rain water and tanks?

[Padams]

Has or does anyone use stored rainwater for their tanks?

Do you have to de-clor it?

Any known toxins that need to be removed? and how?

I am trying to find a way to justify a custom tank and was thinking of using stored run-off as the primary h2o source. I will be using tap as a back-up and am looking into solar powered filters and heaters. Also I might attempt a auto fill using a system similar to toilet tank float combined w/ an upper gravity feed tank.

Thanks for the input.

[Northernguy]

There is no chlorine in rain water.
What bothers me about it is what it picks up on the way to your rain barrel.
There is another thread about it here somewhere.We did discuss it quite a bit last year.

[Lady Hobbs]

I saved it for awhile but after reading of all the contaiments in rainwater now, I stopped. You can get a ton of rainwater with run offs from your roof but with asbestes shingles, etc, who knows how safe it is. I would think water that's from the tap and has been purified should be safer. But, what do I know!

[MonkeyPox]

Rain water certainly isn't safe.

[Padams]

The thought process was to run in through a filter system of carbon and pool sand 1st and then see what is left.

I know it ain't the best but even with the asphalt shingles it has to be more pure than tap form a lot of stuff. I base this suspicion on you can use well water, correct?

[MonkeyPox]

You can use well water, though it tends to have much more tds then tap water. If you live in a farming region, there is greater chance for pesticides.

[Padams]

tds? is what?

[bushwhacker]

total dissolved solids

[Ampatent]

Have you thought about backup power for your solar powered filter and heater idea? Also, depending on how close to an industrial city you live, the rain water can pick up massive amounts of carbon from the sky as it falls to Earth.

[Wild Turkey]

You dont want to use 100% rain water, or use it all if you live in the city basically.

I also agree about the gutters, I would build a small still out of a tarp and barrel if I lived in the country and intended to use it, your gutters are full of who knows what.

Great to top off with, I hear.

[bushwhacker]

wild turkey got a point here rain water is basically the same as distilled, you wont have the minerals so if you use it you would have to add these back... to my mind tho thats a lot safer than some folks tap water

[bushwhacker]

Have you thought about backup power for your solar powered filter and heater idea? Also, depending on how close to an industrial city you live, the rain water can pick up massive amounts of carbon from the sky as it falls to Earth.

ampatent it wouldnt be the carbon so much that i would worry about it would be the sulpher dioxides

[Aeonflame]

One of the good things about living on a little tropical island is that the rainwater is pretty clean. I use it all the time.

[Nobodynotime]

I use it all the time and have never had a problem with it. I'd be more worried with what your water comes through on the way to your house from the city ( Old Pipes, chemicals, seepage) that I would my gutters and such.

[Deleted User]

You can use well water, though it tends to have much more tds then tap water. If you live in a farming region, there is greater chance for pesticides.
We have well water. What is "tds"? Ours is tested potable (of course) and we drink it, our pets drink it, our horses drink it, and our fish live in it thumbs2:

I agree about not using rain water...


Edit: I just didn't read far enough, but I still don't know "what" is in the "total disolved solids"? I tell you, if you drank my well water, you'd never drink city water again and wouldn't waste your money on bottled, either. It is SO good!

[bushwhacker]

jill my brother has a well for his property and the only thing better is driving 30 miles up the mountain to a spring i know of and bringing it home in barrels

[Nobodynotime]

Hating on the rain water! I think its much safer than most folks drinking water.

[MonkeyPox]

Rain water contains dust particles, bacteria, airborne chemicals, protozoa, and runoff if you've collected it from a roof rain barrel (horrible idea btw).

That said, municipal water also contains a ton of nasty items as well, though some are killed off by chlorine and chloramine, which rain water doesn't have the advantage of being filtered through.

Unless you live in an area with a high concentration of airborne pollutants, Houston for example, rain water probably qualifies as safe enough. Don't be fooled into thinking it is pure, however.

[Dave66]

I pump rainwater through an RO/DI unit before use. I live in a pretty clean area (Ozark Mountain foot hills) but peace of mind is priceless. I use rainwater partial changes during the rainy season months of the ancestors of my fish if I wish to have them spawn.

Dave

[Padams]

I actually live in the N GA foothills so air is a lot cleaner than you BIG city. (I would never attempt this there) Thought was with pool filter sand and some carbon the water should come out pretty clean. I am not designing the wheel just using it differently.

Rain water filters through soil and through leach field (if you have septic and almost all wells would) it still comes out in pretty good quality. The same water goes to local rivers and streams and the fish there survive (unless acted upon by and out side pollutant).

So in theory the water should be as good if not better than "natural habitat" water.

Whether you collect directly from gutters or separate collection system, passing it through the s&c filter would remove the junk. You would have to check hardness, but that should be only minor obstacle.