Winterize Rainwater Harvesting Tanks & Drip Irrigation System

Рет қаралды 13,465

3 жыл бұрын

I prepare our rainwater harvesting tanks for a winter freeze. Freezing water can damage the tanks, fittings, valves, pumps, and other parts of the rainwater harvesting systems we have in our garden. I drain the tanks and water lines and add non-toxic antifreeze to the pumps and some fittings. This is part 9 of our rainwater tank series.
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#winter #winterization #rainwaterharvesting

Пікірлер: 38

@mattcavanagh9622 3 жыл бұрын

I have never commented about a KZfaq video previously. I find your videos to be interesting, educational and I always look forward to what’s coming next. Thank you for sharing.

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!!

@167curly 3 жыл бұрын

Living in a condo in Central America makes this winterising an irrigation system very interesting to me. Thanks for your videos.

@asdfqwertybacktick Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for this! Many things I never thought to think of.

@MANaboutTOOLS Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@seanfager8063 3 жыл бұрын

An old forge trick to keep quenching barrels from exploding when the water in them freezes is to put a sacrificial piece of more easily compressed wood in the water- it gives before the exterior walls do in the event of ice formation. IN THEORY some kind of compressible air bladder, or 55 gallons worth of ball pit balls, might serve that same function here for the tank itself. It'd be a pretty expensive experiment if it didn't work though. Great video! Thanks for uploading this series.

@mattevans-koch9353 3 жыл бұрын

Nice work on the winterizing of these two systems. Shame to have to dump all of that water but it would be a real shame to have the system break. Now that I live in a city at the coast, I don't have these tasks, but followed a similar routine when we lived in the foothills of the mountains on a farm. We had colder winter temperatures, 20 to 30F, for up to three weeks but average was about 35 to 45 most of the winter so winterizing was necessary to avoid irrigation and under house freeze up during the coldest times. Thank you for sharing and have a good week ahead.

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Where I live we get a lot of rain in the spring so the tanks will refill quickly.

@stephenmabry2866 3 жыл бұрын

Very thorough winterizing. I've been looking at when it will be freezing for me as well. Looks like it's coming soon. Just for context, I have a similar type tank last two years, but 2500 gallons and I catch rain for drinking. So, I use My tank/plumbing through the freeze. Use some insulation and keep the tank in a barn - similar to ur walls ( exposed to temperature ). The water freezes on top. The drain valve is a concern, so I insulate it and it's been ok. I don't drip it thru freezes. Have the pump contained in a Wal-Mart plastic container - minimal insulation. Not as nice as your wood box, but it works. Update on my portable tank bottom Frankenstein cleaner. I got it working with plumbing adapters. Wet vac wide nozzle to 3/4" pvc ( 10 ft ) to filter to pump [to uv light] to hose back into tank - no water lost. Cleans the gunk, leaves the water. Maneuvers ok, just tricky with my stand. Best of luck, Kent. Love ur ideas.

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment and your support! I think the issue of winterizing has been overlooked so I hope this video and these comments help everyone out. Cheers, Kent

@bradiemossman3265 2 жыл бұрын

We have a couple of the 2500 Gal tanks. We use the water for our garden and to water all the farm animals. How cold does it get where you are? Are you saying your water doesn't freeze through winter and you don't need to insulated it? We are trying to figure out if we need to insulate it and how to do so that way we can water our animals for free throughout the winter months.

@stephenmabry2866 2 жыл бұрын

@@bradiemossman3265 my cistern is within an open barn - basically a tall roof over the cistern - little/no sun/uv. No insulation around the 2500 gallon cistern, but the unfiltered out spout 3/4" PVC at the bottom is insulated ( wrapped with that fiberglass/foil pipe wrap - so low R value ). It has gotten down to -9°F. Have ice-bursted my first-flush 4" pipes twice ( manual open design ). Water has almost always been pumpable. Use 3/4" PVC window screen filtered from cistern bottom out cistern top to pump/micron filters to faucets. Pump/filters are contained in a tote. Cistern platform is: flattened dirt, then cement blocks in checkered pattern, then painted particle board. Allows water to flow underneath for heavy rains.

@Sylvan_dB 3 жыл бұрын

That's quite a chore. :) Watch out for those ball valves. Sometimes they can trap water in the globe around the ball. I like to open and close a couple of times and leave them in a half-open position. I wonder if the gate valves can trap water anywhere...

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

It looks like it's a bigger job than it actually is. And with some improvements it will be even quicker. Good tip on the valves, thanks!

@MiscMitz 3 ай бұрын

PNW as well. Do you think it possible to put a heating unit inside to stop the unit from freezing? I was thinking along the lines of an aquarium heater or the like. And maybe a light or such in the pump house...

@fototripper 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. I'd love to see a solution though that allows rainwater collection during the winter without the need for winterizing. Maybe heated pipes, gutters and a buried cistern?

@squall787 3 жыл бұрын

Your videos are amazing. The quality, editing, angles, voice over, it's all great! I'm in the middle of a 500 gallon tank build and seeing all of your processes in a real environment is extremely helpful. I hope you continue to put out content!

@karsonlennon3378 3 жыл бұрын

I realize Im kinda randomly asking but does anyone know of a good place to stream new movies online ?

@Cpcg-u1w 2 жыл бұрын

Very good presentation. Thank you.

@WyrGuy2 3 жыл бұрын

I agree, those of us here on the ‘Wet Coast’ (I’m in Greater Victoria) don’t usually have to worry about too much freezing but... it does happen. One thing I use on my boat bilge pump lines and my sons travel trailer water lines are these type of ‘quick-connect/disconnect’ Cam-lock couplers (male & female) and Princess Auto is the easiest place (meaning cheapest) to get them at all different diameters. Once you put these in your system, you’ll not have to worry about taking any of the fittings apart plus, you can make up adapter hoses to use to pump/suck the RV antifreeze into the system next season! www.princessauto.com/en/detail/1-1-2-in-hose-barb-cam-lock-coupler/A-p8154239e

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip here! I'll check them out.

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

See the full written *blog post* for the 1200 gallon tank installation here: manabouttools.com/TANK1200 If you would like to support the channel and future content then please go here: www.patreon.com/manabouttools

@urielrodriguez8298 2 жыл бұрын

I see comments about emptying the tanks. I saw on another video this person used a heating element to keep the water in the Barrell they were using to water their chickens from freezing. Would that be feasible for you? Thank you for your content, always interesting.

@leftofcenterhomesteading6218 Жыл бұрын

A random maybe I missed it question. Why not back drain the big tank at least into the irrigation well?

@MANaboutTOOLS Жыл бұрын

In the winter our irrigation well fills completely.

@leftofcenterhomesteading6218 Жыл бұрын

@@MANaboutTOOLS fair enough, I thought maybe the going dry mid summer might have been about insufficient filling in the off season.

@Kortanov1987 3 жыл бұрын

Man are you alive😁? Please do something cool, i miss your videos! ✊

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

YES! I am alive and working right now on several videos. As you may know, my stuff can be technical and take days and days of shooting, editing, and animations. I also work as an ambulance paramedic . It's been a challenging winter so I took a bit of time off from KZfaq. But spring is here again and I have quite a few things planned. Stay tuned and thanks for your ongoing support and kind words. Kent

@doubledarefan 3 жыл бұрын

5:06 Next video: Filling the void under the wellhouse foundation.

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

Oh totally...I have to get that looked after.

@jeremyhuggins8796 3 жыл бұрын

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎁

@baxterboy23 3 жыл бұрын

That is a huge amount of hassle and extremely wasteful. Why harvest the rainwater then throw it away when it gets cold, that defeats the object.?? Surely it must be better to insulate.!!

@MANaboutTOOLS 3 жыл бұрын

It's actually more of a hassle to set up the cameras and make a video from this. The winterizing process is actually pretty simple and did not take long to do. Where I live we get a lot of rain in the spring so the tanks will refill quickly.

@baxterboy23 3 жыл бұрын

@@MANaboutTOOLS. You had to leave it and finish it off the next day, that doesn't seem like a "simple and not long to do" process. 🤔

@gregbrown1083 3 жыл бұрын

@@MANaboutTOOLS Do they think you need to irrigate your garden in November? Draining the tanks is as "wasteful" as exhaling. Good job. Good luck.

@boots7859 3 жыл бұрын

Get a life Lostboy. The system utilizes free water for all spring, summer and fall. With some quick disconnects, and perhaps start at the lowest point (well house), he could probably open the taps as he worked his way up and it would all drain by the time he got to the top-most point. Probably an hour or so 1x/year seems like an excellent recycling venture worth the saving in just paying the water company for x amount of water. Sure, lets go spend x thousand dollars insulating everything to avoid an hour or two of work a year....