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medium hard tap water vs. rainwater?

fenderjaguar

Active member
Messages
262
I am not talking about using a water fed pole or anthing.

I recently started thinking about the water I'm using not being pure water. Now I know I'm only using applictor and squeegee with a bottle of water, but would it be worth me using pretty clean rain from my water butt and sending it through a coffee filter, instead of using regular tap water? It wouldn't really be any trouble...

 
Rainwater is basicaly very soft water so just havesting it into a holding tank and running it through a basic filter to get rid of the crud comming down with it from the guttering is good enough for trad cleaning. I use to use a nylon sock to filter the crud out before it went into the holding tank/water butts.

You can get a HM Digital TDS-3 Handheld Meter With Carrying Case

http://www.daqua.co.uk/testmeters.htm from the likes of daqua for 12.60 to have a play at finding out how pure the harvested rainwater water really is.

 
I love using peoples water butt when traddin on a paticular estate, refresh my bucket every house, the way i see it, its better than my barrel of tap water :)

Sent from my GT-S6810P using Window Cleaning Forums

 
OK thanks guys

have a play at finding out how pure the harvested rainwater water really is.
Do you think there can be water soluble minerals running with the water off the roof? Should I give the roof, gutter and inside of the water butt a clean as well? Only a small garage roof and 15 foot length of gutter

 
If you have a tds metre next time it rains put a cup out and test the rain water that collects in it. You will find once rinsed out with rain and you take another reading when collected again the rain water has a very low ppm reading of about 2ppm. However once it gets contaminated by roof tiles etc and flows into the guttering and mixes with tile grit, moss & muck it don't stay that low for long.

Mine came out of the downpipe and after the sock filter on average of 20-30 ppm which is equivalent to very soft tap water without any harsh chemicals like chlorine being in it. However harvested rainwater picks up bacteria and micro bugs along the way too so don't go drinking it now will you. Also if left in say a water butt without a lid on it for a period of time the water will eventualy turn into a stagnant primeval soup with all sorts of wiggly thing in it too:D

 
Indeed the water butt has a lid on. The water is pretty clean, just coming out of the tap without even being filtered.

No, I certainly wouldn't drink it without boiling or sending through a propur filter or whatever.

So smurf, what ppm is just the tap water in your area? Any idea what kind of ppm would medium hard tap water in the manchester area be?

 
My tap water tds reading is currently 398 ppm

Indeed the water butt has a lid on. The water is pretty clean, just coming out of the tap without even being filtered.
No, I certainly wouldn't drink it without boiling or sending through a propur filter or whatever.

So smurf, what ppm is just the tap water in your area? Any idea what kind of ppm would medium hard tap water in the manchester area be?
 
yep I often use water butts as a water source but try not to let the custy catch me...

frank once turned one tap and broke it hes a bugger that frank...:rofl:

 
So, not that much difference between fancy ro purewater and just plain dirty old rainwater crudely run through one of smurfs smelly old socks?

 
well it smells differently...sorta cheesy:D
When he mentioned a "stagnant primeval soup with all sorts of wiggly things in it", I never imagined he was talking about something he'd just taken off his foot

 
I will have you know I change me socks at least once a month. The good old sniff test works a treat /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
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