Comments on: How can I reuse or recycle rainwater?

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:43:47 +0000

Hi Louisa

I’ve been thinking about this one for a while as well – the conventional systems use a large tank buried in your garden and pump water from this, apparently the energy used to do this is still less than the energy used to provide the same amount of drinking water so environmentally it’s still cool.

If you’re like me though and don’t have the money for an expensive system like this (they are a few hundred quid in materials alone) this is no good.

I’m considering redoing our bathroom soon and one of the idea I’ve had is to put in a rain water butt above the toilet and use this to feed the cistern. I’m fortunate in that the main drainpipe runs down the wall to the back of the toilet so my plan is to drill through the wall and have a regular water butt filler send the rainwater it captures from the drain pipe through the wall to the butt.

Since the biggest butt I can find that will fit in the space is a few hundred litres and the average flush about 6L I expect that in summer months we may well use all the water before it can be refilled, so I plan on adding a secondary mains fed water supply by installing a ballcock in the bottom of the butt, that way if the water level does drop too far I will still be able to flush my toilet!

Hope the above helps – its obviously dependant a lot on the location of down pipes in your house and your willingness to drill through exterior walls/board off areas of you bathroom etc

@Clare above – yes my first idea was to put the butt in the roof space too but then you’ve still got the problem of pumping water uphill as the gutter will nearly always be lower than your roof space (unless you’ve got a staggered roof obviously). Even then I don’t think you could put much more than the size of water butt I am on about up in the average roof as any larger and the smaller joists used for ceilings are going to start having problems with the weight. Not knocking you – like I say that was my first idea too but I ruled it out as impractical for those reasons

By: CarbonWhat?

CarbonWhat? — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:54:48 +0000

Do people really have the time to capture and use rainwater?

By: Covert_Operations'78

Covert_Operations'78 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:44:47 +0000

1. Transfer the water into pails for use in the bathroom when doing #1.
2. Use rainwater in the laundry room for soaking items that need to be soaked and soaped before washing, .e.g. rugs and washable mats.
3. For washing shoes, gumboots, bicycles and skates with.
4. For mopping the floor or cleaning the bathrooms with.
5. For general cleaning in the kitchen — rinsing the dishes, cleaning the sink, cleaning the rubbish bin and washing the dishcloths.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:22:33 +0000

Rainwater is the best for washing your hair. I leaves it silky smooth, especially after using a long time.

And, I think the washing windows idea is a great one! Minerals are difficult to get off of glass. I’m definately going to try this one.

By: Clare

Clare — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:35:53 +0000

I’m not the most practical person in the world, so this might be a really stupid idea — but about your problem with the rainwater having to be stored two floors below the loo…

In most houses I’ve ever lived in, there’s been a cold water tank in the attic to maintain water pressure — mains water is under enough pressure to get it up to the roof, but not to send it all round the house as needed. Or something…

Wouldn’t it be possible to collect rainwater from the roof into an attic tank and then use that to flush the upstairs loo?