Going Green only for the wealthy

[murdock]

i might be speaking out of line here but...where i live the heat in the roof is so hot that putting a geyser blanket is a crazy idea...when it gets hot the heat from the geyser aint going anywhere other than hotter...so it might hold the heat at night but during the day it would keep the heat out...not such a smart idea because now your element has to do all work to heat up the water.

something else i noted when stripping a geyser that the kwikhot geyser already has thermal insulation around it...between the tank and the outer casing...anyone checked this before they spent money buying a geyser blanket?
if you are gona all the trouble of fitting a geyser blanket do you lag your pipes because the loss waitng for the cold water to run out the pipes must be a waste.

this reminds me of old army days...water on...water off...wash...water on cheers next.

[SilverNodashi]

Ooh! now you guys are sounding all 'new agey' next you will be saying cob earth walls and sod roofs.

I believe that all savings on electricity and water is 'green' even if the idea is to save money first, yes, I worry about the repayment period of the investment.

Any water saved is a good thing.

I have just set up a grey water garden watering system for about R150.00

It will only work if your shower outlet is above the level of your garden.

I bought a 'Lay Flat hose 100mmx10M from the hardware store and attached it to my shower outlet, on the other end I installed a 110x50MM eccentric Marley s&v waste pvc reducer, with a Marley 40x1 1/4" female bsp waste s&v pvc adaptor siliconed into the 50mm outlet, ptfe'd and screwed in a 32x20mm threaded galv bush and a 20mm male gardena hose adaptor to which I attached the garden hose and 'voila'

When the wife or I shower the LFpipe fills up, acts as a holding bladder, then gently trickles water into the chosen flower bed.

TIPS:- you may have to cut a tiny air hole into the LF pipe just above the shower inlet to prevent the system creating a vacuum and so that it can drain easily, insert the reducer well into the LFpipe use cable ties to attach, make sure that the reducer is set at the lowest point of the pipe so that it can drain completely, move the LFpipe and hose around the garden and lawn regularly, don't take long showers.

sounds like a great idea and probably very effective as well. Care to put some pics of your setup on the web? Someone else might learn a lot from it

my nieghbour got smart and invested in some irrigation piping which he detoured from his pool pump...up the wall onto his roof made a couple of loops and back down to the pool pump...now he always has a warm pool to swim in...whenever the pool pump runs it circulates the water over the roof and back into the pool.

just the cost of the piping and he did it himself...it been working for about 3 years already.

I thought of doing something similar to this setup, but with a small twist. Instead of running the pipes directly back to the pool, have the water run out on the roof and cool off the roof, then let the gutters run back to the pool. This way you get a nice cool roof, which cuts down on electricity (i.e. less Aircon use) and a warmer pool. If you want to save a few extra bux, then use a solar powered pool pump which could run 12-16 hours a day.

[Dave A]

This way you get a nice cool roof, which cuts down on electricity (i.e. less Aircon use) and a warmer pool.

I see two possible downsides to this - higher water consumption and a higher electricity bill.

You're going to lose a fair amount of water to evaporation - which will also help with cooling the roof, of course, but might not help much on the warm swimming pool front.

The other benefit of a closed system is it shouldn't load the pump as much as the "open system" - the closed system of return piping should help offset the head pressure.

[AndyD]

thought of doing something similar to this setup, but with a small twist. Instead of running the pipes directly back to the pool, have the water run out on the roof and cool off the roof, then let the gutters run back to the pool.

It's a nice idea but if you have a salt pool then corrosion would be a problem especially with a corrugated roof but also with the fasteners and clips on other roofs. Also it might play havoc with the chlorine levels as well as extra organic debris from the roof and gutters ending up int the pool.

[wynn]

Here is a pic of my grey water system, hope they are clear enough!

[wynn]

And the other end!

[murdock]

if you want to cool the roof space down what about fitting a solar powered fan...one thing to remember an extractor fan will draw air from the closest point...so when you want to put a fan in a lrge area like under the house or in the roof it is better to suck air from the outside and pressurise the space...once it has filled the space with air it wil lthen release the air out of the gaps in the roof.

the other way to insulate the roof is with that white board which can be fitted instead of ceiling boards...this stuff works well...the only problem is you cannot fit lights like downlights they tend to get hot then drop out the roof.

[AndyD]

iit is better to suck air from the outside and pressurise the space...once it has filled the space with air it wil lthen release the air out of the gaps in the roof.

If you pressurise the roof space especially in an older building you could find the house gets very dusty or even worse you might get allergies from the think pink insulation. The higher pressure in the roof will cause airflow through any gaps in the cornice or lighting fitting holes in the ceiling into the rooms of the house.