How to Install a 5000 gallon Rainwater Harvesting System
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2024
- How to install a rainwater harvesting system
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That "T" fitting is called a Tee-Wye and that black coupling is a Fernco style fitting. Word of advice on the Sch40 too, paint it so the sun doesn't degrade it so quickly. That kind of pipe is meant to be buried or in walls and not exposed. It will degrade and become brittle. Also, the pic you showed was DWV Sch40 which is meant for drainage. You should make sure you let people know that so someone doesn't decide to apply something that puts internal pressure like a pump on something like this and the pipe bursts. Some stainless bug screen would be good for the intake opening and you should put a flapper backflow valve inline would be a good idea so you don't somehow have water going back up to your gutters.
Just use gray ridgid PVC, its sunlight resistant.....
Its a combination wye and eighth bend.... Plumbers just call them combos or combinations....
@@bigglilwayne7050 I just read your comment and was happy to see you posted it within 30 minutes. If I have a small crawl space under my house (not enclosed, but on piers), is it okay to use the white Sch40 pipe for plumbing since it won't be in direct Sunlight and also what type of insulation would you recommend for the places where the pipe will not be underground?
I like the first flush diverters with the ball that floats up and seals off the contaminated flushed off water
I installed the setup on my homestead about 5 years ago. I went a different route but same concept. I have a 5000 gal tank on either side of the house. Both tanks are plumbed to a water pump with a pressure tank. We use rain water for the laundry and toilets and well water for cooking and showers. I also plumbed in a manifold in which I can use the rainwater for the entire house and vice versa for the well water. It makes a huge difference during the dry season here in Texas.
Yes! A huge difference. Way to go. That’s awesome!
@@BetterTogetherLife I can send you a diagram of the manifold and distribution. It’s fairly easy to assemble. It’s all 2” PVC with a few valves.
You did it right. He needs a water pump for sure.
wish I was as smart as you! God bless you for your brains to figure it out
I literally applauded when that pipe went in for the second tank!
Rain water harvesting must
YES!!!
You definitely want to use a hole saw, they have every size you can think of and you'll end up with a much better hole.
how do you catch the circle piece once it's cut so it doesn't fall inside?
Where the water drops from the gutter into the pipe, you can place a bell coupling at the top of the pipe to catch the water and just place a screen over it. Love the idea of the straight down cleanout. Going to try it.
11:40 wrap the thread tape so the tail is trailing as you screw it in. If the tail is on the leading edge it will un wrap as you screw it in
Hello I write to you all from AUSTRALIA yes here it becomes extremely hot ..Water is life
I agree with most of your Video and found one fault that you could make better ..you have the water Polly running from your Cutter to your tanks,As a feed ..What you can do is have the same set up th at you have but instead of the water the water over the top from cutter to tank, Dig the pipe under ground and back up to your tank looking at your height from your Cutter to tank height it will run under it's own pressure as the Roof gutter is higher than your tank
Why do we do it this way ..
If you have pipes that run over the top they can be damaged buy dead fall and makes moving around your yard in the area of the house and tank a little hard
Great Video and a beautiful Home
Kind regards and greetings from Australia 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Very nice.
If you want to do away with the extra costly pipe on your next project that you were talking about, you may want to consider doing it the way I did.
I used 4 inch pipe just like you did as a down spot except instead of the crossover pipe to the tanks, I drilled a 3/4 in hole in the down spot pipe near the clean-out and attached a brass adapter 3/4 pipe thread to 3/4 garden hose.
Water in the 4 inch down spot pipe backs up and pumps water to anywhere on the property that's just under the height of your down spot pipe or gutter through the process, water seeks it's own level.
It's now portable and can be moved anywhere and as far as you want to go as long as you don't go higher then your gutter.
Or, you could bury it permanently.
I have several tanks dotted around the property hundreds of feet apart for convenience so I prefer the garden hose to remains portable.
This way you do away with a lot of expensive pipe cost and unsightly plumbing weaved all over the place.
I hope this was clear enough to understand.
Good luck!
So, you use the garden hose to fill the further tanks that are below the gutter height? I have a 13-acre property and this would be very helpful for stock water and pasture irrigation if we had tanks further away. Our collection spots are at the higher points in our gently rolling property that we are just starting to develop into a farmstead. Thank you for your input.
I think this is a great idea. I'm glad for everyone's input from their own experience
In my opinion, it looks like the first flush and the pipe to the tank connector is upside down, so there will be some dirt can flow to the tank. Every tank doesn't need over flow drain pipe as long as the over flow pipe on one tank is big enough to flow out equally to the incoming rain wanter and the tanks are connected and work as one.
🤣that's what she said🤣🤣 he said under his breath.
Excellent. ❤
One suggestion to help people understand how both tanks connected at the bottom fills up at the same time even though only one is connected to the rain gutter: take two clear plastic cups, drill a hole on the side near the bottom of each, and then connect a tube between the two. Then try to fill one up without filling the other, and the water will transfer through the tube into the other cup and fill it to the same level as the first one. That will help people to understand how both tanks are able to fill at once.
I did not hear him address releasing pressure inside the tank during that part of the video - I realize later he talked about his overflow system which would address a release for internal air pressure, but I wish he mentioned it while discussing the equilibrium part because that is an important consideration for people to know.
@@cdfield I believe the big lid on Norwesco tanks is vented, so pressure is relieved regardless. But yes, if the tanks were otherwise airtight, the overflow would vent them.
You could do like Justin always says use it up wear it out make it do or do without and that's exactly what you did with those that is amazing thank you so much for showing this and God bless I really like this
Interesting from DR over in the UK.
Great system, I will be using your ideas thank you! I think I'll use a pvc union in the middle connector. I seen a great you tube video where they put a inline water pump from harbor freight running on a solar panel so that way you could constant pressure!
I was hoping to do something like this, with a water pump to allow pressure for the water to be routed into the house. Can you share the link?
This video helpen me alote going to rewatch it when i hit the gym in about 10 min cause im working on setting up a rain harvesting company
never let downspout go directly into the garden, you need some catchment tank to reduce water energy coming down to your garden.
GREAT VIDEO! surely taught me a lot..can't wait to see it totally working for your homestead, gardens, and animals!!
Thank you Sharon!!!!!
Nice setup. We’re about to expand our rainwater system in our place. Busy debating tanks or a pond. We need a large storage capacity - and county regulations may make the decision for us. Take care.
The way you connected the overflow is how you should connect the balance line. Allows for more movement and is easier to service.
Hey guys I really enjoy your videos. It would be so nice to see more of the inside daily life with the kids and gardening. All of these things come together to make your life better together, right? We want more.
I think are more geared towards teaching, which I appreciate. If I need to see how to catch rainwater, I don’t want to wade through home movies.
You could also use the extra line that goes to the ground to attach a hose to use and spray your deck or what ever if you got a standard spicket in there. Thanks for sharing. Our family is doing very similar things. We are going to be building our homestead in Missouri soon!
What a blessing this video is for my family. We are about to move a small single wide onto our homestead and it is my goal to gutter it right away to harvest water. This system is great. I am in north central Texas, not sure what neck of the woods you homestead. Would love more information from you, And to talk to your pro installer. You are doing a great job! Thank you.
Love your tank system. You do need mosquito netting so they done get into your tanks. A suggestion for the other side rain catchment. If you do want to add that rain to your existing tanks just run down spouts from the gutter with an elbow making them horizontal straight back and connect to your pipe going into your tank. I did this on my house and it wire great. That way you don’t have to pump it up into your tank. Good video.
Should put the tanks on the side of the house, that way both front and back gutters could meet in the middle.
We didn’t want it there due to it being super ugly when we drive up. But yes, that would have worked easier. 😁👍🏻
@@BetterTogetherLife Makes sense.
I might have put that first "T", at the rain gutter, on backwards so the water HAS to go into the drop pipe, then back up to the storage tanks. That would pretty much stop ALL sediment from going into your storage tanks.
Dude... this is an awesome suggestion! I don't need the support beam so it would just connect directly to the tank, but I was wondering a good way to catch any sediment and how to detect it and remove it, and your idea, combined with a small *transparent* drop section, would make it obvious when there's too much sediment and provides a way to quickly detect it and remove it by adding a cap to the bottom of the drop pipe. Nice!!
Yes, that "Y" tube connector at the top near your gutter and the start of the PVC, is upside down... as some of the gutter sediment/particles/etc. could bypass the direct down turn, and instead flow directly into the tank. By putting the "Y" the opposite way you have it... you force all the gutter water (and contaminants) to go down the downspout, and as it back-fills up the downspout, it will then have only water flow into the tanks, as the contaminants (being heavier) will sink to the bottom of the downspout. And then... u need a "slow" leak in your down spout for future rains to "re-catch" new sediment.
I love your water system! What an incredible company and support system! ❤️
First off let me say I enjoyed your video, enjoy your personality and think you did a good job on the project for the most part. Kudos on admitting your weakness in this particular area and hiring someone that knows more than you to help you out.
HOWEVER, I've been reading the comments and I think you may be in denial in regards to the size of your overflow pipe.
Due to what I thought was a rather nasty conversation further down in the comments, I guess I must provide my credentials in order to qualify my suggestions as I weigh in on this subject.
I have worked at a power plant for 13 years as an operator (boilers, water treatment, turbines and the like) and now as an Electrician and Instrument tech. (We deal A LOT with pipes, valves, pressures, flows etc. at the power plant as we troubleshoot systems and improve upon professional engineering in order to make the systems work at an optimum level). I have a degree in Power Plant Fundamentals and a BS in Business Administration. In addition I have been a plumber for 15 years and own my own farm. So hopefully I'm qualified to chime in here.
As was stated by other commentators, If you have a heavy rainstorm when your tanks are already full or close to it, and your inlet pipe is 4", your outlet HAS TO BE THE SAME SIZE OR LARGER to allow complete flow through, or it WILL BACK UP and OVERFLOW YOUR GUTTER. Denying this is akin to denying that your car's gas tank will not overflow as long as your engine is running while you are fueling your car. A large inlet pipe will eventually overflow a tank if the outlet cannot accommodate the same flow. Sometimes a larger (than the inlet) effluent pipe is needed to compensate for friction loss, horizontal vs vertical run, different head pressures etc.
You will not see an overflow of your gutter if your tanks are empty enough to collect all the rain of that particular storm, or if the storm is light enough that a 1" pipe could handle 100% of the flow regardless of if your inlet was 1" pipe or 4" pipe. If you do not believe that your rain collection system's flow will ever overcome a 1" pipe, then you could have saved a ton of money and just used 1" pipe on the inlet piping. However, that is obviously not the case and a larger size of inlet piping is definitely warranted.
Good job on the project though. Nobody is perfect. Just pause a moment to see what everyone is trying to tell you.
Thank you Mr Mark for the comment! :)
My only question..... ok I have one main question with multiple points, so please forgive my bluntness and using bullet points:
• why would my rain harvesting system designer design it this way?
• Why would my ag extension agency (who gave me a $3000 rebate) come out to inspect the design approve me?
• how does a 4 inch pipe of PVC get completely full of water has it flows down from the gutter? This is the main question to me. My outlet from my gutter isn't even 4 inches. We WAY over sized the 4 inch pipe compared to what the outlet of the gutter is. I would say the gutter is max 3 inches and probably is closer to 2 inches.
So yes again it is possible.... but seems to me very unlikely especially because I will be always using the water in the tanks like you mentioned.
GREAT conversation, I LOVE IT!!! :)
@@BetterTogetherLife SImply put, designers are not perfect. Inspector's aren't either, and they made a mistake. There are several craft related mistakes that were made in the design and implementation that other posters pointed out that are worth noting when evaluating the professional level of the designer.
The 4" pipe probably will not get completely full unless there is back pressure created by backfall, which I could not verify without setting a level on your inlet's horizontal run.
But you bring up a pertinent point in that your system is effectively orificed at the rain gutter outlet to 3". At that point, you should have gone with a 2-3" pipe as increasing piping size after an orifice gains you nothing in this particular application. Just make sure that your inlet and outlet pipe sizes match.
In an effort to consult industry specific experts, I just did a quick google search on "rain water harvesting overflow sizing" This is a direct quotation taken from the website rainwatermanagement.com/blogs/news/rainwater-harvesting-101-tank-overflow
"A few things to consider when installing an overflow:
Match the overflow pipe size to the inlet pipe size. This makes sure the overflow can keep up with the incoming water if your tank is full of water. Example: If you have a 4" inlet to your tank, you'll want your overflow to be 4".
Ensure that the overflow pipe is installed at a lower elevation than the inlet pipe. In most instances, you want to make sure that the overflow is a minimum of half the pipe diameter below the inlet pipe. This allows for overflow before backing up into the pre-tank filter/inlet pipe."
Even after becoming fully aware of the mistake, you may choose to not remedy the problem, as the gain may not justify the expense. Your system will function as is, but your overflow system is definitely not optimal.
If you used unions, you would be able to take this apart and clean it out. Saving $20 by not using them is a waste.
Good job ,if it works for you why not,enjoy the new year
Poly pipe (sprinkler hose or even supply hose) is a lot cheaper than pvc, more flexible... and wont break like PVC and is weather resistant. Also will handle higher pressure if you add a pump to your system.
You don’t use poly for inlets
@@BetterTogetherLife It depends on how much water you plan on catching. your overflow transitions to 1 inch PVC, that could have easily been 1 inch poly pipe. That said you have a 4 inch inlet to your tanks, what happens when they become full? that overflow is not going to handle a torrent of rain coming down that 4 inch system it will back up, much like it would using 2 inch poly as your inlet. The size of your inlet should match the size of your overflow, there is no need to cut a hole in the top of your tank to fill it, it can be filled using the bulkhead fitting at the bottom of the tank and gravity. There are ways of plumbing your downspouts to handle a backup due to and undersized inlet line. The size on the inlet need only match the size of a typical storm and not handle the worst case.
You should paint the PVC pipe. It is not UV stable and will become brittle and potentially crack with prolonged exposure to the sun.
Hey Beau, great video! Thanks for walking us step by step through the whole process. I hope your tanks fill up well and that you harvest enough rainwater for your animals. I'm not sure I understand how you're going to connect the front gutters to your tanks but I'm sure you'll show us how you'll achieve this in a video. I love to follow you. Hey from Canada, Hey ! :)
Hi mate you may want to put rodent screens on your overflow pipes (this is a regulation in UK), I would also argue to put a rodent screen on your 4" inlet pipe due to the nature of the usage as you don't want birds or rats climbing into your tank, it also would serve as a brilliant strainer on your inlet pipe. And all a rodent screen is is a fitting (similar in looks to a union or a coupler) with fine mesh inside. I can see you've done a good job of it, may as well do this to future proof it a tad 👍😃
OMG, the visual that comes to mind is shocking, but you are so right!
I wouldn't be worried about getting into the tanks, I'd be concerned with getting out! I wish there was a rebate program for Oklahoma.
Your first Wye is upside down. In order for a first flush system to be effective, the vertical pipe must fill up, and then backfill into the containers. Your containers are still getting contaminants into them.
That pipe needs UV paint or a cover of some sort, the sun and weather can and will make the pipe brittle to the point that a light hit will break it. With that being said, awesome system, very smart reclaim system.
Best get your foundation under your tanks smoothed out (with sand). nothing like 500p/sqi rock pressing up on your plastic tank. will make a hole in no time.
He has no problems with that gravel bed.
Agreed. 1/4"- is best. That gravel looks like a hole in the making!
That 2500 gallon tank, when full will displace 415 pounds per SF, or 2.88 pounds per square inch.
Keep an eye on that "CENTER" PVC pipe between the tanks.. Once the tanks start to settle, they will not settle at the same rate.. Maybe it will be close enough.. But hopefully, the difference wont cause any damage.. Especially during high winds.. Yes, high winds.. Good luck..
Oh wow that is a great point!!! Thank you!
I would've spent a bit more and put those big tanks on a good concrete slab just to avoid uneven settling of each one. Otherwise, your video is very helpful!
A good way to explain this is that the water will go to the place of least pressure.
Idea for your Leaf Eater: instead of using that sanitary tee right up on that gutter downspout, connect a piece of straight pipe down from the downspout, then Leaf Eater, then straight pipe, then sanitary tee to your first flush and main inlet pipe.
I really love your video and I dream to have a same tank like yours. Its amazing job you done.
Yay THANK YOU!!!!
Be sure to paint the PVC pipes to protect from UV deterioration
im think this is uPVC pipe, and have more tolerant than normal PVC pipe.
you only need one overflow pipe, since, as you pointed out, the tanks are self leveling.
9:13 the rain head spinning thing - it either goes straight down. Or straight back. It doesn't go straight forward. If you're plumbed together, you can take your water down and bring it back up, though. So if your tanks were farther away from your catchment surface the inflow pipe could be in the ground and come back up - as long as the place the water goes in is higher than any other place.
It is working fine for the last year. Thanks a bunch!!!!
Compared to the future headaches gutter guards would save they seem worth the cost.
It’s not a bad idea.
Cuts a hole in the tank instead of using the pre drilled hole in the lid, that has a spot for a fine mesh filter.
Jonah, tell me how you'd keep the light out of that "inspection hole"? This tactic (and yes, different strokes for different folks) eliminates the possibility for light to enter the tank and causing algae growth issues.
Thanks for the comment!!!! :)
Ever thought about a Hydroponic Greenhouse setup? Might be great and help mitigate that TX heat.
Im sharing this info as ive only learned of it recently and some people may be asking whats a first flush, whys the pipe look like that, etc why isnt the water going straight to the storage tank. The way I understand it is between rains, your roof is also collecting other things/substances, not just rain drops. We talking about bird poop... squirrel poo... pollution and dust, perhaps sand, leaves and other bio-matter... SO! The first rain comes, and it flushes all that debris and gunks off the roof, to the gutter and... if you have nothing else, all that harmful nasty crap will eventually land up in your rain collection barrel system, where it may end up being food/a home for some bacteria or fungus or algae, whatever. BUT! That first "flush", if its instead diverted to a long vertical pipe, that debris and gunk will slowly fall to the bottom of the pipe, and mostly clean rain water will fill up the pipe and continue to fill tillbit over flows, the theory being the over flow will be mostly clean, minus any large physical debris, and that cleaner water will be whats stored in your rain catch system.
Any corrections/additional info that I left out, please let me know!
This is Awesome Love this video and so happy for yall. Can't wait to do ours 1 day
You did a good job at explaining how the second tank balances and is filled using the outlet from the first tank. Why couldn't you have filled both tanks the same way and at the same time? You could have used the same bulkhead fitting on each tanks for your inlet and your outlet. You could have avoided cutting a hole in the top of your first tank if you plumed your 4 inch drain into your outlet tee going into both tanks. Each tank would be balance and fill at the same time via gravity since your gutters are higher than both tanks. You would still need your overflow line which would equalize the air pressure of the tanks when filling. The overflow line should be matched in size to your inlet line otherwise you are still gong to get that mess on your roof once both tanks are filled.
Pluming the tank using the bottom bulkhead fitting, would allow you to move your tanks away from your house, by running a poly line underground to the remote location of the tank. That line and tank would need to be at a lower elevation than your gutters.
I would’ve put a union at the bottom where you connected to two tanks if you ever have to service that or a piece of pipe brakes, you’re gonna have to cut it with a union you wouldn’t have to
VERY inspirational. GREAT job buddy.
Love your ideas. I am going to apply some of what I learned while building my own. Thanks.
Yay, Melissa!
Very good
But you have all that roof catchment area a 4 inch collection pipe and future another 4 inch on the other side that's 8 inches collection and only 1 inch overflow. I think you better have a bigger overflow to be safe
Good job I enjoyed the video
It doesn’t exactly work like that. The overflow never needs to equal the intakes.
@@BetterTogetherLife Once the tanks are full, overflow has to = inflow or you get backup. I'm currently designing a 10,000 gallon system off of 8500' of roof (barn and house). In NE Oklahoma, we average several storms per year that drop .5" of rain in 15 minutes. That's 300 gallons per 1000sq' of roof in 15 minutes, or 20 gpm per 1000. You have about 2000' of roof. If you tie it all in to your tanks, you will easily overwhelm a 1" (approximately 16 gpm max) overflow line during a moderate storm. It probably won't hurt anything, but it will overflow your gutters and drop water where you don't really want it. With 8500' of roof, I'm sizing for 240gpm to account for 2year storms. 4" pipe is necessary. And you aren't kidding, it ain't cheap!
Great video. Thanks for sharing. One observation: I think you said that you wanted to eventually bring 4" from your front gutter to the storage tanks by travelling under the house. I would think that on a gravity feed system, that would create a significant "head pressure" problem. Wouldnt you need to bring the 4" line from the front gutter at least the same elevation as the outlet of the rear gutter system? Seems that anything lower would result in backflow. Yes/no? Great vide
Thank you!
Well rainwater storage is like a lake, it will always find LEVEL. So all you have to do is plumb them together and they will fill at the exact same level.
So as long as the INLET is higher than the OUTLET they water will flow.
Fantastic! And thanks for sharing. Thumbs up!
I'm worried about overflow capacity during a heavy rain event. You have 4" going into the tank but only 1" overflow with several 90s impeding the flow. If it's a heavy enough rain it could overflow back into the gutter.
Well, if our system is completely full and there is a backup....then we can just open the first flush pipe.
Easy peasy! BUT!!!!! This is an EXCELLENT comment/question for next week's Q&A!!!!!!
@@BetterTogetherLife
You should be thinking about installing a one way valve to keep that from happening.
I was going to mention that!! You want more discharge than feed
Correct... basic math ... say the over flow Pipe is not enough ... if it have not happen yet then simply means the rain fall so far is for 1” only ... heavy rainfall That reaches a volume of 2” Will already give the system problem
My thought exactly on the overflow.
Hi! I see this video is a year old already but wanted to share a thought with you. You do not need to use 4" pipe to connect the systems. A smaller pipe will work. It may just move the water more slowly, but will still work.
Thank you for answering my question. What size would you suggest?
Should have used a couple PVC unions after the shut off valve to connect the 2 tanks at the bottom to remove the entire tee. Why? Because if he needs to drain or remove 1 tank for one reason or another he'll have to cut out the tee. Its gonna take a hell of a long time to drain a tank for that 1" line to 1/2" spigot.
Cheers from portugal
your overflow pipes will possibly be a problem.. you are running what looks o be a 1 or 2 inch pipe out of each tank and then bringing them together at the bottom into a pipe that looks o be half the size. that will severely restrict the flow and may cause backup in heavy rain. just a thought... great video thanks..
Water water everywhere! Well done Beau - now you just need some rain ◡̈
Why don’t you use it for your household water? Rainwater is the best water on earth!
My family’s property has a steep elevation change. I wanna try to make a solar battery with similar tanks. I figure if I can elevate 5000-10000 gal of water 20 meters I’ll have plenty of energy to run an energy efficient house.
You made it so simple that i fully understood your system. Im living in the tropics. We have them rain plenty here but I have a land rather on a remote place. Im going to build my rain harvesting system minus the insulation. Any suggestions on filtration system? I wanted to fully utilise the collected water
Drinking and cooking.
Thank you so much and I subscribed! 😊
Wow, THANK YOU soooooo much!!!!!!!!
This was really helpful, thank you. One question please, though. If both fill evenly with just the one inlet pipe, why don't both drain evenly from the over flow pipe? I mean why does each tank need it's own over-flow pipe? If one tank went down, wouldn't both tanks go down together? I cannot afford a giant tank like yours, but I want to hook a series of rain barrels to over flow in to my old underground cistern. What if on each barrel, a few inches down from the top, I put a pipe from one to the other, barrel to barrel, with the last one being the pipe that over flows into the cistern? Open to suggestions, thank you.
Sure you can have multiple overflow pipes. We just did it this way for ease of installation.
you should turn the 3-way split upside down so the water and debris will go down to the down spout first instead of into your tank.
It does. We get all of the debris in the first flush. Works perfectly! 😁
Where did you buy the tanks ? Each tank 2500 gallon ? How cold can it get before the water freezes inside the tank ? Any info would be helpful. Tnx
I’m not sure how the cold….we live in Texas. 😂😂
But we got the tanks here: Rain Harvesting Rebate Finder
www.ntotank.com/rain-harvesting-rebate-finder
Feel strong wind could shift the pipe and tank a bit causing leak in a few seasons.
Not going to shift the tank. And how could it leak with no water pressure??
There is no chance that wind could shift the outlet pipes.
a 2500g tank full of water is 11 tons moron, it would take an act of God to move that tank.
Good video ! I love dogs so when I heard the dogs breathing on mic I laughed
Thanks!
You are welcome!
Absolutely Brilliant 🥳🥳🥳
Don't get gutter guards. They block the leave, but they don't let the water in!
My friend has two garden he waters he waters with lemon water and he pumps it from Tusings barrels
Put a air valve in your tank...just like on your tire...and put air in your tanks to build pressure...
The tanks are not rated for pressure. Even if they were, they are open to atmosphere via the gutter, the overflow piping as well as the lid vent.
Kudos...very smart move.
You need a 4x4 to support the downspout weight.
Interesting vedio nice sharing sir
How do you prepare the foundation? I have seen videos where the tank is half buried. How deep is the crushed rock bed you used?
wow that is so cool This is exactly what we want to do
Should have set them tanks on some indoor outdoor carpet.
FYI my tank delivery guy said never use a pressure washer or you can shoot a hole through the tank. Just use a long handled broom type scrub brush. He also told me to put four bags sand (over top of gravel base) under each 2500g tank to keep gravel from poking tank because the weakest part of the tank is the bottom. After pushing the bottom it for sure is thinner than the sides. And his last important tip is to make sure to run a long level against the sides to make sure it’s level before filling. Now that last thing is probably the only one I would have known 🙄
In the Caribbean we use this type of system all the time with pumps with no problems. Our tanks are usually stacked on concrete scaffolds.
@@abbe1abbe156 yes I should have clarified I had a level spot that was filled with small gravel as I had seen on many videos & he advised to to cover with sand.
@@nicolem376 I understand. I'm curious about the reason most systems I see in the US seem to have sand or gravel on the base. The stacked scaffolding system is very efficient bringing water into homes by gravity from the top tanks for all in home water needs. My parents have that system in the Caribbean. We only bought water for drinking and cooking.
Wouldn’t having a 1inch overflow be too small when you have 4inch coming in? I always thought the overflow had to be at least equal to the inlet
you've probably realized by now the overflow pipe should have gone from 1 1/2" from one tank, 1 1/2" from the other, to a 3" pipe running around the house to under the steps.
reducing the size of the overflow pipe was a no no.. you need the size of the overflow pipe to be able to handle the amount of water coming in from the source (the gutter) or the water will get backed up all the way to the source (the gutter) and overflow excess water there.. which would be bad if you had so much water weight sitting in your gutters that it was overflowing there. Could rip the gutters off the house.
Nope. The overflow as been PERFECT!
it's called a sanitary tee. and a 4 inch fernco coupling ..hehe nice job on the tanks though
Actually it is a combination wye 1/16 bend, aka combo or tee wye
I would have used a three piece coupler in between the two tanks at the bulkheads
You should have put a sch40 union in between the two tanks.
Yea there are some things that I should have done a little differently. Someday I’ll need to update it.
what would you do differently? thanks for sharing. Tony/Texas
I enjoyed ur presentation, & sharing of all that u accomplished in this video. Thanks for sharing. Brthrn Jeff B.
Did you ever have any problems with the course gravel bed and the weight of the tanks? Any leaks on the bottom? I have been told to put down a bed of pea gravel or sand. Thanks.
That’s enough water for a commercial farm! For more pressure you need a simple water pump, solar power is available.
I believe your overflow diameter is to small. If I’m not mistaken the overflow should be larger than the inflow to prevent back flow. The small overflow pipe will not be able to Keep up with the inflow during a monsoon rain .
That’s a great point. If you have monsoon rain, go for it. This is the right size for our area with very average to low rain events. We have have very heavy rains with no back flow. So that’s really up to the user and their location.
@@BetterTogetherLife I wish I could use the 1-1/2 bulkhead that comes with the tank but unfortunately it backed up at the gutters. So I had to go with a 4 inch drain pipe. Here in Arizona the monsoon rain is no joke.
Hey - nice video, super helpful.
I had a question: did you use anything besides gravel for your foundation to create a smoother surface? Have you had any issues with the gravel puncturing holes in the bottom of the tanks? I heard that this can be a problem - maybe for larger tanks, but it didnt look like you had smoother the your foundation surface with sand, so was curious if it should be a concern. thanks!
My rocks were a little bigger, but the rock that I used had some kind of “binder” liquid stuff in it or something. And it basically created a smooth concrete like pad.
We used the same stuff for our Shed to Studio foundation and it works well. But yes, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned. But we’ve had ZERO issues for the last 2.5 years.
Hii..
How come your overflow pipe is smaller than your pipe collecting water from the gutter?? Don't you think your inflow will be greater than the outflow or the overflow.
I'm just curious... am I missing something??
Anyways it's beautiful how this has been set up.. great job both of you. 👍
It really don't have to be one tank the reason why I wouldn't do this is because anything can happen someone can trip over it the dogs can chew on it down there and if it gets broke somehow all the water will come out. I would have just made a overflow up high from one tank to the other once one tank gets filled up it pours into the other tank simple like I like it LOL also what do you do in the winter are you afraid of it freezing? I was told these tanks were supposed to be buried at least halfway? I always set my stuff up with shtf in mind
I'm jealous
Great vid 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
How do you get water into the house?
Do you have a pump?
Job I have got new ideas