With any construction project, its a good idea to consider a simple equation  before starting...

                                                    *   *   *   *          " The Five P's "          *    *    *    *

                                                               Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

The first thing to do, is carefully examine every down piping from the house guttering, and then determine the best location for the installation of the storage tank. Take into consideration the location of the kitchen, bathroom, toilet. Find out whether or not your land is level or falls in a particular direction. The guttering on your roof will direct the water to the points of the down pipes. Taking cost into consideration, determine where the best place is, to keep the costs of PVC piping and fittings down to a minimum. Another consideration is the location of your water tank, it needs to be sited in a position where it will not interfere with general access or other objects in the vicinity. When you are satisfied that the location is okay, next work out the height of the tank stand (Pedestal), so PVC piping can be installed and allow the water to flow from the tank into the place of connection ( ie: toilet, kitchen, laundry and points for tap connection to allow watering of the garden and plants etc). If you intend to expand your capacity in the future, you must remember to have the first tank as high as is possible in order to let the overflow from Tank 1, to flow into Tank 2 and 3 and so on. In Sept 2002 Mr. Okazaki started with a 400 litre tank and expanded over a period of time, to a capacity of 1000 litres in June 2003.

This block diagram shows the first stage, basic design, with which Mr. Okazaki began construction on Sept. 2002.

Take note of the concrete blocks which stabilise the wooden stand and prevent water ingress and rotting of the timber stand.

The syphon system shown could be substituted with a tap connected at the bottom of the tank, if required. The overflow of the smaller tank is returned to the drain, which should be recycled.

Pictured left is stage 1 which can be compared with the block diagram above.

Seen here at the centre of the large tank, can be seen the water level indicator.

With this type of advice it would be a good idea to install a level indicator in the main tank. First, insert a section of 8mm clear soft PVC tubing, inside and at the bottom of the tank. Then on the outside of the tank, fold the tube down to the bottom of the tank and up again. Then fix the end above the top of the tank and you then have a visual level indicator. Water in the tube then reflects the level of water in the tank. It is most important to use soft, clear tubing as in areas such as Japan, the level indicator being outside of the tank, would be susceptible to freezing up in winter time or severe frosts. If rigid tubing were used, the action of tapping the tube to ascertain the water level, the rigid tube would most certainly break.

The fully completed system with three tanks connected. Each tank fills and the water then overflows and cascades down to fill the 2nd and 3rd tanks. It is obvious that the main tank stand must be constructed in such away with several steps to allow the cascade effect to work.

Pictured below is the last stage in operation. The picture right shows the interconnections and syphon hose, between the two large 200 litre tanks. These tanks have been painted with silver paint to reflect the light and heat from entering the tanks.