rain storage for water in my barn

[1984shovelhead]

Hi guys doing a 44x44 polebarn in Virginia anyway the issue is its going to be about 300 feet from my house with a drilled well.Im only gonna need water for washing my hands in a slop sink maybe enough to wash a car or one of my bikes but not necessary.Was thinking I can store rainwater in a poly 55 gal drum off a downspout a small water heater will give me hot water.Weather does dip below freezing occasionally was thinking a horse trough heater to keep stored water from freezing?I have hot and cold in my current building in NY so I guess I'm spoiled.Any ideas?


Thanks
1984shovelhead

 

[jkeyser14]

You will need to add a pump, pressure switch, and a well storage tank for building pressure if you are planning to have hot water or pressurized flow. Not a huge deal and pretty easy to DIY.

Bacteria may be an issue of you don't add a filter and treat the water though.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Maibe bury a larger tank so it can't freeze, then use a jet pump to bring it into the building. Either way, to get pressure or hot water, you will need the items mentioned already. A tank heater for livestock was usually meant to keep it from freezing, not much warmer than that.

 

[HoosierMark]

I have two of the cube tanks that hold 265 gal each in my cellar at the cabin. I hooked up a pump to it with a pressure tank and I was good to go. The nice think about it is I can run both tanks or switch between them. They would be great for your use. I just haul water in and fill them once or twice a year as needed. Since they are semi transparent it is easy to see how much water is in them.

 

[Kaizen]

55 gallon barrel is useless except for washing hands. The square ones mentioned you can get fairly cheap. Tons of vids out there about people using for rainwater. The port on them is big enough to flow but not have pressure. Look up thermal mass regarding freezing. Even in my a tank with that much water will not freeze as easy as you would think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LPD ret]

My son filled 3 55 gallon drums in a 30 minute rainstorm off of a 20x20 garage roof. Certainly, you can fill one of those 265 gallon cubes without a problem.

 

[muddinguy]

What if he mounted said tank(s) high up like right at the roofline to get some water pressure? That's the basic concept of our water towers... Granted 12-14' of the ground isn't gonna create the pressure that a tower hundreds of feet in the air can..

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

How tall are the walls? Mounting your barrel (or tank) up high can get you flow and a little pressure. Enough for washing hands and a point of use heater.
Honestly I'd pipe it from the house or well if possible.

 

[Stuart in MN]

55 gallon barrel is useless except for washing hands.

I'd think 55 gallons is more than enough to wash a car.

 

[Kaizen]

I'd think 55 gallons is more than enough to wash a car.

You would. Depends on pressure. Example A 25-foot, 1/2-inch diameter hose attached to a faucet that supplies water at 40 psi has a flow rate of 24 gallons per minute, even halting that and a barrel is gone in under ten minutes



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kaizen]

How tall are the walls? Mounting your barrel (or tank) up high can get you flow and a little pressure. Enough for washing hands and a point of use heater.
Honestly I'd pipe it from the house or well if possible.

This reminds me of that other thread lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[theoldwizard1]

I would throw some bleach in there occasionally.

 

[sberry]

You are not trying to empty a tank, trying to use the water to wash with. Yes, a 1/2 willdeliver that much but doesn't mean it's needed. 5 rpm is suffecient to wash a car with, even less. Modern shower head is 2.5 gpm. But,, I might be tempted to get a roll of 300 ft of inch poly, would give full service at that distance. Could be potable that way, wouldn't need extra equipment. Trench it in and be done.

 

[gemniii]

55 gallon barrel is useless except for washing hands. The square ones mentioned you can get fairly cheap. Tons of vids out there about people using for rainwater. The port on them is big enough to flow but not have pressure. Look up thermal mass regarding freezing. Even in my a tank with that much water will not freeze as easy as you would think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, in the first pic showing my shops you can see an IBC tote halfway down on the left. That's been set up for at least 5 years, catches rainwater off the roofs. I mainly use the water for occasional washup.

What if he mounted said tank(s) high up like right at the roofline to get some water pressure? That's the basic concept of our water towers... Granted 12-14' of the ground isn't gonna create the pressure that a tower hundreds of feet in the air can..

8' up gives good flow.

The idiots that built my shops (NE Mississippi) left it so the water supply came up about 20 feet down one side of a 40 foot wide concrete pad THEN years later poured ANOTHER pad adjacent, so that the water supply ended up about 20 foot from anywhere that was not covered by 5 inches of concrete and building.
Between the red siding bldg (12'+) and the white to the right.

Got a leak, running 100's of gallons an hour. The shops are 80 yards from the house.

I REALLY only NEED water for the occasional wash up, toilet flush, etc.

I'm a big fan of pallet rack and have about 120 lineal feet.

So I put a tote up on the racking, did some VERY quick and dirty pex plumbing. Ran hose from the nearest bib (about 150' and filled the tank.

I'm planning piping rain water if I "get around tuit", but I've been running for 2 years and only used a half tank so far.

 

[laser3kw]

I would throw some bleach in there occasionally.

That would be my concern. After a short time, the water will "go bad" and start stinking. plenty of treatments out there to add periodically.

 

[1984shovelhead]

Thanks for all the responses to be clear my drilled well is at the house which is over 300 feet from my pole building.And yes I have seen barrels where the water has frozen over at the very top only.I need to find out what is the safe depth of burial to get me below frost in the area.Another consideration would be the ability of my well pump to be able to move that much water its slightly uphill to my building which puts a big demand on that well pump. Thanks Again

 

[Marctrees]

As long as you are aware your filled container weighs approx 2,300 lbs.

I have no clue how much your rack can be loaded.

Marc

 

[LOW1]

What you are talking about is a cistern. Very common until the 1920s and 30s.

 

[kbs2244]

A single 55 about 4 feet above the floor will provide enough pressure to get to an RV pressure sensitive pump/heater combo.

Go with the common blue plastic for ease of build and no alga problems since it keeps the water dark.
I doubt you will need it but build the rack for a second barrel just in case.
In your area you don't need to worry about freezing

Remember Al Gore ?
It only going to get warmer.

 

[gemniii]

That would be my concern. After a short time, the water will "go bad" and start stinking. plenty of treatments out there to add periodically.

I've had clean municipal water sitting in a clean closed tank for over a year with no problem.

Thanks for all the responses to be clear my drilled well is at the house which is over 300 feet from my pole building.And yes I have seen barrels where the water has frozen over at the very top only.I need to find out what is the safe depth of burial to get me below frost in the area.Another consideration would be the ability of my well pump to be able to move that much water its slightly uphill to my building which puts a big demand on that well pump. Thanks Again

But unlike many water usage requirements it does not have to pump fast, just fill the tank slow.

As long as you are aware your filled container weighs approx 2,300 lbs.

I have no clue how much your rack can be loaded.

Marc

My racks are rated for over 5,000 lbs per pair of beams. A 300 gallon tank should be less than 2,500 lbs. BUT you don't have to fill it. A 50 gallon barrel would probably do well, but I got my IBC totes for free.

/edit -
And don't discount rainfall. my tank sits under a 40x60 section of roof in Mississippi that gets about 5 feet of rain annually (65 inches last year). Just half of that roof could provide 450,000 gallons of water if I collected it all. (check my math - 20 feet x 60 feet x 5 feet x 7.5 gallons per cubic foot).

 

[Jhoff310]

I have 2 of the 275 gallon square totes off of the back of my garage for rainwater for my garden, theyve been there for about 10 years. I have them sitting on 12"x12" pavers and then 2 courses of cinder block. Mine have sunk into the earth about 4" over that 10 year period. Mine have frozen completely solid, about 5 years back. We had an extreme cold snap come through and our windchills got down to around -40, with an air temp of -15. I made an adapter for my garden soaker hose, and had no problem with flow or pressure even reaching the end of my garden 50' away.

 

[MarlynOC]

We had a 6000 gal oak cistern in the basement of the lighthouse. Water was brought out to the light every 6 months. But before that the water accumulated from the roof and filled the tank. Back in early 1900's they had a problem the keepers getting wacky. Turned out the roof of a cast iron lighthouse was painted with redlead. Guess why the keepers were squirrley after a while.