the beginning of collecting rainwater at chez bums.
the two big pipes, top and right, carry water from all the downspouts on our house. the roof area is just under 3400 square feet. the rock is to keep the collector, a 35 gallon plastic garbage can, bought new for this purpose, from floating up when the water level in the can is lower than the level in its pit. the pump label is actually on a handle on the pump, which is submerged. the brass colored thing in the upper right corner is a check valve to keep the water in the pipe to the tank from flowing back when the pump goes off. the float switch turns the pump on when the collector is full and off when the water level gets low. you may be able to discern the reflection of the pirate taking the picture.
water storage
this is a 2800 gallon polysomething tank. one of the black poly pipes going up to the top is the feed from the collector. the other is an overflow. always provide for overflow in water systems. the white appearing line going up is actually a clear plastic pipe that mirrors the water level inside the tank--a primitive water level indicator.
when gravity is not enough
the water from the tank goes into the pump, a hot tub jet massage pump which the pirate was prescient enough to salvage at least ten years ago and lug around through two moves for just this purpose, then through a check valve to keep the pressure on the small red tank side of the pump. the pressure switch turns on the pump when water is used and off when maximum pressure is attained. the gauge indicates water pressure. the small red tank is resevoir so the pump doesn't have to go on/off/on/off/on/off, as it pumps faster than water is used. the large black thing under the tank is one of the downspout collector lines going to the collector pictured above. the orange thing is the power line from the pump to the switch and then to a power source.
watering squash
the payoff for all that plumbing.
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