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Submitted By: Sara M via Seattle Times
Favorite Comment: Fixer Rob T Firefly says, “How else are you supposed to prevent your prisoners from dying of dehydration before they’ve given you the information you require?”
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Now we know how they filled the pool.
They’re doing rainwater collection, for watering plants. This is a pretty common way to conserve water, particularly in dry areas.
My hubby setup something like this, but OUTSIDE not in the basement! He waters his food garden with the water.
A rain water AND tap water supply? The yard is almost weed-free but I guarantee the basement isn’t.
WHAT???? You can’t be serious?!
@dono1
Lets hope the Sewerage Line doesnt go down there too…
Probably watering his pot plants
Ghetto mikvah?
Actually, this was sent in by the next door neighbor. He set this up to show you what to do to a neighbor that’s been giving you trouble *evil grin*
This is actually illegal in Colorado.
rain water collection is illegal? I know that gray water reuse is illegal in many states.
How else are you supposed to prevent your prisoners from dying of dehydration before they’ve given you the information you require?
@Gargomon
Then it would go from hydroponics to hydropoonics.
I wonder if that’s some kinda home brew radon system
It’s quite possible they have a cistern in the basement.
@Andrea And that looks like a gas line next to it, so hopefully the whole basement isn’t a cistern.
The comment above has it exactly right.
YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!
On a side note, part of me wonders if this guy is growing pot in his basement and doing this to hide from the water bill.
Like Andrea just said, it’s supposed to go into the basement. The rainwater collects in a drum and he uses it to feed his goat or wash his albino prisoner.
Darned Fremen still haven’t adapted to home ownership.
This isn’t a hack, this looks like a really good idea that more people should be doing:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/rainwater_catchment_basics.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/08/weekend_project_water_barrel_water.html
It gives me a great idea for my dryer vent!!!!Hmmmmm
@dono1
Just the thought of that gives me hot flushes.
I don’t get the problem with this. Routing rainwater into a cistern for water re-use is quite common in large parts of the world, and for economic and environmental reasons it should be common in pretty much all of it.
Say what? I actually do have a cistern in the basement (house was built around the turn of the last century). The rainwater from all the gutters ran into one downspout which went into the cistern. I was recently thinking about resurrecting this system and made some phone calls to State and County water conservation depts., but couldn’t come up with any useful info about how one prevents the growth of whole new lifeforms.
The weird thing is, there’s a drain pipe coming out of the other side of the house that emits smoke sometimes, and green water other times. And these people are always bringing home bags of Twinkies or Ho-Ho’s. Strange.
If they have a cistern, it’s not really a hack, it’s a once-common home feature in the US. You catch the rain-water in a large container in your basement and you shower, water your plants and flush your toilet with it. I wouldn’t drink it personally but I suppose when these were more popular people probably did.
Does this actually connect to a gutter above? If it does, then there’s probably a cistern for ‘gray’ water in the basement. But it might actually be a conduit for A/C piping. I’ve seen gutters used as weather protection for cables and coolant tubes, and there’s nothing FAIL about that.
Just looking at this makes me think it’s the setup for the next Saw movie.
I mean, think about how terrifying it is. Every time it rains the cell you’re trapped in would start flooding. Not to mention the slow dripping of the tap water.
There’s probably a year’s supply of food down there, but nothing to drink.
This is the first thing i thought of. I dont think its that uncommon to store rainwater…
All depends on your perspective. This used to be common in the Municipality where I live. The downpipes collected in the basement and dumped into the domestic sewer. They’ve thought better of it and the practice is now contrary to a bylaw.
@Uncle Jim – Why is it illegal, allegedly? where could one verify that?
Actually, it’s illegal here to collect rainwater unless you have water rights on your property (for a ditch or what-not) so a lot of people have sly collection tricks like this. Usually this collected water is used for pot plants, I won’t lie about that!
I’m in Colorado, btw- Uncle Jim is correct. The reason is that our water usage laws haven’t been updated since they were drafted in the 1860s and 1880s and at that point they were designed to protect farmer’s water supplies. Most of the state gets less than 15″ of precipitation a year and there are no natural lakes below alpine level, so water storage is a big issue if you’re trying to grow things that aren’t native, and collecting rainwater can make a tangible dent in the amount of water downstream. Because water rights are granted by the date the property was settled and not by its location, some people with ditches on their property have to use water from a different, further source because the water in that ditch belongs to an older farm. My dad’s an expert on water resource laws and says ours are only rivaled in ridiculousness by California’s, where they grow rice to meet the “use it or lose it” clause- if you don’t use your allotted water every year, you lose your water rights. Way to go, Western states!
For those wondering why it would be illegal to do this in COlorado, just google “Colorado owns rainwater” and click on any of the links from recent news articles. Colorado claims legal rights to any rain water in the state. As a practicle matter, I don’t believe this is enforced on any homeowner with a cistern, but you better not start a commercial “water farm”.
Makes me wonder if it is legal to condense water out of the air for collection.
Wow. Didn’t realize rainwater was such an issue in some States. Here in Illinois, the County is trying to get people to conserve municipal water and make use of rainwater by selling “cisterns” (that’s what they call them, they’re actually rain barrels) to homeowners at discounted prices.
@Mangos
Actually you are almost right. I also live in Colorado. From what I hear, the law was recently (past few months) changed to allow homeowners to have rain barrels.
And yes water laws here are quite, um, interesting. For example, there was a recent article about how the state is using google maps to find people with unauthorized ponds so that the ponds can be removed since they violate water laws (the pond owners do not have the necessary water rights).
They either have a cistern, or theyre growing pot… Or its a cruel joke.
Gives new meaning to, “yellow shower”! Yikes!
@Bunny
And what was the old meaning?
You all have it backwards. That’s actually the furnace vent.
@theotherwaldo
You know, I bet you’re right. That makes much more sense, with regards to the materials and the layout.
It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
I remember when I had a cistern in my basement, then I got a sump pump that worked. I hated living on a flood plane. Maybe this guy misses his “flood-plane days”. Or maybe it is really a furnace vent, but let’s hope that’s not really a down spout.
can I use this to get rid of the nut that lives in the basement?
@rampart
I stand corrected. It was illegal, but the law recently changed. Thanks to all who filled in more details on Colorado’s complex and archaic water laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html
Personally, I think modest rainwater capture systems like this are a splendid idea Ditto for some sensible grey water reuse. It makes a lot more sense than what we have been doing.
The ST article with this photo said that the drain went to a crawlspace. No cistern. No pot farm. A flooded, drowned-rat-infested crawlspace.
> for economic and environmental reasons it
> should be common in pretty much all of it.
Yeah, well, some of us don’t live on Arrakis. On some planets there’s so much water in the lower atmosphere that the main concern about rain is finding ways to make sure it all drains away as quickly and efficiently as possible; otherwise you’d soon be flooded out. For the inhabitants of such places, the idea of *saving* rain is just extremely weird, and the idea of deliberately routing it into the *basement* for said purpose is terrifyingly bizarre. I mean, an outdoor rain barrel I could maybe *sort of* understand. I’m not sure I’d see the point, given that we’re talking about water, which is not the kind of thing that’s ever in short supply. But at least it wouldn’t seem actively problematic. But routing it into the *basement*, on purpose? It’s hard enough to keep basements from flooding, without that kind of nonsense.
But you’re probably right. The perpetrator probably isn’t completely stupid; likely he just grew up in Arabia or Arizona or someplace like that and simply hasn’t yet got used to the idea of water being plentiful.
@Uncle Jim
how does that even become illegal much less a law?
@Gil L. Braverman
i hope your right, best for me and them both
Considering the limited evidence, 1. the removed electrical service, 2. the gas line, and 3. the peculiar diminishing size of the conduit: I suggest that perhaps this person got fed-up with the electric company and has fled the grid. ie gas powered generator and exhaust vent. The crappy quality of the stack is consistent with the inability to measure ones aptitude and resources against ones high principals, aptly illustrated by the slogan “live free or die”. -Though it can’t be New Hampshire with that water pipe-. Great site and forum, ‘enjoyed the comments about Arizona water ownership, and pot growing theories, Thanks.
Pretty sure that it’s a periscope. Yup, saw it in a Pixar movie once.
Je n’ai pas compris ..Que faut il comprendre ????????????????????
There, now I’ll stop mowing over that dern down-spout diverter.
It could also be a set up for a meth lab. Any weird smells in the neighborhood?
@dennis
Some professional radon remediation systems installed in our neighborhood use these pipes to vent the radon… the pipes go up about 15 feet and there’s a bent section at the top of the pipe. Since this pipe is not at the corner of the house (where most downspouts are mounted), I think it’s not a downspout.
I have also seen gutter pipe used to disguise A/C piping for aesthetic purposes, notably on one of my friends parents’ house. Just because it is made of rain gutter material, doesn’t mean it is channeling rain water.
This poster has obviously never heard of a radon reduction system. Classic radon vent, most are actually made of pvc and guttering. Not a jury rig at all.
MUAHAHAHA! now, my evil plan will become to be realised, when I make my house WATERPROOF! Then his feet get wet. Wait, I probably should have installed the test waterpipe AFTEr I made it waterproof….
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