half full or half empty?

Pleased to report that we are now HARVESTING RAINWATER!

Just to remind you, here’s the view inside the tank Thursday night before the rain:

tank completely empty

And here’s the view on Saturday after an inch of rainfall:

tank half full

So look at that! Just one inch of rain collected off our roof filled the tank about 2.5′. The highest the water can rise is 4’6″ where the overflow pipe starts channeling water out into the overflow trench. Not bad! (The floaty stuff is plastic shavings… don’t worry, we skimmed those off.)

David has a grand plan to hook up a solar-powered pump to the tank, but until then we’re using a cheapo submersible sump pump…

david installing pump

With the garden hose hooked up to the pump and the whole contraption in hand, David slowly dropped it down into the tank…

david submerges pump

He made sure the hose and electrical cord were threaded through the top of the manhole cover, of course…

david closes tank

Then we plugged in the cord and turned on the hose…

first water from our tank

And voila! We can now water with rain! *touchdown dance*… *fist pump*… *chest bump*

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3 Responses to “half full or half empty?”

  1. Joe says:

    why the ‘J’ for the inlet? We’re just about to bury our 1700 gallon Ace Roto-Mold cistern and I’m rapidly trying to figure just what I’m supposed to do after we bury it.

  2. Brook says:

    Sorry, meant to respond sooner! The J inlet keeps the new water that comes into the tank from disturbing the silt and stuff that settles on the bottom.

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