Michael Bowen

Annie Collins wrote:What do you put at the bottom of the bucket to prevent the sand from coming out with the water into the rain barrel?

Not sure what his design includes and this may be a bit overkill, but here's a good diagram I just found: biosand filter

Eliot, do you have any info for how to tap PEX directly into the sidewalk of the IBC? I can't seem to find any info how to do this and would rather not guess.

Eliot, good question! I do have plenty of power inside my studio and could easily plugin to run power there. I suppose I am just getting my feet wet with these off-grid systems to test so eventually when we do have some land off-grid I will have some experience setting up with solar etc.

William, so you just have a bucket full of sand that the PVC drains through first then into the tote?

Thanks for your input everyone. This is why I love this community – so much to learn and avoid huge mistakes! Regarding the weight, the IBC would be sitting directly atop the outside bearing wall of the studio which is 4" poured concrete, but either way, I do think this whole project is going to be easier to set up with my original plans. See attached.

William, do you happen to know of any links to this type of setup? I do plan to use a solar-powered pump but I'm not familiar with religious plumbing, mostly secular

Elliott, so you are saying to leave the original paddle valve and just tap in with new plumbing anywhere on the sidewall of the PEX?

Hello permie friends...I have a SIPs panel roof that tucks just under the existing eave of my house and I want to harvest some rainwater from that gutter. Originally I had the placement of the IBC tote below the SIPs roof but decided I want to put the IBC on top of the roof and just gravity feed water to my sink below.

I understand that I can feed water through the bottom of the tote if my height is higher than the inlet, but wondering if you genius engineer types have a simple way to feed this IBC from the gutter at its current height without using pumps, etc? I also want to add a first flush, but this doesn't seem possible...I'm hoping someone proves me wrong.

My only other idea is to peel up some of the roof shingles and make a rain diverter to the side of the house and run a PVC line straight to the top of the IBC with a first flush.

2nd part of this question is if anyone has advice for running PEX from an IBC? I have all the connectors figured out using a hose to pex bib. The final destination will be to feed a sink in my art studio below.

I welcome any ideas, advice or snarky comments.

Cheers