bottles supposed to plug it so contaminated water doesnt come back up.
Carl & Jinger Family he's poorly executed a well-tested system. The diverter piping which had come loose should be *above* the narrower insert in the main pipe where the float rises to form a plug above the dirty first rainwater.
There are many videos that show kits as well as DIY versions on UA-cam.
nice system
Great system I couldn't done it any better my self, working perfect. Do you know how much hot water a plant can stand before it dies, With the tanks wrapped in black and the hot sun of Texas, plus with little rain seems like the tanks would heat up. I was wondering if you could put a lighter color but still not have algae grow, just to keep the stored water cooler. Because you know what happens when a garden hose stays out in the hot sun. Thanks again for sharing your hard work with us..............Bud
Very nice LDS prepper, it looks great!! I should do that also one day, I think it's a great idea.
You should use a Uniseal for putting pipe thru the tank wall. It would seal better and is easier and quicker than the threaded coupler.
3:23, isn't the bottle (or ball) supposed to float up to block the down part of the T so the water flows horizontally after it fills up the vertical chamber? Here the bottle floats all the way up into the horizontal area. Not sure what this is accomplishing. Maybe trapping something underneath? But, it also looks like its somewhat blocking the horizontal flow. Maybe not that much cross section is required?
@armanflint I don't know if they are designed for triple stacking. They work great for double stacking.
If you are connected to a city water system, it is often against the rules to have plumbing connect to another supply....well, rain water, whatever... it would be because of liability issues the city water supplier would have with uncontrolled water back flushing into their system. You might try a yard shower, sink, etc connected only to the rain system with the gray water watering the yard. Toilet will flush with a bucket of water.
@tomyhill123 My thought also. But I tested it and it didn't get stuck.
That is sun screen cloth/material we have over CPVC pipe. You can buy all that at Home Depot.
add sand to 1/3 full in bottle then seal. this will make the bottle go up straight
Does the vent go to the cap of the lower tote? Does the upper tote need to be vented?
Would a longer smart water bottle work instead of having the extra pvc going behind the bottle?
That would work too. If I have to drink the rainwater I will run it through my Berkey water filter & purifier. If you haven't seen my water filtration video please do.
It might. I chose the water bottle not a ball because I felt the bottle would not decompose and get into the water like a ball would.
Have you ever researched organic chemicals coming off the asphalt shingles?
I have a thought for your consideration: Does your over-flow tube really need to be all the way down to ground level? (I'm thinking no.)
Instead of wasting all that water into the grass, why not direct it side-ways into "irrigation" pipes which direct the water into your various gardens beds?
(I'm sure you understand how irrigation ditches work. So why not do the same thing but with pvc pipes?)
OR maybe bury a perforated tank so overflow water goes directly underground and not out to the street?
Great videos! Just wondering if you've figured out how you can tell how much water is in the IBC's now that they're all covered up....?
Great series! I have four tanks and have been trying to figure out how to connect them. What did you do with your other two tanks? Would you recommend connecting them or doing two separate installations stacked two and two? Also, I am a little concerned about them tipping over once they are filled. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Do you need both the 4" pipes on the first flush? If not you could use a orange hockey ball instead of your bottle.
Hi! Just a question, why did you wrap the tanks with a black plastic? Freshness? Healthier water? Thank you and congrats!
***** Thank you! Thumbs up!
Hi, great series on rainwater harvesting. I already have somee barrels, but intend to expand. What are the dimensions of two water cubes stacked. Specifically how high are a set of two stacked? Also, it seems that the lower one would not be able to carry all that weight. The structure doesn't look like it would be sturdy enough. Are they designed to be stacked like that? Thanks.
@LDSPrepper I went to their website and the totes can be stacked as high as 4 high with liquid... I don't have a 16 foot ceiling so I will have to settle for three high.
@LDSPrepper -- I do not have a video camera to make a video. But all you have to do is put the water totes on a stand. It probably would not be practical to build a platform high enough to have water pressure on the second floor of your house. But hopefully you have a shower on the first floor of your house. Then you need to plumb a connection from your water totes to the water pipe going into your house. You will need a valve there, and you would only open the valve if you lost city water.
Also, did you do a vid on wrapping the totes in the black plastic?
Yes, please watch my "Rainwater Harvesting" playlist here: ua-cam.com/play/PL38869156CCB7313D.html
Why do you need a float in your first flush system? It seems to me that once the first flush system fills with water it will divert overflow into the tank without shutting down the first flush system. Great videos you have inspired me to build my own system.
As I understand it there could be some debris that might be lighter than the water and the bottle keeps it from going into the drinking supply.
The best way to message me is through UA-cam by going to my channel and clicking the down arrow to the right of my name and sending me a personal message.
@armanflint Thank you for your follow-up. Now I know.
Why do you have two "legs" of the first flush?
The water bottle does completely stop the flow of water. That is why I use it.
Interesting design. IBC are what I intend to use, more cost effective. I can get them for about $50 each here. Daisy-chained barrels cost way more per gallon.
Did you add the 2nd arm because you needed more volumn flushed? If so, why not make just one arm taller?
I will be locating the pumpless system inside. Direct from gutter, elbow through the wall to the T at top of diverter(12-ft pipe going down into the concrete then elbow out to a rain garden, 18ft total, not seen outside).
@b14w91s7 Thanks for viewing and fav'ng.
I'd worry about the water draining across the shingles, they probably contain asphalt.
I don't understand the bottle. It's going to float up eventually pinching off that pipe acting kind of like a check valve and obscuring the path of additional grit and dirt from getting past the bottle down in to your pre-filter. I just don't understand what value is that bottle? What does it accomplish other than the potentially block dirt that you want to settle into those big 4-in pipes.
please put your system on a poured concrete slab, 8 (12 would be better) inches thick with number 5 rebar tied every 8 inches across the width and every 8 inches across the length. pitched slightly back towards the house.
Im totally taking some of your ideas like the plumbing and the first flush system. But im only going for 110 gallons. 550 gallons is like 5X my system. That makes me jealous. Except my barrels costed me $25 each and I think we have the same foot print but my barrels look better. Since I japanese jointed my deck together then spar eurethaned it and disguised all my PVC and barrels to look like wooden barrels and sticks.While yours looks more industrial. But I dont really care much about the artistic nature of the disguise. I think Id rather have that 550 capacity.
@TexasPreppersNetwork LOL. At least you got totes. One step at a time. Now it's time to take the next step. :)
@BullittMcQueen1 Great idea. I have no idea how to do that. If you could help by making a video I'd appreciate it.
One other Idea I saw on a another site, not my idea.... If you are going to drink this water,,, then the outlet of the intake pipe going into the tanks should point up on the ends where as to not disturb the sedimate on the bottom of the tanks that can accumulate over time... Also the outlet from tank should also point up inside the tank, ...Here you help prevent sedimate flowing out of the outlet.. I did some tests with these ideas and seem to work.... if you are not going to drink the water then disregard these ideas
I don't understand how the water bottle doesn't completely stop the flow of water? Wouldn't a small mesh screen be a better choice for stopping the "floaties?"
if the water bottle is stopping water flow, then how is any debris supposed to get into the larger pipe? wouldn't it simply go straight to the tanks? i think i would just go get some SCH-40 and glue the **** out of it
Great job, but I think the bottle won’t work,because it too easy to stuck by any debris
Why not use a rubber or plastic ball instead? You wouldn't have to worry about corners. (The $10 investment is worth it, especially compared to all the PVC & supplies purchased to build the system)
Thump the side - like knocking on a wall to find the stud.
The other thing I don't understand is why you think drinking water off your roof is good for you? I live completely off grid. I want to save everything I can save. I live in the desert too so water is at a premium. But any water I can collect is used for plants and trees. I can just never see myself drinking water that ran across the roof of my house and considering it clear rainwater.
Tinfoil will protect you
"Chem trails?" Huh?