Cisterns

[Texan_lost_in_cali]

With all of the rain that we have been having the last couple of days, plus the notice I just got from my water company, I have been thinking of a way to store some of this water that, while I am sure it has plenty of bad things in it, would sure help water the lawn instead of the paid for high priced stuff. Anyone got any ideas?

[glenn-k]

Ferrocrete is one option = lots of work but fairly cheap.  If you have equipment, a pond with a liner could be made although a good liner such as epdm or pvc is pretty expensive.  
depends on where you are, what resources you have, how energetic you are  and what you want to do.  We are allowed a 6 foot deep pond here without permits if I remember right.

[harry51]

The possibilities that come to mind: scrounged 55 gal. plastic drums, building a concrete cistern, a doughboy pool, buried or not, and building some sort of cover over it, or using a large poly tank or several of them. They're not too expensive, they keep the water clean, they're usually a dark color to keep algae growth down, or can be painted black if too much light gets in and stuff begins to grow.

After the first rain washes the roof and gutters clean, divert the runoff from the roof into the storage tank/tanks by gravity. Water can be used directly from storage or integrated with a pressure system with some valving.  It would probably be illegal to mix such water into any kind of multi-user or municipal water system, due to the chance of reverse siphoning.  

I think I remember some posts on this subject in the old forum, and different styles of diverter valves were discussed, some apparently have a tendency to retain water and freeze break, IIRC.

If you have a bit of slope to your property, water could go to one tank by gravity, then be pumped to another tank at enough higher elevation to build usable pressure. Each foot of elevation creates .434 of a pound of pressure; i.e.,  10' of elevation creates 4.34psi of water pressure (10' x .434), 100' creates 43.4psi, etc.

Seems like this is a well-developed thing in Australia...... maybe some ideas from that direction will be forthcoming!

[glenn-k]

A good point you touched on , Harry.  Rats etc. love to drown in an open cistern so if you entertain thoughts of drinking it --completely sealed is a good idea. :-/

See you later - I'm off to work in the valley of deep shadow.

[Amanda_931]

Occasionally flea market people are selling those 400 gallon (somewhere around a 4' cube) poly jobs that come surrounded by wire, with forklift access points underneath for very little.  Heaven only knows what they previously contained.

I'm sure that this link has been posted before, maybe even in this, third edition form.  It is great at getting you started.

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainHarv.pdf

Black or green tanks are best poly tanks for algae prevention--my clear poly 125 gallon tank needs to go to the car wash occasionally--and get wrapped in an opaque tarp.

We're having troubles with the 500 gallon--also clear poly--one (somebody sized the platform too high!) I know it can be made to work, just not sure how.

[harry51]

Amanda, if the problem is algae, maybe the tank could be painted to keep the light level low enough to stop the growth.  If primer and paint won't stick well enough, maybe some sort of undercoating, spray-on bedliner, or silver roof covering emulsion for mobile homes would work. Or, if all else fails, build a shed around it to keep it in the dark, using the stand as the floor/foundation?  It seems like automotive paint used on those plastic bumper covers might stick to poly ok if the correct primer was used. Auto paint is expensive, but some judicious scrounging around paint stores and body shops might turn something up.........

[glenn kangiser]

Along that line, and cheap, Harry, Henry's #107 asphalt emulsion may work - it seems to stick to everything and dries hard.

A friend of mine has some of the framed poly cubes you were talking about, Amanda.  The ones he has held ink to make driveway sealer black.  I'm supposed to get a few from him.

[Amanda_931]

I've got some henry's (and some asphalt horse fence paint).  The latter peels off of gutter material.  Don't know about the poly tanks.  But it would be easy enough to try.

[glenn kangiser]

If you could wrap it with burlap -maybe wire it on - feed sacks- coffee bean sacks etc then paint with Henrys it would stay - -maybe more trouble than it's worth - similar to things they do in India with burlap  -Hessian and cement.

[jonsey/downunder]

Try roughing the tank up with a bit of sandpaper and if you can, spray it on.
jonesy

[Kevin]

They make a spray paint design to stick plastic.It's called Fusion I think and you can get it at Home Depot.
Kevin

[Amanda_931]

Next time I'm in Florence I'll check out the Fusion.

It's possible that the horse fence paint is going to work.  Not as easy to get as it used to be--the horse people have all gone to white vinyl fences.  Not my favorite look.

(and the person who designed my tank platform finally figured out that all she had to do was turn the tank so that the inlet is the shortest distance from the downspout.  Boy am I is she smart!)