Home Page - Copy - Harvesting Rain Water

Home Page - Copy

Harvesting rain water is a very simple task, all you have to do is capture it into some form of container.

So why do so many people have difficulty?

Could it be because?

everyone is an expert
everyone offering advise thinks that there is a dollar to be made
everyone doing it thinks that it is a major plumbing job
everyone believes it is expensive to retrofit water capture to an existing house
everyone thinks you need large pipes (90mm/100mm) to move lots of water fast
everyone thinks a plumber is required

This website exists to dispel some myths, it is also here to show you how you can do most of it yourself and of course also to extol the virtues of the truly clever 3 in 1 Supadiverta made by Aquatrek. We won't offer much proof here, this is an overview! Links to either the Supadiverta or the Aquatrek pages to prove each and every claim will be provided! If you still have questions, please use our Contact Form or email us, we guarantee we can prove everything we say.

First off all we need to dispel the myth that to move lots of water you need to use big pipes.

This is not the case!! A pipe with a relatively small cross section full of water running syphonically can move an astounding amount of water. Check out your local shopping complex, arena or large factory. Most of these structures no longer use multiple large diameter pipework to drain rainwater from the roof, they use syphonic flow to suck the water from the roof!!

Your house downpipes drain the water from the guttering, but they never run full of water, they are not designed to run syphonically so they will always contain 2/3 air and 1/3 water even in the heaviest rain. A 20/25mm pipe running syphonically will move more water.

With this knowledge you can now stop worrying about the need to buy large pipes and dig deep trenches to protect them, we are going to use/recommend 20mm PVC pressure pipe (you can also use even cheaper 20/25mm polypipe).

Now the myth about needing to fill a water tank from the top inlet.

If you look at 99% of existing water tanks the rainwater enters at the top inlet, this either requires pipes to be plumbed underground to the tank then rise vertically with a bend at the top to direct the water to the inlet or be strung from the house or the building directly to the top inlet.

Both of these scenarios are bad, the first one can't help but collect silt, sediment and debris in the pipe just before it rises up the tank wall, the second limits the distance that tank can be from the wall unless you have a skyhook available to you. In both cases you must make provision for overflow when the tank is full.

Decide where you want your tank, this can be anywhere you like within reason, but the top of the tank must be lower than your house/building guttering.

Now add a supadiverta to each downpipe that will service the tank, the more the merrier. Just remember you need to height adjust the supadiverta so that the fill line is no higher than the maximum storage of the tank. The simplest way to do this is with a garden hose full of water (unlike a string line or laser level, the hose can go around buildings and obstacles).

Once fitted, add 20mm pressure pipe to the secondary outlet (for the moment, leave the primary outlet plugged because we will talk about first flush later, the primary outlet is the middle one, the secondary is closest to the downpipe) long enough to reach the ground or just below if you prefer. Now add a right angle bend and attach suitable pipe to reach the bottom of the water tank. If the tank is not far away, 20mm pipe will be fine, but if you have to go a long way or are using 3 or more supadivertas, then 30 or 40mm pipe will do the trick.

Connect the pipe to the bottom outlet of your tank. When the tank fills it will never overflow!

The Supadiverta incorporates leaf and debris diversion. Unlike the antiquated systems you see on other websites or installed by supposed experts, there is no impediment to the water flow. Rudimentary inspection and cleaning once or twice a year will be more than sufficient, and unlike off the shelf leaf diverters and eaters, the supadiverta will never block and impede water flow. You can drop a ball into the downpipe and it will flow all the way into the stormwater system, try doing that with a standard leaf diverter fitted to the downpipe!

Don't like the idea of first flush entering your drinking water? Problem solved! Fit the Supadiverta First Flush system to the primary outlet. All the debris, bird droppings and sediment will be captured by the first flush system. The amount you sacrifice will be directly proportional the the length of pipe you use.

And there is a bonus! Unlike any other system, the Supadiverta First Flush System has continuous sediment extraction. As the rainfall continues any sediment flushed from the roof will be collected in the First Flush Diverter continuously.