Carazy

Installing A Water Tank And Are Rainwater Tanks Worth It.

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 by Carazy

A few years ago Brisbane was going through a mild drought. I say mild because realistically it was just water restrictions and the introduction of pay per use water. I’ve seen what real droughts do to rural areas and having to wash your car using a bucket and no longer being able to use sprinklers was hardly devastating to our lives. With the restrictions on water use came a wave of water tank sales buoyed with a govt rebate scheme in 2008. It is amazing how many people jumped onto that bandwagon without really thinking about it. Free govt money! The cost of a tank today is pretty much the same price as the cost (after rebates) back then, so I’m guessing tank installers were taking the rebate as cream.

At the time I thought it might be a good opportunity to get one so I checked out pricing and crunched some numbers. I based it on a 3000L tank as it would be the only size I could realistically manhandle down my hill and it was the minimum size required to get the rebate. (There were other stipulations as well such as getting it plumbed to your laundry or toilet which added extra costs not to mention the large costs of concrete/gravel or sand base)

The price of water was around $1.20/1000L so a full 3000L water tank had around $3.50 of water in it. I think at the time my out of pocket costs would have been $800 for supply only then the cost of me creating a bed for it etc. So based on that I would need to drain a full tank 228 times to recoup costs. In a perfect world of raining once a week and using the full tank over the remaining 6 days it would still take nearly four and half years to get the money back.

That may not seem so bad but the reality is Brisbane has around 110days per year average rainfall, most of which pummels down for weeks on end and then during autumn and winter we have 2-3 months of absolute dry. So during the 3 month rainy season you have no need to use your tank, then your tank remains empty sporadically for the remainder of the year. So even at optimal use you’re looking at a decade to get your money back. So back then I decided it wasn’t worth it.

From an economic standpoint, unless you experience water shortages, have costly water bills or the town supplied water is full of chemicals, then don’t bother. Your town supply water is essentially a giant water tank (usually a dam or natural waterway) accessible by everyone. From a permacultural perspective you do want it as harvesting and trapping the energy of that water on high ground is a valuable resource. Plus plants seem to do better when fed rainwater over town water, at least here in Brisbane.

Which leads me onto the next part.

HOW TO USE YOUR WATER TANK

How To Build A Rainwater Tank First Flush Diverter And Plumbing In The Tank – DIY

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 by Carazy

With the rainwater tank set up it was time to plumb it all in to collect the water from my gutters which are still clear thanks to my gutter mesh I installed over a year ago.

The mesh has 5mm holes in it to allow the rain to enter the gutters however all the dust and other fine sediment that accumulates on the roof during the dry suddenly gets washed off and heads straight for the tank in the first few minutes of rain. This fine sediment will become an unwanted sludge in the base of your tank and lead to clogging of pipes. To remedy this I built a first flush diverter. Now you can buy a 90mm kit for $27 but where’s the fun in that! Also not everyone has access to a cheap kit but can easily make one up using regular plumbing fittings and following these steps.

There are recommendations of clearing 0.5-2L per m² but I would need either 30m of 100mm pipe or a barrel to do this. I figured even a small amount would help so I went about gathering the parts to build my DIY first flush diverter.

Generally a first flush system is connected vertically down from the main plumbing via a T-joint fitting. Since I was using 90mm pipe I needed the top part to be a short 90mm section to slot into the T-Joint. This went into a 90-100mm adapter. Even though it’s expanding into 100mm I used the word ‘reducer’ because when you go to the shops and ask it may be labelled as such. The reducer is important for two reasons. It allows me to use 100mm pipe which gives me an extra ~5.5L for every metre length. Secondly, by putting a 92-95mm wide float in the 100mm pipe the difference in diameter is how the float will plug up the diverter when it rises to the top to allow water to then head towards the tank. A 100mm sleeve/coupling is then used to attach the reducer to the 100mm section of pipe that will hold the dirty water. Note: The coupling at the top does not need to be threaded.

The Chicken McMansion Coop Build – Part 1 (Base)

February 14, 2022January 20, 2016 by Carazy

Despite the importance of chickens in a permaculture system, I’ve been putting off getting feathered friends as the responsibility of livestock ownership wasn’t something that appealed to me. However I love building things and have been researching coop design for years, so after I helped a friend build a ‘rustic beach shack’ for her music video and once she was done filming, she offered it to me as thanks for my assistance. So now I basically had four walls and a roof to work with and I probably could have just used it as it was but the friends who had assembled the walls kind of slapped things together for the rustic look and my OCD wasn’t going to put up with that. So I meticulously pulled it completely apart and readied the timber for it’s second life.

The coop design was going to be all about me. As in how could I make it ergonomic for me whether it be for maintenance, accessibility or for cleaning. As usual I lurked in forums and read half the internet, grabbing ideas and recommendations from numerous sources then hybridising it into something that I would be happy with. Another constraint was that I had to keep costs to a minimum given my experiment this year to see if I could live on $100/week (After main utility/mortgage bills.) so it would have to be built using recycled and free materials.

Fortunately I’m a hoarder so there was plenty of timber ready to go. I had a heap of 200mm x50mm x 3m pine bearers that in a former life was the “cage of death” pergola which I hung numerous punching bags from, for my Kung Fu students to hit.

I used an existing retaining wall (left) as it was 800mm high and being level would act as a solid plinth. The reason for the large overhang is that when it came time to clean out the coop floor I would have space to position a wheelbarrow under the lip and push the soiled bedding into the barrow. This way it would be closer to where I’d be using the manure. Having the coop high at that end also meant the nesting boxes would be at chest/head height so easy access to retrieve eggs.

The gap underneath the overhang was to allow any pooled water to dry out. The bearers are treated pine not hardwood so I wanted to maximise their lifespan. I screwed joist brackets, normally used to build decks, along the top of the sleeper and then screwed the bearers in place.

On the opposite side I did the same except the bearers were attached to another 200×50 beam such that they were all flush on top.

To keep the frame above the soil and level I had to build a footing for the upright. I used a simple carboard formwork technique I’ve utilised before to minimise the amount of concrete needed and still give me strength and shape. You cut thick cardboard into a box shape suitable to your formwork requirements. Duct tape it together when you’re happy with the shape. Throw a shovelful of mixed concrete in the base as this seals the base of your post from touching the soil. Then place your post in the middle of the cardboard formwork.

I used some scrap galvanised steel mesh to reinforce the concrete. I’ve used chicken wire on other projects with success so you can use it too. Then it was a matter of carefully filling the cavity with concrete I’d mixed in a wheelbarrow.

Several days later you can remove the cardboard and your post and concrete footing are ready to be bolted to your floor.

On the other side I didn’t need the height of a post so I simply concreted together some old bricks and pavers to create a solid footing at the height I needed. There’s a slight tilt on the top paver to allow for water runoff whilst maintaining a level floor framework.

The coop floor is the old floor from my kitchen which I ripped out when I renovated it. It’s 20mm marine ply and perfect for this application. Added block you see halfway along the exposed bearer is there for additional support for the next piece of flooring. The sheet in place has a full bearer in the middle so won’t bow. I am not a dainty man so I didn’t trust the join to sit on 25mm of bearer with my full weight in the middle. The chock gave it s little extra support from bowing.

The second sheet in place and passed the me jumping on it test with flying colours. The first sheet had a bit missing so I made sure the small infill piece had heaps of support by being directly over a bearer and bearer intersection.

Rain added a few delays to the power tool section of the build but the marine ply held up well in the wet.