RainwaterHOG: the first truly modular, architect-designed rainwater tank makes its UK debut at Ecobuild 2008
Designed and made in Australia and tested under drought conditions, the Rainwater HOG allows the house-proud and the eco-conscious to harvest their rainwater without compromising space or aesthetics. HOG modules can be used horizontally or vertically, and are designed to fit under decks, houses, along walls and fences. Best of all, because HOG is a modular design, you can add capacity at will, by simply screwing on a couple more HOG units, and if you move - you can take HOG with you.
The award-winning designer of the HOG, Sally Dominguez, says the idea for HOG arose from a need to fill a void in the building market for a water tank that could be incorporated into a small space of an urban dwelling with the ease and versatility of building blocks, while also maintaining a designer aesthetic.
“I designed HOG when I perceived a gap in the building market for small dimension tanks which could connect together to provide capacity to suit. HOG is sized to fit between timber or steel structural members spaced at 600mm centres, and can be used horizontally or vertically,” she says. "People in smaller properties, with smaller gardens and lower water usage, still want to do the right thing but don’t have the room - or the need - for rural-derived water tanks. You can install HOG down a side passage and still fit a wheelbarrow - saving water doesn’t have to mean losing space". Also HOG has been designed to be a very simple installation – it can be installed by a single person and is a safe one-person carry when empty.
Because of its form and 7mm wall thickness, penetrations can be made at any point on the tank, greatly increasing its versatility and . For instance – on a single property, 10 HOGs storing around 1800 litres could be installed under the floor of a 3 x 4m living room and used to flush toilets, another five HOGs could be placed vertically along a garage wall to wash cars, and the front yard could be edged with HOGs which can be clad so that they look like timber or rendered fencing. By placing banks of HOGs at each downpipe you will save substantially on reticulation costs - and do away with ugly pipework. With HOG the upfront cost is all the cost.
The environmental credentials of HOG are sound. Each unit is food-grade polyethylene which is fully recyclable at the end of its useful life, but the life of the HOG itself has been designed to extend beyond that of other tanks because of its modularity and size. Because each HOG weighs only 200kg when full, it needs no concrete footings, just compacted ground. This means that HOG leaves no footprint when it is removed for reuse. The connections are screw-in, which means that they too can be reused again and again. This simple, modular design means that your rainwater harvesting is never "set in stone" but can be extended, reduced, removed and reused as often as you like. No other rainwater tank has the flexibility of Rainwater HOG.
Not only is HOG modular, simple to install and reusable, but it can also be used to add super effective thermal mass to a building. Water has more than double the r value of concrete, so building in lightweight timber frame and adding HOGs between the floor joists can vastly improve green ratings and thermal comfort. From simple domestic rainwater harvesting to large scale night sky cooling systems, the modular nature of Rainwater HOG means that it works for everyone. It can also be seen as a valuable backup water supply for fire-fighting.
HOG has been featured in Cornell University's Solar Decathlon House in Washington DC, the Steel House at the Australian Houses of the Future exhibition and at the PowerHouse Museum Watts n Drops display. The Water HOG has featured on ABC TVs New Inventors program and on Brendan Moar's Garden, Lifestyle Channel.
Hog Works look forward to meeting you at our stand E570 at Ecobuild 2008.
30-Jan-2008
David Gottfried, founder of LEED, gives Rainwater HOG tank his green thumbs up (12-May-2008)
