World Plumbing Day

Greetings RW Harvesters, and
Best Wishes on World Plumbing Day

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-plumbing-day/
https://www.worldplumbing.org/activities/

I can’t think of a better day to end forever, the use of Galvanized Plumbing to conduct water, and move on to stainless steel, PEX, and HDPE.

The photo above is a text-book example of failure, of a galvanized coupling.

Ground water, and particularly rain water because of its ‘hungry’ nature, will corrode galvanized fittings, more rapidly than you might think, and contaminate your system.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Demineralized-and-Deionized-water-often-referred-to-as-hungry-water-What-makes-it-hungry

In the example below, the situation is compounded by the dissimilar metals, galvanized steel and stainless, being in contact.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

The cost of a 1″ galvanized coupling at HomeDepot is $3.75, and the cost of a 1″ stainless steel coupling is $2.74 to $4.99 ….. imagine that.

Happy Plumbing for a Clean Water Future,
Terry Raines
512-466-4319
https://raineswaterharvest.com/

By |2020-02-02T19:01:30+00:00 12, March 2019|Events, Informative|

Rain Water World

Greeting RW Harvesters,  and welcome to the Rain Water World of Beachlands, New Zealand.

Like Wimberley is to Austin,  Beachlands is located about 50 kms from Auckland.
It has grown very rapidly in this century to over 8000 residents.
What interests us, is that every home, school, business, and the shopping mall are all on rainwater!!

No public water supply.

The yearly rainfall is around 47 inches, which is 1.5 times more than Central Texas,

so the holding tanks are not as large.

On the A-Frame home, the roof provides all the water, and the solar panels prove all the power,

with a small dollar monthly return from the power company.

The other photos show water tanks in the neighborhood.

It’s time to move away from Utility water and provide for ourselves,

Terry Raines   512-466-4319
By |2020-02-02T19:09:12+00:00 2, February 2019|Informative|

New Filters & Piping – Part 2

Greetings RW Harvesters,

Thank youAll for the responses to the story of replacing the copper pipe from our water well to the house with HDPE.
That was the supply line for cold water to the kitchen sink.

Now here’s the other half of the story.
I supplied the hot water heater with only rainwater, and all the clothes, showers, and dishes were nice and clean.

I sampled the hot water at the kitchen sink and sent it off to the lab, and it came back 1.260mg/L of copper contamination.
Now this is just below the safe EPA Primary Drinking Water Standards of 1.3 mg/L

This high level is after running the rainwater through only 60 feet of copper pipe!
As a comparison, rainwater dissolves as much copper in one foot of copper pipe, as well water dissolves running through 96 feet of copper pipe.

The writing is clearly on the wall.  Now that we have PEX, HDPE, and stainless steel, never use copper pipe.
In addition to this contamination, copper pipe develops pin holes for a number of different reasons….. but that’s another story.

Here are some references:

https://permaculturenews.org/forums/index.php?threads/acidic-rainwater-and-copper-poisoning.5542/
https://www.cleanwaterstore.com/resource/how-to-guides/how-to-treat-copper-pipe-corrosion/
https://www.nationalpolyindustries.com.au/knowledge-base/plumbing-in-your-rainwater-tank-for-safe-drinking-water/index.html

Copper Pipes and Rainwater
Your rainwater tank might be correctly installed and plumbed in, but it is also important understand that rainwater is quite acidic and can react with certain metals.
While rainwater is itself safe to consume, if it is left sitting in copper pipes for a long period of time then copper can leach into the water. Copper is a mineral required by our bodies, but it quickly becomes toxic in high does causing brain and liver damage.
Since copper pipes usually distribute water throughout a house, it is recommended that people flush the first 2 to 3 minutes of rainwater each day. You can optionally install filtration at your tap – filtration of 1 micron or less should be sufficient and also removes most bacteria.”

The neighbors and I are scrapping out the copper as quickly as conveniently possible…..   Terry Raines   512-466-4319

By |2020-02-02T19:02:47+00:00 3, January 2019|Informative|

Tank Freedom

Greetings WaterLovers,

In our struggle for Clean Water Freedom,
a freedom from problematic municipal water, or mineral-laden well water,
we direct your attention the excellent design and toughness of the HDPE Enduraplas water tank…
The perfect container for clean healthy water.

https://www.enduraplas.com/products/water-storage-tank/

Enduraplas has a great selection, in sizes from 100 gallons to 10,000 gallons, in the algae-free colors of beige, mist green, dark green, and black.

We stock a variety of rainwater collection tanks, ready for pickup, or delivery to you location.

Please contact me for details and answers to your questions.

Sincerely Yours, Terry Raines     512-466-4319

 

 

By |2020-02-02T19:14:29+00:00 2, January 2019|Informative|

Nipples

Greetings RW Harvesters,

The learning curve is steep and uncertain, but once you reach the top it’s all downhill.

In the photo below you see my first tank and its fittings. The galvanized nipple seemed a bit rusty so I thought I would replace it with the recent shipment of stainless steel.

What a surprise when I took the nipple off…. that one on the left.
This once again this confirms how corrosive pure rainwater is. Not because it is acid, but rather hungry for ions. I had another galvanized fitting corrode within 6 months.
The answer is simple. Use either stainless steel, as seen in the center, or polypropylene on the right.

Raines-WH sells the stainless 2″ x 3″ nipple for $5.91 and Triple S Feed sells the polypropylene version for $2.95

In the last photo below you see my latest configuration. All fittings are 2″.
I particularly like the versatility of the cam-loc pair of fittings on the right, allowing quick change of discharge or even filling the tank from a truck.
Notice the SS punch-loc hose clamp.

Please Note:
If this rainwater is to be used for drinking, the PVC ball valve should be replaced with either stainless steel or one made of polypropylene.
Also, the PVC green tubing should be replaced with 2″ EPDM rubber hose.

PVC is the only major plastic that contains chlorine, so it is unique in the hazards it creates.
Vinyl chloride leaches from PVC pipes causing an increased risk of cancer.
https://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/
https://healthybuilding.net/blog/106-usgbc-pvc-is-not-a-healthy-building-material

Any questions or comments? Sincerely, Terry Raines

By |2020-02-02T19:05:20+00:00 2, January 2019|Informative|

Golden Age of Plumbing

Greetings RW Harvesters,

As you know from installing your Collection System,
we are now in the golden age of plumbing.

The Romans taught us never to use lead pipes for drinking water, so we don’t.

Galvanized pipes fail and corrode in as little as 6 months, so we don’t use that.

Copper pipes pinhole for so many reasons, and contaminants rainwater, so we don’t use that.

PVC pipes break, and some say the glue is not good in drinking water, so we don’t use that.

But as we enter this new century, we have wonderful piping materials available.

Stainless Steel is used for all the fittings and valves.
PEX is used for all inside piping, and is tough and healthy.
And HDPE 500 foot coils are used for all the longer outdoor runs.

But alas, there is one little glitch.  The fittings commonly available for the PEX pipe are brass.
Brass is so much better than copper, but it will corrode because of the aggressive rainwater.

So we made male adaptors out of Stainless Steel.
The 1″ adaptor is only  $4.85 ea, and the 3/4″ is  $3.15 ea

We will be making the Tees and Elbows, but this will get you started.

Thanks for your interest,  Terry Raines    512-466-4319

By |2020-02-02T19:11:43+00:00 8, September 2018|News|

Rain Roof

Attention RW Harvesters,

Check out this RainRoof, standing tall and proud above the Texas Hill Country,
and the 30,000 gallon tank.

Alas, if only it could also be solar panels, to provide the Texas homestead with both water and power.

Think AquaSol Array,
Terry

By |2020-02-02T19:11:10+00:00 2, September 2018|News|
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