A cool solution for a hot summer! Paint the roof bright white, reflect away the scorching sun's might.

A cool solution for a hot summer! 
Paint the roof bright white, reflect away the scorching sun's might.

This summer consider painting your house roof with bright white paint.

We are in a tropical country and our buildings get heated up on a bright sunny day. Normal house roofs are gray (cement) in colour and gray is next to black to absorb heat. Experiments have shown that the main heat source to a building is the roof and it accounts for around 60% heat input to a typical building.

A white roof brings down the temperature inside the house by at least two degrees.

Gray coloured concrete roof acts like a heat magnet and stores lot of heat. The stored heat slowly gets released into the living areas of a house.

White roofs have more benefits: Thermal cycling of the normal gray coloured roof from 50 deg C during the day to 10/15 deg C in the night damages / cracks the roof and may lead to leaks. Clean white roof has less thermal cycling and attracts less insects and dust leading to less fungus or algae growth for clean rainwater harvesting.

more info @ - http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/back-to-basics-paint-the-town-white-to-save-power/

How does PopUp filter works?

PopUp Filter for Roof top Rainwater Harvesting:

Important

·         PopUp filter must be installed vertical only.

·         PopUp filter of 110mm can handle rainwater from a maximum 1000 sq. ft. of roof area (1000mm annual rainfall)

·         Keep the PopUp filter dry during non rainy days by opening the flush valve to release stagnant water.

How PopUp filter works?

The “PopUp Filter” has three components (rainwater receptor, flush valve and filter element). Rainwater receptor is where the rainwater is allowed to flow from down pipes in to the filter and a flush valve is provided to flush the first flow of the rainwater along with leaves, dust etc.  Water received in the receptor flows upwards against gravity through a filter element to filter most of the floating elements and allow water to stabilize in this filtration zone.  Rainwater passing through this filter element is relatively cleaner and flows out through an outlet, which can be led to storage device. 

Filter element is mounted on a vertical stabilizer barrel with a friction fit. Filter element need to be cleaned periodically during the rainy season to remove the impurities trapped and there by keep the filtration system clean.  In the event filter is not cleaned and the filter element is getting clogged, “PopUp Filter” has a safety feature built into it.  The water pressure pushes out the clogged filter element from the stabilizer barrel and allows the water to flow out freely.  This safety feature will avoid flooding of the rooftop because of clogged filter.  The first indication of the filter getting clogged is rainwater flowing out of a vent hole provided on the top of the filter element.

PopUp Filter Maintenance:

  

Flush the first rainwater by opening the flush valve on the filter for few minutes, close the flush valve after all the dirt on the roof is flushed. When the rain stops, flush the filter and remove the filter cartridge gently from its place and wash it thoroughly under a running tap by gently tapping the filter element with a stick on all sides. 

The dirt sticking in the filter element gets released and washes off.  Replace the clean filter element back to its place by gently inserting it in the barrel.  Take care not to press it too hard at the end.  If pressed too hard, filter element gets locked inside the barrel and may require greater force to retrieve it back when required for cleaning and also may not PopUp when the filter is clogged or chocked.  Allow the filtered water to get stored in tank for future use.

Here is a video where Mr. A R Shivakumar himself explained how ‘PopUp filter’ works

https://youtu.be/pTWALlUR9kM?t=91

PopUp filter for rainwater harvesting

Rainwater Harvesting Filter - "PopUp Filter" - Karnataka

PopUp filter is the Rainwater Harvesting filter "Designed and Developed by Mr. A. R. Shivakumar, patent held at Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore".

Features of PopUp Filter

Rainwater collected on the roof is very pure and clean. However, there are many substances which get mixed with this pure water on the roof (leaves, bird droppings, dust etc.). These impurities need to be filtered before the rainwater is stored. An important feature in filtering rainwater is the separation of the first flush of rainwater from the relatively cleaner and purer subsequent rain. PopUp filter is a simple device, which is very effective and user friendly. This filter is working satisfactorily in many residential and smaller institutional or industrial buildings. PopUp filter is simple in design and very flexible to install in varying field conditions.

The patent of the PopUp filter designed by Mr. A.R. Shivakumar is held at the State Council.

KSCST had transferred the technology to Raj Irritech Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad, Gujarat for commercial production and marketing between Sep 2009 till Sep. 2014. Now the technology licence to Raj Irritech Pvt Ltd stands expired.