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justinbowser
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2019 23:38 - Edited by: justinbowser
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We have a 24 x 12 cabin with metal roof and we finished the gutters, first flush diverter, and PVC to the IBC tote last week. Right now we are only catching from one slope of the roof because the other side has the stack for the wood stove right in the middle!
Anyway, after a couple of miserable drizzles the day after hooking things up we got a really good rain and the empty tote had 275 gl in it the next morning! Will be hooking another tote to that next week. Really funny actually hoping for rain! Usually we wish for nice dry days...
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 07:37
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Do you have room to stack two totes? You can get gravety feed water to things like a sink this way...when the water is high.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 09:14
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Pictures!
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RiverCabin
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 11:28
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I have basically the same system as you and it is absolutely amazing how much water you can get with a small rain.
Mine solely collects water for flushing the toilet. I agree with Brettny, get it up in the air and you can gravity feed water. I only have one tote but it on a three foot high support structure I built.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 23:17
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The tote is at the end (lower) of the cabin so I will put in a pump. Right now it will be used for mixing concrete, dishes, laundry, and showers. We will be heading back up this weekend for a few more weeks and I will parallel another tote with it. If I stacked it would block a window. Will post up pics when I can.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 27 Jun 2019 07:16
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Gravety always works. Catch and keep the water up as high as you can. Even if that means pitching the gutter the other way or pitching it to the center. Patching a hole in the gutter where the down spout use to be is very easy.
You may not need a pump for things like a sink, toilet or low hose bib.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jun 2019 12:46
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There wasn't a good spot on the "high-side" to place the tote so have to live with what we have. Already have a 24v pump so that is not an issue.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2019 11:25
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OK, been up at the cabin most of the summer and decided to take a week break to bask in the AC back at the house! We added one more tote and tied them together and now have 550 gallons of water to shower and do dishes with. This past trip I also added gutter-guards to help keep crap out of the gutters. Here are some pics.
Rain gutters with guards
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Keeps most of the crap out of totes
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Partially painted totes
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First-flush diverter
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2019 11:26
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Here is how the totes are tied together. The overflow is not finished yet since I haven't decided what to do with overflow water...
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2019 15:35
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Looks great. Real simple first flush too. Cool. Makes me envious. I'm still (after 8 years) hauling water from the well. When I could have a self sustaining shower/washroom.
Thx for the motivation.
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justinbowser
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2019 21:48
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Thanks, Creeky. Wife wants to add at least two more totes so eventually we will have 1000 gl capacity. The future plan is to install filters and probably UV sanitizing and use it for our drinking water as well. The cabin is in a location where a well is a crap-shoot and I don't feel like shelling out thousands on a dry hole!
The first flush kit is one with the floating ball and it self-drains.
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slgerber
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# Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:22
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Justin, are the pipes sealed watertight where they pass through the lids. I've had a hard time figuring out how to make a tight seal through the lids on my tote. I need it watertight so that it will back up to a T fitting and overflow in a controlled manner when full.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 23 Jul 2019 10:44
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The inlet into the first tank is fairly watertight and the overflow is watertight.
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Ontario lakeside
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jul 2019 22:30
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Nice work. I need to add a FFD to my setup. Im amazed that anyone drills a well where there is ample rain. Our 500gl tank is never less than half full.
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justinbowser
Member
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2019 00:32
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Yeah, we may add two more totes this fall and next year put in a filtering and sanitization system so we won't need to haul in water anymore.
This is what we used...
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OWG6BU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie= UTF8&psc=1
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Cowracer
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:09 - Edited by: Cowracer
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Anyone looking at purification should look at Ozone generators. If you are handy, you can make one out of a discarded neon light transformer and fish tank air pump, and some mason jars. Commercial units are available as well. URL
Ozone is O3, and it really wants to shed that extra oxygen molecule and become O2. The extra molecule will attach to organic molecules and oxidize them, utterly destroying them. Back in my consulting engineer days, I put a few industrial units in bottled water plants. It don't take much ozone to purify water. Filter it, and hit it with ozone occasionally, and you are good to go. No chemicals, no nasty tastes, just a little electricity.
Tim
P.S. as a plus, you could set your generator up to ozonate the air in the cabin. That will really take out musty smells or other odors. Full confession... I built a simple one for my brother so he could smoke pot in his apartment building without getting busted. Worked like a champ.
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