Who uses rain barrels?

pheasantplucker · #1 03/03/08, 07:12 PM

Thinking of hooking up some rain barrels to the downspouts/gutters. Already have a spring with good water, but thought it might be good to tap into some more free water for the garden. Anybody use them? Make your own? Plans anywhere? Some folks I'm sure purchase them. Any good sources? Just getting some ideas to curb my cabin fever. Thanks in advance.

MWG · #2 03/03/08, 07:18 PM

I use the 300 gallon poly tanks in the wire cages.

We are eventually going to build a house someday and I will probably buy a 1000 gallon tank and bury it.

The good thing about the poly tanks are they are portable.

farmergirl · #3 03/03/08, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MWG

I use the 300 gallon poly tanks in the wire cages.

We are eventually going to build a house someday and I will probably buy a 1000 gallon tank and bury it.

The good thing about the poly tanks are they are portable.

Where do you find them?

zukgod · #4 03/03/08, 08:01 PM

I use the 55 gallon barrels, but would really like to get something large, also do you pump out your water somehow or just gravity feed it? Thanks this is a great topic.

J

eurycea12 · #5 03/03/08, 08:26 PM

We purchased 75 gallon rain barrels before we knew better. I do not remember the catalog/company we ordered them from but with shipping they came to $90 each. OUCH! Find a source for food grade plastic containers. Soft drink distributors have been mentioned before.
The problem with barrels is the amount of water you can store. We found (in northern VA) that during a prolonged dry spell we ran out of our 225 gallons of water in a few days just watering our flower beds and not the garden. During the summer the dry spells can last a month or more. They are good for making and using compost tea however.

strawhousefarm · #6 03/03/08, 08:35 PM

Although mine are not connected right now because of all my construction.I normally use the poly tank in the cages but because they are so big, I leave them in the garden and use 55gal. plastic barrels at my downspouts and pump it to the large tanks with a cheap submersible pump. What purpose are you storing the water for, garden, domestic use, livestock? I normally get my 55gal. barrels at a local building salvage store for around $8-$12. I found the large tanks advertised in a local trade paper for $35.

WisJim · #7 03/03/08, 09:23 PM

Around here, there is a regular ad in one of the local papers selling the blue plastic 55 gallon barrels for $5 each, usually the folks have a dozen or so on hand. We bought a 1500gallon tank (or somewhere close in capacity, I don't recall exactly) when they were on sale last summer, and placed it to provide gravity irrigation to the gardens and orchard and berries. There are some civic minded groups working on simple systems to easily hook the 55 gallon drums to the downspout without space for mosquitoes to get in, and to have a convenient spigot to get water out, for a reasonable price. I have seen some nice setups with some simple manufactured parts the ups the cost a bit.

tab · #8 03/03/08, 09:32 PM

Try you local car wash for the 55 gallon drums. If it for the garden the barrel should clean enough to be safe. Grey water is in common use for watering gardens, I can't see where the soap barrels wouldn't be OK. I like the idea of a bigger holding tank.

MWG · #9 03/04/08, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmergirl

Where do you find them?

I found some on e-bay and some others on craigslist. Check the yellowpages because some cities have places that recycle them.

Aaron · #10 03/04/08, 08:54 AM

I use 55 gallon drums and have an electric pump for assistance with my irrigation.

hillsidedigger · #11 03/04/08, 08:58 AM

Aye. I removed the gutters on 3 sides of the house and have forty 50 gallon plastic trash cans placed along the eve drip-line. This house was built with 24" overhanging eves and originally did not have gutters although a previous owner attached gutters about 10 years after this house was built.

Jan Doling · #12 03/04/08, 09:30 AM

I have a soft dring barrel with screen over the top. Our pets prefer that water to what comes out of our tap. When it rains my teenage girls rush out with gallon jugs and harvest as much as they can from the runoff of the tin roof and use that to wash their hair.

NEOhioSmiths · #13 03/04/08, 09:46 AM

We have 2 75 gallon barrels purchased from gardeners supply. I do not recommend them. 150 gallons sounds like a lot, but as already mentioned, during a dry spell that 150 gallons is gone fast (and we use them exclusively on raised beds and use straw mulching to reduce moisture loss). Further, the barrels have overflow lines that habitually leak. In retrospect (and if resources were available!), I'd put in an underground cistern and pump (manual backup of course). Otherwise, just get as many 55 gallon drums as you can and rig something up yourself. Cheapest option.

AnnieinBC · #14 03/04/08, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MWG

I use the 300 gallon poly tanks in the wire cages.

We are eventually going to build a house someday and I will probably buy a 1000 gallon tank and bury it.

The good thing about the poly tanks are they are portable.

We have a three of those, but they are 200 gallon. We have one hooked up already to collect the water from our front gutter. One to hook up still, and the other one will go down at the barn, to collect water from that roof. We want to set it up so the pigs can use that water....

ETA: I should have mentioned my husband got them from work, we cleaned them out first.

woodsrunner · #15 03/04/08, 10:34 AM

We have several, 5 to be exact. Two I built from 50 gallon tanks that were prototypes from a local pump factory. Those I drilled holes in the sides and connected then with barbed adaptors and hose, and put spigots through holes in the sides. Another was made from a food grade barrel and the spigot and a hose for an overflow were also put through holes drilled in the sides. The fourth is just a 55 gallon food grade barrel cut in half. That one Pelenaka got before we met.

The fifth one is my most recent creation. A 55 gallon food grade barrel obtained from a nearby cheese factory. They sell them for $5.00 all washed and ready to use. This one was missing one of it's bungs. So, I built a crib for it to stand on from some old landscape timbers we had kicking around. Found a plumbing bushng to fit the empty bung hole, a street 90, a nipple, and a boiler drain made a nice spigot. I stood it upside down on the cribbing with the bungs facing down. Then cut a hole in what was the bottom, just big enough for the downspout to fit into. Nice thing about this one is it doesn't leak and never will. All the barrels we drilled the sides of always start leaking. Usually when they are nearly full and when you can least afford to lose the water. The disadvatage of the spigot out the bottom, if any leaves get in the barrel it plugs things up. This can be prevented or minimized with good gutter guards though. Another nice feature of this barrel. It's original bottom has a shallow groove around it. I drilled a few tiny holes around the groove. Now when we water potted plants we set them on top of the rain barrel. Any excess water runs out into the groove and back into the barrel through the holes.

Our tanks that are open on top house gold fish during mosquito season. The ones that have openings just big enough for the downspout don't apear to have any problems with them. Something to remember.

#16 03/04/08, 11:20 AM

I use 55 Gal. food grade barrels puchased for 5.00 at a local cheese factory. than purchased adaptors so I could put a valve towards the bottom and use this to water the garden.

baldylocks · #17 03/04/08, 12:26 PM

I use 55 gal barrels that used to contain Mt Dew syrup. You can go to your plumbing supply place and just figure out a spigot arrangement. We gravity feed ours and it works fine. Don't forget to put an overflow on it so you can direct away from your house (or into the next barrel over) in case you get a lot of rain at once.

greg273 · #18 03/04/08, 12:45 PM

Gotta watch for skeeters in the summer time, I've been using homemade wire screens, but I like the idea of the goldfish! Wonder how they would do with no supplemental food, just eating mosquito larvae? Very intruiging idea!
My barrels stayed mosquito free for the most part, but sometimes if i'd forget to put the screens back on, or one wasnt on just right, there'd be a mess of mosquitos within a day or two... think i'l be using some fish this year for mosquito patrol...

titansrunfarm · #19 03/04/08, 04:27 PM

I catch the rain off the barn roof and gutter it into a stock tank for the horses and goats.

maidservant · #20 03/04/08, 04:36 PM

I've been meaning to ask the same question for a while now! We are getting rain today, so I went out and emptied the two 40 gallon containers we have to catch the run-off until we can fix the downspout. It's clogged, so all of the water goes over the side, not good. My dad said that we could do the rain barrel thing. Our water bill (city water, yuck) was $48 this month, and it has never been over $30 in the 30 years they have been here. We do not have sewer, so that saves some. I have been using the water for the rabbits (6+6 kits so far) and watering seedlings. It takes about two weeks to go through them right now, but once the garden gets up and growing, that will only last a day or two. Our 40 gallon containers filled up within 30 minutes of hard rain coming off of just 1/4 of our roof, and it's still raining! Every empty container that can hold water is full here for the moment.