[jouk45]

well guys, the opportunity came today what i had been waiting for, heavy rain, thanks to (Lewis doubtfires Email to me about collecting rain water)
i did 2 test one after the other, collected from inside, and outside, OK so here's what happen, outside, i left a clean bucket to catch the rain as it fell, the rain was so heavy it filled within an hour, by inside i mean in my shed?? you may ask yourselves, to explain, my shed is a flat roof 15 by 12 wide. a lot of rain sits on it, i drilled a hole in the center of the shed,
place a plastic water funnel underneath the hole, i put a tube on the outlet of the funnel and directed it to a 25ltr container, ok will come back to explain this part later. back to lewis doubfires email, lewis told me he done the test, himself outside was  15ppm, but he went on to explain the rain that came from his shed was only 7ppm, and he was puzzled as to why this was happening,   so back to my  shed, as above, collected a full container of the rain water from the shed roof, now bearing in mind i used  no filters or resin, the reading from my shed was 1ppm  :?:  incredible,but outside reading was 11ppm, now back to lewis email, he told me the he thinks it could be some kind of effect from the roofing felt,
i did the test twice, with exactly the same readings, lewis i think we are on to something here, if i wanted i could put some kind of filter and resin
in the funnel, and i am very confident, it would come out 000ppm.
my roofing felt is bitumen roofing felt,

[Majestic]

Why not spray your garden  hose onto your shed roof and collect it inside, then test it 

[jouk45]

thats a good idea, will try that, but if your on a water meter, the whole idea of the rain water is to save you money

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Joe,you`ve got the facts wrong here.From my large workshop,the roof is
Polycarbonate panels,( scrubbed spotless I might add ) new upvc downpipe
The rainwater was 15 ppm.From my bitchumin felt garden shed roof to a
200 liter water butt that when only half full of rainwater I could`nt see to
The bottom of the container it was so filthy/manky ! ! Guess what ? A reading
Of  2 ppm ! It has risen to 4 ppm this afternoon. Can anyone explain this?By the way,
Cleaned out the 200 liter water butt that was filthy to be spotless.The water from
Last nights deluge looks very clean indeed but has a reading of  5 ppm ! ! !
I`m currently in the process of trying to get the water down to 000ppm via
Some kind of gravity feed system thru` some resin.I`ve a chance of a 2nd. Hand
3 stage RO system 2 months old for £30. Do members think its worth a go ?
Replies welcome.

Lewis Doubtfire

[jouk45]

lewis my roof is  normal roofing felt, down to 1ppm  it may be somthing to do with the felt,
some kind of reaction, lewis sorry i thought you said roofing felt, well i got the results what i was looking for 

[Clive McDonald]

I think you might be on to something Joe. Do as John Garnet suggests and see what the reading is when you play tap water onto the roof.

I think that from the way Lewis is backtracking that he is on to something and doesn't want to let the rest of us in on it.
There was a guy called Edward de bono who invented the term lateral thinking.If you'd have been around then Joe he would have written you up in one of his books. Drilling a hole in the middle of your flat shed roof, absolutely brilliant!

You have a very inquiring mind.

[jouk45]

I think you might be on to something Joe. Do as John Garnet suggests and see what the reading is when you play tap water onto the roof.

I think that from the way Lewis is backtracking that he is on to something and doesn't want to let the rest of us in on it.
There was a guy called Edward de bono who invented the term lateral thinking.If you'd have been around then Joe he would have written you up in one of his books. Drilling a hole in the middle of your flat shed roof, absolutely brilliant!

You have a very inquiring mind.

thank you for the kind words  your right, am the kind of guy who buys things just to rip them apart to see what its made of hehe, hopfully i have discovererd something with the rain water, sometimes i can go to far ahead of myself, like drilling that hole in my shed, now i need about a dozen water buts  thanks jouk45

[D.Salkeld_Ltd]

JOUK,

I just spent £250 havin my shed roof fixed so as to stop the leeks..................and YOU DRILL A HOLE in yours

David

[jouk45]

david i just spend £3.99 at asda for this wine botlte stop, it seems to be holding out 

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Just an idea.  Your thinking that the shed roof brings the tds down, it might be worth cleaning the windows with the water before it goes through the di to see how clean it really is.

I'm led to believe that the tds meters work by testing how well the water conducts electricity, pure water doesn't conduct electricity but the impurity's in water do.  What if the shed roof added something to the water that resisted electricity and there for gave a false reading.  I'm probably completely wrong but it would be a good idea to clean the windows with the water before it goes through the di just to see.

I've spent the last few weekends putting up another shed as the last one was leaking if this idea is try I needn't have bothered. DOH.

Simon.

[jouk45]

Just an idea.  Your thinking that the shed roof brings the tds down, it might be worth cleaning the windows with the water before it goes through the di to see how clean it really is.

I'm led to believe that the tds meters work by testing how well the water conducts electricity, pure water doesn't conduct electricity but the impurity's in water do.  What if the shed roof added something to the water that resisted electricity and there for gave a false reading.  I'm probably completely wrong but it would be a good idea to clean the windows with the water before it goes through the di just to see.

I've spent the last few weekends putting up another shed as the last one was leaking if this idea is try I needn't have bothered. DOH.Simon.

have not cleaned any windows with it yet, just done the test today, lewis said hes used it at 4ppm with great results.
next time i am going to add some kind of filter in the wide part of the funell, then at the outlet, maybe a bottle filled with resin make small hole in the bottom so it drips out slowly, to let the resin in the bottle bring it down to 000,
am sure that will work,

Simon.

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

I`ve been going out now using rainwater at 4 ppm about 10 days. No problems yet
Really as I can see.What I have noticed is that it seems a lot softer than water that’s
Been put thru` my RO.Nobody seems really interested that much in this `thread`,
Possibly because of the time spent collecting the stuff.I`m only `small fry`,I can
Collect 1000 liters or more in no time.1000 liters lasts me ages.

Lewis  Doubtfire

[steve m]

just a thought, but do any of these flat roofs have any type of white gravel on them

[Dust Knights]

Tap water comes from treated water. The water companies add flouride etc therefore rain water will be more pure.

Chris