Water purification system for household

[mygoggie]

I scrubbed the three lid boards with a strong bleach solution and left it to dry overnight.

All ready for action!





And two layers of resin applied. Now the boards can enjoy a bit of sunshine and get set ...

[mygoggie]

The last bit of work on the sand filter's plumbing needed to be addressed.

The two filter chamber outlet weirs were not secured or glued as I still had to make the support batten for the pipe holder.






I will follow the same idea I used for the emergency overflow weir as it worked very well and is simple to make. This is what it will look like.






First step was to measure the distance of the riser pipe's external face to the bulkhead.






After doing a design drawing and a few basic calculations I had the distances and could move onto cutting the piece of pipe required. As always you do need a whole bunch of tools to make a simple thing.






Then it was time to do a dry fit and locate the pipe holder's screw position. Drilling a pilot hole was fairly simple taking care not to drill through the bulkhead! The screw coated with RTV silicone ready for installation.





And ... there we are, both pipe holders installed.







Then it was time for the pipes to be glued in place and pipe holder clips to be installed.







All done and ready for tomorrow's cleaning and filling pressure test. First step will be to clean the chambers from all the debris the wind blew in!








Onto a successful 0,15 bar pressure test!

[mygoggie]

Today is testing day!

The main aim of this test is to check the structural integrity of the whole tank and the specifically the plexiglass front panel. I am not worried about whether the seals are leaking on the plexiglass. I do not want to fix the seals before structural testing as that will mean all the resealing work will be wasted if the plexiglass breaks or cracks under the water pressure.

With that bit of design theory out of the way, it was onto cleaning the three chambers.









Good enough for a structural test! 

Then it was time to start the underground rainwater storage tank's pump and getting water into the sand filter tank. I allowed the hosepipe to discharge into the level sensor chamber to check if both outlet/inlet valve systems work as intended.







The outlet weirs are not leaking. Good news!






Getting there ...






And the outlet weirs started discharging! Exactly as designed!








Weirs almost submerged ...





And submerged. The level sensor chamber discharges a bit slower on the RH side compared to the LH side. It is minimal so I am not concerned.







Checking for leaks ... and the seal is leaking slightly in a few places. Mainly the corners and one place where a screw cracked the plexiglass.







At full operating level and onto overflow conditions.







Almost at overflow level. I checked all the outlets and bulkhead fittings and found no leaks. Only the plexiglass seal leaking. Good news!







And overflowing into the emergency outlet weir. Working as designed!







I left the tank to stand for a while and one leak sealed under pressure whilst the bottom corners and the crack leaked quite a bit. Now I know where to fix the seals. I tapped around the structure and you could hear it is under pressure, but no high tensile stress sounds ... a few creaks and cracking sounds were made as the tank settled, but those were to be expected.











After an hour of standing and no leaks found except on the plexiglass panel, I opened the drain valve to drain the water into the greywater wetland.

Filtered water chamber all drained and cleaned and the two filter chambers water level matching the top level of the outlet weirs.







I am a happy chappy! The design worked as intended and the structure passed the pressure test. Onto fixing the seal and getting the pumps installed on the skid.

I have taken videos as well and will make my first YouTube! video about this test! New exciting times!

[Curlycat]

Really cool 

[Family_Dog]

Was that grey water used for filling and testing purposes?


-F_D

[El Sid]

Was that grey water used for filling and testing purposes?


-F_D

It looks more of a yellowish colour?

[mygoggie]

Was that grey water used for filling and testing purposes?


-F_D

No, that was rainwater. It is a natural colour of rainwater ...

[Family_Dog]

OK, was hoping that it was not tap water, but did not want to mention that directly. It is quite dirty so will be a good test for your purification system.

-F_D

[mygoggie]

OK, was hoping that it was not tap water, but did not want to mention that directly. It is quite dirty so will be a good test for your purification system.

-F_D

Yep, the colour is from algae growing on everything over here and that needs to be removed. Perfect job for this slow sand filter.

My one issue is that we have severe acid rain as the pH of the rainwater measures between 5.5 and 6.0. The irony is we have no coal power stations or such industries within 1000 km ! I need to run the water through some bicarb to get the pH to 7.0. Another problem for another day.

[mygoggie]

This morning I assembled the Pajero's last parts after replacing the RH driveshaft outer bearing. I packed all the tools away and cleaned the garage, ready for Carl to continue the Colchester lathe project.

I washed up and then went to look at the sand filter. Low and behold, there is water in the storage chamber! 





A quick check showed that the water level in the LH sand filter chamber is lower than the water level in the RH chamber. So obviously the through-hole fitting is leaking slowly.





So I spent some time bailing the water from the LH chamber to the RH chamber. In the process getting myself a bit wet as well ... ai. Time to tighten the nut and compressing the rubber seal a bit. I think I must have forgotten to tighten the nut before as it turned too easily! Not me, never ever! 





Then it was time to start building the filter. I collected some bricks from my storage pile hidden well behind some shrubs. Always on the watch for snakes, but the spiders normally are the ones to draw blood. Cleaned, washed and ready for use.





The bricks form cavity filters and some space for the collector branches to function.





Lower layer of bricks done and onto the covering layer of bricks. These are simply laid flat on top of the bottom layer of bricks.





Brickwork done and ready for the crushed stone layers.





The first 30mm thick layer of 38mm crushed stone layer. I infilled the side cavities with 13mm crushed stone to get a more supportive structure in place.







Onto the 40mm thick layer of 13mm crushed stone.











And then it was time for the sand. I am using sand from the old sand dunes on which my house is built. We had to dig down to more than 5' to get to clean and uniform sand.










Hey, bucket why are you standing around and looking busy?? Get the sand in the chamber!





Looks like it listened!





And, then it was time to do the "Just add water" step ... 





Everything went fine and then the filtered shorted out. The air came bubbling out in the one corner and created a direct path across the filter bed. I will make a video chapter of today and you will see the air bubbling. Here is a screenshot from the video.





It means I will have to dig out the shorted section and redo the sand layering. Now I know you need to do the crushed stone layers and then add the water to get rid of the air. This way, no air to tunnel through the sand layers and short the filter out! So we learn!

I will keep a close eye on the filter over the next few days and once I am happy with the status of it, I will construct the RH filter. 

[mygoggie]

I kept an eye out for anything strange or leaking on the sand filter, but all looks good. 

The sand subsided under its own weight in the left hand chamber so that is also a good thing. Since nothing problematic was seen, I proceeded to fill the right hand chamber as well.

First it was gathering some bricks and cleaning each.





Onto cleaning the chamber.





Then carefully packing the bricks next to the slotted collector pipes. The bricks must not touch the pipes and a 5mm gap is the minimum clearance.







A rare top view of my feet ...





Cavities around the pipes filled with 13mm crushed stone.






The first layer of 38mm crushed stone in place.






And the next layer of 13mm crushed stone in place.






Then, I forgot to add the water step ...

I did it after about 200mm of sand was added and filled the collecter system from the outlet weir side. It worked very well to get the air out and not creating a short in the filter. Once the air was removed, I started adding some more sand, and some more, and so on and so forth. Did I mention I added some more sand to the LH filter chamber again?

Finally, both chambers filled and allowed to settle over the next few days.

[mygoggie]

The project is on a go slow mainly due to my time spent on the lathe project.

Today I wanted to complete the two weirs so that the outlet height can be adjusted as the sand level changes. The sand is scraped every few months to reduce the thickness of the Schmutzdecke which is the layer where all the biology water purification takes place. This means that for this specific design the sand level will decrease by a total of 400mm over a period of five years where new sand will have to be installed.

My design was to fit another pipe over the two outlet weir pipe as installed before and shown below.





This however will not work as the pipe clip is in the way. Today I sat down and made two pipes with O-ring seals that can slide inside the weir pipe and stopped from dropping down into the weir pipe by a cap screw.







It was when I tested the lengths that my professor's voice spoke loud and clearly in my head. "Never ever create dead spaces when designing water purification or biological reticulation systems."   Oh,    I just did. 

What this means is do not create places where flow will not occur. This will create areas where bacteria and all those hairy monsters that hide in the dark corners will grow. I just created such a space between the inner diameter of the larger pipe and the outer diameter of the smaller pipe.

I have spent the rest of the day waiting for Brain to come up with a solution .. 

Alas, I think Brain needs some coffee or a good night's rest to present his usual brilliant plans.

So ... 

[mygoggie]

A wonderful sunny day it was today and for that reason I decided to skip garage working and spend time catching some D's.

I wanted to finish the wood paneling that surrounds the sand filter for a while, so this became the item on the looooong list to tick off.

First off was a missing horisontal plank on the back of the screen paneling. I have cut the plank to length a while back, but never installed it. Planing the tongue off was a quick job. I love wood shavings!





Due to different wood densities, a joint will always move so a butt joint will maybe be closed now, but in a months time will be open due to contraction of the wood. The best way to hide the joint is to make a 45° slip joint. I therefore cut the existing plank's end to 45°.





The new plank fits well enough for its purpose. I am not making a fancy piece of furniture here!





Ready for countersinking and then drilling the holes. Yes, this is the correct order to get a neat countersunk hole.







All side paneling installed and varnished. I am satisfied that it looks good and will survive our gale force winds!







Where the one outlet weir pipe was leaking before, the tightening of the bulkhead fitting proved to be effective. However I noticed a small puddle of water on the floor ... a minute hole was leaking from the right hand sand filter chamber. I am not going to worry about this as it is so small that it will have no effect on the function of the filter.





Tomorrow I want to cut the existing plexiglass seal out and let the space dry out. Then hopefully I can install the new sealant the next day when the opening is dry.

I have also figured out how the weir height can be adjusted. I am simply going to make four different lengths of pipes for each weir and use these as required to get an effective outflow from the weir.

[seanjammy]

Your level of productivity is quite a thing to behold. Amazing to see the thing come together.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

[kenvanraas]

Stunning and riveting stuff  mygoggie
Your journey is very cool.
(I know about the winds there.Worked @ Deal Party,dollosse i caught a huge leerie on livebait  )
Kings beach good beyond cool