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I am putting in a rainwater harvesting system, but want to avoid (needlessly) pumping mains water from ground level. The system I am going with is a cold water tank in the loft, fed from the rainwater tank in the ground, with a mains water backup. Normally, the mains water backup is built into the ground tank.
I am aware of the need for an air gap (type AB in this case) and may do this via a small tank higher up to provide an indirect mains water feed.
The best way I can think of to provide the mains water backup is to have two inlets into the cold water tank in the loft, with the mains water inlet operated through a float that is lower down than the rainwater inlet. This would mean that the lower float would be permanently submerged until the rainwater tank is empty and can no longer fill the loft tank, which could put stress onto the float valve.
So the question : Is the stress on the float valve going to be a problem. If it is, is there a better way of providing a secondary inlet which only gets used when the first inlet is not providing water?
I am aware of the need for an air gap (type AB in this case) and may do this via a small tank higher up to provide an indirect mains water feed.
The best way I can think of to provide the mains water backup is to have two inlets into the cold water tank in the loft, with the mains water inlet operated through a float that is lower down than the rainwater inlet. This would mean that the lower float would be permanently submerged until the rainwater tank is empty and can no longer fill the loft tank, which could put stress onto the float valve.
So the question : Is the stress on the float valve going to be a problem. If it is, is there a better way of providing a secondary inlet which only gets used when the first inlet is not providing water?