Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Jun 09, 2021 9:43 am No matter what type of tank filter we use (all the sieve type), it clogs up very quickly, then the water is wasted by overflowing. A recent purchase from Bunnings, a much smaller mesh that sits inside the usual sieve, resulted in a lot of dirt still going through to the main sieve, which of course resulted in water overflow. This is on a shed, the catchment is very good, no leaks. There is catchment from the house going to this tank also. The PVC piping going into the tank is from those two sources, the shed and the house. So we use two inlets, where the sieve arrangements are placed, in the top of the tank. One inlet is from the house, one is from the shed. There is quite a bit of height difference from the shed gutters to the top of the tank, yet little height difference from the house gutters to the top of the tank. I have been looking ta the Supadiverters at https://www.supadiverta.com.au/buy-online.html How much height difference does one need ? Do we need another small tank to let the filtered water divert into, and how much equipment will we need please ? Just looking at the shed for now, as the minimal height difference from the house may complicate things for now, and an added expense. Running any sort of pump is totally out of the question, as we have power limitations. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 2Jun 09, 2021 7:30 pm I need some more information (particularly downpipe sizes and roof areas) before I can give a full reply but the following information should let you work out some of the answers to what you have asked. pedro777 No matter what type of tank filter we use (all the sieve type), it clogs up very quickly, then the water is wasted by overflowing. There is quite a bit of height difference from the shed gutters to the top of the tank, yet little height difference from the house gutters to the top of the tank. Best practice is to deliver the best quality water possible to the tank and then deliver the best quality water in the tank to the pump. Filters should not be poor installation bandaids, they should be a safeguard only and have an easy life. How far above the bottom of the tank is the valve that supplies water to the pump? I hope that the infeed pipes are not discharging water above where the tank's pump outlet is! I take it that at least one of the pipes is a wet (charged) system. What type of pipe diversion systems (wet or dry) come from the shed and house and how long are they? Also, what size roof areas are serving each pipe and do the house gutters overflow during heavy rain? Where is the tank located and what is its volumetric capacity? Is this the tank that you pump water from to the two higher header tanks that we have previously discussed in another thread? Is there a stormwater system? I'm assuming that there isn't. pedro777 I have been looking ta the Supadiverters at https://www.supadiverta.com.au/buy-online.html How much height difference does one need ? Do we need another small tank to let the filtered water divert into, and how much equipment will we need please ? Just looking at the shed for now, as the minimal height difference from the house may complicate things for now, and an added expense. The required head depends on the roof area harvested, the water level in the tank when full and the pipe size and length. The height difference between the locating ridges inside the Supadiverta's top inlet and the top of the internal reservoir wall (the maximum head height) is 245mm. The top of the locating ridges are about 2mm above the distinctive line you can see on the top inlet where it meets the "slippery dip". The filter is locate on the reservoir wall. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The head you lose under the gutter on a house with eaves and 100mm x 50mm downpipes when the downpipe has a short vertical run down the fascia then slopes under the eave and then fastened a short distance down the wall is usually about 550mm but if the Supadiverta is mounted higher, the head loss is much less. There is however a head gain over a wet system due to the Supadiverta diverting water to an inlet fitted 100-200mm above the bottom of the tank. The minimum head gain is measured from midpoint in the horizontal pipe at the top of the vertical riser to the height of the the water in the tank when the tank is full. When the tank is less than full, there is additional head gain. pedro777 Do we need another small tank to let the filtered water divert into, and how much equipment will we need please ? The Supadiverta usually sits on a stormwater downpipe, it can sit on a downpipe that diverts the filter wash to a squat tank but it is not usual to do so. The annual yield loss off the filter is about 4% which is easily World's best for a diverter with an internal filter but every drop should be captured if the property is off the water grid. Equipment needed are pvc pressure pipes and fittings plus you would need to fit (most probably) two new inlets to the tank. If one of the pipe runs is long, you can convert 25mm pvc pressure pipe to cheaper 40mm DWV pipe at the head of the system. You can use lessons learnt from the Supadiverta research and development program to improve the quality and efficiency of a standard rainwater harvesting system. To improve water quality, you need to have leaf diverters fitted to the downpipes. The only leaf diverter I can currently recommend is the ICON Leaf and Debris Controller but it unfortunately has a head deficit of about 150mm when compared most others currently sold. It is best practice to divert water directly into the bottom of a tank but it first has to first pass through mosquito proof mesh. Maybe you could buy a shorter tank for diversion from the house. Also opposite to standard practice, it is best practice for the pump to draw water from the top of the tank but if you don't have a floating filter inlet hose attached to the pump's supply valve, the pump will be drawing the tank's worst quality water from the anaerobic zone. Draining and desludging the tank and fitting a floating filter inlet so that you draw the best quality water from 200mm below the water surface may be all you need to do to fix the problem. I would also retro fit a sediment trap to the wet system at a non turbulent section to capture the bed load. We now use an invert taper rather than the pipe reducer shown in the diagram. If you use a leaf diverter, you won't need the inspection opening. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 3Jun 16, 2021 8:08 am SaveH2O - Thanks heaps for your very detailed reply. We have only just recently got the internet back on, lots of damage from the wind and rain, the cleanup with take ages, so it will be quite a while before I can get back to this and reply properly. Thanks Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 4Jun 16, 2021 9:41 am I hope to still be here! I think that I have misread your query as after reading again, it is now apparent that you are having problems with the tank's inlet mesh clogging whereas I was thinking of it being an additional filter accessory quickly clogging. Can you confirm that it is the tank's top meshed inlet screen that is clogging thanks. A tank's top inlet screen clogging will be due to the wet system retaining debris and then flushing it en masse during a patch of heavier rain. If you are unable to fit leaf diverters to the downpipes due to head loss, the sediment trap will help a lot but it isn't effective with suspended organic matter although lighter organic matter will settle as bed load after the rain stops. The ICON Leaf and Debris Controller is the most effective leaf diverter currently on the market but it does have more head loss than others sold due to its height. You can also cut out a piece of oversized shade cloth (so it forms a saucer shape) and place it on the mesh. It also makes cleaning a lot easier. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 5Jun 16, 2021 11:26 am SaveH2O Can you confirm that it is the tank's top meshed inlet screen that is clogging thanks. Yes, it is the tanks top meshed inlet screen that is clogging. There are two inlets, one from the shed (the shed gutters are much higher than the inlet), and one from the house (the house gutters are only a little bit higher). SaveH2O If you are unable to fit leaf diverters to the downpipes due to head loss, the sediment trap will help a lot but it isn't effective with suspended organic matter although lighter organic matter will settle as bed load after the rain stops. The ICON Leaf and Debris Controller is the most effective leaf diverter currently on the market but it does have more head loss than others sold due to its height. On the house, we do have a leaf eater on each downpipe, however, as they have a very fine mesh underneath the wire mesh, these clog up very quickly. On the shed, there are no leaf eater/diverters at all, just PVC from the gutters to the tank inlet. The tank is a Clarke tank and we will never buy one again. Not as strong or not as well made as the Polymaster up on the hill. We pump uphill every few weeks to the Polymaster, for the gravity feed back to the house. The Clarke tank had a huge poly pipe inside for structural reasons, to support the tank roof, yet the pipe has dislodged due to the force of water coming into the tank and hitting that pipe in the middle. Why I mention all that is because the Clarke tank only came with one inlet, so we had to cut another inlet in the tank roof. In hindsight, I would have preferred two smaller Poymaster tanks rather then the one large (45,000 litres I think) Clarke tank. SaveH2O I hope to still be here! Well I hope you are. Are you okay ? SaveH2O You can also cut out a piece of oversized shade cloth (so it forms a saucer shape) and place it on the mesh. It also makes cleaning a lot easier. Okay thanks, good idea. Especially good idea for us, when we need to clean the inlet thoroughly, it means unfastening text screws that are holding the inlet sieve down. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 6Jun 16, 2021 12:28 pm pedro777 On the house, we do have a leaf eater on each downpipe, however, as they have a very fine mesh underneath the wire mesh, these clog up very quickly. Whoever designed the early leaf diverters that had a coarse outer mesh and a mosquito proof inner mesh must have been having a real bad day! You can convert the old Leaf Eaters like you have to have the mosquito proof mesh on the outside. I am pretty sure that Bunnings sell the kit. I have designed a superior smaller leaf diverter with 500 micron filtration and high drainage capacity but I need to wait until a UV stabilised resin is developed to allow the filter to be SLA 3D printed. It should be possible to design a dry system sediment trap for the shed pipe. Can you post a photo? 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 7May 07, 2022 8:55 am Thanks for your reply "SaveH2O", much appreciated. As with many projects, the "squeakiest wheel gets oiled the most" so haven't had the time or energy to get this looked at any further. We have had a few chats about these problems, and as I remembered that doing anything serious with "first flush" or similar systems relied on having sufficient drop in levels, have now at least had the levels checked with a laser level. These are now all recorded, so a small step at least. Re: How to reduce the maintenance of tank filters ? 9May 08, 2022 4:27 pm Yes, I know.The filter screen has too shallow an angle and the larger aperture outside mesh is a failed design. The dominant market leader has mosquito proof outer mesh but its outer mesh also has the same shallow angle PLUS it also has a flat recess at the bottom that traps debris amongst other faults. The ICON Leaf and Debris Controller has a superior steeper outside filter screen but the unit is a conventional rain head shape and taller than the market leader and so everyone bought the inferior market leader because of the lesser head loss, the reason Bunnings ceased stocking the ICON unit. If you use the ICON diverter, you can 'reclaim' the head loss by replumbing the wet system pipe with a sediment trap and divert water directly into the tank via a low restriction inlet that also eliminates the head sapping vertical riser. I have linked the video below re your query in your other thread about pressure in a water column. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlvHczb2vN4 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. 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 33459 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Thank you for the generous offer. I need to get the plumber out to give me an explanation. As mentioned I haven't seen any rain water discharge from pipes 1& 3. It… 7 13078 Can a plumber put a tap on a rain water tank which is full? Tank is similar to one in photo. Cheers. 0 2920 |