Recommissioning.....................a house

**Scouse** · 1st October 2010, 07:26 AM

Rather than hijack the rainwater tank thread & after reading Ean's post:

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

Also when you plumb into the tank, if using PVC, put some screw cap fittings down low before you go up into the tanks, this way you can let the first hour or so of rain at the start of each winter wash all the dust/crap out by simply unscrewing the caps and letting it run onto the ground , then screw the caps on and no leaves, dust and dead bird etc get flushed down off the roof into the tank..

I thought I'd ask about moving into a house that's been unused for while.

We have our eyes on a house on 25 acres but it's been vacant for over a year now.
It's on tank water but has a somewhat different system from what I've normally seen. The rainwater is collected into a concrete tank about 50m from the house. It's then pumped up to a larger steel tank which is virtually alongside the house & the water is then pumped into the house from there.

The concrete tank is down the hill from the house & there's a cap fitted to the PVC pipe (lower than the pipe itself) so the pipe can be cleaned out.
Now, this cap has not been touched for at least a year so I'd imagine the concrete tank is going to be fairly dirty inside.
I haven't checked what sort of inlet filter is fitted but I'll have a look tomorrow when I'm out there again.

Is there anything I should know about in regards to cleaning out these tanks before we move in?

**bblaze** · 1st October 2010, 07:46 AM

I reckon tanks will be the cheapest of your poblems, people move out and vermin move in. Seen a few local house that have been vacant for a while and the rats make short work on the insulation (total rewires) on any electrical wiring and phone lines along with tv arieal cabling. Even when houses have people living in them and have NO rats there is a certain amount of damage. They also love pvc drainage pipes like out of the sink/wishwashers. So with that in mind get a good electrian and plumber to check it out.
cheers
blaze

**rockyroad** · 1st October 2010, 08:01 AM

Agree with Blaze, if you are lucky there wont be snakes inside feasting on the vermin, not that I want to scare you.

Would it not just be cheaper to run the downpipe straight into the tank beside the house? It might save a bit of time initially and you can then look into the concrete one after the house has running water.

**Ace** · 1st October 2010, 08:06 AM

you guys are making it sound like a house of horrors

have you guys looked at buying it to and want to scare him off?

But it might pay to get a pest inspection done first and then get all the wiring checked aswell. How old is the house?

I cant see it being to dirty Scott, maybe just run a couple of hundred litres through to flush the system.

Is it on town water aswell, or just tank water?

**Scouse** · 1st October 2010, 08:19 AM

I've been through the house a couple of times & up into the roof once. Apart from a few old mouse droppings in the roof, there's no signs of any other life there at all.

As the block is unfenced & the house is empty, I go there most Saturday mornings after Owen's swimming lesson & wander around, planning my shed mainly

. There's the odd wallaby I surprise & I've busted next doors sheep having a feed but that's all I've seen, creature wise (apart from the frog living in the swimming pool).

The house is brick & on a slab & only about 25 years old. The house itself is in good condition & all closed up (doors & window wise). Tank water is the only supply for the area.

A building & pest inspection will be done shortly as the sale of our other house is going through now (fingers crossed).

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 1st October 2010, 08:22 AM

ho ho!
the penny drops,,

big shed ?

**Scouse** · 1st October 2010, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

ho ho!
the penny drops,,

big shed ?

Let's just say the area reserved for the tennis court will be put to better use

.

**Vern** · 1st October 2010, 08:28 AM

just drop the water out of the tanks and get a tanker to put 20,000l back in, you could use the pump and existing water to flush out the storm water pipes back to the tank (circulate it from the tank to the roof), then you can get a tank cleaning mob to clean the tank if you must, but i reckon just flush it and refill it, who knows, if you dump it out, god might be nice enough to fill it back up

**Scouse** · 1st October 2010, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Vern

just drop the water out of the tanks and get a tanker to put 20,000l back in, you could use the pump and existing water to flush out the storm water pipes back to the tank (circulate it from the tank to the roof), then you can get a tank cleaning mob to clean the tank if you must, but i reckon just flush it and refill it, who knows, if you dump it out, god might be nice enough to fill it back up

I'll check if the concrete tank has a drain. It'll be a while before we move in so I might get that side of it sorted out sooner rather than later.

The roof has a massive catchment area so one good downpour would fill the tank IMO.

**Scouse** · 1st October 2010, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Would it not just be cheaper to run the downpipe straight into the tank beside the house? It might save a bit of time initially and you can then look into the concrete one after the house has running water.

I might look into that. The steel tank is about 10-15m away from the house but I think it's taller than the gutters.

It would only collect the water from about 1/3 of the roof also.

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