We went ahead with the foundations once we had found a tank with the right height and width and length to fit in behind the outdoor dunny. Once the foundations were in, we ordered the tank. It turned up, and it stayed where it was for a month . . .
Before the tank went in, we drilled and chieselled a couple of holes in the walls of the outdoor dunny . . .
And then, last Sunday (20th of July), we had some people over, Peter, Toc, Tamantha, Phil, Marso and we just lifted it up and put it in, all over in a matter of minutes - a bit of squeeze for Phil and Suz but they got out in the end.
On the Monday, Suz finished putting in some plumbing and on Tuesday, it rained . . . . and the tank got half full within a day. Still not sure about getting the water out. We are still working on some ideas . . . note, too, the Smartflo guttering. All the old stuff came out. As you can see, we still have a bit of work to do but we are well our way and at least ready for a tank party.
Within two days of installing the plumbing required take the rain water into the tank, it was full and overflowing. Sometime later, the remaining plumbing work was finally attempted to make use of this water. 8m of 40mm piping was used to connect the tank to the pump. Thick and straight (ish) piping keeps pressure losses down, such piping requires a large radius bend and here we have a single 90 degree corner. Again, it all keeps losses tiny.
Above, from the bottom of the tank to under the limestone wall, below (the curry plant was dug out completely and then put back - surviving so far).
Peter gave us a hand with digging the trench/digging up the garden.
Below is the trench from the concrete hole we made for the greywater system to the limestone wall.
Below can be seen the black 40mm pipe running straight into the inlet of our 0.5kW two stage Onga pump in the hole created for our greywater scheme. A hole in the concrete wall was part of the original construction - we suspected we might need something and the location of the hole worked out well. This photo was taken after the plumbers had connected the controller (white thing on top of the pump) to the mains which now no longer goes straight across the hole. The controller automatically connects to the mains when the tank is empty but much more importantly, stops the motor from running dry and water flowing back into the mains (important from Water Corporations point of view and helps them part with a $600 rebate). The economics? Don't even go there, with a 100% saving, we save $40/year.
So as of 9am Tuesday the 12th of August, 7 Samson St is on 100% rainwater! Shower, laundry, toilet, dishes, drinking water (irrigation is by greywater). We figure, based on past water bills, that we are on just under 200 litres a day for the both of us which gives us just under 3 whole weeks of supply from full tank to empty without any rain. Enough I expect for us to be on rainwater for 3/4 of a year - it is a 4000 litre tank and goes from empty to full with just 50mm of rain.
It has been a hell of job but it has all come together nicely. I did not expect us to do so well. The cost, electricity wise, appears to be 0.2kWh/day, so not too bad .
