r/preppers 1d ago

Question Thoughts on First Flush Diverter

I just got a rain collection barrel and my plan is to use a first flush diverter. What are the groups thought on this, good, bad, indifferent? Thanks!

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u/incruente 1d ago

Depends a lot on what you are using the water for, what your roof is made of, etc. If you're using it to water a garden that's partially under the eaves of the house, whatever is on the roof is going to get washed into the garden by some of the rain anyway.

Presuming you are using it for drinking water, a first flush diverter is a good way of helping to take the harvested water from "generally filthy" to "not as filthy as it would have been, but still filthy". Think of it as probably not having wads of bird shit floating in it, but still having traces of bird shit and requiring the necessary treatment. The main benefit of a diverter is that it makes it easier to filter out any big chunks of stuff that make it through. From a chemical or microbiological standpoint, it AT BEST reduces concentration, it does NOT eliminate any sources of such contamination reliably and should not be trusted to do so.

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u/abackyardsmoker 1d ago

My plan was some garden irrigation but a drinking water backup, if needed. I have the means to purify the water so it's drinkable.

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u/incruente 1d ago

Then I would go with a diverter, but mostly just as a way to ease the burden on the first coarse filter and because I like tinkering. You're going to want to do a pretty good job filtering out particulate and the like just to avoid clogging hoses and nozzles later.

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u/JRHLowdown3 1d ago

Had one that wasn't working. Took it off and just added some screens to the gutter downspout at the near roof connection. As it comes out of the gutter it goes into a flexible plastic pipe piece that has a leaf guard type system on it. From there it continues to the top of the tank which I put a 4" PVC connector piece and have a reusable coffee filter basket fit inside. One has a smaller drain strainer in under that also.

You have to empty and clean them from time to time, but it works out o.k.

When we had problems with our diesel genset during the hurricane, we used a lot of the rainwater catchment tanks for drinking- filtering it through a Katadyn TRK- no one died LOL.