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Old 01-17-2018, 05:23 AM
 
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I'm in North Florida and have a sprinkler system in my yard running on municipal supply. I'm planning on using rain barrels with a well pump set up to run when I don't have to use municipal supply. Does anyone know of a system that will read the low barrel supply and switch over to municipal supply without me checking on things every week?
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:02 AM
 
Location: Virginia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ccornewell View Post
I'm in North Florida and have a sprinkler system in my yard running on municipal supply. I'm planning on using rain barrels with a well pump set up to run when I don't have to use municipal supply. Does anyone know of a system that will read the low barrel supply and switch over to municipal supply without me checking on things every week?
Most places where you have municipal water will not allow any way for there to be a cross connection between a well system and the municipal water supply. It's early right now and I can't think of the technical term, but I know that in my county you have to affirm annually that there is no way one can leak into another. I would think that rain barrels would fall into the same category as wells, because they are a water source outside the municipal one, therefore untreated. (The term might be backflow preventer, but I'm not sure.)
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:41 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungalove View Post
Most places where you have municipal water will not allow any way for there to be a cross connection between a well system and the municipal water supply. It's early right now and I can't think of the technical term, but I know that in my county you have to affirm annually that there is no way one can leak into another. I would think that rain barrels would fall into the same category as wells, because they are a water source outside the municipal one, therefore untreated. (The term might be backflow preventer, but I'm not sure.)
Yes, a backflow prevention device is required, if allowed at all. My suggestion is simpler and less likely to be a legal problem. Have the new rain water system connected to an overground, exposed system, such as rainbirds that stick into the ground and are connected by hoses. Then for the municipal water system, simply add a moisture sensor that will kick it on if the ground gets dry due to the rain barrel being empty.

Rain Bird SMRT-Y Soil Moisture Sensor Kit

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Old 01-17-2018, 09:42 AM
Status: "I must be “really retarded”" (set 8 days ago)
 
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Just dig a well strictly for irrigation.
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Old 01-17-2018, 11:31 AM
 
23,563 posts, read 70,158,065 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ccornewell View Post
I'm in North Florida and have a sprinkler system in my yard running on municipal supply. I'm planning on using rain barrels with a well pump set up to run when I don't have to use municipal supply. Does anyone know of a system that will read the low barrel supply and switch over to municipal supply without me checking on things every week?
Have you ever really looked at how the tank on a toilet gets filled? Use a vacuum breaker and buy a $20 fill valve replacement kit for a toilet and get creative.
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Old 01-17-2018, 06:12 PM
 
168 posts, read 307,290 times
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Originally Posted by harry chickpea View Post
Have you ever really looked at how the tank on a toilet gets filled? Use a vacuum breaker and buy a $20 fill valve replacement kit for a toilet and get creative.
That's ingenious!
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:13 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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You will need a VERY big rain barrel for pressurized Lawn Sprinkler source.

I got a nice video from my library showing a 20,000 gal rainwater tank (underground in backyard)

Basically...
  1. excavate a 'Basement', (very big hole)
  2. Put in a Heavy duty pond liner
  3. Stack plastic milk crates to fill the hole (Aqua blocks exist for this purpose)
  4. Add a submersible pump and switching / plumbing
  5. Wrap up the stacked blocks with the pond liner like a Christmas gift.
  6. backfill (cover up the evidence)

be advised... your rainwater is NOT your personal water. Several states do not allow rainwater collection,
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Old 01-17-2018, 08:59 PM
 
Location: Bend Or.
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Depending on your system that's gonna take a lot of rain barrels.


Look at a fairly common system, three zones running 5 heads per zone @ 2.5 Gallons per minute per head.
each zone runs 20 minutes.
That's 12.5 Gal per minute for an hour, or 90 gals per day. two rain barrels full each and every day?
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Old 01-18-2018, 10:10 AM
 
Location: The Driftless Area, WI
7,180 posts, read 5,030,139 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ccornewell View Post
I'm in North Florida and have a sprinkler system in my yard running on municipal supply. I'm planning on using rain barrels with a well pump set up to run when I don't have to use municipal supply. Does anyone know of a system that will read the low barrel supply and switch over to municipal supply without me checking on things every week?
Excuse me if I'm too dense to understand, but in N.FL, you get at least 50 inches of precip/ yr, why do you need to save rain water (your public water supply must be plentiful and awfully cheap), and moreover, why do you need to water a lawn or garden at all?

Sink holes farther south occur because too much ground water is sucked out of the old coral bed on which the lower peninsula is situated, but that shouldn't be a problem farther north where bedrock underlies the surface.
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Old 01-18-2018, 01:24 PM
 
168 posts, read 307,290 times
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Originally Posted by guidoLaMoto View Post
Excuse me if I'm too dense to understand, but in N.FL, you get at least 50 inches of precip/ yr, why do you need to save rain water (your public water supply must be plentiful and awfully cheap), and moreover, why do you need to water a lawn or garden at all?

Sink holes farther south occur because too much ground water is sucked out of the old coral bed on which the lower peninsula is situated, but that shouldn't be a problem farther north where bedrock underlies the surface.
St Augustine grass likes water, and our water is horribly expensive here. I'm from the Midwest where sprinklers don't really exist, so watching my winter water bill go from 35 a month to 125 in the summer kills me. So putting in rain barrels is well worth it even if it cuts my water barrel by a third.
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