[Water] Rainwater / Rainfall Collection (merged)

[PeakOiler]

The Kill-O-Watt meter measured 1.21 kW-hr for the electric water pump to transfer ~1400 gallons. It took just a little under 3 hrs to pump the water to tank #8. It would have been a little faster, but because there was one small air leak at one of the dry-plumbed PVC fittings, the pump was also pumping a little air.

1.21 kW-hr cost me 15 cents.

Now I have to update my rainwater catchment diagram. My total rainwater capacity is now 13,350 gallons (50,516 L).

[AgentR11]

Did you ever post how much each of those 1550 cisterns cost including delivery?

[PeakOiler]

Did you ever post how much each of those 1550 cisterns cost including delivery?

Yes.

[Shaved Monkey]

heres a great app.
Type in your address click on each corner of your roof and it calculates your local average rainfall and catchment potential

http://www.save-the-rain.com/world-bank/

[davep]

heres a great app.
Type in your address click on each corner of your roof and it calculates your local average rainfall and catchment potential

http://www.save-the-rain.com/world-bank/

Wow, I could harvest 139230 litres!

[Shaved Monkey]

220220 litres! here, but mainly in Summer and virtually nothing in Winter.

[PeakOiler]

This morning I took visual inventory of the collected rainwater since receiving about 0.11" since January 25th:



I closed off the 2" valve from tank #2 and opened the valve on tank # 5 about a week ago, and today closed valve #5 and opened valve #3.

The measurement today was after I had watered 10 of 13 peach trees and one pomegranate tree. The peach tree flower buds are starting to show a little pink.

By subtracting the amount measured on 1/25/12 from today's measurement then dividing by 17 days and adding the ca. 150 additional gallons collected, gave me an average use of a little more than 63 gallons/day. The spreadsheet shows 56 gal/day, but that calculation was corrected as well as which tank is currently in use.

The Texas, US Drought Monitor map still shows Burnet county in "Exceptional" drought conditions:

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?TX,S

[PrestonSturges]

My 275 gallon IBC tote collects from 350 sq ft of roof, and that seems like a good ratio in an area where there is not distinct wet and dry seasons. It needs to rain steadily for several hours to fill it up although I've had downpours that nearly filled it in a half hour.

A similar area connected to two 55 gallon fills them with half hour of steady rain. About 40% of the recoverable water goes out the overflow.

[PeakOiler]

I measured 0.6" in the rain gauge which corresponds to about 1000 more gallons collected.

Now at over 86% of capacity with 11,425 gallons collected after checking each tank.

And I hear thunderstorms and it's raining again as I type this!


My trees are loving the rain!

[PeakOiler]

The day after I made the post above, I measured another 4.1" at my house, KBMQ (Burnet Airport-9 miles away) reported only 1.44".

A big storm had come by, even with some small hail!, and most of my water tanks overflowed!



Note that the workbook goes back to 2005. I have charts for each year's rainfall using KBMQ data. WIP.

My trees are happy.


I'm curious what the US Drought Monitor map will show tomorrow.

I also need to look at the LCRA data for the Highland Lakes water levels. I think Lake Buchanan is still pretty low.

btw, I had over 12,500 gallons collected on Saturday.

KBMQ has reported 3.09" of rain so far for the year. Last year, KBMQ had reported only 1.34" through Feb. 28th.

[PeakOiler]

I took visual inventory of each rainwater tank after the recent rain events over the last couple of days and estimate 44,400 liters (11,700 gallons), approx. 88% of capacity. I measured 35 mm (1.4 in.) over the last couple of days.

I think the US Drought Monitor Map may show this area going from extreme drought to only severe drought conditions by Thursday's report.

More rain is forecast this next week!

[PeakOiler]

Today I bought a 3" polypropylene bulkhead fitting for my 2,500 gallon rainwater tank. The standard inlet port diameter on most plastic tanks is 1.5". I'll need to re-plumb the gutter downspout and inlet pipe. I'll just need a couple of 3" unions, two 3" 90* elbows, one 3" 45* elbow, and one 3" Y. I have the 3" pipe already.

During recent downpours, I observed the water overflowing the gutters on the back of the house because the inlet was just too small to allow a greater flow rate. The 2,500 gallon tank collects water from half the house's roof (~1437/2 = ~718 sq.ft.) and the back patio roof (173 sq.ft.).

I'm considering buying more tanks since I still cannot collect all the water possible with my current rainshadow during very frequent rain events.

[PrestonSturges]

Normal rain, but 10 degrees warmer than normal makes me worry about severe summer drought. I've got about 350 gallon of snowmelt in my 500 gallon system and I've pulled the bypass plugs to prevent collecting all the pollen off the roof.

[PeakOiler]

The 3" bulkhead fitting arrived last week and yesterday I removed the 1.5" fitting and installed the 3" fitting. I sized and cut the new 3" pipe and cemented most of the pipe fittings. I'll finish that plumbing today.



Now I'm concerned that the choke point is the gutter downspout. I may have to cut a larger opening in the gutter. If that doesn't solve the gutter overflowing during heavy downpours, then I'm going to have to install another tank and a reconfigure the gutters on the back of the house to feed both of them.

One gutter outlet servicing roughly 891 sq.ft. may be just too much area to collect from during the heaviest of downpours. Like at a rate of 1" rainfall (or more) in just 15 minutes...

[PrestonSturges]

One gutter outlet servicing roughly 891 sq.ft. may be just too much area to collect from during the heaviest of downpours. Like at a rate of 1" rainfall (or more) in just 15 minutes...

Sounds like you need a 4x4" downspout or a 4" piece of PVC. Clogs in the gutter would be the main issue and the bigger pipe could swallow leaves and such easily. At the bottom there needs to be a sieve of some sort to catch that stuff without clogging Because I had sealed things too well, I found that there also needed to be a 1/2" hole near the bottom of the downspout so that during heavy rains it could blow out the air that was carried down the pipe, otherwise the foam was filling the bottom of the downspout and causing back pressure. Likewise I made sure plumbing fittings like 90 degree Ts were upside down compared to plumbing use so as not to trap air bubbles in the joint.

[PrestonSturges]

Even a 3" vertical PVC pipe could fill a 50 gallon barrel in seconds. It's a question of avoiding clogs at the top and making sure the gutters have a good gradient towards the downspout.

[PeakOiler]

Even a 3" vertical PVC pipe could fill a 50 gallon barrel in seconds. It's a question of avoiding clogs at the top and making sure the gutters have a good gradient towards the downspout.

Point well taken. The gutters do have a good gradient and most of the time the previous plumbing was adequate for the most part. It's just during the highest torrential rainfall rate that the gutters became overwhelmed. So now I'll have a chance to see how the all-three inch downspout and inlet pipe works on the 2,500 gallon tank. :

[PrestonSturges]

Even a 3" vertical PVC pipe could fill a 50 gallon barrel in seconds. It's a question of avoiding clogs at the top and making sure the gutters have a good gradient towards the downspout.

Point well taken. The gutters do have a good gradient and most of the time the previous plumbing was adequate for the most part. It's just during the highest torrential rainfall rate that the gutters became overwhelmed. So now I'll have a chance to see how the all-three inch downspout and inlet pipe works on the 2,500 gallon tank. :

That's the inlet up by the hatch? Or the overflow? Or both?

[PeakOiler]

That's the inlet up by the hatch? Or the overflow? Or both?

There are two overflow points: one at the top of the downspout pipe at the gutter (which is just outside of the top of the picture), the other vent/overflow is on the hatch cover.

Since rain events are rare here, and especially rainfall rates of 4"+ per hour, I may have to wait a long time to see how the 3" pipe functions. I know that the larger pipe will help.

I still may go with 4" pipe, but that would mean re-doing all the plumbing again. So if the 3" pipe isn't adequate, and since I want more storage capacity anyway, I may install another 2500 gallon tank and reconfigure the gutters so that two 2500 gallon tanks collect off the back half the house's roof and patio.

[PrestonSturges]

Well it looks like water is descending to ground level and then going back up to enter the tank. Water has momentum, which is easily lost by bends or constrictions that create turbulance. Also, the standing water in that pipe would be outgassing and foaming. If your downspout went to the inlet using just two 45 degree bends it would flow several times faster.

On my IBC tote I have a 1" overflow port with a vertical 4 ft drain line. The longer the vertical run, the faster the overflow will drain water. It's going to run a lot faster than a residential drain because there is no screen or trap or horizontal run on the outflow. It's a couple inches blow the top of the tank, so if the tank managed to fill all the way to the top the overflow would be completely submerged and have some pressure forcing even more water into it and no air.