Catchment Water Pre-Filter

[emorata]

I'm not sure if this is the type of system you are thinking about...the sales person was not available so i could not ask any questions about this being used as a gravity type filter, although the product is used as a prefilter to a catchment setup....will post when i get more information of this setup and cost.

http://www.bluefuturefilters.com/roughhome.html

noel

[Bob Orts]

Whoops, I should have said I’m back on the mainland and that’s where I saw the filter being made.

I had a quick after work drink with one of the county water dept people I interface with and he said the filter I saw being made was a bit elaborate because county health codes require pre filtering to a certain micron level on domestic water storage tanks.

So I explained what I was thinking for HI and his recommendation was to first see the level of contamination from the gutters. The easiest method to test and filter was to take the PVC pipe from the gutters and have it enter a 5-gallon pail at the top. Take a ladies stocking and zip tie it over that pipe, placing a rock in the stocking so it won’t get sucked into the outlet pipe at the bottom. That’s it. If after a rain it’s a heaping mass of garbage, consider a bit more hefty filter system. Otherwise, that may be all that’s needed. Just remember to clean the stocking periodically.

He said that physics dictates that you want surface area versus depth of filtration. That’s why shoving stockings in the downspout will quickly clog and overflow. The next simplest is the same 5-gallon pail with the stocking, but with one of those electrostatic foam air filter wrapped around the outtake pipe. You can expand upon that if needed to add rocks, sand, or those straw type pads used in swamp coolers. Those plastic totes with lids you buy for storage works well. Even a 30-gallon garbage can with a sheet draped inside and secured to the sides is a great filter.

So, maybe next visit I’ll be seeing one of you with a pickup truck full of plastic pails, garbage cans and folded sheets, buying pantyhose by the case at Costco, while handing out business cards for “Puna’s Prefilter Inc”.

Now, if I can only figure out what this "Conservation" thing on part of the property means...

[morganlady]

Unless you divert the "leaves, insects, dead mouse carcass, bird feathers, twigs" that may be part of your roof's runoff, basically, you'll be making tea out of all that stuff, by running fresh water-run-off past over and through it (like weak chicken soup that the chicken run through?).
Try to design a way for that big stuff to be separated above the flow, so you're not decomposing it into your "drinkable water supply". Or use distilled water to drink (from a biology/chemistry/environmental science major)

[emorata]

considering cheaper processes - a friend of my tells me when ever they see the roof looking a little bit dirty and a good rain will be happening that night - they typically divert the rainwater for a few hours to get rid of the leaves, dust and larger particles before they bring it back into the catchment - although this probably takes a lot more hands on control than most......another thing to consider is having screens over the gutter downspouts, but that will need periodic cleaning.

[Big_Island]

I guess you cant have too much filteration... lol
The Sand filter system sounds interesting for sure!!

I use defection wedges http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home/...reens.html at the gutters downspouts. And on the end of the pipe where the roof water is discharged into the storage tank I use a pair of ladies pantyhose (doubled up) to make a big mesh/screen bag to catch any rubbish the downspout deflection wedges miss... The panty hose bags fill up with stuff pretty fast. It must work very good because the bottom of my white foodgrade liner stays very clean. In fact I have only had to vaccume the bottom of the tank 2 times in 5 years. Both times it was because I forgot to change the panty hose filter and it became overfilled and fell/sank to the bottom of the tank.

My catchment water runs to a single sediment filter. this supplies all my Non drinking water (toilets, sinks, showers, spickets). My kitchen water supply is connected to a UV water purification system located under my sink, and then we put an inline filter on the hose leading to the icemaker/water dispenser built into the fridge. The refrigerator we use also has an easly removed built-in clear filter that allows you to visually see if any funky stuff is making it to the last set of filters.

On a side note.... after 6 years of using the same catchment/liner we have never had the desire to add chlorine bleach to the system.
I believe another key to clean water is the tank cover...
If you have light entering the catchment tank.... things will grow!!!
I would recomend buying one of those fake owls from walmart/home-depot and fasten it to the top of the catchment tank.
This will keep the birds from sitting on the tank cover and ..... well pee'in and poop'in in it

Sorry for any type-o's... late for work again!!

[rbonplaza]

From today's Tribune:
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/arti...ures07.txt

[Scott_S]

http://www.rainharvesting.com.au/auto_ta...stem_1.asp

I am not sure if this site has been posted before, but there is some very interesting ideas. The simple first flush system and the auto vacuum system would be great.

Scott