Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry Re: Yellow-ish water from rainwater tank 5Apr 09, 2017 7:58 am 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Yellow-ish water from rainwater tank 6Apr 09, 2017 1:30 pm Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Yellow-ish water from rainwater tank 9Apr 19, 2017 11:24 pm The photos are great, thanks. If you are not sure of any of the terms I use, just ask and I will explain. Photos 1, 3, 4 and 5 show that you have a submersible pump and a Davey Rainbank mains water switching device. The submersible pump is 99.9% certain to be a Davey pump but Davey do make good pumps. There are better and cheaper options than the Rainbank though. Submersible pumps are a prime cause of dirty water being supplied to cisterns and washing machines but this is not the pump’s fault. Some submersible pumps come fitted with a ‘stand’ that raises the pump’s water intake above the sediment layer but many don’t. If a submersible pump without a stand draws water from the bottom of the pump, the pump’s fitting instructions will state that the pump must be placed above the sediment layer (it will also be a condition of warranty) but large numbers of such pumps are simply plonked on the bottom of the tank where they sit happily vacuuming the tank's floor and delivering suspended sediments and the worst of the water from the anaerobic zone to the cisterns and washing machine. The photo below shows a Davey submersible pump with its bottom suction inlet holes. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It will be difficult for you to see the pump without draining the tank but photo 2 shows that the drain valve is open and so I assume the tank is already empty...unless the drain valve’s handle has not been correctly fitted. To inspect, you only need to remove the tank’s top meshed inlet and look inside. I would also be checking the supplied pump’s fitting instructions to see whether the pump should be raised above the tank’s floor (does it sit on a stand?) before looking at other possible causes of the staining. A note about the tank's 'flush' outlet, this is a drain...it will not flush the tank. To clean the tank, you will need a stiff broom and a hose but if the submersible pump draws water from the bottom and it is sitting on the tank's floor, the tank will be getting regularly 'cleaned' anyway plus the water entering through the tank's top meshed inlet will be doing a good job of spreading and re-suspending any sediment every time it rains. You would be surprised (or perhaps not) at the number of external pumps that are supplied water from an outlet fitted as low as your drain outlet which is the reason why I asked for a photo of your outlet if you had an external pump. Again, no surprises as to why dirty water is delivered to cisterns and washing machines when a tank's pump draw valve is fitted so low. Photo 3 shows cloths placed over the tank’s inlet mesh, what have your observations been regarding captured organic matter? There are several other issues with the installation. The reason I asked whether there was recycled water delivered to the property was because if there is, then the water tank or alternative gas boosted solar HWS was no longer a mandate. If there isn’t recycled water delivered to the property, then the water tank must harvest a minimum of 50 square metres of roof catchment area. Just to explain what the roof catchment area is...the roof plan area as seen from above is termed the roof space but for roof drainage compliance, the roof slope is subjected to a multiplier to allow for wind driven rain. If your roof slope is the standard 22.5 degrees, the multiplier is 1.21. In other words, every 10 sq m of roof space would be decreed to be a roof catchment area of 12.1 sq m. I see in photo 3 that you have a single ‘dry’ pipe plumbed to deliver water to the tank. If you have standard 115mm slotted quad gutters, the gutter’s cross sectional area is about 5,200 sq mm for most 115mm quad gutter manufacturers. If this is the case, then one compliant downpipe will be harvesting less than the required minimum 50 sq m roof catchment area and if the tank was required for the 6 star standard, then the roof catchment area harvested does not satisfy the 6 star requirement. Two downpipes are required but this invariably entails one being a charged "wet system' pipe. Standard wet systems are not good news. Copper pipes are fitted which isn’t the wisest thing to do with naturally acidic rainwater but if the pipes are subjected to UV (heat), then they are required to be lagged. Water tank overflow pipe mosquito proof mesh often gets gummed up with the fine organic matter that floats on the water surface after rain. If this blocks, the tank will over-top and this will necessitate removing the tank’s top meshed inlet to clean the mesh (or for routine maintenance) but the tank’s top meshed inlet and the overflow pipe are at opposite ends of the slimline tank! Best practice would have the tank's inlet and overflow fitted close to each other and the pump at the opposite end. They haven’t supplied you with a garden tap, did they offer? Cisterns and washing machines are low flow end fixtures with numerous short start/stops and a pump’s life is directly proportional to its number of starts. Fitting a pressure tank to a small economical pump will save numerous pump start/stops and substantially prolong the pump's life but you cannot use a pressure tank with a Rainbank. The tank’s overflow pipe has no mitigation above the top of the pipe. This severely restricts you from harvesting additional (3 or 4) downpipes to the tank. The overflow pipe's discharge capacity is calculated by Torricelli's theorem plus a deduction for the overflow's mesh restriction but I strongly suspect that the calculations are rarely done and the homeowner told what the tank's overflow capacity is or what maintenance is required. Supplying a tank's overflow capacity should be mandated but it isn't which is pretty poor in my book. If you have a leaf problem in the gutters, the ICON "Leaf and Debris Controller" is the best leaf diverter available at the moment but because of Melbourne's rainfall pattern, the gutters are only flushed by heavy rain a handful of times annually and this causes problems. If any reader has an external pressure pump, check to make sure that the pump's suction hose is not connected to an elbow fitted to the pump as this is a common mistake that can result in cavitation during high flow demands that will severely shorten the pump's life.Cavitation sounds like a rumbling sound akin to a flowing mixture of fine gravel and air. The pump's suction hose should respect a straight length of at least 8-10 internal pipe diameters at the pump's suction end. Hope this helps. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair But if it is a ground level open pit, then it is not a charged system. No surprises there. The pipes have obviously been altered and there would be a reason for this.… 3 31286 Grate, thank you! RexChan if thats the reason i could sleep well without thinking about additional cost. But 1st i'll need to read about NRV cleaning/replaing stuff. I… 7 31169 Hi guys, I want to do some floor levelling before laying the planks and am considering doing it with self-levelling or yellow tongue PB board. I am wondering which one… 0 6556 |