external fixtures
The rain in the UK, falls mainly on the roof…
Category director at Polypipe, Simon Green, discusses some of the rainwater harvesting system options available to architects and building designers
T
he rain in Spain may well fall mainly on the plain, but in the UK it mainly falls on the roof and has to find its way effectively, from there via the guttering, through
downpipes into the drains and soakaways, finding its way safely to the local council’s drainage infrastructure or the local streams and runaways before heading to a nearby river. And in the UK, especially with changing weather patterns, where we’re tending to see rain in greater quantity but less often, the rainwater goods have to be up to the task. The inclusion of a rainwater harvesting system in a new build or refurbishment project will contribute to ensuring that this wonderful free resource – rain – isn’t wasted, and can be recirculated to flush toilets, water gardens and wash cars. Rainwater goods have traditionally been of metal construc-
tion – usually cast iron. However these days, on most new build projects and the majority of refurbishment projects, the rainwa- ter goods are plastic-based systems, uPVC or similar materials. The increasing popularity of these modern rainwater systems
is not coincidental. The benefits of a plastic system are many and obvious and when you’re looking for benefits of any system when designing a building, it’s best to be able to illustrate ben- efits for both the owner and the builder or installer. For starters it’s very lightweight but extremely durable, with low initial outlay and low maintenance costs. It’s also less expensive to install. New lightweight rainwater
systems can be easily fitted using ladders. And in the unlikely event of a piece of guttering or a bracket slipping out of an installers grasp, the damage on the way down to ground level is minimal, if anything at all. But what about the look of plastic rainwater systems… the
plastic look is not exactly a good aesthetic. The choice of pro- files is huge so you can choose rainwater systems in a number of colours, profiles and finishes to slot neatly into any new build project guttering and downpipe scenario. And even if you like the look of authentic cast iron guttering but don’t like the weight problems, and the maintenance and cost issues – there’s a solution for that too. Use a cast iron ‘look-a-like’ rainwater system, which, once on a building, looks exactly like cast iron guttering and down pipes. So you can still have the aesthetics of a ‘cast iron’ drainage system, but with none of the degrada- tion drawbacks you get with the real thing. You get a light- weight, low maintenance solution at a lower cost, that’s quick to install, comes ready to fit without the need to paint it or apply protective coatings, and is fully compatible with other modern rainwater systems. As a well-known TV advert person- ality says – ‘Simples’!
In this day and age you can also specify compatible soil and
vent ranges with a selection of sockets, bends and vent termi- nals. Most ranges available use the popular push-fit approach, again for quick and easy installation. Increasingly in the UK rainwater harvesting is being seen as
a sensible option and an addition to the ‘sustainability package’ that many architects either like or are requested to design into their projects. In recent years we’re seeing our rain come less often but in greater quantities when it does arrive, and this has resulted in major run off, wasted as its heads for rivers to escape and this has often resulted in significant damage from flood- ing. It clearly makes sense to ensure that as much of the rain- water as possible that falls on the roof makes its way through the downpipes and into tanks where it can be stored and used when needed. Rain harvesting can replace up to 50 per cent of household
mains water consumption. A shocking one third of all water used in the home gets flushed down the toilet – and in most homes, that’s drinking water quality. The roof on an average four-bed family home captures more than 100,000 litres of rain- water each year – most of which currently goes down the drain and is wasted. When you think that a typical family uses 70,000 litres of water each year on flushing the toilet, clothes washing and outdoor use – watering the garden and cleaning cars, it simply makes sense to harvest it and use it, saving on your water bills. There are a selection of rainwater harvesting systems avail- able from small ones that just provide for watering gardens and washing cars to larger systems that provide pumped supplies for use in the home alongside mains water.
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‘The inclusion of a rainwater harvesting system in a new build or refurbishment project will contribute to ensuring that this wonderful free resource – rain –
isn’t wasted’ Simon Green, catagory director at Polypipe
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