Royal Flush: The Advantages Of Using Slimline Tanks To Collect Rainwater For Flushing Toilets
Reducing the amount of water your household uses is always a noble endeavour, and is particularly important if you live in one of the many areas of Australia that frequently suffers from summer droughts. One of the easiest and most ways you can reduce your home's water usage is by collecting rainwater to flush your toilets. Since the cleanliness of toilet flushing water isn't really an issue, you won't have to install any water sanitisers, which also makes it a very affordable way to save water.
However, if you intend to collect rainwater for flushing your toilets you will need some kind of tank in which to store the water when not in use. Choosing your tank can be challenging, with a wide variety of makes and models for sale, but for rainwater toilet flushing systems so-called 'slimline' tanks tend to be the best option. Here are some of the key advantages of using slimline tanks to store rainwater for your toilets:
Minimal space required
As you can imagine, the chief advantage of slimline tanks is their slimline profiles, and a tank that can hold several thousand litres of water can fit into a floor space just a few feet across. To achieve this, slimline tank manufacturers build their tanks high rather than wide, but even high capacity slimline tanks are rarely more than a couple of metres tall.
This low profile makes them ideal for storing water used for flushing toilets. Larger tanks are generally designed only to be use outdoors, but slimline tanks fit more easily into attics, crawlspaces and other indoor locations. This allows you to forgo installing pumps to push rainwater up to second-storey bathrooms, reducing the energy consumption and running costs of your toilet flushing system.
Light when empty
Although any water tank becomes tremendously heavy when full, an empty slimline tank is generally very light, and can be carried and installed without the use of specialised lifting equipment. This lightness is largely due to the lightweight materials used to make slimline tanks, such as poly plastics. As you can imagine, lightweight tanks are much easier to fit in upper storey locations, and reduce the likelihood that you will have to reinforce your floors to accommodate the new tank's weight.
Easy to clean and maintain
The unique dimensions of slimline tanks make them much easier to reach into than larger, wide tank varieties. This generally makes cleaning and maintaining your water tank much easier when compared to conventional tanks, which often have to be climbed into before they can be thoroughly cleaned. This ease of access makes it easier to remove sediment and clogs which may prevent your toilets from flushing properly.