Anyone rain water harvesting for potable water?

[soomb]

Hello everyone,

If anyone has experience with rainwater harvesting for their home/cabin potable water, could you share your experience?

I am in the very early stages of ideas/sketching/design for a cabin that would become a full time home for 3-4ppl.  I am looking for information from those who have done it, or considered it enough to have had most of the kinks worked out in your head.

Thank you in advance.

Craig

[John_C]

My house in the FL Keys used rain water as the sole supply.  I've posted about it several times... search my back posts.

Maggie posted a really good link to a .pdf  by Univ of Hawaii on rain water catchment and treatment. I couldn't find her post but I believe this is the file

www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/RM-12.pdf

Read my back posts and the pdf and post any questions. John

BTW  Anyone heard from Maggie? Last I knew she was having problems with a neighbor she suspected of running a meth lab.  For all that was going on in her life I hope she checks in to say she's ok.

[glenn kangiser]

She last checked in     September 15, 2008, 20:08:26 

I haven't heard anymore of her.  Hope she checks in again some day.

I am setting my shop roof up for harvesting but don't know if I will use it.  I need ferrocrete tank or swimming pools to hold the water in.  A friend mentioned that apple cider vinegar will keep mosquitoes out of water troughs.  Changes the PH.  I don't know the ratios though.

[soomb]

Cider vinegar... I will have to jot that down. Did they mention quantity (I would guess not enough to effect taste)?

My hope would be to use an enclosed system with very little contact to the outside air.  Sort of a big black fiberglass tank.  Of course I want to build where the winters are cold, so I have to keep everything from freezing.  But that is why I am asking now vs. fixing later.

Thanks

[glenn kangiser]

That was a horse water trough - I don't know how much it takes but she said it didn't hurt the horses - just the mosquitoes.

[apaknad]

you probably already know this but you will have to have a metal roof and some sort of initial purge set up for the bird poop and debris when it first starts raining. i remember reading about someone who did this. it had to do with building a small house and the lady was handicapped so she had a hard time with physical chores and wanted to be independant. it was when i first started looking at small house designs. that's all i can remember at this time(child of the 70's ).

[JRR]

Over the years, I've collected a little water from a metal roof to be used only for washing and toilet flushing. 

I've become somewhat of a "bird poop expert".  It don't all come off in the first few raindrops.  At least, not from our birds.  Some of it is very enduring, outlasting a monsoon!  I notice that birds usually perch on roof edges, so that roof-edge-water is wasted, not collected.  But there is more than poop to be concerned about ... I get a lot of settled dust and dead bugs ... they like to expire by flying into the shiny metal.  So, over the collection barrels, I use a filter-screen of ground fabric that collects the bugs, some of the poop ... and keeps the mosquitos out.  The filter-screen is above the water line.  After some settling time, the "clean" water gets moved from the collection barrels to sealed holding barrels ... then the collection barrels get a washing, and they always need it!

[soomb]

That was a horse water trough - I don't know how much it takes but she said it didn't hurt the horses - just the mosquitoes.

Are you calling me a horse?

[soomb]

JRR- thanks for the insight.

[glenn kangiser]

That was a horse water trough - I don't know how much it takes but she said it didn't hurt the horses - just the mosquitoes.

Are you calling me a horse?

No ...I even put cider vinegar in my ice tea to tang it up and I don't whinny often.

Rain water is the water of choice for batteries.

[PureCountry]

Soomb, check out Michael Reynold's Earthship site - http://www.earthship.net/

There's videos and all sorts of stuff on there that shows exactly how water catchment is implemented on their earthship designs. It can be worked into any design for a house or cabin also. They also sell water system components for filtering and pumping the water, all for use with 12V DC solar power. If you Google rain water catchment, you'll come up with suppliers of all sorts of things. I'm sure those are the keywords I used in my research.

Keep in mind not to just take someone's word for why something did or did not work. Ask questions and get details, so you know for yourself if it will or will not work under your conditions. If they don't want to share details, find someone else. This site is the 5th forum I've joined in doing 2 years of research on building our off-grid home, and I'm certainly learning more and more all the time.

Good luck.

[soomb]

Pure:  Will do, thanks for the point in the right direction. 

I am in the research phase as well.  Hoping to build off the grid, not b/c I have to, but b/c i want to.

Will PM you.

[OldDog]

I remember my Grandparents saying to never harvest water during a month without an R in it's name.

[soomb]

I thought it was never work in any month with an R?   

[apaknad]

no it's never drink beer in any month w/o an r in it(or a y,h,l,e,t).

[glenn kangiser]

No -its never eat mussels in a month without an R.

[MikeT]

I remembered this was a recent topic here on the Forum. 

This morning on National Public Radio, a guy was featured who harvests rainwater in Tucson, AZ.

Here is a link to the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94699114

[glenn kangiser]

Good one - maybe it will inspire me to use my graywater a bit sooner.

[JRR]

This might be of interest ... kinda related to subject, I think;
  "RO water purification system" on sale:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298904&search=321186&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=321186&Ntt=321186&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

[glenn kangiser]

We used an earlier version of the Costco RO system on the old well at the other place and were happy with it.

[soomb]

JRR-thanks.  Is there nothing you cant get at Costco? 

Glenn- did the RO have its own faucet or was it plumbed into the regular faucet?

[glenn kangiser]

Separate little drinking water dispenser faucet requiring it's own sink hole.

Sinkholes are free in Florida.

[soomb]

requiring it's own sink hole.

Sinkholes are free in Florida.

(snare drum rim shot) Thank you folks, I will be here all week.

[Redoverfarm]

Arn't we just talking about an old fashion cistern.  Any storage tank with down spouts from the roof to feed?  Used one for about 3-4 years.  Ours was a block parged tank and usually required cleaning once a year before.  With the poly invention a storage tank now would be a lot less bother.  But I believe I would use a filtering system if I was going to gulp it down.

[glenn kangiser]

EPDM could make a good one also.  It would line a hole or frame.