Has anyone here investigated filtering rain water for household use? What is needed by way of filtering and testing equipment?

TIA

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

I visited one of my friend's dad's place on the Big Island of Hawaii and he had his house set up to collect rainwater from the roof and he and his wife lived off of that. He of course had to switch everything to low flow plumbing. The shower seemed like a marine showerhead. Toilets... 86ml per flush Occassionally he would have to buy water to top the tanks off. Unfortunately we all arrived late at night and left early so there wasn't time to show me the system. It was a activated carbon sand filter media design. He may have even designed it himself since he's an avid electronics tinkerer and MENSA guy.

Since you live in Sea-town the rain is predicatable. Except the the dry spell articles I have been reading about. I guess if the gutters were rerouted depending on you roof size to a main debris filter, run through the carbon and sand filter and stored in well circulated tanks. There might be a bacteria issue so minor chemical treatment might be needed. Hey you might even be able to go one step further with solar powered pumping...

Sounds like a cool project....if only I had a house!

__________________
1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

Its called a cistern....but my spelling might be wrong.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I would collect the rain water in some sort of tank. Install a ultraviolet light and then use the a series of cartridge filters (available at hardware stores) for filtering.
You can get a ultraviolet light at larger pet supply stores - they use it to kill algae in ponds; don't know if it would work with diesel, and I doubt it would be "approved" for human use...but I betcha it would kill all kinds of bugs floating past it.

Check with laws/regulations regarding collecting rainwater. I know that around my parts, it is not allowed.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

The cheap easy way to do it would be to chemically treat it. An eyedropper with chlorine, iodine or maybe peroxide would do it. It takes a very small amount of chlorine to do its thing. Do some checking but something like .25 parts per million makes a difference.

In the Caribbean cisterns are a way of life.

A whole house filter that filters to 5 microns is cheap and easy.

I have a sweetwater filter for backpacking. I filter all of the water I collect out of springs in areas frequented by people or livestock. There is an optional anti-viral add-on that treats the water with iodine.

if you go with filtration try to stay under 2 microns...
i've seen a system with only a debree screen.. rain water is cleaner then what you get from the city anyday.

__________________
72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

In rural Ky, cisterns are just a way of life. Every downspout has a diverter a few feet off the ground. Sort of like an exhaust cutout valve. One way goes in the the cistern and the other way goes to the ground. You keep the valve set to waste the water. After it has been raining for 15-20 minutes, you flip the valve to save the water in the cistern. This way the rain washes and garbage off the roof onto the ground. Then when the roof is cleaner, you keep that water. Couple of factors come into play. First is how much rain do you get a year? Second is square footage of your roof. Third is how many gallons does your cistern hold? I know a guy who had a 20k gallon one built when he built his house 30-40 years ago. If you already have city water, you are getting in a different area. Water departments don't like it when you try to cut their revenue.

Is this for your cabin?

http://www.hyderabadwater.gov.in/rwhu.htm

Thanks for all of the feedback!! The filtration system is for my house in town. The cabin’s water supply is supplied by one of the biggest aquifers in the area, which, in turn is supplied by the Emmons glacier. There is no shortage expected there for at least the next several years and we pay a token amount for use of the community well.

In Seattle we’ve had the worst drought in decades. Looking at the all too reasonable prospects of this trend continuing, I'm starting to look into alternate ways for fresh water supply. According to the water bill, we use about 100 gallons per day, which I don’t think is accurate as we’re not at the Seattle house all that much, but anyway, I'm thinking of storing about 10,000 gallons of water and using a valve to turn on and off the city supply as needed. Plus, of course once it’s stored I need to filter it and put a pump near the end of the line to power the household needs. There will be a period of I'm not sure how long to collect water so it probably won’t make much headway until at least next fall, once i build the storage tank that is...

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

A roto molded PE tank would probably be cheapest, unless you're going to build a concrete cistern.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Ok, now the bad news. What you may have in mind is probably against the law. Usually, water districts do not allow a cistern system to be connected to a system served by city water. Call them and ask. Maybe they will allow it if you install a backflow preventer. The idea is, they don't want your untreated water contaminating their treated water system. They are real serious about this. If you have a water holding tank and just draw water off of it to a bucket, that's one thing. When you hook it up in any way to the main water system, that's a whole different animal. You also might want to check the plumbing codes in your area.

Depending on how your house is plumbed, you might be able to plumb your toilets separately so that they use your collected water. And, depending on how clean and soft your collected water is, you may also choose to hook up your washmachine.

Just something to add to the pile of ideas

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

I'll bet anything the that it's illegal to collect rain water when using a city water system. The sewer bill is based on water usage.

For the washmachine a small drainfield would probably work... Just not for the toilets.

If I were on city sewer, I don't think that I would mention anything about any "modifications" that may have been done.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D