Rainwater for Laundry

[Waxman]

My next water saving project will be collecting rainwater to use in my washing machine. I wash lots and lots of towels for both carwash and detail and this idea could save alot if implemented properly.

I've got the basic idea, but don't have a clue about how to supplement city water into the machine with rainwater.

I assume there must be some type of float inside that turns water supply on and off.

Any ideas? Has anyone done this?

In my scenario, I have storage space above the washing machine to store some rainwater and gravity feed it to the machine.

Thanks!

 

[Randy]

What you?re talking about is ?Rain Water Harvesting? and it?s been done for years in some locations. Yes you can use rain water for your Washing machine, Shower, or Toilet. I?ve been thinking about it for some time. I was kind of surprised at the amount of water that goes on the ground. How much water are we talking about? 2000 sq. Ft. roof X 1? of rain = 1200 gallons of water. The average rain fall in my area is 47? per year, if I collected that water it would amount 56400 gallons of water. My parking lot is 14630 sq ft if I was to collect that water it would amount to over 300K gallons a year. Here are some links to some more information for your lite reading
http://www.rain-barrel.net
http://www.geocities.com/pmm1018/rain_barrel1.html
http://www.darcoinc.com/index.html
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/rainwater/introduction.html

 

[MEP001]

It seems like the same tank/repressurization pump some of us use for reclaiming the RO reject would work. You'd want a filter to protect the pump and washing machine, probably something as simple as a 5 micron whole-house filter. You could even rig up a method of reusing the water for rinsing the towels in the wash cycle for the next batch.

 

[washnvac]

Some municipalities will NOT let you harvest rainwater. It is required for groundwater re-charge. So the debate is: who's water is it? If it falls on my roof, it should be mine, right? Not necessarily, check what the big egos at your local town hall have on the books regarding this.

 

[Waxman]

Thanks. Looked into that already. green lights only.

 

[Waxman]

More Green Lights!!!

Called a friend at MA DEP and asked him about rainwater harvesting. He said it is perfectly legal. His only recommendation was I speak to the board of health locally and ask them, as the tanks may or may not cause mosquitoes to breed. I called him, explained the tanks would not be open tanks and he said go for it.

Now to design a system and plumb it in correctly and inexpensively.

I plan to use the same style Little Giant pump and tanks in succession that I used to recover RO reject in the carwash.

Meeting with the plumber next week. Exciting!

 

[Waxman]

My latest idea is to paint the whole system black so I am pre-heating the water as well while the sun is out.

 

[MEP001]

Good idea, in fact if you don't paint a HDPE plastic tank, it will eventually break down in the sunlight. I was able to punch my fist through the top of a 55-gallon barrel that had been sitting in the sun for a couple years (and won a $20 bet).

 

[pitzerwm]

If you build a frame around the outside of the tank, and cover it with glass, mylar, plastic it will keep the windchill factor off the tank and increase/keep the heat in the tank. A friend of mine just took a 30 gal upright tank painted it black just wrapped cellophane around it and it doubled the heat temp in the tank.

 

[Waxman]

this idea's just getting better and better! Thanks.