Rainwater pre-filtration is perhaps the most important part in designing a rainwater harvesting system as it aims to remove large debris from the supply of rainwater prior to entrance into the rainwater storage tank. Rainwater filters are necessary in both residential and commercial spaces.
Removing large debris is an essential step in rainwater harvesting for several reasons. By removing larger particulates from the water supply, only small particles make it to the rainwater storage tank.
If you’re wondering how to collect and filter rainwater, the answer is simple. By using WISY rainwater pre-filters, you can expect to eliminate particles ranging from as small as 280 microns to 440 microns (this range varies based on which filter is used). This means that the particles that make it into the tank are smaller than a grain of sand! What makes it into the tank at this point is very small and will either float to the top and be siphoned off through the overflow or will sink to the bottom and help form a healthy "biofilm" in the tank--more on these two aspects in coming posts.
Why Use Pre-Filtration?
As mentioned in previous posts, rainwater itself is not dirty - your roof is, though. Leaves, sticks, dirt, particles of shingles, and other contaminants all end up on your roof or in your gutters at some point. You may be thinking, "so why can't I just let debris go to the storage tank?"
Two main reasons come to mind:
- Unfiltered biological debris in the tank provides "food" to any bacteria that may be in the water and will eventually create a very unhealthy water environment.
- Unfiltered debris builds up at a much quicker rate in the bottom of the tank, and tank cleaning becomes mandatory due to this. In addition, this also tends to lead to suspended solids, more water discoloration, and, last but not least: odor. And man does it smell!
This simple step of pre-filtration eliminates or drastically reduces all of these factors and makes system maintenance very minimal. Most of our customers only need to clean their filter screens 2-3 times per year and never have to clean their tanks. Reducing the amount and size of particulate that makes it into the tank also prolongs pumping equipment and post-tank filtration equipment by not clogging it with gunk.
How Does Rainwater Pre-Filtration Work?
So let's talk about rainwater collection pre-filtration , focusing solely on WISY products. This is the only filter that we use as we feel it is the best rainwater filter available in terms of sediment removal and low maintenance. Water enters the filter housing and, due to the offset inlet, swirls around the interior of the housing. As it cascades over the edge due to gravity, surface tension keeps the water close to the stainless-steel filter insert. The filter insert has a very, very fine screen that keeps particles larger than 280 microns (or 380-440 microns, depending on which filter screen is being used) from passing through. Capillary action properties of water will then pull the water through to the other side of the filter and down to the chamber that leads to the tank, leaving debris on the other side of the filter. As more and more rain comes through the filter, the debris that is left on the inside of the filter housing will wash away into the storm drain. See the videos below for a demonstration of this.
Shop Purification & Filtration ProductsSizing Rainwater Pre-Filtration
Sizing your pre-filtration correctly is very important as it can lead to a lack of efficiency if improperly sized. The way to size this is based on your roof collection area. For smaller collection areas, downspout filters are a good fit, but for larger collection areas, we recommend vortex filters. See the below for the recommended product sizes for pre-tank filtration.
For roof areas up to 1,000 square feet:
- WISY Garden Rainwater Filter Collector Package
For roof areas up to 1,600 square feet:
- WISY Downspout Rainwater Filter Package
- WISY Polypropylene Downspout Rainwater Filter Package
- WISY Polypropylene Raincatcher Package
- WISY Standpipe Rainwater Filter Package
- WISY WFF100 Vortex Filter
For roof areas up to 2,100 square feet:
- WISY WFF100 Vortex Filter
- WISY WFF150 Vortex Filter
- WISY LineAr100 Rainwater Filter Stainless Steel
- WISY LineAr100 Rainwater Filter Poly
For roof areas up to 5,500 square feet:
- WISY WFF150 Vortex Filter
For roof areas up to 2,100 square feet:
- WISY WFF300 Vortex Filter
- WISY WFF300 Stainless Steel Vortex Filter
So, as you can see above there are some redundancies where a filter is shown in two different roof sizes. You can use rainwater pre-filtration for roof areas up to their capacity, but exceeding it is where efficiency is decreased.
For example, A client I have worked with did not want to use multiple downspout filters to collect from all of her downspouts, so instead, we used a WFF100 to collect all of the downspouts into one pipe below ground and then fed the vortex filter with just one pipe. You can always combine multiple filters to find a solution for different scenarios based on roof sizes, elevations, and other factors. For example: just because the WFF300 does not filter more than 33,000 square feet of roof area does not mean that a project's needs cannot be met. The addition of filters allows you to meet the project requirements in this scenario.
These are the basics of how to collect and filter rainwater. Removing sediment is the top priority of rainwater harvesting as it improves the quality of water while reducing the amount of maintenance of other components. This very simple step can save lots of headaches and improve the quality of water that you are collecting.