Homestead water systems: Collection Part 1

[LYoung]

This guy has a bunch of neat ideas for a bunch of Homestead projects. To include a "First Flush "system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIFM...eature=related

[Lowdown3]

Wrapping up with Part 2 of this one.

Still can't get the "your account is upgraded to allow videos of 15 minutes or more" deal to work on youtube, so this had to be a 2 parter.

Threw in a "teaser" video also. :)

[Grinnan Barrett]

I was watching and it hit me again that living in some cities is not so much fun. We can be fined where I live on the lake for catching ran water runoff. Many of us do it anyway but it is pretty shaky when or if you get caught by the water police. They overlook people watering their yard everyday in a drought but look for things like water barrels catching water of the roof.

[610Alpha]

http://www.rainxchange.com/calculator.php

http://www.gardeners.com/Rain-Barrel-How-To/5497,default,pg.html

Don't know if these are the one you were talking about.

[1Admin]

GB- wow, that's crazy! And I where their is water restrictions they were more friendly towards stuff like that???

Thanks E- I'll find the link, it used google earth, you could trace your roof if you didn't know the size of it. Someone posted it on Rawles blog this spring.

[SCinPNW]

We have a cedar shake roof that has been treated, my understanding is that we cannot use the water from this roof due to the chemicals. Is that correct? And changing to a different roofing material is not an option due to CCR restrictions in our development.

Thanks,
SC

[All Talk]

Maybe there is an isolated section ( a bump-out valley, or a short side on a hip roof) with a dedicated gutter and downspot (i.e. not serving any other part of the larger roof). You could then perhaps construct a "ready system" consisting of a non-treated tarp that would cover all the treated shakes in this particular watershed, plus some fastening/fitting items. After fitting and testing, you take it down, DRY IT, then store it away. When TSHTF, homeowners association narc are going to have other concerns, so you can put it up then.

[SCinPNW]

That is a good idea, thanks All Talk!

[Grinnan Barrett]

GB- wow, that's crazy! And I where their is water restrictions they were more friendly towards stuff like that???

Thanks E- I'll find the link, it used google earth, you could trace your roof if you didn't know the size of it. Someone posted it on Rawles blog this spring.

You should see the rules about solar panels. They are off the charts. that is why we are getting the place ready to sell. My wife and I both want to move out of town to be able to do solar, wind, water collection, water well, and not having everything you do under constant review by the city. The water runoff has something to do with the North Texas Water Board that controls the water systems around here. Now I remember why you moved up to Georgia to your place. If we can get just ten miles out we are away from it. I wonder how many others face a lot of restrictions on what they can do because they are in cities even small ones like ours.

[Dennis W]

I used lowdowns water barrel idea, and expanded a little. These barrels use only 1/4 of the house roof area, and all three will fill up with about 1/4" of rain and they are all connected at the bottom.

[610Alpha]

I used lowdowns water barrel idea, and expanded a little. These barrels use only 1/4 of the house roof area, and all three will fill up with about 1/4" of rain and they are all connected at the bottom. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1965[/ATTACH]

Nice setup...i need to find me some pickle barrels...wife wants to spend $ on one of them purdy ones...doh :)

[Dennis W]

These barrels are nice, and I painted them the color of the house trim and they are on the back corner of the house. I have more barrels and pvc stuff to do another set in the front. I also put in some black rolled pipe run to my fruit trees, and a small dc pump to water the trees. Also the pump can be used to run the water into the house if needed.

[1Admin]

Nice setup!

[Dennis W]

A little update. The barrels have screen under the screw down ring, but they still let in a lot of stuff. I bunge corded a t shirt to the top and you can see what it picks up.


I also added a small pump so that I can pump water from the barrel to my fruit trees. Also if needed I can hock up a hose from the pump to a faucet at the rear of the house, and use it for water in the house. This would not be used unless an extreme emergency, as it's not realy needed and would contaminate the house water system.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I often wondered if in the piping by putting in a layer of astroturf like in the bottom of a gold miners sluice box would catch debris before it reached the barrel