Rainwater collection

[Cogcog]

I was thinking about harvesting water from my roof to use to water my soon to be lawn/garden and wash the car as the outside tap we have is on the wrong side of the house and running through a water meter.

Lots of fancy shaped/coloured 750-1000 litre tanks for about £200 but I am thinking 1000 ltr IBC tank for about £50.

Would 1000 litres be enouigh (garden is about 1000 sq meters of mainly lawn).

Other than a firm level base does it need anything else? For example I take it that it shouldn't be too close to the house wall to allow air to circulate or placed over drains as it will be 1000kg when full.

[skip_1]

I'm no expert but through a sprinkler system that would give enough spray to all areas, but would take a while to fill with rainwater.

[craigjm]

I wouldn't worry about collection 1000 litres of rain, looks like its going to be a dry hot summer so you might find yourself 900 litres short by October

[herewego]

You need a strainer to keep leaves and dead birds out and it needs to be dark to prevent algae growing in there.

[otherman]

1000 litres is about the size of a wheelie bin, so realistically you're not going to want anything bigger than that I would think. Foundations shouldn't be a problem since it will be sited near your downpipe so it will probably be on existing hardstanding, all you really need is to avoid soft ground.
How quickly it fills will depend on how much of the roof is routed to it, but if its connect to say a 6m by 3m roof area it would need 55mm rain to fill it, one really big storm or a ten showers.

[thinfourth2]

The problem with an IBC is it clear so you end up with a green stinky soup

[IAmAHorse]

This might help to roughly size a tank?

http://www.rainharvesting.co.uk/pages/design/dsgn4...

[Cogcog]

thinfourth2 said:

The problem with an IBC is it clear so you end up with a green stinky soup

I was thinking about screening it with willow rolls but I hadn't thouight about such growth.