Why Automatic Backwashing is best for Rainwater Harvesting
15/05/2023
Specifying a rainwater harvesting system on your project is the first step in achieving greater water efficiency, but the question I ask is have you got the right system?
I want to see a world where all buildings have rainwater harvesting systems, but systems that work, and work well! There is no use in specifying a cheaper, lower quality product if it is going to fail in the first 6 months of operation.
Having supplied and maintained rainwater harvesting systems for over 20 years, myself and my team have built up extensive knowledge of the industry. We know what works, and we know what could work better.
Today, I am going to be talking about Automatic Backwashing. Automatic Backwashing is something which I encourage all my clients to include on their rainwater harvesting systems as standard.
Whilst the Automatic Backwashing option may be slightly more expensive, it can reduce maintenance requirements, prolong system lifespan, and reduce wastage. Automatic Backwashing is helpful for the end user who would need to manually change cotton wound filters when they are blinded with sediment. When the automatic backwash filter cleans itself it reduces pressure on pumps, its healthier for water quality, its more sustainable in that the filter can backwash for over 1 million backwash cycles with no replacement parts and that will save you money!
To understand how Automatic Backwashing works on a rainwater harvesting system, you will need to know about the filtration journey of reusing rainwater…
The control panel will then demand rainwater, and this is where you have two options;
Cotton wound filtration – cotton wound filters remove any smaller particles prior to reuse. Whilst these are better than no filtration at all, but these require manual changes when filters become blinded and these are a throw away single use item.
Automatic Backwashing filtration – this works like the cotton wound filter, except when the control panel detects a lower flow than usual, an automatic backwash takes place. This pushes a high-pressure water supply through the filter in reverse and sends the dirty water to drain. Instead of the filter becoming blocked and needing a maintenance operator to change the filter the filter keeps on working, keeps the water healthier, cleaner and is more sustainable – it will still be working in 20 years!
Stormsaver can supply an integrated automatic backwashing system into the rainwater harvesting system. We have tested our backwash filters for over a million back washes and the proof… we that is that we still have them working in the field after 20 years of operation! If you have any questions, please let me know via my LinkedIn or speak to our team.
Written by Michael
CEO & Founder
CEO & Founder
Having experienced the challenges of water scarcity for the past 20 years, I have a passion for sharing how we can all create a more sustainable future together. In my role as CEO, I love setting out a vision for the future; one where water recycling is the norm in buildings across the world. Read Michael’s Stormsaver profile here.
