Gutters: Saving the water

[waffleironhead]

Just pick up a poly water storage tank or septic tank. Then bury it and divert all of you rainwater to it. Install a pump in the tank and use the collected water for yard and garden. I would be wary of using it for drinking, but in remote areas you could combine the system with a good filter system from katahdin and be good to go.

http://www.watertanks.com/category/6/ tanks

http://www.waterfilters.net/Ka...2110070_p_0-29097.html water filter

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Then I am the biggest asshole you will find. It's my choice to used 1000x my usual power consumption during "Earth Hour" and also my choice to conserve water/utility bills when I choose to.....

It's not for the government(or liberal) to make that decision for me....

Kiss my ass.

I love lamp...

You need to conserve your water and utility usage. I'm telling you to do this for "water conservation year". You need to do it.

 

[alkemyst]

rain barrel.

Cleanairgardening.com has some neat things.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: bobdole369
Back in the day folks in the Florida Keys (and I'm sure in other places too) used to do this and they stored the rainwater in a cistern that sat under the house.

I've never heard of anyone that still does this. City water is very cheap compared to a hospital bill from the bugs in your cistern.

Who the hell would drink it? For water plants/garden/grass, it's perfectly fine.

whether your drinking it or not, bodies of stagnant water are a breeding ground for all kinds of crap in the summer, namely mosquitoes.

Never heard of a mesh screen have you.

 

[Capt Caveman]

My city provides a discount to home owners to buy a rain barrel - http://www.nerainbarrel.com/

 

[So]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
We are nearly a month away from purchasing our first home. It's a brand new "model" home. We are in LOVE with it.

With that said, this house is completely upgraded.....however they didn't install gutters. I would like to install a gutter system...can't be that hard but just won't be cheap. I was thinking while I am at installing the gutters I could install a reserve tank that catches and stores all the water from the gutters after a rain. Does anyone here actually do this?

I saw online (http://www.guttertank.com.au/) that these guys want $600 for their system. If anyone here does something like this, what do you use? $600 just would take a long time of saving water to justify the cost.

I'd love to use this water to water my plants and to fill my coy pond(when needed and after I build it). Just trying to find ways to save money off of utility bills since this house has a full sprinkler system that I would only like to use once a week.

Any suggestions or ideas?

total

fucking

SHENS.

this, from the guy who planned to buy a shitload of spotlights and crank his electronics and appliances during Earth Hour just to "send a message."
:roll:

There's a difference between being a hippie and saving money.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: Homerboy

I was thinking about installing one this summer too. How do you water your lawn with it though? I mean I know it has a faucet at the bottom of the drum, but how does that then water your lawn? just run a hose and let it dump into your yard?

The one's I have found so far have a spout/faucet connection at the bottom. I would think 40+ gallons of water would allow for decent water pressure for watering.

Depending on the height of the barrel, you should get about a metre of elevation head at peak. So, keep the hose held low, and most of that total head will be in the form of velocity/pressure rather than wasted going upwards.

Otherwise, elevate the barrel. add a pump, or use the barrel to fill a water can. No one said conserving was convenient/easy.

 

[theknight571]

My grandparents used to store rainwater.

They had 6, 55-Gallon drums in the basement and several in the garage that they stored it in.

IIRC they used it in the humidifier (whole house humidifier) as the well water didn't play nice with it.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Home Depot has a rain barrel in their current ad...

 

[Modelworks]

Deep Well with pump = don't really care how much water home uses.
It is something to consider, depending on where you live.
Even a shallow well can supply enough water for a sprinkler system and they are easy to install yourself.

My dad and me put down a shallow well and pump in one afternoon.
All that is needed is pipe, a sledge hammer , and a well point (strainer with sharp point). Dig a hole with a post hole digger as deep as you can. Put the point with section of pipe attached in hole and place a piece of wood onto top of pipe to keep from damaging it, then hit with hammer. When it gets deep enough, add another section of pipe. Continue till you get down about 25 feet.

About $100 in parts to put down , add a pump and tank for another $150 and you got all the water you can use.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
We are nearly a month away from purchasing our first home. It's a brand new "model" home. We are in LOVE with it.

With that said, this house is completely upgraded.....however they didn't install gutters. I would like to install a gutter system...can't be that hard but just won't be cheap. I was thinking while I am at installing the gutters I could install a reserve tank that catches and stores all the water from the gutters after a rain. Does anyone here actually do this?

I saw online (http://www.guttertank.com.au/) that these guys want $600 for their system. If anyone here does something like this, what do you use? $600 just would take a long time of saving water to justify the cost.

I'd love to use this water to water my plants and to fill my coy pond(when needed and after I build it). Just trying to find ways to save money off of utility bills since this house has a full sprinkler system that I would only like to use once a week.

Any suggestions or ideas?

total

fucking

SHENS.

this, from the guy who planned to buy a shitload of spotlights and crank his electronics and appliances during Earth Hour just to "send a message."
:roll:

There's a difference between being a hippie and saving money.

then he should use city water, its cheap

 

[iGas]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Deep Well with pump = don't really care how much water home uses.
It is something to consider, depending on where you live.
Even a shallow well can supply enough water for a sprinkler system and they are easy to install yourself.

My dad and me put down a shallow well and pump in one afternoon.
All that is needed is pipe, a sledge hammer , and a well point (strainer with sharp point). Dig a hole with a post hole digger as deep as you can. Put the point with section of pipe attached in hole and place a piece of wood onto top of pipe to keep from damaging it, then hit with hammer. When it gets deep enough, add another section of pipe. Continue till you get down about 25 feet.

About $100 in parts to put down , add a pump and tank for another $150 and you got all the water you can use.

Shallow well can deliver enough usage water in high & abundance water table, or low usage. Shallow well pump work of atmospheric pressure principle, therefore the theoretical depth is 32 feet, (in real practice 29' max due to pressure drop to 1 psi at depth). Shallow well ease of installation also require that the location of well is not in rocky or gravel.

It is not necessary that deep well can deliver water for irrigation system, because not all deep well can deliver high volume that required.
Typically residential sprinkler head/nozzle start at 1.5 GPM to about 6 GPM each.
Typical sprinkler zone 5 heads on a line or 1.5 * 5 = 7.5 GPM to 6 * 5 = 30 GPM.
In my experience, 30 GPM at depth from a deep well pump going to be a very expensive system if you can find a spring/springs that deliver that kind of volume.
7.5 GPM still is relatively expensive because of well depth and better than the average deep well pump. And, 7.5 GPM is greater than most deep well delivery rate.

Water aren't free unless you have a river next or under your property.

PS. What kind of pump and tank are you talking about?
Most 30-40 gal tanks start at $350 CAD or roughly $270-280 USD, and the cheapest pump for this type of application is going to cost at least $300-400.
IMHO, a tank tee, foot valve, ball valve, and a pressure switch is going to be more than $150.

 

[Eli]

I would love to if I had my own place.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: iGas

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Deep Well with pump = don't really care how much water home uses.
It is something to consider, depending on where you live.
Even a shallow well can supply enough water for a sprinkler system and they are easy to install yourself.

My dad and me put down a shallow well and pump in one afternoon.
All that is needed is pipe, a sledge hammer , and a well point (strainer with sharp point). Dig a hole with a post hole digger as deep as you can. Put the point with section of pipe attached in hole and place a piece of wood onto top of pipe to keep from damaging it, then hit with hammer. When it gets deep enough, add another section of pipe. Continue till you get down about 25 feet.

About $100 in parts to put down , add a pump and tank for another $150 and you got all the water you can use.

Shallow well easy of installation also require that the location of well is not in rocky or gravel.

Which is why I said depending on where you live.

It is not necessary that deep well can deliver water for irrigation system, because not all deep well can deliver high volume that required.
Typically residential sprinkler head/nozzle start at 1.5 GPM to about 6 GPM each.
Typical sprinkler zone 5 heads on a line or 1.5 * 5 = 7.5 GPM to 6 * 5 = 30 GPM.
In my experience, 30 GPM at depth from a deep well pump going to be a very expensive system if you can find a spring/springs that deliver that kind of volume.
7.5 GPM still is relatively expensive because of well depth and better than the average deep well pump. And, 7.5 GPM is greater than most deep well delivery rate.

Water aren't free unless you have a river next or under your property.

It isn't free but it is cheap with a well.
And you don't pump it directly to the sprinklers , you use a tank to store the water you need. There are plenty of homes that use a well to run sprinkler systems without issues.

 

[iGas]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: iGas

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Deep Well with pump = don't really care how much water home uses.
It is something to consider, depending on where you live.
Even a shallow well can supply enough water for a sprinkler system and they are easy to install yourself.

My dad and me put down a shallow well and pump in one afternoon.
All that is needed is pipe, a sledge hammer , and a well point (strainer with sharp point). Dig a hole with a post hole digger as deep as you can. Put the point with section of pipe attached in hole and place a piece of wood onto top of pipe to keep from damaging it, then hit with hammer. When it gets deep enough, add another section of pipe. Continue till you get down about 25 feet.

About $100 in parts to put down , add a pump and tank for another $150 and you got all the water you can use.

Shallow well easy of installation also require that the location of well is not in rocky or gravel.

Which is why I said depending on where you live.

It is not necessary that deep well can deliver water for irrigation system, because not all deep well can deliver high volume that required.
Typically residential sprinkler head/nozzle start at 1.5 GPM to about 6 GPM each.
Typical sprinkler zone 5 heads on a line or 1.5 * 5 = 7.5 GPM to 6 * 5 = 30 GPM.
In my experience, 30 GPM at depth from a deep well pump going to be a very expensive system if you can find a spring/springs that deliver that kind of volume.
7.5 GPM still is relatively expensive because of well depth and better than the average deep well pump. And, 7.5 GPM is greater than most deep well delivery rate.

Water aren't free unless you have a river next or under your property.

It isn't free but it is cheap with a well.
And you don't pump it directly to the sprinklers , you use a tank to store the water you need. There are plenty of homes that use a well to run sprinkler systems without issues.

Most shallow well going to cost you near 10k to set up ++ electricity ++ maintenance.
Most deep well going to cost more than 10K to set up ++ electricity ++ maintenance (pump replacement 7-15 years, most is around 10-12 years).
Most people change houses within 9 years, therefore it doesn't worth the cost of having a well unless you are planing to live there for 20-30 years, or live in area that do not have city water service.

IMHO, in most cases city water is the way to go.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: iGas




Most shallow well going to cost you near 10k to set up ++ electricity ++ maintenance.
Most deep well going to cost more than 10K to set up ++ electricity ++ maintenance (pump replacement 7-15 years, most is around 10-12 years).
Most people change houses within 9 years, therefore it doesn't worth the cost of having a well unless you are planing to live there for 20-30 years, or live in area that do not have city water service.

IMHO, in most cases city water is the way to go.

10K ? You are way way off. It can be done easily for under $500 and that would be using some of the best pumps.

Even a excellent deep well setup is under $2500

30GPM for the sprinklers is high , it only takes 20GPM per acre of land on average. And most homes do not even have a acre of land that needs watering. City water usually is able to supply 23GPM or less so you couldn't provide water to a 30GPM system even with a city supply.

The fact that many people living in a city put down shallow wells to use for yard, car washing, etc proves that it is economical compared to city water supplies.
http://www.fdungan.com/well.htm

 

[Rubycon]

It's Koi FYI and you do NOT want to use runoff water to fill it from the start. Most places have very acidic precipitation. This water has little total alkalinity and its acidity (pH can be as low as 4!) allows it to pick up lots of inorganic toxins which would be very detrimental to any ornamental pond.

Using the water to flush toilets and general irrigation duties is fine, however.

 

[lupi]

/popcorn

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: lupi
/popcorn

It floats, yes but is not good for the fish.