| Rain Barrel to Toilet Installation |
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| A Practical How-To Guide |
| Page 7 |
| Hooking It All Up (cont.) |
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| Think we're almost done? Well hold your horses... not so fast. Now is the chance to test your system. Fill up the rain barrel with 10 or more gallons of water and see how your toilet fills up when you flush. At this point mine didn't work at all. The next problem to overcome is the difference in pressure between your home's domestic water supply and that of your rain barrel. This pressure is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). Domestic Potable Supply = ~40 psi Rain Barrel Supply = ~4 psi You can calculate the pressure of your water barrel by measuring the vertical distance from the water in the top of your barrel to the top of the water in your toilet tank. Pressure (psi) = Vertical Feet x 0.433 psi/ft Some toilet fill valves are not designed to operate under the low pressure of the gravity fed water barrel. I previously had the type of fill valve that had a float which slid up and down vertically upon the fill valve shaft. I had to buy the replacement fill valve shown below. You can buy replacement fill valves for under $10. It's important that you get one with an adjustable arm (lower right picture). The kit I got had a float arm that was too long. I sawed off about 3 inches in the middle and patched it together with duct tape and nails for support. |
| Replacement Fill Valve |
| Adjustable Fill Valve Arm |
| You'll need the ability to adjust how far down or up the float arm goes. As shown in the picture on the right, this arm can be adjusted by loosening and tightening the set screw. ** When your toilet is set for potable water (high pressure), you'll need to adjust the arm down so it has more stopping power. ** When your toilet is set for rain water (low pressure), you'll need to adjust the arm up so it allows more water in under the lower pressure. You'll need to fine tune everything so that the water fills up to the recommended water line for your toilet. Any less and you may have flushing problems... and more and you'll be wasting water. |
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