Interim report (2nd post, the 1st apparently didn't go thru)
My origonal plan was to have roof rain water fill the cistern, but there was a problem. The north side of my roof is partially shaded by a big oak tree, and I have spent years experimenting with all types of gutter guards to keep the debris out of the gutter and thus out of the cistern. Meanwhile, I was filling the cistern with spring water and using it during power failures (as long as 4 days) and during the rare drouth. My spring was pretty reliable, flowing 50 gal/min during the normal dry season in the summer.
This changed several years back when we has a multi-year drough that actually caused the spring to stop for a month. The cistern carried me through, and I was able to rig up a temporary water source (puddle) from other nearby springs that flowed enough to let me refill the cistern in
24 hrs when needed even though the flow was too little (less than 2 gpm) for direct household use. This year I saw the drought coming to E. Tn even as the midwest was getting flooded. To really break the drough we need the wind patterns that brought Katrina, and we need winter rains to rebuild the water table - summer rains make the grass green but do not rebuild the water table. I made the decision that I would not be able to use the north roof for cistern water in the forseeable future.So I started a 3-part plan. Part 1 was to separate the water from the north roof from the south roof water and pipe it into the cistern thru a crude bypass valve I fashoned from a 3² cross. This I finished (temporarily) with the drain piped crisscrossing under my porch. My house is built on a hillside, with the north corner porch almost at ground level and the south corner about 13¹ high. The cistern is located next to the porch, the top barely a foot below porch level, so the piping under the porch has very little slope.
Part 2 design is finished (thanks to RCM ideas) and I am accumulating parts. This phase will allow automatic filling of the cistern when we are away or sleeping. It is designed around an Austrailian idea of a ball floating up in a drainpipe and at the top it closes off a tee alowing the roof water to flow horizontally into the cistern. In my case I made 2 changes; I found a nice cheap ($20) 3² valve (google Valterra Bladex) to put at the bottom of the downpipe to divert all the water when the cistern is full, and I¹m using a 4¹ section of 6² pipe to increase the captured volume to 5 gallons before the water is diverted into the cistern. A small calibrated leak will reset the system after the rain stops. I also will likely use a cross at the top instead of a tee so I can see inside and monitor how things are working.
I could have used either a 6² pipe (5 gal) or a 10¹ pipe (16 gal), I had both in my stockpipe. The 6² is a lot easier to work with. In looking at 3² to 6² couplings, it immediately became apparent the price was way too high and I also needed to be able to disassemble the apparatus for maintainance so I¹m going to put flanged ends on the pipes - I¹ll make the low pressure flanges myself since 6² flanges cost a king¹s ransom and are unnecessarily large for such low pressure (3 psi max).
The one part I lack is a floating ball, larger than 3² and smaller than
5². I could use a ballasted 2-liter bottle, but a ball would be more elegant and less likely to hang up. I have not yet found a toy ball of the right size, all ideas appreciated.Part 3 involves the 40 deg flange this thread addresses. This cannot actually be done until the drough breaks and I can empty the cistern. The idea is to replace the crappy (sch 50) pipe I have going into the cistern with a more solid sch 40, and add an overflow pipe (1.5²?). Right now the overflow is around the inlet pipe where the epoxy joint failed. I will also have to enlarge the hole in the SS cistern slightly and add another hole for the overflow. I want the flange so I can grip the inlet (& overflow) pipes so they don¹t wobble and break the joint and keep it light tight and bug proof. I¹ve expanded my ideas a lot from this RCM discussion, I¹m sure I can work something out when the time (and rain) comes.
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