Peter Hutter

John C Daley wrote:Peter, I have a bit of experience with the topic. My signature has a link to rainwater harvesting. Perhaps read it and come back to be with questions.
For a start I would make theses suggestions for consideration;
- Have a storage tank which can hold 6 months supply of water
- fit a rainfall collection system that will work in your area.
- do you get snow etc, remember I live in rural Australia.
- dont bother about water treatment systems, a large storage tank will address that issue.
- dont mix city water with the other stuff, keep it separate.
- do you use much town water?
- fit first flush units to the roof gutters.
Tell me about the area.
- is it dusty?
- do you have trees around the house?
- what do you wish to use water on?
- how is water drawn from the creek?

I have found out this about the area.
- is one of the driest places in western Washington.
- 17" of rain a year, much the same as where I live.

I am going to suggest the following subject to a better understanding.
- draw water from the stream to fill a big tank, separate from the other sources of water.
- Direct all roof water to another tank if possible.
- the existing small above ground tanks could be used to catch water from remote sheds and pump it back to the large one.
- i would consider not using the well.
- you will be able to drink rainwater without treatment.
- Dont mix the different sources of water, mainly in case something goes bad, you can find the cause.

Rainwater can be used in the household
Creek water gardens and toilet flushing
Town water back up only.

Thank you so much John! I'm finally getting the time to reply here, and hopefully you are willing to weigh in further about all this. I did go and read the original post you referenced here.

I'll do my best to address your questions or suggestions.

Regarding having enough tanks to hold 6 months worth of water, that is a great goal! Finances dictate that we cannot do this right away, but likely by this fall we'll be able to do that in time for our next rainy season.

We don't get much snow near our house (which I'm sad about, but oh well! The mountains are close!)

Are there other reasons why you suggest not mixing city water with rain water other than is something goes wrong or is bad? In the long run I could see this, especially with creek water I would not mix that, but for now with us having the ability to store 4000 gallons in 3 tanks, and our well not keeping up with needs and us sometimes needing to buy water, it would be much better for us to mix rain and city water at least for a time. We have had to buy loads of water about every 30-60 days at about $250 for 1750 gallons.

Our area is not dusty. It doesn't rain hardly at all for 3 or so months in summer, but there's so much forest in the area and we're 4 miles from the coast so the air stays somewhat moist. No trees around the house.

Water use will be normal household stuff and garden, horses, orchard, trees. I haven't set up anything to draw water from the creek yet, but have been planning to do something like burying a bucket in the stream bed surrounded with rocks to help keep the water clean and then using a filtered pump to draw it out? I haven't researched this at all so better ideas may come from that or suggestions you may have.

Curious why you suggest not using the well?

Thanks,

Peter.

Hi,

I have good friends and neighbors I've been doing handyman work for. Recently they had a water catchment system put in place. We are on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State in the US. The build for the apartment isn't finished, so the water system isn't in use yet. The tank got very full, and the electrical connection conduit started wicking water to the disconnect at the house. Looking at the whole thing, I'm guessing that the overflow is on a float/pump system, and since it hasn't been energized the tank got too full, and now if we turn it on the breaker immediately trips. We have started by siphoning some water out of the tank. I'll post some pictures and would appreciate any advice please.

Thanks.

Greetings,

I see a lot of threads here on so many topics related to water catchment. If there are threads that relate more specifically to what I'm seeking can someone please point me?

We live on 5 aces in Sequim, WA, and our well doesn't nearly keep up with our frugal use. We recently finished building our house and need to sort out our water systems so we aren't buying truck loads of water every other month. We have a 2000 gallon in ground cement cistern, and we have two above ground plastic tanks, a 1500 gallon and a 500 gallon. I'm guessing that more tanks are in our future, and likely a pond.

We have an ephemeral stream that runs through the property 4-5 months out of the year. Our house and shed have metal roofs, and I'm thinking to run water from the shed roof and stream to fill the above ground tanks, and to send water from the house roof into the in ground cistern that is fed by the well and also gets filled with city water every so often.

We don't drink or cook with the water out of the tap, it always goes through a big berkey first. I'm thinking I need some kind of filter for the water that comes off the roof before it goes into the cistern, and likely a uv light somewhere in the mix of coming in or going out,  then potentially a second filter for the water coming into the house?

Thank you.

Josh Hoffman wrote:A less expensive option would be to put a 3" WYE and then put an RV gate valve on each side. The gate valves are $20. You can search 3" RV gate valve.

They also have 4" options for more $$ and electric operated ones for even more $$$.

Here is the one that is ready to go and electric but $$$$

https://unitedrvparts.com/products/valterra-ez-valve-electric-waste-valve-3-hub-x-hub-x-hub-double-rotating-flange-e85-8?variant=45365270708527&srsltid=AfmBOorEj4Oi4ApaOvTTHr0joxOlSYJZP8FN8U8mx7CJCQVAs7tHXk4RBdo&gQT=1

Great ideas Josh! Thanks for posting these.

What do you think about what Christopher said about there being no such thing as grey water at this point, as everything is mixing in the pipes under the slap?

Christopher Weeks wrote:I think you're looking for something like this, but ideally, electrified: https://www.thenaturalhome.com/septicdirectorvalve/

But my impression is that most people would not call what you want to call greywater, grey. It'll be black because there will always be fecal residue in the drainpipes before the splitter.

And so you're probably stuck having all the slab-level floor-drains combined (and black), but you could retrofit the structure so that first-floor sink drains and drains from the second floor exit through the wall and into your greywater wetland system.

Well there you go! (regarding the mixing of grey and black at the start). I hadn't thought this through very far! We only have water on the first floor. Making your suggestion work with the washer and likely the temporary kitchen sink (until we build an addition that we can plan better!) could work pretty well. I'd love to get the shower in there too, and it could be done, but it would be pretty serious work, and there's also the need (but how much of a need?) to have additional water go down the septic piping to make sure the black water makes it to the tank a good ways away and with a lot more slope than 1/4" per foot.

Thank you.

Greetings,

We just finished building our house on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. For various reasons we built pretty conventionally, stick built on a concrete slab. It was to be a shop on the first floor and an art studio on the second, but time and money being what it is for us, part way through it had to become the house and will likely stay that way. All our plumbing exits the house in one pipe, and that plumbing is in the slab. I would like to create some sort of Y situation with a switching valve of some sort just after it leaves the house so I can send the grey water through a wetland area to a pond. I could either have some sort of lever I move that's right outside the door, or in an ideal world there might be some kind of electric valve I could actuate with a switch in the house? Is there anything like this available does anyone know?

Thanks,

Peter.

You bet Andy! They rock. Was introduced to both the saw and GB axes by the Northwoods guide and author Cliff Jacobson years ago. His favorites as well.

Thank you Jay!

Hello,

Yesterday I cut 2 large somewhat wet (it had been down for a time all ready) red oak trunk sections, one of which I intend to use for a new ironwork anvil stand, and the other for doing copper and silver work right on the wood. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea for me to linseed oil the cut ends so the logs don't dry out too fast to help reduce cracking. I'm in SW Wisconsin and they'll likely be closer to outdoor temps sitting in an unheated building for a while until I bring them into the heated shop in a few weeks. Any advice here would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Peter.