Rain Water Collection Cistern and Pump Setup Part 1

[kctyphoon]

anyone else thinking "well" ??

[donotreply1000]

Protip: on the last down pipe install a self cleaning filter, it'll stop gunk building up inside the tank.

If you want to drink the water don't reverse osmosis as it is too expensive to run and needs occasional replacing. Instead, use a UV filter or an ozone generator (rated for drinking water of course).

You will require a pre-filter if you are going to run a washing machine, dishwater or hight pressure hose using the water.

[RookofIvory]

Drinking water off of shingles and with no protection from birdshit? Probably a bad idea. Also, drinking water from a garden hose is bad too. I guess it's okay for showering and washing clothes, didn't say you were drinking it or cooking with it.

[RedneckResponder]

@RookofIvory No we don't drink it. We have a reverse osmosis system but quit using it cause it clogged the filters to quickly. In event of an earthquake or terror attack on public water systems a lot more people will become sick or die from that then have ever been harmed by roof water. My neighbor is 86 and has lived in the same house all her life and has drank her cistern water everyday, she is healthier and can outwork most 30 year olds I know.

[RookofIvory]

@RedneckResponder I'd like to try to incorporate a solar concentrator with a roofwater cistern to boil the water into steam and generate electricity and then condense it back into pure drinking water. But I can only imagine how difficult that project would be. Also, there's a way you can use a tennis ball and a length of drainpipe with a stopper in the end so that the tennis ball rises with the water level and seals all the first run off in the stoppered pipe, diverting the rest to the cistern.

[mobiltec]

Sure did a nice job on that siding. You got solar there too?

[RedneckResponder]

@mobiltec Thanks. The piece of siding that is missing got took out by a branch of a tree that fell a couple of weeks ago, it's on my to do list.

No solar, it's just a skylite in my kitchen. Had to paint the inside white cause of all the heat from it in the summer. Works good now, still lets in light and bounces the heat back up.

[kookiemoose]

It's a shame people don't take advantage of this system. There use to be several but currently there is only one shelter on the AT that uses the roof to an underground cistern.

[RedneckResponder]

@kookiemoose Maybe they get all mucked up with leaves and stuff. I've seen lots of vids with hikers collecting rain from tarps and tent tops. Distilled by mother nature.