Hi Paul, I’ve been off grid for 10 years and the first fridge we had (came with the house) was a Consul that used propane. It was a bit temperamental and wasn’t really super cold in hot summers. We now have small electric fridge made by LG and it’s been great. We have a 24 volt solar system and inverter and the LG is very efficient. I won’t turn this into a forum on alternative energy. I will say that I woke up late one night barely able to breath because the ammonia from the propane fridge cooling system was leaking and we had to move the thing out to the porch in the middle of the night. No one knew how to fix it. Just go electric and save a lot of trouble for yourself. Be sure to look for a fridge that’s OK with being in a freezing place, then you can unplug it and keep it where it stays cold in the winter when there’s less sun to run it.
I have a friend whose property came with a small dam. He adapted it to hydropower for his own use and heated his house with it. Another friend upriver repaired a historic dam on his property and was working on installing a bigger hydro set up. He wanted to sell power. He even applied to FERC , since Federal approval is required for even a small operation if it’s entering the grid. That was 20 years ago. He’s still waiting.
I’m not needing more power since i have 10kw of solar but i do need to bring up wind turbines and solar get cheaper every day. It’s my opinion your right on an electric refrigerator by todays standards. Propane is still valuable in some cases for some things.
The thing we learned, is that instead of applying for the traditional permit, you have to apply for an exemption. The most common route for smaller projects, as we found, is a 5 megawatt exemption.
Yeah, there are reasons to keep some available for sure.
I wonder if he came upon that, or if he gave up years ago. Next time I see him…
I once lived in a house with one that size in the basement. It surprises me that freezing hasn’t hurt yours. Looks perfect for aquaculture.
Ok that makes sense. Thanks for your feedback.
I think I will do that, go with electric freezer and a good size solar system to support it and a few things like a blender etc.
I am going with used cheap nice panels and the Growatt off grid stackable inverters 5000 ES, my friend went with those, at Signature Solar, along with the 48v 100a/h LifePower4 batteries and a growatt 5k midpoint transformer.
Everyone may know this but rainwater can be pretty dirty after a dry period depending on how dirty your roof is. Today is 1/20/23 and this rain water im gathering to water my future plants is very dirty. This lets us know how much tthis water needs filtered before it could be used for things other than garden water.
Clark, would a simple sand/gravel filter be appropriate for your uses? Pinterest has some pretty cool ideas for this kind of stuff.
An inline filter would be very good. The type of filter you describe works great in a pinch.
Here is a video if anyone is interested
Very nice.
Assuming the containers are ‘clean’.
The couple of food grade ones i have were optionally clean or not clean. We spent the extra money to get them clean. Think there was a $20 difference.
When roofs were used to collect rain water for cisterns they used a pre cistern catch tank. Once that would fill up the water would them flow to the cistern. It was sized based on the roof area, to make sure enough water would hit the roof to wash off the debris and bird poop.
I might try something similar for the inlet to my system, a “forebay” if you will.
Converting Rainwater into Potable Drinking Water – Methods and Benefits | RainWater Harvesting Filters, Products & Consultancy Services.
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Converting Rainwater into Potable Drinking Water – Methods and Benefits
Posted on 19th July 2018
The drinking water demand of our earth’s population is generally fulfilled by two sources – groundwater and surface water (river, streams, waterfalls). However, rainfall is a major source of supply for above-mentioned sources. So, isn’t it a great idea to directly use the rainwater for drinking purpose? And moreover, rainwater is considered the purest form of water.
By the purest form of water, it is meant that rainwater has a low mineral composition and acidic content. But that does not mean it is safe to directly drink the rainwater. Even though its natural composition is neutral, the rainwater drops do pick up pollutants and dirt from the atmosphere, especially in the areas of high chemical industries and nuclear explosions. There are more reasons that support the need for purifying rainwater before using it as a potable water.
Why there is a need to purify rainwater before drinking
The rainwater may contain one or more of the following contaminations, that made it unsafe from drinking without running it through purification methods:
- Firstly, the raindrops while reaching the earth’s surface, collect the dirt, harmful chemicals, smoke, etc. present in the atmosphere.
- On reaching the earth surface, it gets mixed with animal faeces, algae, sand, twigs, dead insects, etc.
- The contaminated water becomes the breeding ground for E.coli, microorganisms and other life-threating bacteria.
- From certain old types of roof, the rainwater can have dissolved asbestos which is a fibrous silica compound and is a carcinogen (a substance that may become a leading cause of cancer).
Filtration methods for harvested rainwater
The best way to use rainwater for drinking purpose is to design the rainwater harvesting systems at home and run this collected water through a filtration system.
There are many methods for rainwater filtration and purification. The choice would depend upon
- The amount of rainwater available for purification
- Your expenses budget
- The available resources in your part of country or state.
Here are few natural and equipment-based filtration methods for converting rainwater into potable drinking water reserves:
The water received on the catchment areas must be passed through first flush devices to block the tangible and large-sized pollutants like leaves, twigs, birds’ excrement and sand etc., before the rainwater enters the conveyance system (distribution pipes). Along with first flush devices, the gutter screens can also be installed at the edges of the catchment area. This will reduce the blockage in the conveyance system and thus reducing their maintenance cost.
Within the water storage tanks, the filters are needed to keep the pollutants settled down at the bottom of the tank. The filtration systems may include screen filters, paper filters and carbon or charcoal filters.
Filters are measured in microns. One micron is about 1/25,000th of an inch.
Filters are effective at separating visibly large pollutants from the collected rainwater, but they will not eliminate all substances. For quality drinking water, filtration must be accompanied by disinfectant methods, which lead to the removal of dissolved micro-pollutants.
Chlorine treatment
Chlorine is being used as the major method of disinfection in most of the public water systems. For this purpose, 2.3 fluid ounces of household bleach must be added per 1,000 gallons of water. However, the dosage rate will vary depending on the quantity of water to be treated, pH and the temperature.
Chlorine is effective in eliminating waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and hepatitis. However, care must be taken as chlorine is highly reactive and can combine with various other naturally occurring organic materials, creating harmful combinations that can be hazardous to health.
Using Ultra Violet (UV) lights
Passing water through ultraviolet lights can disrupt the microorganism cell’s genetic makeup, to make them unable to reproduce. Before treating water under UV lights, it must be passed through the filtration system.
For effective disinfection, replace the bulbs after 9,000 hours, or about every 12 months. The UV units are effective on particulates not more than 50 microns and the water must not contain tannins, sulfur or sulfur-related bacteria. This can be known by testing the water quality in a lab.
Using membrane filtration
Another alternative filtration method is membrane filtration. There are pressure-driven membrane technologies such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis.
Amongst each other, Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the most widely used membrane technology. They are capable of removing particles as fine as .001 microns like radium, natural organics, pesticides, cysts, bacteria, and viruses.
The RO units, however, results in water wastage, as, major amount of the water is flushed out in the process of removing contamination. Even though, the RO systems are compact and most suitable for household use.
Distillation
This is the simplest method of water purification. The water is boiled which can evaporate the impurities and the condensed purified water is collected in the containers. About 5-10% of the water is lost due to evaporation.
The distillation process is capable of removing almost all substances from the water except for volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). Using carbon filters in a distillation system can help in removing VOCs.
Benefits of using harvested rainwater for drinking
Though it requires a proper arrangement for using rainwater for drinking purposes, it is worth doing.
- It reduces pressure on naturally occurring water sources (groundwater and water streams) which takes a lot of time for replenishment.
- The purified rainwater contains alkaline pH, which has detoxifying effects to promote a healthy digestion.
- The mineral content of rainwater is low which is a good condition to reduce headaches, gastritis and damage to body organs.
- It promotes healthy skin and hair due to its alkaline pH. It maintains the skin’s natural moisture and promote healthy hair growth.
With little planning and investment, we can harvest the great potential of rainwater and help in maintaining our health, as well as that of our environment.
Rainwater gutter filters and screens at Chaitanya
Chaitanya products are the providers of the most modern and award-winning rainwater harvesting products and services.
There, one can find Vee wire filter screens which are efficient and non-clogging rainwater screens, rainwater drainage gutters for specific use in industries and similar other materials for home and agriculture use of harvested rainwater. There is no compromise at Chaitanya when it comes to quality products and services.
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I drank a lot of unfiltered rainwater much of the 1990’s…no adverse affects that I am aware of. Collected all months year round into food grade plastic and in a concrete cistern.
My husband and have been 100% off grid for over 2 years.
There have been some harsh lessons along the way.
We had a large cooler for groceries for about a year and a half and I finally caved and bought a SunStar fridge from cabin Depot about a year ago. I’m still trying to pay it off but what a difference it makes to us we actually use the freezer part to keep things from freezing in the winter. We just don’t turn it on and put things like tomatoes and eggs in there.
The first year we were here we only used half of our 5000 gallon water tank. I do leave for work so I was using water at work to wash my hands and of course the toilet but my husband is here 24 seven. That usage went up after we started getting animals a garden and fruit trees, of course.
Joolca is amazing for hot water.
We have two dogs that are both great companions and also an off grid alarm system lol.
We have cornet quail and chickens. I’d like to beekeep but I can’t afford the beehive I want yet.
The first thing we bought from cabin Depot was the Cinderella freedom toilet. That toilet is so wonderful. If we ever have to evacuate I’m putting that toilet in my truck. It was very expensive. But toilets are the biggest water users. We pay $500 to get 5000 gallons of water delivered here.
If you want filtered water simply buy a Berkey filter. They say you can filter pond water with it but we just filter delivered water and use it for cooking and drinking. Of course we don’t filter rainwater or the delivered water for showers or washing dishes.
I have zero interest in not being in control of my water, food or electricity. I’m working on the food part right now 
If you ever need a new fridge, check out SunStar, we run it off a solar panel that charges a battery for our Cinderella freedom toilet and the SunStar fridge. You should see how thick the insulation is on the fridge.
The toilet doesn’t take much energy because it uses propane for incineration. I don’t think we’d be capable of running an electric incineration toilet.