The Rain Director®- Let’s go for a bit more detail
A pump driven rainwater harvesting system will normally deliver rainwater on demand whenever the ‘tap’ is turned on. With other systems pump will run (often in the house and noisily) no matter how much water is needed as it is triggered by the drop in pressure at the tap. This ’start stop’ is very wasteful of energy as a power surge is required to get the pump running.
The Rain Director® uses a smart header tank fitted with simple sensors that detect the water levels and to store rainwater. When the Rain Director® senses that the tank needs a refill, it will run once until the tank is full and then stop. That means no ‘on-off’ ’stop-start’. And because the Rain Director® uses a header tank, the household system enjoys a constant head of clear rainwater for washing machines, toilets, the garden and other uses.
The ’smart’ header tank is located in the loft or roof space and the 12 volt valve control panel is plumbed into the mains supply and the rainwater supply pipe – normally indoors at ground level e.g. in a utility room. Rainwater flows up to the header tank and back to the toilet or appliance taps with mains supply as a back up.
Summary of the benefits of the Rain Director® over rainwater pump managed systems:-
“Less power consumption, less noise, cleaner water, easy to commission and very affordable.”
- Variable rainwater level in the smart header tank (all water is used before it’s refilled) eliminates pump hunting and reduces power consumption.
- The Smart header tank only refills once when it’s completely empty (while normal rainwater systems make the pump start every time any amount of water is used) so wear on the pump and electricity usage are both reduced.
- The Rain Director® provides a constant flow of rainwater under gravity at any time, including during power cuts.
- Mains water backup is automated by level sensors not a stop valve or ball cock.
- The Rain Director’s® auto-flush function detects when the occupant is away from home (for example, for holidays) and empties the header tank to avoid any rainwater going brackish avoiding dark coloured water and staining of the toilet bowl.
- On first fitting, Rain Director’s® set-up mode lets the control unit memorise the header tank size and flow rate of the mains and rain water inflow. This enables the time-out periods and operating water levels to be set.
- Rain Director® header tank has a built in air gap. There is no possibility of rainwater entering mains water, as required by UK building regulations.
- Due to careful design, the price of the Rain Director® is much lower than most pump driven water management systems.
- Pump is located in the rain water tank (though accessible) and so, unlike normal other managed systems, there is no irritating pump noise in the house.
