He Collects Rain For Pressure Washer, Crop Spraying

He Collects Rain For Pressure Washer, Crop Spraying SPRAYING Miscellaneous 27-5-10 A Butterfield, Minnesota man set up a system in his machine shed to collect rain water for his pressure washer and field sprayer. Albert Thiessen wanted an automatic system that would let him collect water in a tank inside his 42 by 75-ft. shed without having to punch holes in the walls. He first collects rain water from half his shed roof, using eaves troughs to fill a 55-gal. barrel outside. A sump pump then transfers this water into two 500-gal. plastic tanks inside the shed, thanks to an underground line that carries the water beneath the building's footing. "When those 500-gal. tanks are full, there's a shut off on the pump so any excess water will overflow the outside barrel, onto the ground," he says. Thiessen made the automatic shut off himself by mounting an on/off switch on a metal box and connecting it to a float in the tank. "I use this soft water for spraying crops because I think it's easier on the sprayer and mixes better with chemicals," he says. "I also ran a line to my pressure washer so I can use the soft water for washing down equipment." Thiessen says the system takes the pressure off his main well. "I've used this system for 10 years and there's much more water available than I need. The two tanks are easily filled in the spring," he says. "If I used both sides of the roof, I could easily collect 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of water." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Albert D. Thiessen, 929 3rd St. S., Butterfield, Minn. 56120 (ph 507 956-5711).

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