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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2012 12:16am
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Last weekend I got the gutters on my cabin. I temporarily ran the down spout directly into the 55gal drum that I'm going to be using to catch my water just to see what one rain event would produce. My question here is about the first flush diverter. The pictures I have seen of ones that have been built by people here on this site seem to have the first flush diverter down just a ways from the down spout. I was thinking that if the first flush diverter were directly under the down spout that it may catch more of the crap that comes off the roof. Or is there some specific reason that it is a little down stream of the down spout?
Just for the record, the water that I caught with the first flush too was really nasty. LOL
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2012 07:15pm - Edited by: trollbridge
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Hi Roy,
don't have anything to say about the rain catchment, but will take interest in the info you receive because we will eventually get to this at our cabin.
I know your wedding is sometime this month and I just wanted to wish you much happiness on your very special day!!!! Congratulations and many years of wedded bliss to you!!!
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Just
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2012 09:53pm
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I do not have a diverter but hope to make one this year we have a filter on top of our storage unit that works well .cristal clear water ...
we still add bleach for the stuff you can't see . have had no algie yet 5 years ..
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2012 10:30am
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Troll Bridge: It's 2 weeks off and we're excited about it. Thanks for the well wishes.
Just: I hadn't thought of building a filter box. Thanks for the input.
Still interested in the answer to the original question.
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analogmanca
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2012 01:59pm - Edited by: analogmanca
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Self explanatory pic.12+ years no problems. Pic on right side is cistern(to dark to see anything) A couple very tiny pin holes driled into the bottom of the barrel just so it cant hold water between rains. Otherwise stuff would grow in the standing water in the hot sun. End of the barrel comes off for cleaning if needed (hasnt been)
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2012 09:26pm
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analogmanca: I'm looking at that picture and it's not self explanatory. Are you using the barrel as a first flush diverter? I don't quite understand what the pipe sticking up beside the gutter drop is from either. I'm usually pretty quick to catch stuff and this one is beyond me.
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analogman
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# Posted: 12 Mar 2012 01:16am
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The 3 inch black pipe is from the eaves on the other side, I just put it underground as who wants to trip over it. 80 percent of the rain comes through that pipe,20 percent through the other.They both empty above a large funnel that is tilted a little bit. over top of the funnel is maybe 3 or 4 layers of fine window sheer cloth streched tight. Now imagine it raining, and a lot of water comes through that black pipe, and water is heavy, crap is not.
The water goes across the sheer cloth, and drops threw, but gunk just gets flushed off. Sort of self cleaning. cloth needs to be replaced every 5 to 6 years.
when the cloth is wet water goes threw no problem, but the cloth acts kind of like a solid surface to solid material.
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analogmanca
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# Posted: 12 Mar 2012 03:29am
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I should add that Its not a first flush diverter as such as, I guess I could call it a always diverter as the water goes one way, and gunk the other. Though I supose I could just pull the lever that is holding the lid tight, and water would just spill onto the ground when It rains, and I could tighten it back up when I diverted enough of it, but I have found no need.
Sorry, I thought the pic would surfice, any other question ask away.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 12 Mar 2012 05:39pm
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I gotcha now. That's a pretty good system. Thanks for the clarification.
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Bzzzzzt
Member
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# Posted: 14 Mar 2012 06:27pm
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Analogman: I see the 55 gal drum on it's side in that photo. What happens to the water from there? You said you have a hole in it to keep it from filling up between rains.
My intention is to build a small water tower to store my water. I'm going to collect it in a 55 gal drum then have a small pump that will slowly drain the 55 gal drum into the tower. From there it will create it's own pressure down into the cabin.
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analogmanca
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# Posted: 14 Mar 2012 10:26pm - Edited by: analogmanca
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First, the barrel is on its side just for a lower profile. The bushes I planted around it will hide it in a few years.
If you look to the front of the barrel you will see the output pipe a couple inches from the bottom
of the lid.That output pipe just goes to the cistern(below grade), by gravity flow. Yes there are a few tiny, think very tiny pin holes in the barrel. not to stop it from filling up but to stop it from holding water, as after a rain there could be a inch or two of water in the barrel. You would not want this to stay in the barrel day after day in the hot sun so the holes just let it drip out.
Without moisture nothing bad will grow in the hot sun. also the sheer cloth dries out nearly instantly in the hot sun, again nothing to hold water,and grow things.
You do not need to tip a barrel on its side as I did, take a barrel and from the top slice it at a 20,25 degree angle.
Stretch the sheer cloth (a couple layers) over the openning. or make a lid with the cloth stretched over it.
The gutters empty over the high spot, with gunk just flushed off the low side to the ground. You might need to add a wire screen under the cloth as that is a large openning.
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Icebear
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:18am
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analogmanca, what we would do down here is similar to your setup. Just that the outlet from barrel would be at the top - we wouldn't usually use a barrel but the concept is the same.
Basically the first lot of water from your roof will fill the barrel then the rest flows into your tanks. The first-flush (filling your barrel) then drains away taking all the dust, algae, bird droppings etc with it.
All rural properties here have nothing but tank water so it is a very refined process 
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Icebear
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:20am
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Here is a link to a fancy version of the leaf diverter you built: http://www.marley.co.nz/webfiles/MarleyNZ/files/Leafslide_Flyer.pdf
and here is a residential first flush diverter: http://www.marley.co.nz/webfiles/MarleyNZ/files/RainharvestingCatalogue.pdf
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analogmanca
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:44am - Edited by: analogmanca
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Icebear
Good info, I like the components listed. I have never seen them here, as rainwater harvesting is not encouraged, even illegal inplaces. I did not know the cleanest water is just below the surface, and I will build a calmed inlet for my tank.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:15pm
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Ok I'm a bit confused. If water left in the initial 55 gal drum will start to grow stuff how would I store water for long periods of time in the summer? There are not rivers near my property and will need to haul water or build rain harvesting set up. Thanks.
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Icebear
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# Posted: 25 Mar 2012 02:22am
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You need the right conditions to store the water. UV blocking is essential; the larger the storage container the better to keep the temperature down. Keep the tank in the shade, or under-ground.
Any tank will 'grown' a lining. The key is to make sure it doesn't get out of control through incorrect storage or placement.
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mollym
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# Posted: 30 Mar 2012 12:59pm
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I just bought a rain water filter system on Amazon for about $50.00. It's called Superhead, made in Australia. It has a leaf screen, a first flush diverter, and an insect screen to keep mosquitos out of the barrel. You need to provide the pipe to the barrel and the length of pvc pipe to hold the diverted water. We are just going to use this water for showering and save the water we bring for drinking. Though in theory it should be safe to drink. We will find out how well it works this spring and summer after we install it. Our rain barrel is dark brown plastic in the shade so hopefully we will have some nice soft rainwater for hairwashing. Beware, when you google Superhead you might be surprised by some porn sites!
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2012 05:35pm
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I worked on my system this weekend. I set up a window sheer filter like analogmanca suggested and it works to keep the large debris out but the water I collected was brown. I noticed that I had a build up of tree seed pods on top of my gutters and I am completely underneath a big bunch of trees. Brown water may just be what I collect there so filtration may be my best bet.
I think it rained about an inch and I collected 20 gal of water. I'm going to get one of these filters http://www.amazon.com/Culligan-RV-700-Recreational-Vehicle-Filter/dp/B0010EG5AO or one like it and see if I can clean it up some so it's useable. I left the system set up to collect any more water that I can in one 55 gal drum and I left it wrapped in a tarp to keep out the sunlight. In the end, I am going to spray paint the barrel black to keep the sunlight and therefore algae to a minimum.
I purchased one of these water pumps at Northern Tool:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_16818_16818?issearch=109730
I was really impressed with how well it worked and the price was reasonable. It drained 40 gal out of my main cistern tank (that I've had in there for a few months with 5 gal of bleach in it to clean the thing out some) in about 10 mins. I put another 40 gal of clean water in it with some more bleach to hopefully get it clean enough to actually use. The pump also came with a replacement impeller in case the one it it goes bad. Hopefully this little pump will work well for me for a long time.
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