Home Energy Management The Jenks House B&B Installs Rainwater Capture System

The Jenks House B&B Installs Rainwater Capture System

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JACKSONVILLE, FLA.—When the ground gets dry at The Jenks House Bed & Breakfast in Jacksonville, Fla., owners Tom and Ila Rae Merten don’t tap into the city’s water supply. Thanks to a rainwater capture system, they have all the water they need. Installed earlier this summer at the two-guestroom B&B, the system guides water from the garage apartment roof into four 275-gallon storage tanks (1,100 total gallons). The tanks sit on racks in the garage. The roof is 675 square feet in size. One inch of rainfall results in 193 gallons of captured water. With Jacksonville getting an average of 52 inches of rain a year, Tom expects the system to collect more than 10,000 gallons of rainwater annually—plenty for the B&B’s yard and organic garden.

As described in the owners’ blog, the rainwater capture system incorporates a number of filters—from the gutter to a bucket positioned just before the storage tanks. The Mertens invested about $650 in the system and they installed it themselves. Tom estimates the effort has resulted in a savings of about 2,000 gallons of water a month.

“We believe we can recoup the investment in three to five years depending on rainfall and increases in water and sewage rates,” Tom said, adding that the payback time would have been longer if the couple had hired someone to install the system.

Guests Take Interest

“It has been fun to show our guests the rainwater capture system,” Tom says. “We get a lot of guests who are concerned about the environment.”

In addition to the rainwater collector, The Jenks House Bed & Breakfast also features water-saving showerheads and a front-loading washer. To further conserve water, the Mertens offer their guests the option of not having their linens washed.

Hot water needed for the B&B is heated by a solar water heating system. It has been in place since 1978. It originally cost just $700 and Tom estimates that it has saved them about $12,000 in energy costs over the years. The system provides about 90 to 95 percent of the hot water needed for the home. It includes a collector four feet by 10 feet in size. Its sun-facing position can be adjusted depending on the season. Tom says they have used the same hot water tank since 1978. To be ready for the tank’s inevitable demise, Tom purchased a replacement tank off of eBay.

Additional Steps Taken

Here are a few more examples of steps the Mertens have taken to reduce their B&B’s environmental impact:

• Almost all interior lighting is compact fluorescents. Most of it is controlled by timers.
• Linens are dried on a clothes line.
• They recycle items such as office paper, aluminum cans, newspaper, magazines, steel cans and corrugated cardboard.
• Items are purchased in bulk when possible. The Mertens also grow their own vegetables, grapes, oranges and papayas. Orange juice goes from “tree to table” in 30 minutes.
• They compost all fruit/vegetable/grain scraps.
• Environmentally preferable cleaners are used.

The Jenks House Bed & Breakfast is a Florida Green Lodging designated property—the second B&B in the state to receive that honor.

For more information, go to The Jenks House or e-mail host@thejenkshouse.com.

Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

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