Harvesting rainwater / grey water

johnjoe 123

Banbh wrote: »

So after firing out your 5 or 6 grand for a rain water harvesting system

Mine cost around €300: €60 for an IBC tank and €200 for the pump; hydrodare pipe and fittings would bring it up to less than €300. I did the installation myself.
When water charges come in they will be low the first year and then, like all the other taxes this government is thinking up, they will increase exponentially.
At that stage I may consider going off-line and fit filtering and purification to my system.
I agree that rain-harvesting may not be cost effective for many people but as my council supply is dry for several weeks each year, rain-harvesting gives me a constant supply.

Hi banbh wats an Ibn tank and what type of pump did u use had you sensors on tank op motorised valve or what

paddy147

3k for a 6000 litre concrete underground system from Shay Murtagh.Thats with UV sterilization and 3 stage filtration system too.

Thats supply and instalation of the concrete tank and system,minus any actual ground works and re-jigging and connection of rainwater downpipes and wavin piping too.

I also have the JFC catalogue here,as I rang them and they both emailed me and sent me a catalogue in the post.

I also have a Kingspan Water catalogue here too,as they also posted one out to me.

JFC and Kingspan use plastic underground tanks,which need a stable base and then you backfill with 300mm of pea shingle in stages.

You also fill the tank with water in 300mm stages too,as you backfill.

Both JFC and Kingspan plastic tanks have a guarentee of 15 years.

paddy147

johnjoe 123 wrote: »

Hi banbh wats an Ibn tank and what type of pump did u use had you sensors on tank op motorised valve or what

This is an IBC tank.

Dtp79

paddy147 wrote: »

This is an IBC tank.

Are those tanks only 60euro?? How many litres does it hold?

arse..biscuits

Hi, I just came across this thread today.
I built a large shed last year in the back garden, I got an old 1000 litre tank up on a stand (about 2 foot) beside the shed which all rain water goes into. I built an outhouse beside the tank and the sewerage goes into an existing sewer. I got everything second hand/reclaimed and spent in the region of €50 to do the entire job (not including the shed in that).

So I have a rain water fed toilet (which my wife doesn't use all that often) but I use it a lot and so do my kids. And before you turn your nose up at the idea of an outhouse, it's really enjoyable, it did our grandparents just fine and you don't stink up the house.

Joey the lips

John Mulligan– 20 February 2013
An Irish company is investing millions to develop a device that collects rainwater and allows homeowners to get around future water charges.




Rainsafe Water, which is owned by Ozone Industries, has raised almost €1.5m in funding from investors including the family which distributes Mira showers in Ireland. The company has now raised just over €3m since it was founded in 2010.
The firm has developed technology that allows households to source all domestic water requirements, including drinking water, from a single system rather than having to use the council's supplies.

About the size of a fridge, the Rainsafe system draws harvested rainwater from a storage tank, where it is then purified using ultraviolet light and ozone gas. It is then distributed throughout the house.
The system can be installed in new homes and retrofitted to existing properties at a cost of between €2,800 and €3,300.

The company reckons it costs just €135 to provide enough water for five people.
The single biggest investor in Ozone Industries has been Modern Plant, the successful engineering company that distributes shower ranges such as Mira and Monsoon in Ireland.

Invested
It has invested a total of €900,000 in Ozone. In the latest funding round it ponied up €250,000.

Brigid Bolger, a retired director of Modern Plant and widow of founder Henry Bolger, left an estate valued at €59m when she died in 2011, according to recently released probate records.

Energy entrepreneur Louis Fitzgerald invested €75,000 personally in the latest funding for Ozone, while the Fitzgerald Family Partnership invested €25,000.

Mr Fitzgerald was one of the original investors in energy firm Airtricity, which was founded by Eddie O'Connor.

Enterprise Ireland has also invested in the latest round for Ozone, coming up with €200,000 to bring its total investment to €450,000.
Dublin businessman Paul O'Grady invested €500,000 in the latest fundraising, his first time taking a punt on the firm.

Mr O'Grady is involved in mobile technology firm Trust5, a cloud-based billing analytics service.
Another significant investor is Denis O'Sullivan, a colleague of Louis Fitzgerald.

He has invested over €100,000 in the latest round.
Contacted by the Irish Independent, director Joe Barrett declined to

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rainharvester-to-save-on-water-charges-29082129.html

BobMcBob

Looks like it might be a good option, see it is likely to cost around 3000 euro. Here in galway I might not need any mains water at all.

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

John Mulligan– 20 February 2013
An Irish company is investing millions to develop a device that collects rainwater and allows homeowners to get around future water charges.




Rainsafe Water, which is owned by Ozone Industries, has raised almost €1.5m in funding from investors including the family which distributes Mira showers in Ireland. The company has now raised just over €3m since it was founded in 2010.
The firm has developed technology that allows households to source all domestic water requirements, including drinking water, from a single system rather than having to use the council's supplies.

About the size of a fridge, the Rainsafe system draws harvested rainwater from a storage tank, where it is then purified using ultraviolet light and ozone gas. It is then distributed throughout the house.
The system can be installed in new homes and retrofitted to existing properties at a cost of between €2,800 and €3,300.

The company reckons it costs just €135 to provide enough water for five people.
The single biggest investor in Ozone Industries has been Modern Plant, the successful engineering company that distributes shower ranges such as Mira and Monsoon in Ireland.

Invested
It has invested a total of €900,000 in Ozone. In the latest funding round it ponied up €250,000.

Brigid Bolger, a retired director of Modern Plant and widow of founder Henry Bolger, left an estate valued at €59m when she died in 2011, according to recently released probate records.

Energy entrepreneur Louis Fitzgerald invested €75,000 personally in the latest funding for Ozone, while the Fitzgerald Family Partnership invested €25,000.

Mr Fitzgerald was one of the original investors in energy firm Airtricity, which was founded by Eddie O'Connor.

Enterprise Ireland has also invested in the latest round for Ozone, coming up with €200,000 to bring its total investment to €450,000.
Dublin businessman Paul O'Grady invested €500,000 in the latest fundraising, his first time taking a punt on the firm.

Mr O'Grady is involved in mobile technology firm Trust5, a cloud-based billing analytics service.
Another significant investor is Denis O'Sullivan, a colleague of Louis Fitzgerald.

He has invested over €100,000 in the latest round.
Contacted by the Irish Independent, director Joe Barrett declined to

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rainharvester-to-save-on-water-charges-29082129.html

Heres their website with video of how the system works.

http://www.rainsafewater.com/



Am I right in thinking that you also need to have a rainwater harvesting allready installed in the garden/garage 1st though??

gifted

Can any of ye recommend a good sump pump that would fit through the top of a IBC tank and pump up into an attic of a 2 storey house and go through a filter

Thanks

Banbh

After a lot of research I gave up on a sump pump and fitted a pump to the tank tap with a non-return valve.

I got this one from Corrys of Gort (also in Oranmore). This is the web link to the pump: http://epswater.ie/booster-pumps/shallow-well-pumps-pressure-sets-jsw.788.html

The EPS rep was very helpful and put together a package for me including a non-return valve and gauge. I think it cost about €300. Simple to fit and it has been working since last June with no trouble. I used to watch the weather to see when the mains supply would cut out (during sunshine and heavy rain - go figure) but now my IBC tank just fills away on whatever trickle I have (drilled a hole near the top of the tank and fitted a ballcock) and the pump keeps the attic tank filled.

I haven't got around to adding a rainwater supply to my system but will in the summer. I positioned my IBC as low as possible on my site to take advantage of the low pressure supply from the council and this will allow me to put another tank on top of it for rainwater, then I hope to connect the two through some form of filter.

Also, I built a simple wooden shed around the tank as IBC tanks degrade in sunlight. This also made the whole business, including pump and electrical connection, fit in more with the house and garden. I have a timer on my pump - just a socket one that is off between 11pm and 9am - as the person sleeping in the bedroom next to the water shed complains if the thing goes off at night. It is not noisy but the vibrations - it is on a concrete base touching the house - can be annoying.

In fitting the ballcock to the tank, I put in a connection so that I can switch the whole thing off and even remove the IBC tank if ever I needed to.

Hope this is helpful.

gifted

Thanks Banbh,

Glad you got sorted, going to be burying my tank in the garden so I'll have to get a sump pump. thanks for taking the time to reply.

Merch

3 grand! :eek:
How many years water supply can you get for that?
I think for a domestic user, that couldnt be cost effective.

How much water do people expect to drink?

Where people will make the savings is where the most water usage/wastage is surely? (assuming we will be charged in the future at some stage, and that its by usage, otherwise there's not much point in one person conserving water and another running the taps all day)

I tried to find if there was percent info on what uses the most water.
As an example (quick google) I found this, have seen similar before showing what percent water is used where.
http://www.greenvalet.ie/tag/domestic-water-consumption-ireland/

Even going by those percents, if you can capture some of the water used for bathing and reuse that for flushing toilets, thats around the 25% reduction in use, people bathing is a fairly regular thing? so the supply would be consistent, any shorfall could be topped up by rainwater collection. I'd even consider there could be excess water to requirements.
I dont think (but would need to check) it would be necessary to do too much treatment of captured used bathing water to flush waste, maybe some for the actual storage, that even without lower flow facilities (toilets/shower heads/taps), that would seem possible with even basic DIY skills (and maybe some calculations for the pump, wattage and pipe diameter).

I just find it hard to see that such a setup could approach 3k

edit, I didnt even take into account, garden usage, car washing etc

Personally, Id prefer tap it off (bath water) before it drains to ground level for storage, so it has to be pumped a lower height, but that would mean having some kind of collection sump somewhere inside the house, which may not be a good idea if its an item that has to be adapted from something not designed for that purpose.

dathi

hi paddy looked at your link for rainsafe then went on ebay to price pieces two 10"filters pressure pump uv lamp ozone generator venturi and water tank came to around 500 euro for bits cant see the 3grand in it can you

Banbh

My internet research shows that the average person uses 150 litres of water per day.

A family of four = 600 litres a day.
In 30 days that's 18,000 litres.

It doesn't seem like it but we regularly have a month without rain. (The longest absolute drought on record was in Limerick 3rd April to 10th May 1938 = 37 days).

If you are planning on going completely off-line from the council supply, you would need to change your family's water-use habits substantially or get a fairly massive tank. It would be a bit strange if you could only wash the car or water the garden when it's raining.

Does anyone know how the rainwater sales people explain this?

Merch

Banbh wrote: »

My internet research shows that the average person uses 150 litres of water per day.

A family of four = 600 litres a day.
In 30 days that's 18,000 litres.

It doesn't seem like it but we regularly have a month without rain. (The longest absolute drought on record was in Limerick 3rd April to 10th May 1938 = 37 days).

If you are planning on going completely off-line from the council supply, you would need to change your family's water-use habits substantially or get a fairly massive tank. It would be a bit strange if you could only wash the car or water the garden when it's raining.

Does anyone know how the rainwater sales people explain this?

Dont do non essential tasks like water the garden or wash the car when its not raining, I dont even do it now, barely. (garden, few watering cans, car not at all)
Id consider washing the car out of a bucket or water the garden out of a bucket of collected water.
Seems wasteful if water is short to do the above tasks with drinking water.

Banbh

I'm the same. Haven't washed the car since I bought it. It's 2007 and looks good.
But then, how much water do you reckon you use? Even with best environmental best practice, I can't see how any family could manage on rain water alone without massive tanks.

Merch

Banbh wrote: »

I'm the same. Haven't washed the car since I bought it. It's 2007 and looks good.
But then, how much water do you reckon you use? Even with best environmental best practice, I can't see how any family could manage on rain water alone without massive tanks.

Im not sure a family of 4 would actually use the same amount as 4 adults sharing, is 150lts per day for an adult? I dont think children would use the same amount as an adult and where certain activities like cleaning and food preparation are done jointly as a family, then I think the usage will be lower?
I dont know about my own per day litre usage either, I would have to estimate it, Id have thought usage would be nearer 100lts max off the top of my head per adult, half for flushing toilets? and the remainder for washing, cleaning cloths, consumption but I havent tried to calculate it exactly.

Even if enough was collected for flushing toilets, garden use and washing the car, assuming water is being paid for by usage then that could be a significant saving on demand.

If each adult uses 350lts a week for flushing toilets, then depending on how much can be collected, Lets say 1000lts per week for a family I got a calculation online as to how much area a roof would runoff per mm/inch of rainfall for a given area and if collecting from both sides or even half a moderately sized roof would gather at least that amount per month, it looks like unless you are collecting bathing water or have the capacity to store more in rainy times then you will only be supplementing your needs.

grumpybore

Hi

I am toying with the idea of using a rainwater butt to feed the washing machine - Just wondering if anyone has done it. I propose to collect rainwater from the downpipe , and then put a t-piece on the mains feed ( that currently goes to the washing machine) , and have a lever on the t piece to allow us to chose whether to use mains or rainwater ( on the offchance that the waterbutt isnt full enough.



Questions
1. Anyone know the name of the t-piece ( diverter valve ?)
2. Can they be got with connections that will fit the washing machine hose( I am in Dublin 9 , so any suppliers recommended would be appreciated)
3. i am guessing I will have to mount the waterbutt so that the tap is at a higher level , or the same level as the current feed - is this right ?


As you may have guessed ,I am not a plumber !!! - so any advice ( even if its "dont do it" will be appreciated.

Cheers

Grumpybore

Calahonda52

u will need a good non return valve on the mains as it is illegal to connect anything else to it that will risk contaminating the network which will happen if the pressure in the butt is higher than the pressure in the rising main