O/T: While we're talking about water....

Does anyone collect rainwater? We've got a neighbor who has a 2000+/- gallon tank laid on its side, half buried in the ground and insulated above ground. He collects rainwater off his roofs. When power goes out, he uses a 12v bilge pump to draw water for his livestock.

We've got a bunch of roof space here and I have been toying with the idea of doing the same thing.

Christopher

When I was a kid, we had a windmill that pumped to fill a cistern near the house. The house had a pump that drew water from the cistern and charged up a pressure tank for drinking & toilets. Water would gravity feed down to the barn to water the livestock.

Every 3 days or so have to go down to the pasture & crank the windmill tail control, to let it in the wind & to pump for 4 hours or so. This would fill the cistern.

Rainwater was collected from the house & put in a, oh I never measured, 8x20x8 foot cistern room in the basement. A different pump would charge up the softwater pressure tank, and so that would be the hot & wash water in the house.

Basically the only thing that has changed is the windmill and hard water pump has been replaced with a deep well & pump in the well to feed the house. Every 3 days or so, I need to turn a valve in the basement to fill the cistern from the deep well. The cistern only gravity feeds the barn now.

Pretty nice tho, power goes out or well has issues, and I still have a cistern of water for the critters to use. It is a very low pressure system, so need to have the proper type of float valves and etc to work with only 5lbs of water.

I still don't have a water softener, still use the rainwater & basement cistern for the hot water in the house. So, the house is still fed from 2 water sources; the deep well, and the rainwater system. There are 3 pipes running to several areas - one well/drinking water pipe, and a hot & cold softwater pipe.

--->Paul

i water my horses from rain water diverted to their tank, helps alot

When I was a kid in the 1950 all the water we had was diverted from the roof of the house into the cistern. Had a diverter valve on the gutters. You had to let the coal sutt wash off the tin roof before switching the diverter valve to fill the cistern or your water tasted like coal dust. Every few years we had to have water hauled in to fill the cistern but not offten. SW Midle Tennessee.

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Too bad you are not closer to MASS. I have 28 of these tanks. I have removed the 2" foam insulation and sheet aluminum wrapper from this tank. They also come with an insulated skid and cover. The tanks are molded from 1/2" polyethylene.

I drain it in December and allow it to fill starting in March. It takes about 2" of rain from a portion of the barn roof to fill the 1900 gallon tank.

There is also about 2.5 miles of white 1/2" polyethylene tube in each one. Polypropylene grids separate the coils. It lifts out easily.

Ok - what the heck were they?

--->Paul

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They are used to make off-peak ice for air conditioning. Chilled 25% ethylene gycol is circulated in the coils to freeze the water in the tanks. During the day time, the process is reversed so that heat from the AC heat exchangers goes back into the tanks.

This system saves electricity costs and chiller capacity. The facilities demand charge goes down and they also benefit from the cheaper off-peak rate.

The tank skids are 92" in diameter. Total height is around 94". Seven units will fit in a 53' box trailer with several feet to spare. Goto Calmac's website for more info.

We do at the farm. Cistern is the only water source. Couple tips,

Have a good hi flow filter. Sand filter does well. Reason you need it is after the collection area has sat for some time all kinds of dirt and bird poo collects up there. Soon as a good rain comes it is all washed off into your water supply.

If you plan on drinking it add some regular bleach to it. It a poor mans way to kill off any bad stuff in it. Doesn't take much, like a cup to 5-600 gallons. Just be sure to use straight bleach and nothing with other crap on the label.

And keep it in the dark. Any light will promote algae growth.

I've heard but can not verify. In the southwest were water is short and the bureaucrats run wild.
It's ok to allow ran water from your roof to run onto the ground or into a drain/stream. However if you collect that same rainwater in a tank. You can get busted.

I would be happy to have a couple of those intact and working. Our utility is switching to "time of day" usage after the next provincial election.

Used to see that a lot around here they would have a cistern near the house for the rainwater, could be used for washing etc kind of soft water if you will. Mom and Dads place has the setup like Pauls but the cistern is on a big hill and gravity feeds the whole place.

Christopher, It is growing in popularity here in Central Texas after this last summer and drought.
I have neighbor that has his place set up to catch 18000 gallons. 20000 is the recommended baseline to be totally self- sufficent! I personally belive it will come to it, be manditory to catch and use. A porition of your water will need to be caught to have yards and gardens our aquafers and lake systesm cant supply everybodies indescriment use of water.
Later,
John A.

When my parents built a new house in 1976 the cistern was poured as part of the foundation. Pretty common thing around here in SE Indiana. There are water hauling trucks all over filling cisterns since our geography doesn't lend itself to private wells.

Wardner,
I am not far from ya and have been toying with an water idea where your tanks would be useful. Any idea how many gallons they would hold? I can guess a little over 2000 gallons by the tag. I would be interested if you are not asking too much for them. Thanks.

Ontario

ERIC,,,, what is it about your part of the country the dosen't lend it's self to water wells ????????

My email is wardner at peoplepc dot com.

Yep, the IceBanks are for sale. I can't ship until the snow melts and/or the ground is firm.