Rainwater Collection

Rainwater Collection in modern urban areas is something that is still new and at its infancy in many respects but with many areas these days experiencing changing climates the installation of rainwater collection systems is now becoming more popular.

The biggest question for many home owners is how to go about implementing rainwater collection and what type of rainwater collection system to install. There are many types on the market but broadly speaking you can divide rainwater collection systems into above ground and below ground systems.

When making your choice there is much to consider. Below ground rainwater collection systems are obviously the most efficient at collecting as much rainwater as possible. The fact that the inlet to the tank is below ground level allows rainwater to be diverted easily by the use of gravity from all of the roof area, thus maximising the rainwater collection potential of your roof. Despite being very efficient, below ground rainwater collection systems can be expensive to install. Installation costs include excavating the site and lack of access to existing residences can make these systems prohibitive to many houses.

Above ground rainwater collection systems are entirely different. These consist of rainwater tanks made of from plastic, concrete, stainless steel and timber, etc, etc. Set up costs for above ground rainwater collection systems are typically viable to most households. In most cases all that's required to start with is to connect a rainwater tank to a downpipe, then connect an overflow, add a pump and then sit back and start collecting rainwater. Rainwater collection using this method can be limiting, unless you live in a very high rainfall area as rainwater collection from just one downpipe typically doesn't yield large quantities of rainwater.

So on face value it appears as if both of the above mentioned rainwater collection methods do have their limitations. There is a solution though, a rainwater collection system that takes the best features of the other two systems and combines them. So the requirements for this system would obviously be to take the above ground rainwater collection system which is more adaptable, relatively easy and inexpensive to install and then install it so that it can collect rainwater from the entire roof area of a house.

The ability of a rainwater collection system to collect rainwater from the entire area of a roof is very important to make such a system viable and efficient. A rainwater tank collecting rainwater from just one downpipe may only collect rainwater from 10 -20% of a roof area. In my case when I first installed my above ground rainwater collection system it only collected rainwater from 16% of my roof area. This meant that I could only collect enough rainwater to fill my 4,500 litre (1,190 USGal) rainwater tank less than three times throughout the year. Now through some simple inexpensive modifications that rainwater tank can collect rainwater from more that 60% of my roof area. This now means I can collect enough rainwater to fill my rainwater tank 10 times through the year.

So you can see, it is possible to turn an inefficient above ground rainwater collection system into an efficient rainwater collection system. I managed to do it with ease and with a minimum of cost. In fact I've just written an eBook about how I went about it. It's about how to plan and design your above ground rainwater collection system. When I first decided to collect rainwater from my roof I had very little knowledge on how to set it up as there was very little assistance available. As a consequence I made mistakes but it also led me to discover ways to connect as much of roof area as possible to my rainwater tank. These methods are simple and inexpensive to install and don't involve installing extra plumbing to direct rainwater around the outside of your house to you rainwater water tank.

So whether you need to design a rainwater collection system from scratch or if you already have a rainwater collection system that is under performing I can show you what you need to know so you can design or improve your own cost effective system. Then you can start saving money both straight away and in the long term and most importantly, maximise your rainwater collection.

When designing an efficient rainwater collection system it is important that you can collect rainwater from as much of your roof area as possible.

Most people use most of of their collected rainwater during the summer when they might not be receiving as much rainfall. This means that during the summer months when your collected rainwater is getting low you can really maximise your rainwater collection if you do get some rainfall.

This means you will have more water to use when you need it most. So you can see, the more of your roof area you can collect rainwater from the better and the great thing is that it's really easy to do.