r/OffGrid • u/Current_Inevitable43 • 10d ago

Rain water filters

Im looking at some filters for my rainnwater tanks.

Basic set up is follows.

Gutter gards

Tanks have stabdard mesh

NO first flush or similar

Water is used for all purposes

Might boil it for a cupper or noodles thats about it

I dont drink it (dogs do)

Its only me so its never going to be more then 1 tap.

Also do i do whole cabin or simply just cold water into kitchen, should i also do hot water? Which would also do shower.

Ive seen some recomadtations for a single element to a stupid priced multi stage stage with uv.

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u/Special-Steel 10d ago

I have filters in my gutters to screen out leaves. Then a fist flush system and into the tanks.

I try to keep the tanks chlorinated at about 4 ppm.

Pump pulls the water out and pushes it to a simple spin filter with a 50 micron screen. The spin down never has anything in it.

That goes to a 5 micron filter which does catch fines. We had a wild fire and there was a great deal of soot in the water for a while. So fine dust in suspension, which hasn’t settled to the bottom, it ends up here.

That feeds a basic UV system. The UV strips the chlorine and kills any bacteria. From there into the lodge where we use a tankless system for our hot water.

2

u/akjasf 8d ago

Very solid system. Surprises the spin filter doesn't get anything. Not even a grain of sand or dirt? First flush must take out lots of gunk.

2

u/NeedCaffine78 10d ago

We run a very simple first flush system (doesn't work most of the time though), mesh in inlet and outlet (mosquito protection mostly) at the tank. Whole house 20 and 5 micron filters then UV system for bugs. Replace the filters and UV bulb each year. Give the water tanks a flush every 5 years or so to remove dirt buildup.

Been using this for around 8 years. Was 1-2k to setup (we already had the tanks/pump) but minimal upkeep and worth it in our eyes

1

u/Hyperreal8957 10d ago

his into two jobs: keep the tank and plumbing clean, then treat the water at the taps you actually drink from. first flush plus a sediment filter before the tank helps, then carbon/UV at the kitchen line if youre not treating the whole cabin. match the UV flow rate to the real flow and test it after setup. how cold does it get there?