Water collection and plumbing?

Hello

Consider building a below ground tank for collection, the biggest problem with collecting water this way will be detritus and other material from roof and gutters as there will be considerable build up over time so you will have a continual requirement to clean out the muck that will build, this can be very obnoxious.

A filtration system will be essential from tank to house simple cage filter / strainer to pump is OK for collecting the larger particles but to ensure the water is not going to continue forming growth of various life and plant forms in your home you may also need to consider a sanitation style filter system.

Setting up a collection and distribution for use in the home is the easiest part it will be the continual cleaning processes required to maintain your system and this cannot be under estimated it will take a lot of maintenance.

On an industrial system from reservoirs water goes through numerous filtration stages depending on location they would start from large settling tank areas with continual scraper systems to slowly remove debris then onto a flocculation process where finer particles are removed with the use of agents that increase the particle size increasing the mass, this aids settling to be removed by further scrappers that are continually revolving on the bottom of floculator, from this process it will likely go to large sand filters to further polish and filter the water where after some addition of chlorine is added, this is just a simple explanation of the basic process so you can see there is a lot involved .

Doing as you suggest will be OK if you bear in mind water can have a lot in it that could do you a lot of harm untreated, and you will need to spend some time in making sure you can at least have a basic idea of the need to filter out some of the harmful content that will build quite quickly.

Even putting strainers or netting over gutters will work for a while but you will be continually cleaning them, I don’t want to put you off as I admire your desire to harvest and use your freely available water source, but it can be highly time consuming unless you come up with a good routine to keep all your tanks/containers etc clean.

When it comes to the health side care is very important and you must ensure you only use this type of collection for uses other than consumption unless you boil it first.

Here’s something to consider if you have room build a swimming pool or hot tub style pool and divert all your roof water to a large tank full of course sand you will need various spargers inlet outlet and back washing facilities similar to a pool sanitation system and this way not only have you got a source of enjoyment you have also a very large water supply you of course will still need the pool filtration sanitation system, but you will have difficulty getting round that I’m afraid, it’s all about filtration at the end of the day.

Give it a go on a crude scale first see how you go before you throw too much money at it as I’m sure your objective will be to cut costs overall.

Good luck, Regards Alan

Besides the filtration, etc. here is an easy way to look at it. Consider that the water pressure at your house probably varies between 35-55 psi (pounds per square inch). That is pretty normal for most homes using city water or wells.

If you want to know how much pressure a tank on top of your house would produce, use the following calculation: It is not exact but will give you a pretty good idea:

Height of the top of the water in the tank ÷ 2 = psi

So, if the top of the water in the tank on your roof is, say 30 feet above the ground then the pressure would be 30 ÷ 2 = 15 psi. So, in order to get a minimum of 35 psi the top of your water tank would have to be 70' off the ground. Now, of course, you can increase the pressure by installing a booster pump, but to answer your question about a direct feed, it would be difficult.

Good idea though!! That's the kind of thinking that we need in Washington right now!!

unless you have a 8 story house and tank is at that level, no.

Unless you get a lot of rain, the storage will not catch up use. If you look at most water towers you notice how high they are. Gives about 50 PSI. Half would give you 30PSI.

do some test with smaller parts and see the pressure you get.

If you run out of water in electric boiler, it will over heat as well.

good luck

In most cities water is pumped to the top of their water tanks and gravity sends the water to the individual homes. So just using gravity (still free) it will push water to the taps, the more water the more pressure. But at the same time, the more water the more weight right above your head! It will take a toll on the structure.

Given that you probably have dust, soot and bird poop on your roof, I hope you're not planning on drinking or bathing in that water? (Although it should be fine for watering the garden or filling the toilet)

That better be one REALLY clean roof! You will probably want to at least filter out the bird poo.