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Update, 10/17/2005:
Some new photos
here:
5) Added two 2500 gallon black polyethylene tanks, from local farm
supply store, about $1100 each.
6) Transfer pump, about $30 from Harbor Freight.
And some comments:
1) As we faced a long hot summer, I became apprehensive about our
storage volume; hence the two additional tanks.
2) After I placed and hooked up the new tanks, I decided I needed the
transfer pump because the new tanks are a different height than the
original tank.
3) We started metering water 2/6/2005; as of 8/17/2005, we have pumped
16,740 gallons. That would be about 190 days or just under 100 gallons
per day. Our normal use is 40-50 gallons per day plus about 100
gallons for laundry about once a week. We lost an estimated 2000
gallons through an un-glued pipe joint and intentionally put 400-600
gallons on a newly planted shrub.
4) This past summer has been dryer than "normal". I estimate that
we've only had about 15", February through September. Our "normal"
annual rainfall is 30+".
5) Most of the 16K gallons has been filtered. The pressure drop across
the filter remains about 5psi and the element has not been changed.
6) We filled the two "backup" tanks with the transfer pump and have
used none of that backup supply. Lowest level in the main tank has
been about 2', or about 25%.
7) When Hurricane Rita threatened us in September, we were considering
how we might handle several days with no electric power. Our drinking
water supply is assured through the gravity feed spiggot near the main
tank.
8) The gutter system does not collect all the water during a heavy rain;
the gutters spill. With the generous roof area, that is not a problem; if
I were to do it again, I would still install only four downspouts due
to labor and other costs. 1" of rain does seem to give us about 2,000
gallons of water.
9) The system has proven itself well enough that we have suspended our
"city" water supply. Even though we used none, we have been paying
~$12/month to have that supply available to us. Now, let's see how
long it takes that $12/month savings to pay for our $9K-$10K rainwater
system :-)
9) The 1/2" "always open" drain valve, that is supposed to prevent long
term water presence in the downspouts, clogged. The drain pipe is
bushed down from 4" to 1"; I replaced the 1/2" valve with a 1" valve.
If I had it to do over again, I would make the drain 2" with a
(removeable) 1" valve.
10) I am still looking for some sort of a quick patch to have on hand
in case of a punctured tank.
Update 11/5/2006
My Grundfos pump died and I replaced it with one of two that I had
bought on eBay as spares. I had expected the pump to last ten years or
so. If they run less than two years, that will really run my average
monthly expense up. Water meter reading: 43540
Update 6/12/2007
59,140 gallons on the meter. Still haven't changed the 5 micron
filter. Let's see...
1) We've been metering water 28 months, so our consumption is averaging
over 2,000 gallons a month. That's more than I expected; I thought we
might be using less than 1000 gallons per month. As I've mentioned,
we've lost some of that water to leaks.
2) In our ~35"/year area, we should have had the opportunity to capture
about 160,000 gallons of water over those 28 months. We are using a
larger fraction of the available water than I imagined; we're using
over 1/3. I would have guessed that we were using only about 1/10 of
the available water.
3) The least volume of water we have had in storage over those 28
months is about 3000 gallons out of our total capacity of about 11,000
gallons.
All in all, we are very pleased with our water supply. Very high
quality water, especially compared to the community supply. Our water
fixtures no longer collect hard water deposits and I presume that our
hot water heater will last longer. We have been without water about
three times, due the the pump failure and leaks. That is no less
reliable than the community supply, but when the community supply went
down, all we had to do was wait. Still, the community water is almost
certainly cheaper; I have about $11K plus labor in our rainwater
system. I will never be able to pay for it with the ~$400 / year saved
on the community water cost.
Update 3/11/2009
107,830 on the meter. I did change the filter about a year ago even
though the pressure drop across it was still only about 5psi. The
element was brown from dirt.
We hope we are at the end of an extraordinary drought. We've had less
than 10" in the past year. As I write, there is only a few hundred
gallons in the grey tank and both black tanks are empty. Rain is in
the forecast for the next several days.
My meter readings indicate that we have used 38,060 gallons in the past
492 days (approximately). 77.3 gallons a day, 541 gallons a week, 2319
gallons a month. Our storage should last us about 4.5 months, allowing
for 200 gallons in each tank that can not be recovered.
I bought two more 2500 gallon tanks for another project. Since we are
very nearly out of water, I decided to add one of those two new tanks
to this system. That should give us about 5.6 months.
Update 3/28/2009
Recent rains were insufficient to keep us supplied with household
water; we switched over to nasty well water! For the past several
months, we have been conserving water by minimizing flushes, catching
"hot water warm up" water, minimizing shower times, etc. We plan to
install one of these to do away with the inconvenience of catching warm
up water:
Want your hot water Fast? Want to
Save Water at the same time ? Click Here
Update 9/12/2009
After a horribly hot and dry spell, we got about 3" of rain over
several days. Topped off all the tanks. Water meter: 118,322; I make
that to be about 72 gallons per day since the last meter reading two
years and three months ago.
I installed BOTH the "other project" tanks. They turned out to be
3,000 gallons each. So, we have 17,000 gallons of storage. At 72
gallons per day, that would be a 236 day supply. Almost 8 months.
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