- Thread starter zoomzx11
- Start date
Filling my cistern
Are you sure there's no water? Or do you mean no water without digging a well?
I set up a sand/media filter once many years ago. Two 500 gallon tanks. One full of sand and carbon with a permeable cloth at the botton and then into a second tank used for the house supply.
All we had to do to rinse it was close the valve between the two tanks and let the filter tank overflow while we agitated the sand.
Always worked pretty well.
Sounds great.
The water will be for general house use. Cannot be worse than what Coraplata has been on and off pumping in quality.
Not figuring on drinking it.
I found some plans in the net.
When can you guys start work?
Had the "well people" out looking for water and found nothing.
We are up the hill so I am not surprised.
Have had a system for year. Gutters; many ways to do this. Downspouts with "First Flush" system can be found on Amazon. Plumbed to cistern. Filter and UV Sanitizer system and you can drink from any tap after sanitizers in pipes.
Really easy and not that complicated or expensive. 1" of rain harvests 2,000 gallons into our cistern tanks.
We throw a pool chlorine puck into the cistern every month.
Really easy and not that complicated or expensive. 1" of rain harvests 2,000 gallons into our cistern tanks.
We throw a pool chlorine puck into the cistern every month.
We only do industrial projects. This is an easy thing to do on your own. I don't care if you're going to drink it or not, you will have to chlorinate (Install a PVC t with a large tube going up with a screw on cap in 3-4" from a fill pipe off the roof in 2" with a screen covering a 3x2" bushing you glue into the 3"T } Then fill the top with Calcium chloride chlorine pillows.. Pretty cheap and easy. The filter can be an open tank filled with large gravel and smaller gravel with sand over it that filters the bird poop, leaves and dirt out before going into the cistern.. Keep it simple. It's not rocket science.. It's just water treatment and it's easy..
Thanks for all your input.
I am all in and just have to run it by the wife who knows everything.
She will think about it for a while and then she will tell me it was her idea and she wants to do it.
Hopefully I can get out a bit from under the thumb of Coraplata.
I am all in and just have to run it by the wife who knows everything.
She will think about it for a while and then she will tell me it was her idea and she wants to do it.
Hopefully I can get out a bit from under the thumb of Coraplata.
While you are all worried a bit about your roof water being a bit dirty you should ask the water delivery guys where they get the water they sell you. A few have told me it comes straight from a river
And no prizes for guessing how many times they actually cleaned the tank on the lorry......
Zoomer wasn't worried about his cisterns water quality. What I was pointing out was that anyone using a cistern needs to keep it properly chlorinated. If you bathe in it, brush your teeth, wash dishes.. Whatever.. For safety reasons, it needs to be chlorinated. Post filtration before the water enters into the house is also highly recommended.. However, do what you will.. It's your cistern and I'm just a crazy desalination engineer that doesn't know squat.
I don't know how many times I've told people here that very thing. As you probably know, most of the time I get blank stares.
Its me alone I am all in for making the water as sanitary as possible.
Never liked nor trusted the quality of the tank truck deliveries.
First step is have the wife join in on the idea of cistern/rainwater idea.
Second step is discuss the importance of insuring the water is clean.
Third step is to brace myself to shut up when the clean water filtration idea is met with "we don't need that".
All this from a person who pours money into new construction constantly on a house we hardly use. and likely will never be able to sell, "cause I like it".
I like real estate Buy, hold on for a time and sell for a profit. Not a thing that happens much in the DR.
Wife falls in love with houses with a little of keeping up with the Rodriguez's.
I know beans about cistern/rain fill systems but I am an expert at staying happily married.
Who knows she may even go along with it. There is no telling.
Meanwhile I will save my protests for the really big stuff.
Thanks to all who offered their knowledge. I had no idea you guys knew so much about cistern water systems
Never liked nor trusted the quality of the tank truck deliveries.
First step is have the wife join in on the idea of cistern/rainwater idea.
Second step is discuss the importance of insuring the water is clean.
Third step is to brace myself to shut up when the clean water filtration idea is met with "we don't need that".
All this from a person who pours money into new construction constantly on a house we hardly use. and likely will never be able to sell, "cause I like it".
I like real estate Buy, hold on for a time and sell for a profit. Not a thing that happens much in the DR.
Wife falls in love with houses with a little of keeping up with the Rodriguez's.
I know beans about cistern/rain fill systems but I am an expert at staying happily married.
Who knows she may even go along with it. There is no telling.
Meanwhile I will save my protests for the really big stuff.
Thanks to all who offered their knowledge. I had no idea you guys knew so much about cistern water systems
Perhaps they like/prefer those strange rashes that appear in certain places.
You need to mingle with the common folk a bit more
Everyone knows that fried salami once a day keeps the rashes at bay.......
And if you forgot to eat your daily ration of induveca, we have the ultimate weapon against rashes: vicks vapor rub !!!!
On a more serious note, I am content just to have constant running water.
We just had 9 days without water supply, and it's sad to see how people have to make-do.
It took some time, and I lost all my hair ( just kidding ), and fed 4 " plumbers" to the dogs ( just half kidding ) to get my water " circuit" how I want it.
-Mains to tinaco(s).
-Mains to cistern when tinacos full.
-Cistern to tinaco and house circuit, when needed ( and w/o having to go outside to prime pump).
-Ladrona ( don't pretend you don't know what that means
) to come on line when the mains are flowing for 4 hours every 2 days.-rain water to storage for garden/conuco.
It's not science/engineering here in the DR campo to keep the water flowing , it is an art !
We use the chlorine pucks in both our cistern and our tinaco. The Dominicans around us think we’re nuts.