All about rainwater harvesting. We at Rain Brothers, LLC specialize in installing rainwater harvesting systems of all sizes (commercial, industrial, and residential), as well as selling products related to rainwater capture and reuse. Here, we will share our knowledge and years of field experience to help our viewers design and construct a professional-grade system.
Please visit our website: www.rainbrothers.com For questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Pretty clear video, only one question, if the system is 220v then the neutrals (white wires) coming from the pump and the electric panel are just going to connect directly with a wire connector?
Are you using the pump saver to protect the well pump from running dry when filling the storage tank? I am adding 400 gallon storage in basement and already have a pump saver just know my well wont fill sa6 100 gallons of used water from my storage tank
Hi - thanks for writing. Yes, the PumpSaver is used to protect the well pump from running dry. There was a type-o in the second part of your question so I’m not quite sure what you meant
Hi - thanks for the question! We have more videos that go into detail on this point. Here is one that might help answer your question: Installing pump in rain harvest cistern ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2B4wJKUWVzs.html
How do you feed a rain water tank into a house that already has an existing well? The well is already running into the house with a pressure tank and switch.
You can do it a few different ways, but the best way is to use a second pressure tank and tie the two water supplies together (downstream of filtration) and use a series of valves to open one up and close off the other. I would highly recommend incorporating check valves when doing this so the two water systems don’t contaminate each other
I have a question,on your pump installation video using 1” PVC schedule 40 you used a 1 3/4” hole saw. For the vent 2” PVC I’m assuming you use 2 3/4” hole saw? I’m installing my cistern and pump tomorrow, using 1” poly & 2 frost free hydrants. I Purchased, a pump, a vent cap, 2 1” rubber, grommets, and 1 - 2” rubber grommet. Your videos definitely make it look easy. Thanks 4 the video Super helpful
For the 2” gasket, you’ll actually drill a 3” hole. Here is the hole saw size chart for our gaskets: drive.google.com/file/d/1jBcaXIhM8bbcwE48z4LzQyspuHlyGbLT/view If that link doesn’t work, there’s also a link on the product page for the Tank Penetration Gaskets on our website. Thanks so much for your business and for the kind words! Feel free to call or text our shop tomorrow if any part of the install needs clarification
@@rainbrothers thank you for the answer. I actually called your office first thing this morning. The person who answered the phone was very helpful. I actually had a couple of questions, and she answered them perfectly. I wasn’t looking at the chart right. A little intimidated on drilling the hole in the tank.
This demonstration is very well put together. GREAT work. Thank you for taking the time to explain how a top notch underground rain harvest system is installed.
Hey y’all - I should’ve clarified. This is for rainwater leaders (drainage from downspouts)- this is NOT a fix for sanitary/sewer plumbing. Clean water travels thru these pipes - not sewage.
Personally, I struggle with slip couplings. I much prefer Ferncos. But, as they say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@rainbrothers slip couplings are specifically almost a 1/8" larger so it can fit over the pipe I've worked with several slip couplings over the years they're convenient but they're expensive also you got to use Clear primer not purple purple makes it stick too much and makes it harder to work with
@@ronjeremy-s3h Oh yes - I’ve worked with slip couplings a handful of times, but in cases like this where I need to rotate the pipe after installing the tee, it saves a step or two to use Ferncos. Thanks for commenting! Have a good one
These are not sanitary lines - this is rooftop drainage that has already been filtered, so it’s clean water. Sorry, that was not clear, but for those who follow my channel, they would know that
This is downspout drainage - not sewage. That is not clear from my video, so I apologize for the confusion. For those who follow my channel, they know that we don’t do sanitary plumbing. Thanks for the feedback
Great feedback! This is not sanitary plumbing, though - it’s downspout drainage and clean water is passing thru. Straight Ferncos have been used by drainage contractors for decades, but I do like the idea of incorporating sheer bands in some applications.
I have one of those and found it clogs with fine sediment and debris gets caught where the downspout meets the screen. Do you carry Rain Harvesting's Leaf Eater filters?
There are undoubtedly issues with all types of filters, because they will all clog and require cleaning eventually. The nice thing about this is: 1) It’s price point; 2) It’s made in the USA; and 3) It’s not made of plastic, so it will last longer and weather better. We have tried Rain Harvesting’s “rain heads” in the past (Leaf Eater being one model), and have found that they work about as well as this one but they are not as durable since they’re made of plastic, they have an open front (which, once they clog, will channel water straight out, missing the downspout/cistern completely), and they’re made in Australia so they’re more expensive. Our first recommendation for excellent pre-filtration is our Monjolin filters, followed by our Wisy vortex filters… but those are expensive, and for older cisterns, these are easy to add on and they do the job of keeping coarse debris out. Thanks for writing!
@@rainbrothers Concur, affordable, not plastic, and domestically made are highest priorities. Thanks for the reply and thank you for publishing the video!
@@load_nikon6435 Thank you for your feedback! I always am curious to know folks’ experience with various products, and really appreciate you taking the time to comment and share
Yes, you can. You’ll want to make sure it’s outdoors and that the ozone is turned off when people are inside the hot tub so they aren’t exposed to inhalation
I have a similar system, question though what is the pressure coming from the well pump to the tank? Mine runs at 100psi which seems high, would an expansion tank on that side of the system as well help?
In our setup (mentioned in this video), the supply pipe coming from the well is just open pipe that pours into the top of the tank. If you have 100 PSI, then you have a valve closed somewhere or are using very small pipe… I don’t know how 100 PSI could develop against an open-ended pipe unless you have a monster of a pump on the other end.
Sorry to hear! Not sure how that could’ve happened unless the wires shorted out inside the pressure switch. But even then, your breaker should’ve tripped the moment a short happened. I would highly recommend contacting an electrician to get to the bottom of the issue. There could’ve been a surge in your system too but an electrician should be able to investigate and figure out the root cause
I just don't understand how nobody has figured out the recipe for the self-healing Roman concrete yet. They already know they hot mixed quicklime and pozzolana with freelime clasts in it. Seems like someone who's familiar with hand making concrete could have worked out a recipe already.
Yes, Roman concrete is pretty fascinating. However, concrete (Roman or otherwise) is not inherently waterproof - it still needs to be parged with a waterproofing cement on a regular basis
@@rainbrothers I don't think so. The hot mixing of quicklime (i.e high temps), the alumina silicate of pozzolana combined with high mineral sea water and the late addition of free lime clasts into the mix allowed new mineral crystalline structures to grow when fissures and cracks formed and water flowed through them. That is why/how unmaintained underwater roman concrete structures stand to this day. Their chemical structure makes them....almost alive.
@@rainbrothers if you install concrete cisterns, this might be something to experiment with in your free time. It doesn't have to be the exact ingredients they used, I would imagine, just chemically similar. The properties you're looking for in pozzolana would be alumino silicate; zeolite sand or clay, pumice sand or perlite. You would have to have quicklime, some of which you need small chunks of to throw in at the end of the mix. And limestone gravel. It looks like you'd have to make it yourself which isn't hard. Burn limestone in a fire until red hot. And clean water with a high mineral salt or a mixture of table salt, Epsom salt and borax. 4.64 oz per gallon.
@@rainbrothers some variation of ingredients with these chemical properties along with hot mixing them is how they built their underground cisterns too.
@@rainbrothers to this day, the Greek's and Italians use a pozzolana product to waterproof their pools. The Romans built it into their waterlogged structures.
It's supposed to have a little gasket ring too. A lot of people forget to put it on The causes loss of pressure creates water flow and that's why your ground will be wet part of the time
Yes, there is an o-ring inside the pitless assembly. There is also a larger, thicker external gasket, but that is used to seal the exterior to the wall of your well casing and wouldn’t have any impact on water pressure in the system (it would just impact having a good seal on the well to prevent surface water contamination).
Excellent video. Love the overflow safety feature. Do the pump savers work on 3 phase water well pumps (the pump that goes in the actual well itself)? I have heard you say they work on 110 or 220 but nothing about 3 phase. My water well is 3 phase.
Great question! So, if this is a residential well, then you’re probably using a VFD pump that is single phase to the drive then three phase to the pump motor. Is that right? If so, your drive has built-in run-dry protection and you wouldn’t need a PumpSaver. Typically residential properties don’t have actual three phase power available, but VFD pumps are a different animal because they incorporate a single phase to three phase converter. If you truly have three phase, then, no, unfortunately our PumpSavers will not work
Any thought to taking a hammer and breaking off that funky septic inlet? What about relocating the plumbing and wiring and patching the old, leaky holes? Nice job with the liner. Seems like a modular steel tank is the only excuse to plan to use a liner these days.
Breaking off the septic baffle could be done but is not necessary, and we try to avoid breaking any part of the tank if we can. Also, relocating the plumbing and patching the holes was not an option in this case as this tank is under a paved driveway, so the driveway would have to be ripped up to do that. Unfortunately it was poor placement and, according to the owner, the cistern has never held water above that water line since day one of the contractor installing it. A liner was a good option here, but, in most cases, parging with a waterproofing cement is the way to go
how deep did you bury that and what is the frost depth like there? I'm looking to put one in, but frost depth is up to 6 feet deep worst case scenario and manufacture specifies 2 feet of dirt max from top of cistern to grade. would a 1500 gallon cistern like this freeze in those conditions? or would I need to insulate the top and sides of the cistern somehow. I read that 2" of foam is equal to 3.7 feet of dirt or something like that. Obviously theres many factors that can vary winter by winter like getting a bunch of snow early vs very dry cold winter. One winter the ground barely had frost in it from lots of snow early on. hadn't thought about integrating the pump inside of the tank so its still servicable without a seperate man sized manhole service hatch.
Here in Ohio, our frost level varies from 36-44”, and we always bury the tank with 16-18” of cover on top and that is more than sufficient to keep the water in the tank from freezing. There are thousands of cisterns here that have the top flush with grade (for instance, when the cistern is poured with the basement), and I’ve never seen water in those tanks even come close to freezing, though the water line will sometimes freeze. Our rule of thumb is: 16” on top of the tank, and bury the water line below frost level as it leaves the tank. Hope this helps
I ran the existing well pump wire to my cistern pump instead of the well pump, and ran a new line from a dedicated breaker to the well. Same end result, but no need to change the wiring around the pressure switch. Did the wiring in the box at the well instead of underground splicing.
Hey! Great video, thank you. I’ve seen these systems in homes in the basement. How on earth does one of those 1000 gallon tanks get replaced when they’re in a basement? Seems a lot easier when you guys do this outside where it’s accessible.
Wow - I can’t say that I’ve seen a tank this size in a basement unless they built the basement around the tank. Luckily these plastic tanks last forever when removed from sunlight (ie inside or underground)
Mine are not shutting off, on a shared well. It has been running non stop for three months and neighbor said power bill is crazy. How can i make them shut off? or has it gone bad? please help. I have this exact setup
Make sure that you are using a float switch that is rated for pump duty, like the ones on our website (www.rainbrothers.com ). If it is not a pump duty float switch, the internal switch won’t be able to handle the large electrical load of your pump and it will malfunction and stop working prematurely. You likely need to replace the float switch if it is currently not working
Thanks for this video. I am wanting to treat my well water thru a spin down filter and softener before I go into my cistern. Is there anything I should do to regulate my water from my well pump before it hits the softener?
If you treat the water before it enters the cistern/reservoir, you will need to keep your existing well pump tied to your existing pressure tank, and then get a second pressure tank for the new cistern pump. So then your cut/feed from the well to the cistern will be located after (downstream) from your treatment, and your cistern tie-in will come back to that same spot and carry on to supply your house.
I have a family friend who uses her pump only for watering the lawn. They seem to have sized her pump big and her pressure tank small so she has to run a ton of sprinklers simultaneously to try to get the pump to stay on instead of cycling on and off very frequently. The pump will turn on and off in 20 seconds then drain down pretty fast because she only has a 33 gallon tank (30/50 switch so I think that should give her 9 gallons of draw down or something. Anyway, forgive me for being dense but I couldn't conceptualize whether this would help with her problem. If she set her turn on pressure high like 55 and cut off pressure at 60 would that make the pump turn and stay on because it wants to keep the pressure up and even one sprinkler would keep it below 55 thus stopping the cycling? Gould 1hp submersible pump Well is 65 ft deep and the static water level was 15 ft. She doesn't know what depth the pump was placed at
This is a tricky issue to discuss without a full picture of the irrigation system and what each zone requires in terms of pressure and flow. Typically, irrigation zones have to be designed around the output of the pump, or you get issues like this. When we do irrigation systems, we install a Pump Start Relay tied in to the irrigation controller to turn on the pump every time a zone opens, and then we use a Pressure Relief Valve on the supply line to blow excess pressure back into the well/cistern/pond, and then you don’t even need a pressure tank. BUT, again, we only do that after careful work to ensure the pump matches the flow/pressure of each zone. Yes, you could use this as a possible solution, but I would expand the operating pressure differential instead of shrinking it if your goal is to reduce pump run time.
This is a tricky issue to discuss without a full picture of the irrigation system and what each zone requires in terms of pressure and flow. Typically, irrigation zones have to be designed around the output of the pump, or you get issues like this. When we do irrigation systems, we install a Pump Start Relay tied in to the irrigation controller to turn on the pump every time a zone opens, and then we use a Pressure Relief Valve on the supply line to blow excess pressure back into the well/cistern/pond, and then you don’t even need a pressure tank. BUT, again, we only do that after careful work to ensure the pump matches the flow/pressure of each zone. Yes, you could use this as a possible solution, but I would expand the operating pressure differential instead of shrinking it if your goal is to reduce pump run time.
You’ll have to tighten the smaller nut only inside your pressure switch. This will increase the start/stop differential. You’ll also want to make sure the pressure switch is installed as close as possible to the pressure tank. If it still chatters, you may have a bad pressure tank, need a new pressure switch, or use a pulsation plug in the bottom of your pressure switch (as a last resort)
