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Carolina Gardening

Rain Barrel questions...

17 years ago

Does anyone use a rain barrel? We made one and put it up and were amazed at how quickly it filled. It is a 55 gallon plastic drum. The hose reaches to the garden and the water trickles out slowly, but at least I don't have to use a bucket. We intend to put another one next to the first one to hold more water.I read somewhere that the average roof sends 650 gallons of water down the spouts in a rainstorm. If any one else uses one , how is it working,is there anywhere to purchase kits or diverters for them in this area? do you think it is worth the time and effort?( hubby grumbled about this project)...hopefully I will be right this time......

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Comments (4)

arwenlurks
17 years ago
i just have one now and 3 more waiting to be installed -- i love mine! we are in durham and there is somebody at the whole foods here who does installations and such... but i think we are going to install the rest with stuff bought at the local hardware store.

one of my water bills last summer was around $150, which is way too high for one month!! and it freaked me out a bit because i don't think i should be using that much water -- why when i could be conserving? so for me, two rain barrels pay for themselves in a month and everything after that is economic gravy PLUS i get the satisfaction of watering from a barrel that doesn't impact my drinking water supply. (seriously, runoff from my roof is better used by saving for my garden than by running along asphalt)

having said that... the older i get and the more i learn, the more conservation-minded i become. if i can get around to it, then my few little vermicomposting worms will eventually become enough to take much of my vegan waste and "recycle" for me. :)
lindakimy
17 years ago
I'm using one because my well is going dry and for some reason I can't fathom it is incredibly difficult to get anyone out to drill a new one. The water really helps when you just can't water from the hose.

I'm also catching and saving as much household water as I can and adding that to my stash.
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i used the drain grate things from the box store. i think its like 6-8" diameter. use a big screw clamp to hold screen on and stick it in.
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Maybe he was thinking that the second barrel had to be smaller (shorter) for the water to flow into it? I don't know what he was thinking, but I figured he would know. However, before I ordered a smaller rain barrel, I googled how to piggy back them, and nowhere did I find that the second barrel had to be smaller. He must have some logic behind his thinking. I think the problem is that the bigger barrel is sitting on one level of cinder blocks to raise the barrel high enough to get my watering can to fit under the spigot. And, if what he says is true, and I need a smaller second barrel, I wouldn't know how to fit the can under the spigot (if it must be lower). I would need to put TWO levels cinder blocks under the first (making the first barrel higher), and one cinder block under the second. Wouldn't that need additional work on my drain pipe? Am I explaining it correctly? I would rather have a larger barrel as we are in a drought right now. Thanks for your reply. Donna
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Ginny - you might try putting a piece of screening over the top. Our rainbarrels came with two-piece lids, with the threaded piece separate from the solid lid. I replaced the solid lid with a piece of nylon window screen, and we've had no mosquito larva in our barrels since. Our barrels are old olive containers that were refashioned as rain barrels, and yours may have a different setup, but maybe it would work for you. Carol
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Janna, I got it from the municipal yard, BUT, it is readily available by mail order. Check out the link below. Interesting sidenote: when we were picking up the diverter and the barrels at the yard the lady there told us she only had the closed top barrels but was expecting the removable top ones in any day. As it happened, while we were there their supplier for these barrels dropped by with a small supply and we immediately picked one that would allow us to daisychain (you need one with an outlet on the top right and the other on the top left if you want both of them to have spigots on the front). Who dropped them off: the chap who invented and sells the diverter! If you check his website you will find he encourages people to look for a local source of plastic barrels, it gets very expensive for him to ship the barrels. The kicker for us was that we could buy all the needed bits and pieces from the city for less money than from their supplier: the city subsidizes the program! Here is a link that might be useful: Water Saver
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rosebush
17 years ago
Have been using large plastic containers to catch rain but someone told me about 55-gallon barrels for $5 not too far from here. They were used for soap, so no worries there. My garden well is dry and going to the creek means a long haul uphill with a wheelbarrow full of two-gallon containers. . .Very strong leg muscles! Will see if I can get four barrels and set it up.
dutchgirl_z7
17 years ago
We have a set-up of about 4 barrels hooked together...my neighbor got them from a friend who had an elaborate set-up. Anyway, they look to be set up with hose fittings. We have a screen over the top intake to keep out mosquitos. It trickles out kind of slow, but I just drain out a bucket and my watering can, (plus 2 small ones half-full for the "half-pints" who help me) so that I don't have to trek back to the barrels every 2 minutes. We had one set up to a soaker hose in one bed, but it didn't work very well. I think the resistance of the soaker was greater than the pressure from the barrel. I love my barrels. There are billing tiers for water usage here in CLT, so I'm happy to keep ours in the cheap tier whenever I can.

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