We rarely go a month w/ no rain except in the winter. Since I will be using this system for my monthly houses and some other intermittent cleaning needs and since I will be able to have on hand 110 gallons (2 55 gallon tanks) I don’t foresee having a problem for the way I will be using it.
A month without rain,… in winter???
I’m packing my bags and moving,… it rained every day this week in Ireland!
Aquarium filter foam os good for removing dirt & debris from rainwater,… just cut a bit to size and stuff it in the downspout,… dont forget to take it out and clean it every week though as it will block the pipe if it gets too dirty.
It doesn’t rain if it’s snowing. If it’s warm enough it rains instead of snow.
I’ll make sure to pick up some of that foam - thanks Nate!
stop the music !! this all sounds warm and fuzzy !! i think storge is the big deal !!! today the tds is real low but a week or 10 days could be a lot different !! think about the stock tank on the farm?? out side edge is what?? and bugs !! a lot of iron filters and ro and then tds !! maybe more like a sofner too !! this is doable with rain water !! the off the grid people use it for bath room. we’re going to tkie it for the oo tds we want. i think it’s doable but kinda spliting hairs thing !! stan
My old business partner use to say “Mike we’re in business to make money not save it.” How much time and effort am I going to waste collecting water to save $50 for more DI resin when I could be washing windows at over $100 an hour with my WFP. Time is money in our line of work. Just a thought.
That’s a good point Mike. However the system I’m putting in place takes no more time to make water for my backpack than if I hooked up the hose and filled the holding tank from the tap.
Hey Tony,Can you tell us more?
Matt
It works great off the roof and you get loads of water fast. You wiill need a small submersible pump to get it from barrel to van tank. Check harbor freight tools for pump.
My tds is 550+ at home and I just put up new gutter on the front of my shop. It’s a big roof area (approx 30ftx45ft) so I should be able to fill a 55gal barrel w/ a small rain. I’ll have a second in the van and polish the water from the first as I pump it into the one in the van. Now I’ll have 55 gallons of pure water for my backpack when I do my monthly houses. When I get it done I’ll post pics and maybe a video.
Thanks Tony,
Sounds like a simple and workable plan. By the time I am ready to move forward on the concept pictures of your set up will probably be posted on the internet. You’ll probably have a video too! I spoke to soon.
“Think before you post.” something for me to think about. 
I picked up the barrels today. The one in the pic will be in the van. They are 220liter (approx 58gal). I have about 6in to the top of the van when the barrel is in place so I can easily remove the lid and refill w/out taking the barrel out of the van. Here’s some pics of the barrel.
We use harvested rain water. The tap water registers 360+ on the TDS meter in our area. (alot of limestone in this area.)The rain water registers 5+ on the TDS meter. There is picture attached which shows our harvesting tanks.
How big are each of those tanks? They look like they are at least 250 gallons each.
I have a 300 gal tank that catches 150 gal of water of the roof in one hour of steady rainfall. You will need a good electric pump 200psi or more to move the water from the tank and through a good sediment filter to your tank in vehicle. It will save you tons on resin. My tds from rain is below 10ppm and even see it at 0 sometimes.
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Yes they are 1000 Litres each. All the tanks are connected and feed a static tank where the vans can back fill.
We are using alot less DI resin…
I just found this thread and wanted to bump it up to see how it is working for you guys, especially Tony. Did you put an aquarium foam filter in your gutter before it hits the rainwater tank? Also, if the TDS is 10 or below, do you put it straight into your backpack or do you still run it through your DI tank? Thanks.
We actually moved before I got everything set up. The tds I got directly from the downspout was 007 once and 003 another time so I could have used the water just the way it was. I’m going to talk to our new landlord about setting up a barrel here.
John, what about just letting water pressure/gravity from an elevated storage tank move thru a di tank into a transportable tank?
