GB2423098A

GB2423098A - Rainwater recycling system

Info

Publication number: GB2423098A
Application number: GB0606284A
Authority: GB
Inventors: E Van Johnson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-03-29
Filing date: 2006-03-29
Publication date: 2006-08-16
Anticipated expiration: 2026-03-29
Also published as: GB0606284D0; GB2423098B

Abstract

A rainwater recycling system comprises a roof gutter profile 11. The roof gutter profile comprises an upper channel 2 for receiving rainwater run-off and a reservoir section 8 below the channel section 2. Means are provided for allowing rainwater to run from the upper channel section 2 into the reservoir section 8, these means may comprise at least one drainage aperture 5. A sump 10 may be provided at the lowest point of the gutter profile 11 in use. A plurality of gutter profiles 11 may be connected to each other or may be arranged to cascade water from one to another. The reservoir section 8 may be connected to a water consumption device via an outlet 12. The water consumption device may be a toilet cistern. A toilet cistern having an inlet for recycled water and an inlet for mains water is also provided. The cistern may have a valve for each inlet and may be set up to receive water from mains supply and recycled supply at a 1:10 volumetric ratio. The valves may be operated by respective floats or by a common float.

Description

ROOF GUTTER PROFILE AND WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a roof gutter profile for collecting and storing rainwater and an associated water recycling system.

As new housing is built and occupied there is a greater need for potable or drinking water.

Reservoirs are built to collect drinking water and these reservoirs require large tracts of land and may require valleys to be dammed and flooded. To make the best use of the reservoirs they should be sited in areas where it is expected to have the greatest rainfall but there is a problem in that it is not absolutely certain where the rain will fall. Large pipelines and pumping stations are required to pump the collected water to end users who may be located a considerable distance from the reservoir. The pipelines and pumping stations require maintenance and there is the problem of combating leakage from the pipelines.

Another problem is that much potable water is not economically used by the end user as every time a toilet is flushed it uses potable water which then enters the sewers. There is no need for toilet flushing water to be potable.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above-mentioned problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a roof gutter profile comprising an upper channel for receiving rainwater runoff, a reservoir section below the upper channel, and means for allowing rainwater received in the upper channel to run into the reservoir section.

By using the roof gutter profile with the roofs of buildings, rainwater running off these roofs can thus be collected and can be used to flush toilets as opposed to being channelled away by rainwater gutters and drains and either not being used or having to be conveyed over a long distance to a reservoir.

The roof gutter profile distributes the load of collected water around the load bearing outer walls of a building and avoids having a heavy water tank in the roof space of the building which might not be available for a flat roof building.

The roof gutter profile is able to distribute water easily as it replaces the gutter which generally extends around the perimeter of the building. There is no additional work in fixing the roof gutter profile with regard to using conventional guttering as the roof gutter profile can use conventional gutter fixing means.

As there are buildings built in places where there are no reservoirs the roofs of the buildings with the roof gutter profiles can collect falling rain in those places. Thus, buildings that have collected sufficient water will use less potable water from existing potable water supplies.

The roof gutter profile should be fitted so that it is level for maximum storage of water / most efficient water collection.

The reservoir section preferably comprises a conduit. The reservoir section and upper channel may together form an integral unit. Alternatively, they may be separate units connected together.

The means for allowing rainwater received in the upper channel to run into the reservoir section may comprise at least one drainage aperture in the upper channel for draining water into the reservoir section beneath. There may be a plurality of apertures regularly spaced along the length of the profile.

A sump may be provided at the lowest point of the roof gutter profile and the sump forms part of the reservoir section.

A rainwater recycling system may be provided which includes a roof gutter profile as described above, and conduit means connecting the reservoir section to one or more water consumption devices. The water consumption device may be a toilet cistern and the sump at the lowest point of the roof gutter profile may be located at a location closely adjacent to the toilet cistern.

The system may include roof gutter profiles on a plurality of building properties and interconnected so that water in one reservoir section for one building property is connected to another reservoir section on another building property so that water can run between the connected reservoir sections. Thus, if a building property is vacant or has a low consumption user(s), water stored in the reservoir section of its roof gutter profile can be used by a connected property having a higher consumption user(s). The building properties may be part of the same building or may comprise at least part of separate buildings.

For, say, a tall building such as a block of flats, roof gutter profiles can be located at a plurality of levels. Water is received in the topmost roof gutter profile from the roof of the building and each of the other roof gutter profiles is arranged to receive water from the roof gutter profile immediately above by, say, a conduit or by water simply cascading from the roof gutter profile immediately above.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for collecting water comprising the steps of: providing a roof gutter profile comprising an upper channel and a reservoir section below the upper channel; receiving rainwater run-off in the upper channel; and running rainwater received in the upper channel into the reservoir section.

The method may include routing water from the reservoir section to a water consumption device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a toilet cistern supply means comprising a toilet cistern having a first inlet connectable to a recycled water supply from, say, a rainwater recycling system such as that previously described, and a second inlet connectable to a water mains supply.

Flow restriction means may be provided between the water mains supply and the second water inlet so that when the toilet cistern is recharged from both the recycled water supply and the water mains supply the majority of the water is supplied from the recycled water supply. The volumetric ratio of recycled water supplied to mains water supplied may be at least 10:1. The flow restriction means may comprise a valve which may be opened to increase water entering the cistern when there is an insufficient recycled water supply.

There may be a valve for each inlet, each valve arranged to be actuated by a respective float in said toilet cistern. Alternatively, each valve may be arranged to be actuated by a common float in said toilet cistern.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic cross-section of a roof gutter profile according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic isometric view of an end of the roof gutter profile; Figure 3 is a modified view of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a modified schematic cross-section of the roof gutter profile of Figure 1; Figure 5 is an isometric view of the roof gutter profile of Figure 4 and including a sump box; Figure 6 is a schematic longitudinal section of the roof gutter profile of Figure 5 connected to a toilet cistern; Figure 7 is a schematic plan view of a modified toilet cistern; Figures 8 and 9 are elevational details of Figure 7; Figure 10 is a schematic cross-section of a part of a building having a plurality of roof gutter profiles; and Figure 11 is a schematic longitudinal section of a modified arrangement of a plurality of roof gutter profiles.

Referring to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, a roof gutter profile 1 has an upper channel 2 for receiving rainwater run-off from a roof 3. A reservoir section 4 in the form of a box section conduit is situated below the upper channel 2 and is integral with the channel 2 but could be formed separately and joined together. The reservoir section 4 is of the same width as the channel 2 and drainage apertures 5 are formed along the base of the channel 2 (see also Fig. 5) for draining water into the reservoir section 4. The reservoir section 4 has an aperture 6 in its base to which a conduit 7 is connected and the conduit 7 can connect the reservoir section 4 to one or more water consumption devices.

An end 36 of the roof gutter profile I is illustrated in Figure 2 and is henceforth known as a stop end. A wall 37 forms the end of the channel 2 and reservoir section 4 and the top of the waIl 37 is coincident with the top of the channel 2.

In a modification shown in Figure 3, the top of the waIl 38 is at approximately half the height of the channel 2 and is henceforth known as a raised or half stop end. The half stop end 38 allows excess water in the channel 2 to overflow into a drainpipe (not shown) adjacent the half stop end 38.

Referring to Figure 4, in a modification of the roof gutter profile shown in Figure 1, the reservoir section 8 in the form of a box section conduit is of a greater width than the upper channel 2 and is aligned with one side of the channel 2. The aperture in the base of the reservoir section has been omitted.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6, the modified reservoir section 8 is shown with an aperture 9 in its base for draining water into a sump box or unit 10 beneath. The sump unit 10 is located at the lowest point of the roof gutter profile 11. A conduit 12 connected to an aperture 13 in the base of the sump unit 10 connects the rainwater gutter profile 11 to a first water inlet 14 of a toilet cistern 15. The toilet cistern 15 also has a second water inlet 16 connected to a water mains supply via a flow restrictor 17.

Each water inlet 14,16 has a valve 18,19 which is actuated by a respective ball float 20,21 in the cistern 15 in a manner well known in the art.

The valves 18,19 are actuated by their respective floats 20,21 as the floats 20,21 rise and fall due to changes in the water level inside the cistern 15.

In use, rainwater received in the upper channel 2 drains into the reservoir section 8 via the drainage apertures 5. Water in the reservoir section 8 drains into the sump unit 10 and the sump cistern conduit 12 carries water to the first water inlet 14 of the toilet cistern 15.

If the toilet cistern 15 is flushed and accordingly requires recharging, the valves 18,19 will be actuated so as to open by their respective floats 20,21 to enable water to enter the cistern 15 via the first and second water inlets 14,16.

As there is a flow restrictor 17 between the second water inlet 16 and the water mains supply, much less water is received into the cistern 15 from the water mains supply than from the recycled water supply from the rainwater gutter profile 11.

In a specific example of a preferred embodiment, a building property such as a semi-detached house may have an upper channel of the length of 25.9 m (85 feet), a 3 m (10 feet) long downpipe to the cistern, and the box section conduit may have an internal height of 152 mm (6 inches) and an internal width of 229 mm (9 inches) which provides the same internal cross-sectional area as the downpipe. This would provide a reservoir arrangement which could store 1006 litres (221 gallons) of water. A toilet cistern in the property may have a storage capacity of 40.9 litres (9 gallons). Thus, the roof gutter profile with a full reservoir section can supply enough water to flush the toilet twenty-four times.

The more properties that have the reservoir arrangement described above, the more water can be stored thereby reducing the demand on existing potable water supplies. For example, if there are 250 properties with the above preferred embodiment then these properties could store 251,500 litres (55,250 gallons) of water. South East Water Authority has recently been given leave by the government to install water meters in every household in their area at a cost of approximately 250 per household. While this will highlight the amount of water used, it will not alleviate the shortage of water. Were a similar investment made to install the reservoir arrangement described, a new multi-million gallon water reservoir could have been created with a life span of up to 25 years with little or no maintenance costs, or massive savings would be possible.

If 150 new houses are built with the above preferred embodiment and each reservoir arrangement refills 125 times in a year then this would provide a saving of 18.9 million litres (4.1 million gallons) of potable water annually.

An increase in the dimensions of the box section conduit would increase the amount of water that can be stored.

The roof gutter profile may be made in several standard sizes like existing guttering systems. The reservoir section does not need to be full to supply water to the toilet cistern.

In a modified toilet cistern 22 shown in Figures 7 to 9, each water inlet valve 23,24 is connected to a common actuating ball float 25. One valve 23 is simply connected by a connecting member 26 having a pivot connection 27 with the ball float 25. The other water inlet valve 24 is connected to a connecting member 28 having a pivot connection 29 with the float 25 and the pivot connection 29 is slidably mounted in a slot 30 in the connecting member 28.

This allows for the change in distance between the valve 24 and ball float 25 as the ball float 25 rises and falls due to changes in the water level inside the cistern 22.

Referring to Figure 10, in another embodiment, a plurality of the roof gutter profiles 11 illustrated in Figure 5 (with their sump units omitted) are vertically spaced from each other enabling water to cascade from one roof gutter profile 11 to another. One run of guttering comprising a roof gutter profile 11 may be provided at an upper region of each storey 31 of a building 32. The base of the reservoir section 8 of each roof gutter profile 11 has an aperture 33 to which a cascade conduit 34 is connected. The cascade conduit 34 is separate from the conduit 12 (not shown) for connection to a toilet cistern. The cascade conduit 34 of each roof gutter profile 11 (except for the lowest roof gutter profile 11") is arranged to direct water into the upper channel 2 of the roof gutter profile 11 immediately beneath and water is received in the upper channel 2 of the topmost roof gutter profile 11' from the roof 35 of the building 32. Each roof gutter profile 11 may be covered with a false fascia board (not shown).

In a modification shown in Figure 11, a plurality of the roof gutter profiles I of the first embodiment are stacked one above the other and they do not have cascade conduits. Conduits connecting the reservoir sections 4 to a water consumption device are omitted for clarity. Each roof gutter profile 1 runs from one common end 39. At the other end 40 the roof gutter profiles 1 are arranged so that each successive descending roof gutter profile extends beyond the roof gutter profile immediately above and ends with a half end stop 38. The half stop end 38' of the lowest roof gutter profile l'is adjacent a downpipe 41. Water can cascade over the half stop end 38 of each roof gutter profile I into the channel 2 of the roof gutter profile I immediately beneath except for the lowest roof gutter profile I' where water can cascade into the downpipe 41. The stack of roof gutter profiles 1 may be covered with a common false fascia board 42.

Adjoining building properties may have their roof gutter profiles interconnected so that if one building property is vacant or has a low consumption user(s), water stored in the reservoir section of its roof gutter profile can be used by the adjoining occupied property.

Whilst particular embodiments have been described, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claims: 1. A roof gutter profile comprising an upper channel for receiving

rainwater run-off, a reservoir section below the upper channel, and means for allowing rainwater received in the upper channel to run into the reservoir section.
2. The roof gutter profile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reservoir section comprises a conduit.
3. The roof gutter profile as claimed in claim I or 2, wherein the means for allowing rainwater received in the upper channel to run into the reservoir section comprises at least one drainage aperture in the upper channel for draining water into the reservoir section beneath.
4. The roof gutter profile as claimed in any preceding claim, including a sump at the lowest point of the roof gutter profile.
5. A plurality of roof gutter profiles as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the roof gutter profiles are vertically spaced from each other enabling water to cascade from one roof gutter profile to another.
6. A rainwater recycling system, including a roof gutter profile as claimed in any preceding claim, and conduit means connecting the reservoir section to one or more water consumption devices.
7. The rainwater recycling system as claimed in claim 6, including a said water consumption device which is a toilet cistern.
8. The rainwater recycling system as claimed in claim 6 or 7, including said roof gutter profiles on a plurality of building properties and interconnected so that water in one reservoir section for one building property is connected to another reservoir section on another building property so that water can run between the connected reservoir sections.
9. A method for collecting water comprising the steps of: providing a roof gutter profile comprising an upper channel and a reservoir section below the upper channel; receiving rainwater run-off in the upper channel; and running rainwater received in the upper channel into the reservoir section.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, including routing water from the reservoir section to a water consumption device.
II. A toilet cistern supply means comprising a toilet cistern having a first inlet connectable to a recycled water supply and a second inlet connectable to a water mains supply.
12. The toilet cistern supply means as claimed in claim 11, including flow restriction means between the second water inlet and the water mains supply so as to enable the toilet cistern being recharged from both the recycled water supply and the water mains supply to have the majority of water supplied from the recycled water supply.
13. The toilet cistern supply means as claimed in claim 12, wherein the volumetric ratio of recycled water supplied to mains water supplied is at least 10:1.
14. The toilet cistern supply means as claimed in claim 11, 12 or 13, including a valve for each inlet, each valve arranged to be actuated by a respective float in said toilet cistern.
15. The toilet cistern supply means as claimed in claim 11, 12 or 13, including a valve for each inlet, each valve arranged to be actuated by a common float in said toilet cistern.
16. A roof gutter profile constructed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 or Figures 5 and 6 or Figure 10 or Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.
17. A rainwater recycling system constructed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 or Figures 5 and 6 or Figures 7 to 9 or Figure 10 or Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.
18. A method for collecting water described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 or Figures 5 and 6 or Figure 10 or Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.
19. A toilet cistern supply means constructed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 6 or Figures 7 to 9 or Figure 10 or Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.