Anyone use rainbarrells under there downspouts?

[IDASHO]

With more than 3k square feet of garden now, I have big plans for an isolated water collection and supply system.

Recently I started drawing it up.

Last fall I picked up a 1000 gallon bulk storage tank for next to nothing, and it will be the main player in my water system.

Ive been running the calcs for the foundation and stand for it. The bottom of the tank will be roughly 12' elevation above the garden, so simple gravity feed will be enough to get our drip system going. In the event that it does not, Ill have to plumb in a pump and pressure tank.

Supply will be provided by a brand new, 50' section of gutter on the south side of the house.

Footings are 12x8, 32" below grade. 6" stem-wall, and 6x6 treated lumber for the deck.

 

[nate379]

My water costs me the same if I use 500 gals a month or 50,000 so I don't bother.

 

[IDASHO]

With the gardens we have, we have seen $300+ monthly water bills.

Water is not cheap here.

 

[texasOFT]

Idasho wrote:

With more than 3k square feet of garden now, I have big plans for an isolated water collection and supply system.

Recently I started drawing it up.

Last fall I picked up a 1000 gallon bulk storage tank for next to nothing, and it will be the main player in my water system.

Ive been running the calcs for the foundation and stand for it. The bottom of the tank will be roughly 12' elevation above the garden, so simple gravity feed will be enough to get our drip system going. In the event that it does not, Ill have to plumb in a pump and pressure tank.

Supply will be provided by a brand new, 50' section of gutter on the south side of the house.

Footings are 12x8, 32" below grade. 6" stem-wall, and 6x6 treated lumber for the deck.


__________________
Full water weight is 8,300 pounds plus the weight of the tank. Better have a good foundation.

 

[IDASHO]

As I stated. Calcs have been done. This isnt my first rodeo.

Even with a simple 8x12 footing, I am looking at 850 PSF

Allowable is 1200PSF

 

[jmschristiansen]

Interesting thread. The comments regarding Colorado, Utah & Washington got me reading. Doesn't sound like they are using this law to prosecute homeowners for capturing rainwater, but before they legalize it, they need to study how it will be word the change. In the west, with the limited amount of water, if they word a "loophole" too broadly, commercial water harvesters could develop, and capture rainwater that legally would belong to someone else.

It made me look at my rights here in Texas.

Historically, subsurface water has belonged to the landowner, even if his use of it damages his neighbor (I have a bigger pump, pump out so much that now your well doesn't produce). This is now evolving, and likely will change.

Surface water, for almost 100 years now, belongs to the state, once it reaches a designated waterway. Which means that from the minute it lands on your roof, until it flows into a river or lake or ocean, as long as it is on your property, the water is yours.

I intend to use rainwater capture, and also recycle my greywater someday. I hate being so dependant upon the utilities.

 

[69supercj]

From what I've read and heard, the main problem in Colorado is California. California gets a lot of their water from the western slope of the Colorado Rockies and when the giant farms in California start running out of water, they get very pissy. Had a wise old man tell me that the next war will be fought over water rights, not oil. I think he might be on to something.

 

[jjojjas]

makes interesting reading this, here in the UK were pretty much encouraged to to collect the rain water fom our roofs to water our gardens. We even get subsidised prices on water buts that connect to your down pipe..... and its not like we don't get rain here
Jas

 

[Fidget]

Good thread. Here's my stupid question. In regards to storage, do you add anything to the water to keep the mosquitoes, and other water breeding insects, away? I know a few drops of bleach/chlorine/etc don't technically make it 'fresh rainwater', but it seems a lot of the systems on here have open barrel tops.

 

[z28toz06]

For the past 2 yrs Georgia homeowners were getting white rain barrels from our local Government to help you conserve water. They were used Coca Cola 55 gal drums already fitted with a brass spigot for $20
How does one state help you set up a rain barrel and another state wants to fine you for catching Gods water? What a country we live in.

That's the way it should be. The state governs the people, the Feds should have no say in this stuff. That said, its ******** and could probably be fought (possibly expensive) but if you get the ACLU involved they might represent for free.
To the other poster, How can it be deemed ground water if it hasn't hit the ground yet?
The amount of water you can collect off of one small roof is nothing short of amazing. I had a trough off my little shed roof which held several hundred gallons and I could not believe how fast it filled up.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Be careful. In some parts of the US its illegal to "interrupt the natural flow" of the water. In this case the barrels for rain water. Sorry I can't remember the details. I believe a woman got in trouble for watering outside with saved shower water. Water should go into the waste system to be used down stream. -- lots of water.

Fortunately I live in Vermont -- lots of water.

There is a difference between storm water and waste water. Storm water being rain/run off and waste water being just that from a shower,sink, or toilet. Storm water can go directly to a river while the waste water needs to go to a waste water treatment plant.

The EPA (goody, an another govt involvement) mandates that these be separate now. If they are not, there can be an illegal discharge into the water ways. . . . rain water in to the sewer, to the waste water treatment facility, overflows their system and it discharges into the water way.

Anybody having a stormwater project going on in their community?

 

[R6 Racer]

Good thread. Here's my stupid question. In regards to storage, do you add anything to the water to keep the mosquitoes, and other water breeding insects, away? I know a few drops of bleach/chlorine/etc don't technically make it 'fresh rainwater', but it seems a lot of the systems on here have open barrel tops.

With the advent of this whole "west nile" ****. you had better have something set up!
My solution is very simple, cheep & affective.. secure a tight weave screen over the top of your collector tank. Water gets in, mosquitoes can't!

Steve

 

[Rte66Charlie]

Good thread. Here's my stupid question. In regards to storage, do you add anything to the water to keep the mosquitoes, and other water breeding insects, away? I know a few drops of bleach/chlorine/etc don't technically make it 'fresh rainwater', but it seems a lot of the systems on here have open barrel tops.

Go to Pets Mart, or Goldfish-R-US, and get two or three goldfish and throw them in each barrel.

They will eat all the skeeter eggs, larvae, etc, and at the end of the year you can deposit them in the garden for fertilizer for next year!

 

[ruby76]

I have 2 55 gallon drums on two corners of our house. They fill up in NO time at all. I actually did some figuring using our water bill the other day. At $0.006 cents a gallon, I save ~$0.66 filling them......... Not going to change my water bill really, However the garden and the other plants around the house REALLy respond better to being watered with them vs the city water with added chemicals.

 

[Ryland]

I have a 55 gallon olive barrel I use to catch rainwater. I ended up putting a bulkhead fitting on like this one http://www.google.com/products/cata...ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBgQ8wIwAQ#ps-sellers with garden faucet. I put a redirector on my downspout so that when the barrel fills I can send the water down the downspout. I bought my barrel off of craigslist for about $50.

 

[metal1313]

they really dont save much in most areas of the country but they same some eventually after you make up for costs. what is good is that the water is actually better for plants than treated city water. we have a few 350-400gallon tanks in the basement that rain water is piped into. this water is pumped out with a small pump to a drip irrigation system in our herb garden. it also means that we cannot forget to water them, the pump is on a timer and pumpes for 20 mins every few hours.

total we have around 500 into the system, incuding the pump, diverters for the downspouts, the large drip system(alot of tubing, not too many outlets though) and the tanks. i had to lay out 2k on the pallet tanks because the guy selling wanted to sell 20 of them, but the ones that were in the best shape, and still had cages i sold and made most of my money back, maybe total i have 100into the tanks.

now most cant pipe into the basement but we had a few downspouts that were hooked to our sewer line already, and to stop that i needed a solution so my dad came up with this idea. then we also have had a problem with poor drainage on one side of the house, water flows towards the house and no matter the grading it still came in to the basement. so a french drain was installed inside and outside and plumbed to the tanks. solved the musty old basement and again dad was happy

 

[6768rogues]

At the school where I work, we buy chemicals for the boiler water and cooling tower. Our vendor gets the chemicals in heavy 55 gallon plastic barrels. The stuff inside is somewhat nasty when concentrated, but the barrels are empty and the stuff is water soluble. They give away barrels by the dozens because otherwise they have to pay to get rid of them. Maybe a call to a local company selling commercial boiler or cooling tower chemicals would result in some free barrels.

 

[erda]

We have 5 55 gallon (US) barrels that collect rain water off our house and garage. Two of the barrels in the back yard are linked as are the three by the garage. All of the barrels have screens on the top to keep out debris (including children and pets) and also deal with mosquitos. All the barrels have spigots on them to fill up watering cans.

 

[SyTyJim]

For the past 2 yrs Georgia homeowners were getting white rain barrels from our local Government to help you conserve water. They were used Coca Cola 55 gal drums already fitted with a brass spigot for $20
How does one state help you set up a rain barrel and another state wants to fine you for catching Gods water? What a country we live in.

I'm in GA. too. How would I go about getting one of these barrels?

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[VWingman]

I'm glad to see so many people do this. I have 2 55 gal barrels set up for watering the gardens. They are on one of the smaller sections of my roof and one will fill in no time(the second was just hooked up tonight.) They will suprisingly empty pretty quickly too.
I am going to get a cheapo HF pump just so I can get more pressure for the uphill runs.
I want to set up another in the basement to collect water from the dehumidifer to use for washing machine water. My basement leaks like a civ in heavy rain and the dehumid is my best option at the time.

 

[cwstevens92]

Yep, use the water for the pool

 

[spankbomb]

I've made a few of these for friends.

Austin Rain Barrels

They are more decorative than anything else. I will have a total of five around the house once our new gutters are installed.

 

[KCarGuy]

You know, I'm seriously thinking about doing that.
Mainly because I want to install a urinal in the garage, i could use that water to flush.
I just need to set it up higher than the urinal is to work right!