Off-Grid Power and Water Supply Proposal...

[jaransont3]

Yup.  UK4X4 has it right.  This is intended to catch the first 5 gallons of each rainfall (the dirty water: bugs, bird crap, small tree debris, pollen and dust) and then divert the remaining water into the 300 gallon cistern.  There will be a controlled leak in the bucket to make sure it is empty and ready for the next rainfall.

The gutter downspout will feed into the vertical open side and the piping to the cistern will come out of the horizontal outlet of the elbow.

[MountainDon]

I think the idea is -

Dirty water runs off first- into the bucket- when the ball comes to the top the water gets diverted to the tank "clean"

yep. and it can simply be accpmplished with a length of 4" dia pipe instead of the bucket and float ball. The first dirty water fills the pipe which is capped off at the bottom. Then with incomong water still flowing in the 'fresher' water flows to the storage tank. If the 'waste' water leg has a small drain hole in the bottom it will slowly drain away after the rain. That is as long as some of the roof deris does not clog the drain off hole.

[jaransont3]

I wanted to post up an a recent purchase that Jill and I made for our cabin.  Our cabin is off grid and we will be collecting rainwater in a cistern and using a 12V RV on-demand pump to provide the flow and pressure.  We are also using a small 1.6 gallon per minute on-demand tankless water heater.  Given these constraints we needed a low-flow, high efficiency showerhead.  We tried one from WaterPic that we found at Lowes for $35.  It had multiple patterns and was only 1.5 gpm....but it was a really unsatisfying shower experience.  Never felt rinsed off.  We returned it.

We decided to try one that I found online with good reviews.  The high efficiency showerhead from High Sierra Showerheads http://www.highsierrashowerheads.com/ was the same $35 delivered to our door.  It doesn't look like much and doesn't have any settings or other fancy features, but it is an amazingly satisfying showering experience.  The pressure and flow is perfect.  It is the best showering experience I have every had and it is only 1.5 gpm!

Jill and I both liked it so much that we ordered a second one for the house in Dearborn.  To be completely honest we have only tried it at the house in Dearborn with city water pressure and supply.  We haven't got our shower and water supply system fully functional at the cabin yet.  However, I have no doubt that the High Sierra showerhead will be just what we need at the cabin too.

Sometimes it is easy being green.

[jaransont3]

Thought I would give an update on our system.  Our system is working great so far. The first flow diverter is doing it job.  The gutters and gutter foam inserts are working good.  Our cistern was full when we were there last week.

I ended up just using the single Shur-Flo pump mounted in the cabin.  It simply sucks the water up from the cistern.  Water pressure seems fine so far, although we do not have the shower completely hooked up yet and we haven't finished the venting for the water heater.  So there are some unknowns still.

I did discovery that I have a vacuum leak on the suction side of the pump some where as it does't hold prime for very long at all.  I am hoping it is at the filter housing near the pump inside the cabin and not down at the cistern.  Not looking forward to digging that up for a 4th time. <G>  It will have to wait until spring to get fixed. 

Even if e get back at Christmas time, it won't be possible to dig up the top of the cistern with the snow and sub-zero temperatures.

[flyingvan]

 Instead of a weep hole, how about a siphon?  I'm thinking 1/2" pvc pipe that comes up from the bottom, through the bucket maybe 3/4 of the way up, then down and out well below the bottom of the bucket somewhere.  The bucket would automatically cycle then between rains--it would start empty, fill past that 3/4 mark, get the siphon going, then drain all the way down again.  If you're thinking you'd lose too much water through it during rains, you could use a smaller pipe, as long as it's rigid.  (you'd also need some way to keep it from plugging up I suppose, but same with a weep hole)