Water & money conservation

[xpc]

I built and wrote this in early 2007 -

Heres a little engineering I did to lower my water usage to decrease my utility bill, and to offset the huge increase coming in six months when the new water treatment plant is built. City officials estimate that the typical water bills will more than double in 2008.

My monthly usage of about $30 per month will actually go down rather than up because I will be using rain water (sump pump) for all toilet flushing and cold water clothes washing, which is the bulk of all water usage.

There is a twofold savings because sewage charges will also decrease because it is charged at about 130% of water usage. Rainwater is not metered - no charge.

Installation time six beers

Here is the original sump installation, I had to add a check valve to stop the suction on back flow from draining my reserve tanks I did not add the $13 to the total cost because it should have been there in the first place.

Redirected the sump water destined for the backyard to the reserve tanks, I may add a solenoid to dump back into the yard when reserve tanks are full but for now it goes into basement drain on overflow.

Here I had to isolate the bathroom sink from the toilet fill line - didn't want sump water in the basin.

Sump water is pumped into two 30 gallon tanks using a 1/2 hp 1800 gph pump it is then fed into the isolated water system the second tank is tied into the pump tank by a 3/4" pipe and contains a second float switch that when low will automatically switch 2 solenoids to revert back to city water until the reserves fill back up via the sump pump. Two 25' garden hoses are used.

This makeshift manifold connects the sump water to the isolated system via a manual shutoff valve, a differential pressure switch turns on the reserve pump at 10 psi (i.e. toilet flushing) and runs until the toilet fill valve closes and pressure is built up to shut pump off, a large surge arrester tops it off to buffer the water pressure and insures no short cycling. A second solenoid then closes to isolate the reserve pump from the system and keeps the pressure in the system.

Total cost for the system was about $175, which will pay for itself in about six months, and then the savings will be about $30+ a month when water rates sky rocket in 2008.

I added some modifications later and forgot to get pictures but it was mostly to automate it 100% using relay controls. I also put a back flow preventer in the main water line from the city to make sure no contaminated water would go into it if they had a major pressure failure and my pump wouldn't push drain water to the neighbors piping.

Parts list:
hp pump Harbor Freight $25 shipped
2 Asco solenoid valves eBay $38 shipped
All other components hand picked from Fleet Farm

Side notes:
1) The 60 gallon reserve tanks filled up in one day after a big rain storm, used all of it to do three loads of laundry (no sewage charge).
2) A dissolved solids tester (Fleet Farm $17) shows my sump water clean as tap water. I wont drink it unless I put some WT101 purifier in it first.
3) Can anyone say cistern? In a day when water conservation is at its highest why not use nature?
4) I am currently not using rain gutter water, but may consider if it proves cost effective.
5) I also add a shot of chlorine from time to time to keep any wee beasties in check.

 

[lupinfarm]

Very cool !.. Is it common in your area to have a sump pump? We don't have or need one.

 

[xpc]

Very cool !.. Is it common in your area to have a sump pump? We don't have or need one.

I believe most houses with basements have (need) sump pumps, if you do not have one then a rain gutter into a 55 gallon drum would do the same. My house in Florida was slab on grade and this house in Kentucky is on a non-accessible crawl space of 16"

I have read that some cities consider this water theft because they own the rain and you are impeding it's flow to the communities aquifers. Hog wash I say because 100% of all the water is just borrowed and will ultimately find its way back into the ground for later use.

This is a fairly ambitious project for the technological challenged and I made it more complicated then needed but what the heck automation is what I do for a living.

I will be building a rain water harvesting system once in my new cabin and it will be of a much simpler design - at 50" of rain a year I will get about 1000 gallons a month from a 500 square foot roof (i only use 600 gal. now). I will have a 500 gallon storage tank for times of drought.

 

[lupinfarm]

How bizzare they would consider that water theft. We live in a rural area and use 1 rain barrel right now for the garden watering and have one being set up with a filter for the chicken and duck water.

We live on a hill and thus don't need a sump pump... We have an accessible cellar that is high and dry under the main house and another accessible (although you have to crawl in, despite it being full head height) crawlspace under the extension that is also high and dry.

 

[sylvie]

[
I have read that some cities consider this water theft because they own the rain and you are impeding it's flow to the communities aquifers. Hog wash I say because 100% of all the water is just borrowed and will ultimately find its way back into the ground for later use.

I like how you think, xpc.

When we built our addition we were advised by the building inspector to run our gutters into a cistern. We usually have an over abundance of rain here so they don't have the municipal ownership mentality yet. It was the best advice we received, enabling us to run a separate pump from the cistern to the toilet and shower. Rainwater keeps a very clean bowl so no harsh rust removers are needed. It lathers soap and shampoo, translating into using less and rinses clean. There is nothing that compares with it.

Thanks for sharing your design, we may make use of it! We have a new sump someone gave us.

 

[xpc]

Yep, rain water is basically natures distilled water and only picking up small impurities in the sky as it falls, more so in and around larger cities. My water was filtered through six feet of ground before getting to my sump pump.

My new system will incorporate a float bowl to discard the first few gallons of rain that hits the roof so as to dump this so called pre-washing roof water and not go into the storage tanks.