Rainwater filters and diverters

Want to get up to speed on rainwater collection read Which Rainwater Downpipe Filter, Diverter or Water Butt connector to find out more.

Often referred to as many things: Downpipe leaf filters, Waterbutt connectors, Rainwater Diverters, First Flush and Self Clean Filters....On this page you’ll find all of our rainwater filters and diverters.

In rainwater harvesting systems water flows from the roof down a downpipe (drainpipe) to the water butt, where it is stored. Diverters are the pipes used to connect the downpipe to the water butt. The most basic are used to divert water only only, whilst others also filter the water they divert.

Filtration is an integral part of rainwater harvesting systems. Filtration typically removes contaminants such as dust, leaves and organic debris from water butts, tanks and IBCs. Even if the water isn’t being used for drinking it is useful to remove these contaminants as they can cause blockage in the downstream system in the long term. If your diverter does not filter the water, you can place a filter somewhere else in the system − such as on the downpipe and/or in suction inlet of your pump.

Broadly speaking, rainwater diverters fall into one of these categories:

Basic diverters, also known as water butt connectors. These offer no filtering capability. This type of diverter can often throttle the flow of water and does not offer a high capture efficiency. However, the basic diverters we offer do not suffer from these problems.
‘Capture all’ filters come by many names, including downpipe filters, downpipe guards, downpipe leaf catchers, downpipe leaf traps, and downpipe leaf filters. These all capture coarse debris, leaves etc. In all of these maintenance of the filter is required to remove the debris.
Self cleaning downpipe filters are an elegant means of filtering debris before it enters the water butt. They use the flow of water to clean the debris from the filter.
First flush filters divert and flush the first water which enters the system when the rain starts pouring. This is because this first water is always the most contaminated by leaves, dust and other materials on the roof.

For more information, see this post.