02-25-2010, 05:40 AM
Aloha,
Over the past 2 years I have gotten used to the basics of our catchment system such as changing the filters and replacing the UV light once a year. Recently I realized I need to do more after I purchased a ladder and saw the atrocity that were my gutters. They were a mucky clogged mess of ohia leaves, small twigs and basically mud. I previously thought that the trees near my house were either too short or too far away to dump anything substantial on it. Hmm, who knew that wind could blow things in a lateral direction? So I cleaned them out and have decided to take down some of the trees that are closest and pose the most trouble. A problem I still have is the downspout pipes are seemingly full of leaves since they are in the pipes all the way up to where I couldn't reach to clean them out. With the recent drought-like conditions I have paid a lot more attention to the inside of the tank and seen there is quite a bit of leaf litter and gunk (dirt, maybe algae or a combination?) on the bottom. I will admit that I rarely add anything such as chlorine bleach. I have a few times but under our normal rainy conditions we always have overflow running so I kind of gave up doing it.
My questions are:
What can I do to clean out the gutter pipes, short of cutting pipes or disassembling the plumbing? Does anybody offer this kind of service?
For the tank, is there a such thing as a catchment cleaning service? I figure this would be the best time since the water level is relatively low. I can't imagine it would be much different than cleaning a pool.
Once these two issues are resolved, what is strongly recommended in terms of adding bleach or something similar? Is it seen as a "must do" for catchment systems? We do drink the water after it passes the two canister filters, UV light, and refrigerator filter. Nobody has gotten sick so I'm not as concerned by that as I am the build up of slimy film in the filter canister and the wear that it might put on the pump in addition to how much faster we seem to be needing to replace the filters. I had preferred not to add any chemicals to my water supply but is that not realistic?
Last, what are some (hopefully easy/cheap) ways to screen out debris from getting into the tank? It is covered tightly so the only issue is from the gutters. Will something as simple as screening the opening of the downspout work? I have read briefly before about a "first flush" device but don't quite know how they work or how difficult they can be to retrofit to an existing system.
That was kind of long but hopefully somebody can answer some or all of my questions. I figure there has to be at least a century of combined experience on this forum with catchment systems. Oh, if it helps to know I have the typical 10,000 tank with corrugated exterior and food grade liner. It has the "tented" frame for the black canvas cover, and I live in Volcano. Thanks in advance!
Over the past 2 years I have gotten used to the basics of our catchment system such as changing the filters and replacing the UV light once a year. Recently I realized I need to do more after I purchased a ladder and saw the atrocity that were my gutters. They were a mucky clogged mess of ohia leaves, small twigs and basically mud. I previously thought that the trees near my house were either too short or too far away to dump anything substantial on it. Hmm, who knew that wind could blow things in a lateral direction? So I cleaned them out and have decided to take down some of the trees that are closest and pose the most trouble. A problem I still have is the downspout pipes are seemingly full of leaves since they are in the pipes all the way up to where I couldn't reach to clean them out. With the recent drought-like conditions I have paid a lot more attention to the inside of the tank and seen there is quite a bit of leaf litter and gunk (dirt, maybe algae or a combination?) on the bottom. I will admit that I rarely add anything such as chlorine bleach. I have a few times but under our normal rainy conditions we always have overflow running so I kind of gave up doing it.
My questions are:
What can I do to clean out the gutter pipes, short of cutting pipes or disassembling the plumbing? Does anybody offer this kind of service?
For the tank, is there a such thing as a catchment cleaning service? I figure this would be the best time since the water level is relatively low. I can't imagine it would be much different than cleaning a pool.
Once these two issues are resolved, what is strongly recommended in terms of adding bleach or something similar? Is it seen as a "must do" for catchment systems? We do drink the water after it passes the two canister filters, UV light, and refrigerator filter. Nobody has gotten sick so I'm not as concerned by that as I am the build up of slimy film in the filter canister and the wear that it might put on the pump in addition to how much faster we seem to be needing to replace the filters. I had preferred not to add any chemicals to my water supply but is that not realistic?
Last, what are some (hopefully easy/cheap) ways to screen out debris from getting into the tank? It is covered tightly so the only issue is from the gutters. Will something as simple as screening the opening of the downspout work? I have read briefly before about a "first flush" device but don't quite know how they work or how difficult they can be to retrofit to an existing system.
That was kind of long but hopefully somebody can answer some or all of my questions. I figure there has to be at least a century of combined experience on this forum with catchment systems. Oh, if it helps to know I have the typical 10,000 tank with corrugated exterior and food grade liner. It has the "tented" frame for the black canvas cover, and I live in Volcano. Thanks in advance!
]