Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 3Nov 27, 2023 8:14 pm 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 5Nov 27, 2023 8:39 pm Happy to help with Water Tank Queries Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 6Nov 27, 2023 9:01 pm 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 7Nov 28, 2023 11:39 am It's a fairly large house - I am attaching a drone shot so you can see. Yes, there is a significant amount of underground pipe to get to the tanks. Gutters and drains on both sides of the house. I have found one spot between on the north west corner by the trampoline where the ground seems squelchy. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 8Nov 28, 2023 11:49 am I believe the ARI 20 is 251 (Sunshine Coast). The 12 x downpipes are 90mm, the riser is 110mm. I believe that the stormwater drains fed from the downpipes are on both sides of the house, as each has 6 downpipes. Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 9Nov 28, 2023 1:15 pm jsamways I believe the ARI 20 is 251 (Sunshine Coast). The 12 x downpipes are 90mm, the riser is 110mm. The riser would be a 100mm DWV pipe with a 104mm inside diameter and a 110mm outside diameter. This pipe holds 8.5 litres per meter. 1 m/s = 510 lpm. Do all of the downpipes supply the single riser? During a minimum qualifying 1:20 ARI, the 100mm DWV pipe would be subject to a flow rate in excess of 1,000 lpm which is a velocity of +2 m/s. This is very fast. Is the squelchy spot a candidate for locating a likely elbow? High velocity flows that meet an elbow exert centrifugal force that pushes the water towards the outer side of the bend, creating higher pressure on the outer curve while the inner curve experiences low pressure. This results in the elbow experiencing both a change in pressure and a force acting outward which can result in structural stress. If you find a damaged 90 degree elbow, I suggest replacing it with two 45 degree elbows. 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 10Nov 28, 2023 3:31 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Ok helpful people - general area located! Lawn was super wet here so I started digging. It then started raining, and the hole filled up in about 2 minutes. There's also water bleeding up at the back of the tiles against the house which is concerning. I hope no permanent damage has been done. I am going to wait until the rain stops and dig out up against the house as I suspect the downpipe is damaged just below where it goes into the patio tiles. Seem right? Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 11Nov 28, 2023 3:58 pm jsamways Seem right? 'neath yon tiles exists but a singular path to verity. EDIT: The above is a bit of a cheeky play on General Relativity stating that a singular path cannot exist. 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 12Nov 29, 2023 2:48 pm Progress update. The L bend was indeed leaking (badly). It was quite squashed and the PVC pipe fed from it horizontally was also deformed. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I cut the pipe to the charged line back and have sealed it off with a flexi fitting and a cap for now. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ You can see how warped the L bend was. It ended up cracking when I cut the pipe back. When I was digging the trench I could see clean water coming out of the L bend. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ You can see here how the horizontal section going to the charged lines was also deformed. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I also bypassed the gutter/leaf eater above so that the rain will flow to the next downpipe (temporarily). Now I just need to figure out how to replace the L-Bend cleanly as it is very close to the slab. My plumber mate is coming round on Monday so I'm hoping he has some insight. Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 13Nov 29, 2023 5:16 pm Well done! 90mm u-PVC stormwater pipe has 1.9mm thick walls and bends easily. This is claimed to be an advantage as it will deform rather than break but I don't like it much. Is there any indication, either past or present, of hydrostatic uplift anywhere above ground? Is the downpipe exposed to UV and is it damaged? 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 14Nov 30, 2023 12:29 pm Not that I can see, there's enough fall away from the house that the water was draining away. Drainpipe is exposed to UV (it's on the Northerly aspect of the house), but it doesn't seem to be excessively damaged. The L was obviously in ground and wasn't UV damaged. I suspect it was squashed slightly during install and then over time the pressure caused the joint to break and it deform further. My issue now is going to be cutting the elbow off neatly in such a confined space. I am open to suggestions on how to achieve this! Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 15Nov 30, 2023 1:48 pm jsamways My issue now is going to be cutting the elbow off neatly in such a confined space. I am open to suggestions on how to achieve this! Use some fishing line but let the plumber do it. How much room is there above the elbow that will allow a straight cut? Your plumber mate might be able to cut above the elbow's socket and solvent weld a short split 90mm pvc stormwater pipe half inside the (cleaned) vertical pipe and the other half inside a short intact 90mm pipe. A solvent welded coupling would then connect the two intact outer pipes, allowing a new elbow to be fitted. The fly in the ointment will be fitting a coupling if there isn't enough room. Also look at the possibility of using a 90mm pvc stormwater M+F 90 degree elbow. 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: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 16Dec 05, 2023 1:49 pm OK final update I hope on this topic. My plumber friend came round yesterday and we repaired this properly. In the end we had to cut the downpipe just above the slab and below and then remove the section going through the slab by cutting it vertically and prying it out. Then we chipped out some concrete below the bend with an SDS drill to make a bit more room for the L-Bend. We made up all of the sections of pipe and installed it and joined it with a flexi coupling. Just as we finished it started raining, and we were able to see that it wasn't leaking! I think the cause of this was that the slab had sunk slightly (10mm) and compressed the original piping. The key things in diagnosing the problem is that the riser to the tank wasn't full of water and when I stuck a hose down a downpipe to try and see water flowing to the tank an area of the garden quickly became boggy! Best time to try this is when it is dry obviously ! Re: Rainwater Tanks not filling in light rain 17Dec 05, 2023 3:53 pm That was always going to be a challenge and a test of patience. Full marks to your mate. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Once you know the basics, the rest is easy. Read my post in the thread linked below. viewtopic.php?p=1919271#p1919271 2 19864 There is a whole lot more to know than just the answers you seek but they are a good start. Overflow outlets have a mosquito proof mesh. These… 3 8646 |