Cisterns are water reservoirs with a large capacity, making them an alternative option for covering irrigation or home water use needs. Cisterns can be filled by pumping water from wells or by manually adding water to the reservoir. However, the most important and cost-effective method to fill a cistern is by drawing rain water with the use of a simple downspout system. This way, you can collect the rainwater from your roof and use it to cover domestic needs. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure the length of your roof's fascia. The fascia is located at the bottom of the roof and is the strip parallel to the house's wall. It's impossible to measure the fascia's length all at once, so measure 10 inches, place a dot with a marker, measure another 10 inches, place another dot and so forth until you reach the other end of the fascia.
2. Drill a 1/8-inch diameter pilot hole on each dot. Attach a fascia bracket over each pilot hole and use a 1/4-inch diameter lag screw to faster each bracket to the fascia. Make sure the brackets on the fascia edges are about an inch higher that their counterparts in the middle of the fascia.
3. Attach the rain gutters on the brackets and secure adjacent gutters with pop rivets. The width of the gutters must match the width of the fascia brackets, so ensure they're compatible when you purchase them.
4. Open a 3-inch diameter hole on the gutter in the middle of the fascia, using a 3-inch diameter hole saw attached on a drill. Cut a 6-inch-long piece of 3-inch diameter PVC pipe with a handsaw and attach a 90-degree PVC elbow fitting on each of its ends to create an "S" shape.
5. Use an epoxy gun to glue one end of the "S" on the hole so that the shape goes under the soffit and its free end faces downwards. Make another "S" shape identical to the first one.
6. Attach one end the new "S" on the lid of a vertical 400-gallon water storage tank so that the "S"'s other end faces upwards. Drill a hole with a 3-inch diameter hole saw if you have to. Move the tank near your house's wall so that the upward end of the new "S" lies directly below the downward end of the first "S."
7. Connect the open ends of the two "S" shapes with a 3-inch diameter PVC pipe to complete your homemade rain-collecting cistern. Remember that you can't consume rainwater stored in the cistern until you install a water purification system.
Tags: 3-inch diameter, 3-inch diameter hole, diameter hole, 3-inch diameter pipe, diameter pipe, house wall, inches place