13 July 2010

Where's the water going?

| Gerry-Built
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A friend, who has lived in the first stage of Macgregor West for about 18 months, recently received an unusual water bill; featuring excess water charges of well over $400.

This is unusual for many reasons, but mostly because it is only her living there, and besides the usual washing and toileting, she uses very little water (and has no garden). ACTEW says that beyond the water meter, all problems are the householders – and at their insistence, she has hired two separate plumbers to investigate the problem.

The first found no problem, but pressure tested the system finding no leaks. The second plumber got her to turn everything off in the house (despite the fact the toilet and outside taps are fed by the 2500ltr water tank out the back) – only to find that over the next 24 hours she used over 500 litres. The second plumber has decided that the Davey Rainbank system, that diverts rainwater to the rainwater tank for washing, irrigation and toilet water supply, topping up supply with town water as required) is the problem, and has temporarily bypassed the system.

Going for a walk and talking to her neighbours, she has discovered this is likely to be a widespread problem, as each of the five householders she spoke to had the same problem (and a well-known media program has filmed footage for a possible segment).

However, The Village Building Company has denied any responsibility, with the Company’s maintainance guy having visited and saying the Rainbank is not faulty.

I am just wondering if any readers out there have had the same problem, or are aware of problems with the MacWest plumbing (or indeed, the Davey Rainbank product or newer suburbs’ plumbing). Also – any advice on how to proceed? Having plumbers out to investigate has cost a small fortune in addition to the original excess water charge.

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Gerry-Built said :

lobster said :

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

right on the money lobster. Village sent someone out this morning and found it (and I am assuming fixed it). The Dux solar hot water system can have issues with Canberra climate in winter. My friend is much happier and stress free than she has been for a couple of weeks(but considerably out-of-pocket)…

Dux have apparently extended their warranty in the ACT region. If this is a known fault; something needs to be done to rectify the problem BEFORE it happens in the hundreds of systems fitted (especially if out of the extended warranty period) – not after thousands of litres of water have literally gone down the drain and householders (in *NEW* houses) have been forced to pay thousands of dollars to Actew and independent plumbers. Perhaps the person at Village who printed this post and sent it out with the maintainance guy might like to get on to Dux to help recompense those affected by what amounts to products that are not up to their intended purpose. If you have a Dux solar hot water system – probably a good idea to get that valve looked at if your water bill becomes unexpectedly high during the colder months… Hopefully that Rainbank functions ‘normally’ when it is reinstalled…

I have one of the Dux Aeroheat “Solar” HWS (retrofitted with the sub-zero chip) and it is saving me heaps in electricity. When I had it installed I put a bucket under the overflow tap to collect garden water and it was filling twice a day which was too much as far as I was concerned. The Dux people sent a plumber around and they replaced the mains pressure valve – he said this had been a common problem. I am now lucky to get a bucketful a fortnight from the overflow. I can’t understand why water tanks are required when we have reticulated water which we pay for both the fixed supply cost and the useage. Who made them mandatory and why?

I still am having the above issue, can anyone help?

Hi, I also live on Macgregor West and am having the same issue, with crazy high water bills. I have exactly the same set-up as the friend in this post. I have checked for leaks, talked to Actew, Village – its the same story as this post, it’s a Davey issue….
You can the water gushing through the pipes and down the overflow from the tank. I have to manually turn the switch to turn it off, to stop it. I have been having this issue for sometime now.
Just wanted to confirm, it was the hot water that was the issue?
Has anyone else had this problem and found it was / wasn’t the hot water system ?
When I first got into the place, the plumber had not connected the hot water to anything…….yup, had to get the plummer in to take out part of the wall and connect the hot water system to the pipes, also have had a solar hot water panel issue due to the frosts in Canberra. If anyone is having this problem, you need to have installed 2 anti-frost valves.
Ali

GretchenMetchen12:37 pm 14 Oct 10

Clever Plumber,

Mk II rainbank does not do mains mixing once again your purporting nonsense.
Other fake products on the market require mains power for the mains water to come through, by utilising solenoids. What would you do if there was no mains power, get no water hey?

Gretchen Metchen,

Specialised Float Installs and Pumps.

GretchenMetchen12:35 pm 14 Oct 10

It seems like you neanderthals are inappropriately informed.

If a customer ensures their roof is kept clean and gutters free of leaves , just like any normal house holder should do, then this said debris shouldnt get through and jam things up.

So many plumbers out there don’t bother to read instructions and stupidly plug the power for both the controller and pump into seperate power points, and guess what, hey presto, the pump continuously runs!
If plumbers read the instructions properly and ensured when cutting hole for the float switch that the swarf did not enter the tank then the issue of mains going back into the tank wouldn’t occur.

Yours faithfully

Gretchen Metchen,

Specialised Float Installs and Pumps.

CleverPlumber4:37 pm 31 Jul 10

Firstly, The Rain bank even when in use always blends water from Mains and Tank, this is mentioned in the rain bank literature, for this reason I don’t think the Davey Rain Bank is a good product for what it’s used for, it is well marketed however it have many weak points. If what the user says is true, the best way to stop this is to connect a Check valve on the tank outlet.

The technology in Rain bank is pretty much outdated, there are better products on Market including the AcquaSaver, which closes the mains port before opening the pump/tank port, this stops any back flow or water blending from two sources. It is also completely hydraulic so not electrical components and really well priced.

lobster said :

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

right on the money lobster. Village sent someone out this morning and found it (and I am assuming fixed it). The Dux solar hot water system can have issues with Canberra climate in winter. My friend is much happier and stress free than she has been for a couple of weeks(but considerably out-of-pocket)…

Dux have apparently extended their warranty in the ACT region. If this is a known fault; something needs to be done to rectify the problem BEFORE it happens in the hundreds of systems fitted (especially if out of the extended warranty period) – not after thousands of litres of water have literally gone down the drain and householders (in *NEW* houses) have been forced to pay thousands of dollars to Actew and independent plumbers. Perhaps the person at Village who printed this post and sent it out with the maintainance guy might like to get on to Dux to help recompense those affected by what amounts to products that are not up to their intended purpose. If you have a Dux solar hot water system – probably a good idea to get that valve looked at if your water bill becomes unexpectedly high during the colder months… Hopefully that Rainbank functions ‘normally’ when it is reinstalled…

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

The dual check valve will between the water mains and the pump, not the tank and pump. It’s there to prevent backflow from the house/tank into the water mains in the event of a pressure drop (broken mains pipe etc.).

It sure is unfortunate that some people are being hit by costs due to faulty water systems – on top of paying out for water tanks – which are in most metro areas an expensive way to source water.
It is far cheaper to pay water authorities to run well planned town supply systems. There is a pdf RainBank manual which is easy to find using google – explains a lot. Could not see much on the Davey website except some videos which my Gungahlin connection breaks up.

On page 4/36 in the manual Davey says, “RainBank® has an in-built “dual
check valve” for low hazard back flow prevention.”

Anybody know the significance of “low hazard” ? Sounds as though a back flow issue was known by Davey.
Interesting post when we had 53mm of rain overnight (452mm year to date)- so people who have paid for tanks should be smiling.

Turn pump off. See what happens

I have lived in Macgregor West for the past 18 months and have had the same problem.

My first water sewerage bill was $409, second $160 and third $164.

It is possible the builders next door were stealing my water. Not sure though.

Dodgy work by a developer? No, surely not. Not in this town. The Certifier would have picked up the problem from 200m away.

Thoroughly Smashed4:29 pm 13 Jul 10

chewy14 said :

Thorougly Smashed,

The Rainbank doesn’t actually fill up the tank with mains water when working properly.
When there is nothing in the tank, the rainbank valve switches to mains water for the toilet and washing.
I think as builder says above, if the valve gets stuck open then mains water can flow back into the tank and out the stormwater overflow.

Thanks for the clarification.

DanTszyu said :

I can’t believe these are mandatory – cause once it’s set up and it doesn’t rain – you could potentionally have 4000 litres of water (depending on tank size) filled into it from the mains….

Thoroughly Smashed said :

That aside, a rainwater tank that tops itself up from the domestic water supply isn’t really a rainwater tank any more is it?

From what I understand, if there is no water in the tank, the system (only then) draws water from the mains – to fill demand (never the tank – at least that’s the intention). However, what appears to be happening in this case is that the system was stuck on topping up, and all the water from the overflow is, quite literally, going down the drain. She had mentioned (maybe last Thursday) hearing water flowing in the drain across the street, despite having had little rain in the days prior.

It appears that this problem is widespread in the MacWest development, though Village and ActewAGL have both said “not our problem”. I believe the manufacturer has said that it is out of warranty, however there are certain consumer rights around expectations for performance that need to be investigated.

I had Googled to see if any problems with Rainbank had been identified, but only got stacks of retailers and a handful of positive posts on whirlpool forums.

Thanks ‘builder’ – that’s interesting info.

I will post more as it comes to hand, in case anyone else is searching for this sort of info later…

Thorougly Smashed,

The Rainbank doesn’t actually fill up the tank with mains water when working properly.
When there is nothing in the tank, the rainbank valve switches to mains water for the toilet and washing.
I think as builder says above, if the valve gets stuck open then mains water can flow back into the tank and out the stormwater overflow.

As stated above – this is a known problem with the early Riverbank Systems (which are a bit of joke with their mains top up system – which the new improved design still uses)

I can’t believe these are mandatory – cause once it’s set up and it doesn’t rain – you could potentionally have 4000 litres of water (depending on tank size) filled into it from the mains….
Did ACTEW AGL have anything to do with these systems being mandatory ?? Cause they stand to make a lot of money from excess water charges ?? Everytime you use the system, it will top it up with mains water?? How is that saving anything ??

Thoroughly Smashed2:18 pm 13 Jul 10

“The second plumber has decided that the Davey Rainbank system, that diverts rainwater to the rainwater tank for washing, irrigation and toilet water supply, topping up supply with town water as required) is the problem, and has temporarily bypassed the system.”

I can imagine this being a reasonable explanation for the missing water if the Rainbank is leaking.

That aside, a rainwater tank that tops itself up from the domestic water supply isn’t really a rainwater tank any more is it? You can water your lawn or wash your car from a rainwater tank whenever you like, but there are restrictions on what you can do and when using the domestic-connected tap on the side of your house.

No plumber, but if the Rainbank system is topping up the tank with townwater, presumably the water from the tank is going somewhere, otherwise the tank would overflow (or explode). That might be something to check.

The davey rainbank system has had design flaws from the begining. There is no filter between the tank and the rainbank. Small particles (sediment from roof) cause the one way valve to jam open sending mains water back into tank and down the storm water(overflow) pipe. Davey has a new model on the market that has a micro filter fitted before the one way valve, this will prevent the valve jamming open, need to clean the filter regularly. Davey wants to keeps this quiet beacuse most new houses use their rainbank system. A particle smaller than a grain of rice can jam the valve open. I have had three failures occur using this system. One house had a water bill in the region of $3500. I have at my own expense fitted filters between the tank and the rain bank.

Davey will send it out its service guy who will attempt to fit a new rain bank (with inbuilt filter), they will then take your old rain-bank away, test it and find nothing wrong with it, once they clean the sediment out of the valve. Don’t let them remove the rainbank and make sure you observe the valve once its dismantled, use video if you can. The plumbers who installed it in the first place didn’t follow best practice. But the manufacturer didn’t require the fitment of an in line filter. Ultimately legal action should be taken against the installer, wholesaler (place where plumber bought the rain bank) and Davey. This technology is still not proven in domestic applications and should never have been made mandatory. If you have a rainwater tank it should be used only for the garden or washing your car. These rain bank systems cost over $1000 and are not foolproof. I beleive your friends case is the tip of the iceberg.

David McGrath7:47 pm 14 Feb 21

Hi Builder,
Seems like you know the Davey Rainbanks quite well.
We have one here (apartment building) to provide water for toilet flushing.
Around 1 – 2 years ago the toilet water turned dark brown following heavy rainfall.
We had a plumber out but they said the issue was just the float switch being stuck (I was at the apartment when they came so showed them around)
The system worked for a day or so, still with cloudy water and then stopped again. We’ve been reluctant to pay out money to repair the rain bank system so we’ve been running off mains water for ages now. When I reset the pump it works for a day or so and then the low flow alarm returns. The water is fairly clear that comes through but has a slight cloudiness to it.
Today I bit the bullet and pumped the majority of the sludge out of the tank using a Ryobi dirty water pump from Bunnings and then removed the vertical feed tube that connects to the rain bank.
The one way valve seemed fine, there was nothing stuck in it or blocking it.

I’m a bit baffled as to the cause of the low flow alarms – any advice on that????

I have also noticed – in the 1 -2 years I’ve been checking it -, the water level in the RainBank tank is always FULL. So part of our problem might be what you were describing: debris holding the one way valve open and mains water flowing back in. I don’t see how that would cause low alarms though.

Capital Retro10:11 am 15 Feb 21

This is what happens when the greens create ridiculous and expensive regulations based only on ideology.

Holden Caulfield1:19 pm 13 Jul 10

Sounds like a bit of a clusterthingy. Hope your friend gets it sorted out.

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