Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Maren on February 23, 2012, 06:31:46 PM

Title: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Maren on February 23, 2012, 06:31:46 PM
Hi,

I collect lots of water from my glass roofs. I have gutter guards everywhere, which prevent larger items such as leaves and twigs entering. But sometimes a leaf gets through and creates a blockage. When that happens, all the dust on the glass roofs, which combines with the shade paint into a gray sludge, blocks the in-line filters.

Can anyone think of a way of filtering the water so that the solids drop out somewhere automatically and the clean water flows into the water butts? ??? ??? ???
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Maggi Young on February 23, 2012, 06:34:49 PM
Leaf Eater Ultra™. " Simple and effective downpipe filter which throws the leaves and debris out the side and lets clean water down the downpipe. A product of Rain Harvesting Pty Ltd Australia, stocked in Peterborough. "
List Price: £34.99
Price: £34.99 (£41.99 Inc. VAT)

.... it also says its out of stock! http://www.rainwaterharvesting.co.uk/products.php?cat=7
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: David Nicholson on February 23, 2012, 07:06:54 PM
Old pair of tights FREE. Bet Ian agrees with me, can't see him spending £42 quid on a filter
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: ronm on February 23, 2012, 07:13:13 PM
Remember to take your legs out of them though David ;).
When did Ian get involved? poor guy, dragged in.
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: chasw on February 23, 2012, 07:15:59 PM
I use an old kitchen sieve on the end of the spout before the water goes into the barrel 50p
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: David Nicholson on February 23, 2012, 07:18:04 PM
Remember to take your legs out of them though David ;).
When did Ian get involved? poor guy, dragged in.

I treat my tights far better than that ;D Ian's the past master at solving a technical problem whilst spending the minimum amount of cash on it :P
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: ronm on February 23, 2012, 07:20:16 PM
 :o :o :o
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Maggi Young on February 23, 2012, 07:35:37 PM
Remember to take your legs out of them though David ;).
When did Ian get involved? poor guy, dragged in.

I treat my tights far better than that ;D Ian's the past master at solving a technical problem whilst spending the minimum amount of cash on it :P

Ian favours  cylinders of folded 15mm chicken wire,( to reduce gap sizes) scrunched into the tops of the downpipes. Not pretty , but pretty effective.  They  need clearing out quite often, though.
The one you pay for "says" it chucks the debris out the side so it won't need clearing so often?  :-\ 
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Martinr on February 23, 2012, 09:27:44 PM
I use partly teased out metal pan scourers, same ones I use for scrubbing salt accumulations off clay pots to keep show judges happy, pretty cheap but require fairly frequent declogging.
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: ronm on February 23, 2012, 09:30:15 PM
Not a nice thing to say about the show judges Martin! :o :o :o :o
Please tell us more about the scourers.
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Lesley Cox on February 23, 2012, 09:38:44 PM
How do you declog a show judge? ;D
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: ronm on February 23, 2012, 09:45:24 PM
and if you do, do you get points added or deducted? ??? ??? ???
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Martinr on February 23, 2012, 09:47:28 PM
You lot are just trying to get me into trouble >:( I did say I scrubbed the pots. There are few things worse on the show bench than encrusted clay pots with a good coating of algae.

Scourers are available in the kitchen areas most home hardware shops and supermarkets, unfortunately these days I can only find the steel ones and not copper. When you've scrubbed with the steel you then have to wash off the black smears it leaves behind.
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Lesley Cox on February 23, 2012, 10:55:31 PM
And if you scrub with steel wool (Steelo) you are likely to get the most vicious tiny splinters of metal in your fingers. Fortunately I can still get copper wool at my supermarket and it seems to be in a continuous thread, all bunched up to make a ball of sorts, with no beginning or end so nothing to pierce the skin. :D
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Maren on February 23, 2012, 11:25:28 PM
...where were we??? oh yes, filters.

How and where do you attach the ladies tights? I am talking downpipes here ;) ;) ;)
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Anthony Darby on February 24, 2012, 08:46:27 AM
Tights only get rid of the lumpy bits.
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Armin on February 24, 2012, 10:00:12 AM
Maren,

there is a new filter system from a Saxon vendor. The benefit is you can see the degree of dirt in the filter due transparent pipe, easy in handling and adaptable to many downpipes-Ø.  There's a video to explain the function and an online-shop too.

http://www.fallrohr-filter.de/home-fallrohrfilter.html (http://www.fallrohr-filter.de/home-fallrohrfilter.html)
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: Maren on February 24, 2012, 10:12:24 AM
Armin,
that's a beautiful filter, I love it's functionality, but not the price. I'd need 3, one for each greenhouse. Including tax and delivery charges, it'll come to roughly £400. I think it'll have to be ladies' tights for the moment. But thank you for finding it. I wish... :) :) :)
Title: Re: How to filter rain water ???
Post by: John85 on February 24, 2012, 06:05:59 PM
Maren
You can make something similar to the filter seen in the video with the filter of a old washing machine.I made one for the greenhouse.It is smaller but for a few square meters it is fine.For the downpipe of the garage I invested a couple of pounds and bought one used in a spraying machine behind a tractor.You can buy it as spare part and some are not expensive.Of course it needs some work to adapt it but you may be lucky and the diameter may be the same.
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