Dave Woods

I have a rainwater catchment system from the gutters of the metal roof on my Tiny house. Problem is i can get any clear water. Its constantly collects in clean barrels a yellow color. And there is a yellow sediment. I'm pretty sure its from the pollen.

My sand filters wont clean it up. in fact it plugs the filters at the bottom tube from the sediment. I have three kinds of sand and three kinds of gravel Plus i use a 200 micron honey filter on the top

The gutters are clean. white pvc, and the short 6ft hose into the tank is clean. So it has to be the water is colored itself. Anyway any ideas how to clear it up and to make it useful to go through the biosand filters.

The whole system has been up and running since last October. Gettin pretty frustrated with the whole thing and constantly having to clean and back flush everything.

I built two sand filters this winter and have come up with two problems. First is for some reason a crust forms on the sand and stops the filtering. it really hasn't been warm enough to form the bio mass on top.

Second is the pollen. The water had been nice and clear. (I heated it for use for bah and dishes, dont drink it) But with the spring blooms pollen in the water (leaves a yellow ring around the primary catchment) has caused the water to turn a light yellow. Ok or bad ? Your ideas?? and should i use the yellow water

No I dont have a thread. i have pics on facebook. Its about half done but I am a cabinet maker by trade so i am doing everything including windows,cabinets an doors. But the weather aint helping But I am just an old guy on a journey. Been foolin with this stuff since before John Shuttleworth. As far as sand filters they are pretty simple. i use to 5 gal buckets I got at Lowes. They are made from the same plastic Milk jugs are made from. I stumbled on these dang RMH a couple years back and they have been under my skin. I knda want to see how small I can make one. Untill i move into a bigger place anyhow.

Keep up the good work !

I understand I guess i thought that since it was so thick it might with stand. And my idea was to wrap it in hardware cloth so that the fire clay could be packed around it. Kinda like mat in concrete. I'm just throwing things out there as I am learning and living vicariously through you. I'm in the middle of a Tinyhouse build and sand filters right now And trying to survive the winter

another thought on a riser. More of a question. I was out rummaging around at a place and found a piece of 6in well casing. Its pretty thick,probably 1/4. Would something like that last.? it could have hardware cloth attached about a 1/2 inch stand off and have the fireclay packed in it

Cam Mitchell wrote:

Jesse Biggs wrote:By way of an update...

So between pics 490 and 502, did you wait for the cob to set up some before hand-sculpting the manifold?
Or was it stiff enough when poured to do it?
Is there an internal mold for the manifold transition to the bench?
I was wondering why there were two sections of riser. Is this where the failure is?
Please, more details on the riser issue!

I'm following your progress, and I like the way you're going. It makes me want to do my own. Just need a little fireclay...

I mentioned fiberglass before talking about the molds. What do you think about woven roving instead of the mat. Say a 24 oz.Its a lot heavier and I think you could get the cement actually worked into the weave

Care to give up what mix you decide on for your pours?. Looks like your setting a goal for other to reach to

Thanks for the tip. As a cabinetmaker i have lots of things that vibrate . Will give it a try next week after this weeks freeze is over

Its particulate. Yellow sand. i keep pouring it back through and it looks like it may be clearing slightly each time. But as i said i drew a quart and let it set several days without much change. A little in the bottom enough so i could tell it was yellow sand.

i don't find a water filter section so i hop this is good here

I live off of grid and set up a bio sand filter. Ive put probably 50 gal of water through it the last ten days. Most of it collected in dirty five gal pail. it has cleared up and runs clear going into the second week. Today i had some water with that had had sand it it. the kind i walk on every day. i put it in the filter and the water came out cloudy. I had done some of this when i first set it up an it did the same thing. i caught a quart of it then and let it set to settle out. But in over a week it was still cloudy. Is there some water these wont filter or should i keep running this turbid water through till it clears up.

Thanks