Waynes rainwater harvest start to finish

This is great Wayne, thank you for such a detailed post. I'm hoping to have a combination of rain water harvest and river water irrigation on a plot I just purchased. This has been really helpful!

Thanks.

Update on my system. So far i have not run out of water. Limiting the rainwater to just hot water is the reason it has lasted. For cooking, like boiling noodles, i do use the hotwater tap to get the water. Who else,  when going to their kitchen faucet, has to make a conscience decision on whether they need good water or not for the task? Lol

The onle issue i have is little clogs in specific faucets. Enough to stop the flow. I suspect the heavy lime deposits in my hot water pipes are slowly dissolving from the rainwater.  Rainwater is probably close to distilled water,  it will dissolve minerals. So my pipes are getting cleaned, but small bits are breaking loose and clogging faucets. I am amazed at how sensitive faucets are. A couple specks is enough to clog them. So i clean them as needed.

Does the pipe coming out of the side of the tank, high up on the side facing the door, have an interior pipe that feeds down towards the bottom, or is that not where the water is coming out? I would think the outlet would be lower so when you are at say 20% capacity, you can still get water out via gravity feed. Or does this require the pump to draw water out, in addition to putting it under pressure?

Do you have colder winters, where freezing is an issue? I'm considering a tank like this (or more than 1 in series) for storing water, either from rainfall or by filling from a well, so that if there is a power outage I'll still have access to water. I've read/seen folks that partially bury the tanks to use ground heat to prevent freezing, and was thinking a tank could be mostly buried within an earth berm under a PAHS system where insulation above could (in theory) prevent any freezing.

The upper pipe is the overflow . It's big cause you want it sized to the water coming in. You dont want 3" water coming in and the escape route being 2". That is the biggest problem (imo) with buying tanks from tractor supply, etc. A storage tank is not a rain collecting tank. They can be modified though, adding a bigger bung. The overflow can also be incorporated into the main fill pipe.

The bottom pipe is where i am taking it from. There are 2 thoughts on this. As john c daley stated, he wants large storage, let the sediment settle, and collect from the middle water. I take from the bottom, continually filtering out the sediment. The funny thing is, there has not been any sediment filtered out. The water going in is clean, this leaf eater, first flush is what i contribute to it. You can see the small gunk held back in my pics.

I'll keep updating. Next thing may be pics of the filter after a month of use.

I do get freezes but very minor (TX). The only issue i had was years ago when the filter and pump were outside exposed under a carport. The filter housing broke when the water froze. It's now in a well house and what little pipe is exposed can be insulated as needed. I've never been in a true freeze area so i can't give any advice on it.

Im installing a second tank. This one will feed my annual garden. I have had MAJOR concerns that my well water is harming my plants. When using a pool test kit on the water,  the alkalinity is 18 to 21, whereas the strip says "normal" is 8 to 12.

To show a different technique, i opted to have the water go in from the side outlet vs the roof. Doing this neccesitates a built in overflow into the same pipe. As you can see i used a tee, then 2 90's. This is the overflow. It should not flow out of there till the tank is full. It will also hold  water at a higher levet than my previous method. This will result in some standing water in the pipe until the level goes down. With the mosquito screen at the gutter, this doesnt bother me.

Im unsure if this will be pumped or ground fed. Rain is coming tomorrow so goal is to get it filling up. I'll put a valve on the bottom and do the rest later.

I didnt use a first flush device, but it could easily be installed on same pipe network.

Hi Wayne. Nice installation. (Both). We have come to the conclusion that in a lot of circumstances the first wash is not necessary. Partly depends on what the water will be used for, and how much debris and leaves end up on the roof. We have never tried using a sand base. How's that working out for you?

The sand inside a pre-leveled board box worked great for getting the tank level. I would do it again in the same manner. Only downfall is bermuda grass invaded the sand. But that would have happened with anything.

The other thing is the water entry. The second install, where the water enters from the side port, seems to be the better option. The screened lid on first install wastes some water. In a heavy rain it was bouncing off the rocks, not going into tank. Plus the chance of light entering the screened top.

I'm planning a third ss tank to supply water to my sheep and horses. I hope to make this one gravity fed. Zero electricity to run it.

Dean, just realized you are the mfgr. Lol.  I thought sand was the preferred base. What do you use? If memory serves me right the rock ring is supposed to be filled with sand.

We typically use decomposed granite. I never thought of using sand. I don't see anything wrong with it. I might put a layer of rock around the tank, on top of the sand, to prevent erosion. It all looks great though.

I worked on my water heater closet. It was gutted and i was able to clean up the rainwater line going to it. Arrows show the before and after of the water line.

your some kind of genius to figure this all out. great job,  thanks for posting

The white plastic piping and valves is pvc. Very susceptible to uv damage from the sun. You should use the grey stuff, cpvc. It's expensive, but worth it.

wayne fajkus wrote:Im installing a second tank. This one will feed my annual garden. I have had MAJOR concerns that my well water is harming my plants. When using a pool test kit on the water,  the alkalinity is 18 to 21, whereas the strip says "normal" is 8 to 12.

Hey, Wayne!

I found the same thing about the major concern that well water is harming my plants.

Limestone water is very alkaline!

Pour a little vinegar on the soil and see how it bubbles.

We made out soil for our garden only to find every time I watered I added more alkaline to the soil...

wayne fajkus wrote:
I am not sure if groundfos is the only pump or if there are cheaper alternatives with ick free auto (dry) shutoffs. If there are, i'd love to hear about them.

Long ago I had a Grundfos pump like yours to boost our incoming water pressure from about 20psi to about 65psi. The dry-run protection did not always turn it off when there was no input water which resulted in a warped housing and leaks. It was discontinued and parts like the leaking seals were no longer available. After searching for an alternative, I found a similar pump from Walrus:

https://www.walrusamerica.com/product/hq/

It worked great. Like the Grundfos, the small pressure tank on it and the variable speed pump held a surprisingly constant output pressure regardless of water flow. It was all engineered plastic and stainless like the Grundfos (no ick) and also had the dry-run protection. It was a lot less expensive than the Grundfos at that time. We sold that house so I don't know about its longevity.