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Monday, July 21, 2003 ( 10:19 AM ) Mega OK so I designed and built the rainwater harvest system. This post details pressurizing the system. In the past I've taken water from a well built over a natural spring. The water was pure and plentiful but each spring and fall silt from the surrounding fields was gradually filling up this well and infecting the submersible pump I had installed 10 years ago. Due to forces beyond my control this spring well has become unusable and the submersible pump will not work on my rainwater application. So with the existing pressure tank that had a gauge and t fitting on the bottom plus the fact that my cottage is wired for a 230V pump circuit all I needed was a pump. Since it is drawing from a 200 liter barrel right in my basement all I needed was a 1/2 horse shallow well jet pump and foot valve. Thus I purchased a dual ball bearing (more durable) 1/2 horse pump at Manions pump house. For $280 Cdn plus tax. I also had the pump guy reset the wiring on it for 230 v because they come stock 115v (it's just a flip of the switch) and he also re-pressurized my tank with the proper PSI setting for this pump. I think that was worth doing although I think you could get cheaper pumps at places like Princess auto or even home depot. But they are not dual ball bearing pumps and there is no expert to hold your hand about the pressure tank and wiring mysteries that I was nervous about. Any hoo I got the pump up to the lake and plumbed in a nice intake line to the cistern I decided to plumb a valve into the intake like to facilitate an easy prime which worked great. Then I wired the pump and let her rip! It worked great and the water is clean and free of sand. The only drawback seems to be some very minor leaks on some of the fitting but they had stopped after a few days. This seems common in plumbing jobs as the joints seem to seal up somehow. It rained last night so my whole system should be full. My girlfriend and I were up on the week end and as girls do she used lots of water to flush and wash etc etc. I need to refrain from being a water miser even though after all this work I am very aware of the waste of water around me now. ( I was a hopeless water waster myself up there before this project) My capacity is 600 liters in the basement of pure water. 150 liters of hot water and 400 liters in the two rain barrels used as initial settling tanks under the eaves. The next step is to build and put in use a slow sand filter and a roof washer that will dump the first 20 liters of water from the roof as the rain starts. I have a basic design idea for both. Stay tuned # Monday, July 14, 2003 ( 8:34 AM ) Mega Shitload of rain on the weekend I will be installing the pump this week stay tuned for updates from the bush # Wednesday, July 09, 2003 ( 8:52 AM ) Mega well its been awhile.... I've been away some rain but not much I need a pump # |
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