Category: DIY (Page 2 of 2)

Hauled my first load of 2016

May 14, 2016 / / 1 Comment
150 gallon Aquatank II.

150 gallon Aquatank II.

Its been 186 days since the last time I hauled recycled water. 6 months, 4 days.  November 10th, 2015 was the date.

It had just rained a half an inch the day before last November and that is when I realized hauling water wasn’t going to be needed for my drought tolerant front yard. Besides, I was mostly hauling water at this point to keep my neighbors front yard alive.  It worked, their grass was a green as could be but winter rains was what it really needed (and a fair amount of grass seed).

I hauled 17,540 gallons in 2015, 119 trips. I keep a track of every load I take home in an excel spreadsheet I keep on the home screen of my phone. Today, I broke the 20,000 gallon mark.

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DIY: Flush the crud from your hot water heater

February 26, 2016 / / 0 Comments

I am a homeowner with a hot water heater. I also living in a water service area with dissolved solids in the water supply. Combine the two in a hot water vessel and something happens. The dissolved solids drop out of suspension and form a coating on the bottom of the heater. Unfortunately, this also reduces the efficiency of the heat transfer from burning natural gas into heating water for showers or laundry.

But did you know, using the tools you probably already have at home, you can flush this crud out of your hot water heater, water the plants in your yard and increase efficiency and the life span of your hot water heater? I’m going to show you how.
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DIY Solution to Ponding Water

January 19, 2016 / / 0 Comments
Ponding water.

Ponding water.

Is water ponding on your property after El Niño rains? Do pools of water sit for long periods of time and don’t drain? RecycledH2O visited The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California and discovered what they did to resolve their ponding problem.

There were multiple ponds that would always form when it rains across the 3.5 acre drought tolerant garden, nestled in the heart of Walnut Creek.

A number of factors have created a hardpan under the topsoil which impedes percolation. Once water is directed below the hardpan it is better able to percolate into the soil, recharging the water table.

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DIY: How to minimize IBC tote water slosh

August 21, 2015 / / 0 Comments

In the last post, the safety hazards associated with driving with a half full IBC Tote were looked at. A full tote, weighs 2600 pounds and has very little to no sloshing, except when taking corners, the mass of the water will work to pull your vehicle over. This was experienced by a passenger in an F350 carrying 275 gallons of water.

When a tote is half full, there is about 1250 pounds of water that moves, so when you turn left, that water moves with considerable momentum to the right. If physics calculations were performed we could figure out how much force is being applied to a vehicle at any given speed if we knew the mass.

Lets call this mass of water moving in a tank as slosh. How can you minimize slosh in an IBC tote?

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Sloshing Recycled Water in an IBC Tote

August 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The most common tank to use when transporting recycled water is a 275 or 300 gallon IBC tote. When full it weighs ~ 2500+ pounds, if we include the weight of the tote, its more like 2600 pounds. That weight in the back of most half tons trucks is too much and thus begins safety hazards associated with transporting recycled water.

Honda Ridgeline above capacity

Honda Ridgeline filled above capacity

Lets cue up a recent photo of a Honda Ridgeline filling up a 275 gallon tote. Please note that a Ridgeline is only rated at 1500 pounds payload capacity. A Ridgeline should only haul ~ 165 gallons if we include the weight of the tote. Direct your attention to the significant drop in the back end of the vehicle (and the wear and tear on the struts/read end) and the significant rise in the front end of the vehicle. This makes steering difficult and travel is rather unsafe.

All recycled water fill stations have stressed to not take more water than your vehicle can hold, but yet people still do it. This article has been designed to show you through a Youtube video what happens to water in a tote full and half full.

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Tips & Tricks to Unload Recycled Water More Efficiently

July 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Facebook.com/RecycledH2O

Facebook.com/RecycledH2O

There has been immense activity surrounding hauling recycled water. The lines at recycled water fill stations are long (with more hose bibs/fill stations coming online often), everywhere you look in the are people are driving around with 300 gallon totes in their trucks and/or trailers and demand for pumps at Harbor Freight is high.

So why not take this as a chance to update you on the changes I’ve made with my recycled water hauling setup and share some of the Tips & Tricks I have learned.

11,500 gallons Recycled Water Hauled

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