Long term water storage

[GeekOKent]

Now for something different. ..

ThamesWater doing some routine waterworks decided it would be fun to drill through the main waterline. 24hrs and counting of no water in the taps now. They say it should be back sometime overnight.

Got me thinking what's the best way to store water longer term to avoid / work around such situations. Not super keen on these plastic containers with stationary water. Also, plumbing in a large water tank into the house supply seems a bit 1975... mind you '75 was a great year over all.

So if we wanted to store 200 to 250ltr of water ideally to keep it usable as tap water, what are the options like? The only way to keep it fresh would be to have it be a part of an inuse tap.

Thinking of looking into these stainless steel wine making vat's and plumbing it into the washing machine. It wouldnt be too much of a hassle adding taps to it. And they are not nearly as expensive as the glass ones.

Is there a better / alternate arrangement ? If the water is restocking ( as it would f plumbed to the washing machine ) are the PE tanks ok ?

 

[StarCruiser]

Something like this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161650577518
plumbed into your mains cold KB with a double check valve on the inlet is the sort of thing you need. This will give you water storage at mains pressure (diminishing with use) and is suitable for potable water. In fact this sort of thing is used with booster sets for areas with low water pressure. You may need to take some advice from a supplier as to suitability for a constant pressure connection as without fluctuation the water could remain unchanged which may be a concern or may not, i'm not sure which. There may be a connector that allows water to flow through the vessel but I've never seen one. One could easily be made if not.

However, I must say, apart from once a couple of years ago, I cannot remember the last time we had no water. It may rarely get used.

 

[clivehorridge]

My experience of water shortage is different and we have set up our supply to suit it, so it may not be relevant or practicable in your case GoK.

Our supply used to be infrequent, 1 hour per day at times and we didn't know which hour that would be!

For this reason we installed ('70's style) a 300 lt plastic holding tank in the basement complete with filters 'cos we're never quite sure of what comes in with the water, sand and the like.

Everything starts with our basement, so delivery to the whole house is by electric pump. That in itself is not ideal because there are times when the power supply is interrupted too .

We now have a switch over by-pass so if the power does go off, we can run directly from the mains "in".

Under normal circumstances, we always have 300 lt in reserve in case of a shortage at the main and it's continuously refreshed.

I've also got a genny on stand-by, big enough to run the house even if the leccy goes off. 20 lt of petrol always at hand in a steel gerrycan in the shed, all we need to do now is grow our own veggies

 

[Pumpy]

chlorinated tap water is good for 6 months in food grade plastic if stored in cool dark place, for longer than 6 months just rotate it.

I'd avoid stainless, can't use chlorine.

 

[GeekOKent]

Woo, water back this morning. We woke to the sound of mini explosions in the taps' as all the airlocks got cleared out.

this is the 4th time in the last 18 months that we've had a water outage, I guess living in suburban London has its benefits.

@StarCruier - that just seems like a lot more work than I want to take on, Just having a large can with enough so we dont need to plan out supermarket runs, or visits to friends places miles away with buckets. @clivehorridge that sounds like my cousins setup in Malaysia. they have a similar problem with water supply only on a few hrs /day!

@Pumpy interesting. I hadn't though through the chlorine bit. Am keen to keep the water in rotation, hence the desire to plumb it into the washing machine supply ( well, and the wash room out back is nice and cool/dark, and is the only place I have space in the house.. ). Will investigate the glass vat options as well, but maybe the food grade PE will do.

humm

 

[flint]

Overkill for occasional outages, but similar setup to Clives here, no mains though. Spring fed 5000 litre UV stabilised potable black P.E. tank with constant flow (keeps fresh). 1/4 mile of blue pipe runs downhill (so good pressure) underground, into filters (20 micron, then 5 micron, then carbon filter), on through UV steriliser, then into a ph correction vessel (stops the acidic water eating copper pipes and hot water tank) and then into the house. Backup genny, only 2kw but hardly ever needed these days (why did I say that ?). When I remember, I refresh the petrol in the gerry can to stop it going off and give the genny a run (Honda engine, always starts first or second pull, doesn’t shake the ground like the old Listers). On the chlorination front, I have been advised that an egg cupful of ordinary bleach (the thin stuff, not the clingon variety) would be enough for a 1000 litre IBC tank.

 

[Shayne]

Fish tank air pump ?

 

[clivehorridge]

Overkill for occasional outages, but similar setup to Clives here, no mains though. Spring fed 5000 litre UV stabilised potable black P.E. tank with constant flow (keeps fresh). 1/4 mile of blue pipe runs downhill (so good pressure) underground, into filters (20 micron, then 5 micron, then carbon filter), on through UV steriliser, then into a ph correction vessel (stops the acidic water eating copper pipes and hot water tank) and then into the house. Backup genny, only 2kw but hardly ever needed these days (why did I say that ?). When I remember, I refresh the petrol in the gerry can to stop it going off and give the genny a run (Honda engine, always starts first or second pull, doesn’t shake the ground like the old Listers). On the chlorination front, I have been advised that an egg cupful of ordinary bleach (the thin stuff, not the clingon variety) would be enough for a 1000 litre IBC tank.

Oh, Flint, tempting providence....

Sounds like you have a very sophisticated set-up, but necessary though when pulling the stuff out of the ground.

We're lucky to be on a mains supply and these days we have less of the one hour a day syndrome, it's almost reliable now.

The filters we have are just for sand really, they dig up and disturb the main pipe so regularly that we're always getting sand in the system.

Our genny is 7.5 kW, so apart from emergency electric radiators, we can run the whole house. Our heating is gas, so the c/h unit only needs a small power supply to stop it kicking out, the rest is only the draw from the circulating pumps.

The anti chlorine characteristics of stainless is news to me, interesting. We have no additives in our mains water, no chlorine, no fluoride. Whether that's good or not seems to be an endless debate.

 

[Pumpy]

On the chlorination front, I have been advised that an egg cupful of ordinary bleach (the thin stuff, not the clingon variety) would be enough for a 1000 litre IBC tank.

sounds about right, I've always used 1 teaspoon to 10 gallons - that's regular domestic bleach with 5% Sodium Hypochlorite, there are different concentrations depending on brand so it's worth checking. We use black 25l stackable food grade plastic drums, works out at 2.5ml per drum, you can get the drums for £7 each.

 

[flint]

Oh, Flint, tempting providence....

Yes, probably unwise, but to be fair to them, the electric infrastructure people round here are a lot better these days. Every year a skilfully piloted helicopter goes low along the lines to check for problems (new transformer last year) and they send (and pay for) tree surgeons to do any trimming if needed. They even pay a small rent (wayleaves) for the posts !
I put the water system together after lots of reading up, many ££ saved with a bit of diy and shopping around.

 

[StarCruiser]

Chlorine in higher concentrations puts holes in stainless. Especially around welds as it reacts with the carbon in it.

I would say chlorine in tapwater good to keep bugs down (although it doesn't seem to stop the legionella here) and fluoride a definate nono.

 

[Pat]

we have our own supply,5000 gals off the roof which is zincalume corrugated iron,had it for about 45 years,cleaned the tank out twice and if we run short have a spring which we can pump from.electric pressure pump 30psi.and a
4 kW generator if needed.Also have our own septic tank system.All very common in rural NZ.We don't use any filters and have had the water laboratory tested,better than public supplies.

 

[flint]

When we first came here 30 years ago, we got the water tested and it passed with flying colours too, cleaner than the mains. Farming has changed and slurry spreading is now the norm, not good, even if a bore hole is used treatment is needed. Recently here, German legislation was discussed regarding the phasing out of the internal combustion engine, but farming practises, particularly beef and dairy production, do just as much if not more damage.

 

[Ian Chuter]

When we first came here 30 years ago, we got the water tested and it passed with flying colours too, cleaner than the mains. Farming has changed and slurry spreading is now the norm, not good, even if a bore hole is used treatment is needed. Recently here, German legislation was discussed regarding the phasing out of the internal combustion engine, but farming practises, particularly beef and dairy production, do just as much if not more damage.

Maybe.................but you can't eat an engine can you

 

[Pat]

we have our own supply,5000 gals off the roof which is zincalume corrugated iron,had it for about 45 years,cleaned the tank out twice and if we run short have a spring which we can pump from.electric pressure pump 30psi.and a
4 kW generator if needed.Also have our own septic tank system.All very common in rural NZ.We don't use any filters and have had the water laboratory tested,better than public supplies.

 

[GeekOKent]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37600533

A number of vehicles crumpled after polystyrene insulation under the floor appeared to float or swell, forcing them into the concrete ceiling above.

could'nt make it up.

 

[StarCruiser]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37600533

A number of vehicles crumpled after polystyrene insulation under the floor appeared to float or swell, forcing them into the concrete ceiling above.

could'nt make it up.

Saw this. Polystyrene is used to make up ground and of course is open cell and therefore hygroscopic. Quite amazing really. At least they weren't flooded.

 

[GeekOKent]

Saw this. Polystyrene is used to make up ground and of course is open cell and therefore hygroscopic. Quite amazing really. At least they weren't flooded.

are you implying that this is regular practise ( using polystyrene in this way ? ) - that just sounds wrong on so many levels. And given how wet this country is, surely someone somewhere must have realised this problem before now.

 

[StarCruiser]

are you implying that this is regular practise ( using polystyrene in this way ? ) - that just sounds wrong on so many levels. And given how wet this country is, surely someone somewhere must have realised this problem before now.

Not sure but I have seen on TV railway tracks built up on polystyrene.

 

[flint]

Quite common as underfloor insulation, Jablite is the trade name. It’s closed cell and available in different compression strengths for different concrete floor thicknesses.