We got rainwater tanks installed about three years ago - we have a 5,000 round tank which is connected to a tap, the washing machine and the upstairs toilet cistern. We also have a 2,000 tank for only watering the garden.
We use water from the big tank a lot more than from the small one, but due to the locations on the block, we can gravity feed from the 2,000 litre tank into the big one almost all of the small tank's capacity. Well it will leave about 500 litres there.
We only have one pump - on the big tank, of course, so if we want to use water in the front yard, or at high pressure, we can hook up to the big tank and use the hose off the pump, and it comes out at a great rate of knots! We can sort of pay it back, as technically the big tank is on Stage 2 restrictions, by "borrowing" water from it and the replacing it from the 2,000 litre tank which is completely unrestricted. In any case, we've never had empty tanks since they were installed - there's always been SOME water in them from rainfall. We did get low once, but again I topped up the big tank from the small one and we made it through all right.
That is until a few weeks ago, when the pump completely karked it. They have electronic controllers which sense the back pressure, and turn the pump on or off depending on whether it needs to be on or not. EG flush the toilet, and the back pressure drops, the pump senses it, and then operates the pump for a minute or so while the cistern refills. It then turns off.
Sometimes, at random and for no apparent reason, the pump comes on. This is because the pressure in the lines has dropped and the pump senses it has to recharge them. It's certainly uncanny when you're out in the backyard when it happens! Also, when we get visitors staying in the downstairs spare room, we'll often switch the pump off and use Town Water again for the toilet, as the pump is right outside the window and at 3am it can be a bit of a shock when I go to the loo as I am wont to do.
So the pump is in for repairs. We have a dilemma. The repair will cost $177; or we can buy a new pump with a fresh two year warranty (mind you, this one has died after 2-1/2 years) for $250. I still haven't decided: there are pros and cons that are almost even. The pump has been dead for a few weeks now (no chance of repairing it while the show was in production!) so another day or two deciding is not going to make much difference in the scheme of things.
If you, dear reader, are out there and pondering this, please suggest what we are to do. Initially I thought repair, however more recently I have been coming down on the side of replace...
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