Rain Barrel Systems?

[PaulR]

Sounds kinda earthy-crunchy I know but my 30x50 garage catches a lot of water and we've had a 2 month drout in our immediate area. I've got a line on some cheap/free 225 gallon plastic water tanks with metal frames I was thinking of fabbing up a rain barrel system. I love to water the lawn and wash the trucks/jeeps but they really nail you with the water rates here in town.

Anyways, pics/tips/suggestions of your rain barrel systems please!
My biggest question is the best way to transfer from said tank to garden hose for watering the lawn and washing vehicles, what GPM rate should I be looking for?
Thanks in advance.
Paul

 

[trbomax]

When we lived on the water in toledo I did that,but fromm the river. You need 30 -40 psi, and 6gpm for each head.I used a rubber impeller jabsco pump,drove it with a 1/3 hp motor.A trash pump wont make enough pressuer,I found that a positive displacement pump was the only reliable way.I was always going to try a submersible well pump,but the jabsco worked so well,I never bothered.

 

[Fish-man]

i'd think you'd need MANY of those 225gal barrels to be able to water lawn...assuming your yard is good size

 

[PaulR]

i'd think you'd need MANY of those 225gal barrels to be able to water lawn...assuming your yard is good size

This is true, I could get 3 or 4 of them tied in series. 900 gallons should be nothing to sneeze at I would think. I have a little over an acre of lawn. Most barrels out there sold at the big boxes are only 55 gallons and they **** you $100 for them.

I thought about using the sump pump I got, but it's a biggun with the 2" outlet, might be too much flow.

correction, the tanks are 260 gals.

 

[leftyz]

I remember seeing a pretty neat episode of This Old House with a rain collection system, I have a 55 Gal drum I use, I keep it elevated about 5 ft off the ground and I'm able to water the lawn with it now, not much pressure though!

Found a link:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1180779,00.html

 

[leftyz]

This pump should be more than adequate

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BDU6SA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[z28snksknr]

I thought about using the sump pump I got, but it's a biggun with the 2" outlet, might be too much flow.

You can pipe up a pressure controller that sends excess flow back to the tank to maintain a downstream pressure.

 

[kymatt]

I love to water the lawn and wash the trucks/jeeps but they really nail you with the water rates here in town.


Paul

Definitely would not wash the car from a rain barrell system.
If it's flowing off the roof it will pick up all kinds of small asphalt debris (among other things) that you don't want rubbed into you paint. Not to mention the fact that rainwater is too acidic anyway.
I think the idea is great for lawns, or at a minimum landscaping or new trees.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

I've been wanting to do this since our shop was built. I keep getting stopped by the; 1. price of barrels big enough to be worth the effort, and 2. the space the barrels would take up. I just calculated it, and a 1" rain falling on the just one half of the roof could yield almost a 1000 gallons of water. I'm thinking I could redirect the drains on the 'back side' of the shop to a big pasture reservoir, and probably have a nice bit of water when it gets dry.

Our water is 'free' (well), but if I could recover rainwater, that usually comes too much at a time anyway, I could use it for the yard and garden. Hmmmmm.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

 

[leftyz]

I've been wanting to do this since our shop was built. I keep getting stopped by the; 1. price of barrels big enough to be worth the effort, and 2. the space the barrels would take up. I just calculated it, and a 1" rain falling on the just one half of the roof could yield almost a 1000 gallons of water. I'm thinking I could redirect the drains on the 'back side' of the shop to a big pasture reservoir, and probably have a nice bit of water when it gets dry.

Our water is 'free' (well), but if I could recover rainwater, that usually comes too much at a time anyway, I could use it for the yard and garden. Hmmmmm.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

You could bury the tanks so that they don't take up any room, but then if you wanna clean them or anything its a big pain.

 

[floridasailor]

Fatal flaw with rain catchment systems is that they don't work when you really need the water. i.e. When it's hot and dry, it doesn't rain so your barrels don't refill, and you use the water up really quickly. You'd have lots to wash cars and water pots or flower borders with, but if you're watering lawn, a thousand gallons wouldn't last you a week. I'd let the lawn burn! It will come back as soon as the rain returns and in the meantime you won't have to mow it.

We put in two 550 gal. cisterns and my wife can make them last about 3 weeks just watering her vegetable garden and papayas in the dry season here - April/May. About 50 gal. per day using a micro-sprinkler system lasts 22 days if I don't wash the cars or boats.

Attached pics were taken before the pump was installed. I got a 1", 898 gph 1hp. shallow well pump from Harbor Freight on sale for $99. My neighbor has one for his well, and it has lots of jam for running hoses or sprinklers.

Our garage is under a big oak, and has a clump of bamboo alongside, too. So I needed to screen the gutters for leaves and put a fine screen over the inlet to the cistern. Still the water was pretty smelly and dirty so I added a piece of polar fleece fabric in the inlet as a filter, and now it's nice and clean. IF there are a lot of leaves, the water is slightly brownish, but smells good and cleans stuff just fine.

Don't forget to use a chunk of Mosquito Dunk so you won't breed skeeters in your containers. One piece lasts a month - need them year 'round here in Florida but you can just use them in the summer up north.

 

[rcayot]

You could always use a pig carcass!

 

[HOTFR8]

I can be 100% self sufficent for water here.

These two supply the whole property.

At present they just supply water for the house as I need no water outside in the garden due to it being a wet year. If I need water outside I have town water but can switch over if needed to my tank water.

This one is to supply my Fire Unit and wash the cars during water restrictions with town water.

No problems with acidic water here as it is the same water when you are out driving in the rain.

I have another two tanks on the house and they are filtered so as to supply water for the kitchen.

In a dry year here I often have to move water between the tanks. At present it is a wet year and all are full or nearly full. I also have a grey water recycle system that keeps some of my grass green and many of my trees going in the Summer.

 

[20V'er]

I have thought about this many times. Even have gutters on the garage that would work perfect for collection.

Problem I keep thinking about:
40 or 55 gallon barrel is not a lot of water
Plastic barrels are ugly, bigger plastic barrels/tanks only get uglier
Gravity feed system will be darn slow
I'm not much of a green thumb and do not have a veggie garden, so what's the point.

Only thing I keep coming back to would be perfect for filling a fountain/fish pond. But I do not have either of those.

Might work well for burying a soaker hose system when I get around to doing some landscaping in the backyard Turn valve and let it run till empty when the lawn starts looking a little dry (doesn't happen that often in MN).

 

[bchee]

That is awesome, I just bought one that looks almost exactly like that. Mine holds 275 gal. What was in yours previously?

I had some kind of water-based adhesive in mine.

 

[PaulR]

Yea beleive it or not, they were filled with ink. For what exactly I'm not sure, not sure what the guy does. Here is what he said:

"The inks we use are a water based organic ink. Relatively harmless, you could drink it, dont ask me how I know. LOL. But the clear ink we use, "Extender", is based on casein (comes from cow's milk). It rinse's out of the totes really well with warm or hot water and leaves no odor or residue. "


Yes they are very ugly, any barrel is, my grand plan would be to encase them in some sort of nice wood type creation. Heck They'd be in back of the house anyways. "Function before beauty" I always say!

 

[IDASHO]

Ive got a 1000 gallon tank for mine.

And it is situated high enough from the back yard that no pressure system is needed.

All gravity fed to a drip system for the gardens.

 

[cdottrot]

We actually just picked up a similar tank to PaulR's - we'll be putting it in place for the spring.

z28snksknr, you said: "You can pipe up a pressure controller that sends excess flow back to the tank to maintain a downstream pressure."

What do you mean by this?

 

[sslick406]

http://thebluebarrel.com/Home_Page.html

 

[MotorT]

Be careful, in many states it is actually illegal to collect your rainwater! Colorado and Utah I know for a fact.
I've got a 55 gallon drum at each downspout. During a good rain, the drums fill in a few minutes. I could easily fill a lot more for sure.

 

[PaulR]

illegal to collect rain water???
wow, I live in the Communistwealth of Massachusetts and I don't think they've even outlawed that (yet).

I got a bug up my **** about this project, one of those things in my head I can't get out! I'm taking a half day Friday to go get these tanks.