Speaking of the drought... Does anyone have experience with rainbarrels? (Atlanta: HOA, house)

[rcsteiner]

I'm thinking of picking up one or two 50-60 gallon rainbarrels to catch the rain off our house roof, and then possibly using them to either (1) water trees and other needy plants in our yard via a soaker hose, or (2) run one or more small sprinklers to do spot-watering of dying areas in our fescue lawn.

I was wondering if anyone else is doing something similar.

Is the latter idea (sprinkers) even possible given the low pressure from a barrel?

Maybe a small (hopefully sediment-tolerant) pump is the answer?

Or a pully system to pull it up to roof level and get a better gravity feed?

I see several places on the web where you can purchase rainbarrels of various shapes and sizes, some of them seemingly quite well made, but I'm curious what types of watering activities can be performed with such a system, and in what other readers of this forum might be doing with rainbarrels or similar inexpensive residental water gathering systems.

Thanks in advance for any and all ideas!

[IntownHomes247]

I use the faucet from the rain barrel to fill watering cans for spot watering of plants. I have occasionally used a hose to direct the water to individual trees but you need to be very careful about the topography of the land since what you're watering needs to be downhill from the barrel. I tend to doubt you could get a sprinkler to run from it -- I don't think the pressure be enough to force the water out of the sprinkler high enough to water more than a 1' diameter, although there's no harm in testing it out.

I have considered the benefits of having the rain barrels positioned higher, but haven't yet managed to build a sturdy platform to accomplish this (rain barrels are extremely heavy when full). I believe if you were able to raise the barrel at least a couple of feet from the ground you'd get better pressure for using a hose.

[10scoachrick]

Fortunately, we got our rain barrels three years ago before the big drought...actually, got them during our last really wet year...didn't think we would need them for the first few months. Fast forward two years and we are tickled to have 120 gallons(from two barrels) of rain water to use on veggies, flowers, recently planted maples, etc. Trying to water a significant grassy area is a major pain. No amount of gravity is going to allow you to use a sprinkler with any sort of pressure. Soaker hose is ok, filling watering cans is what we do most. Some sort of a sump pump would be needed to pump but unless you get something like the 150 gal container I recently read about, I think that's overkill. I have been trying to water our recently overseeded fescue but I'm only dealing with a 8' x 20' area that needed a major overseed since it died in August. The rest of the yard is up to mother nature.

Don't forget...water is approx 8#/gal so a full rain barrel needs to be on a solid foundation. BTW, a 1/4" rain shower will almost fill our barrels located on opposite ends of a 50' wide roof. Your mileage may vary.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Heres my take- Barrels on the 'net cost too much. Some of the HD stores are selling a "kit" to make a rain barrel.
However, I do question their barrel- A Rubbermaid trashcan is not designed to handle a load of water (H2O weighs approx. 8lbs/ gal. X 30-55gals thats alot of weight). Its not the right color (the darker the barrel, the warmer the water), and I'm sure they're not offering a money back garantee.
Oh, one other thing- just hope you don't have a nazi HOA thats not going to allow them. But, if I were going to build some I'd find some plastic industrial barrels in white, with lids. Do the rest- spigot, downspout diverter, etc. Build a platform out of P.T. 6X6 to elevate and you're in business.

[TLoren Day]

The family & i will be moving to the Atlanta area early in the new year--due to work, what are ya gonna do?

Our 8 (yes 8) rainbarrels will be coming with us. As the one person said, it doesn't take much to fill one barrel, when the whole house is feeding into it. If you put 'overflow' tubes in (PVC from one to the next just below the overflow hole), you can get multiple filled on those days that you get sufficient rain, and then you'll hvae that much more to hold you over.

Just be sure, if you are going to use it for watering the garden, that the barrels you get are 'food grade' plastic. Wouldn't want plastic toxins infesting your veges.

And one more thing: Be sure to cut a decent sized overflow hole near the top. The person that I got mine from here in Wisconsin had the top blow off one of hers because we had a sudden downpour and the overflow hole wasn't large enough. You'll want at least 2" in diameter.

[Noahs]

[URL="http://www.city-data.com/forum/members/rcsteiner-30344.html"]rcsteiner[/URL] - Of the two options you mentioned, the soaker hose is doable. The best way I've found is to run a hose from you rain barrel to the area you want to water, then add a length of soaker hose. It's best to put a battery powered water timer in-line so the soaker is not running all the time. Say on for a couple of hours every third or fourth day.

A sprinkler won't work from a rain barrel without some sort of pump. I use an in-line pump to transfer water (not sprinkle). If you drive a sprinkler with a pump, your water will be gone before you know it (unless you have a very large reservoir).

If you can design a pulley system to hoist 300lb+ barrels to the roof, the ancient Egyptians would be proud. May want consider pumping water up to the roof instead. But I don't believe that it would drive sprinkler even from the roof top.

Good luck - Noah

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by TLoren Day

Just be sure, if you are going to use it for watering the garden, that the barrels you get are 'food grade' plastic. Wouldn't want plastic toxins infesting your veges.

I just want to highlight this excellent advice, especially as a previous post mentioned Rubbermaid trashcans and industrial barrels. My father was a professor of Organic Chemistry before he retired, and he always freaks out over people putting foods and beverages in non-food-grade plastic containers. It costs more to make food-safe rather than non-food-safe plastics. Trashcans and other containers that were manufactured for non food uses, aren't safe for foods, or watering your vegetables.

[michael near Athens]

The city of Winder sells its residents rain barrels for $20. I understand they were donated to the city by coca-cola. They are white with a spigot and an opening at the top to either install a screen or use as an overflow. What i did was install another brass spigot close to the top and left open for the overflow, then attached a small piece of garden hose and directed it to flow through the plastic conduit that the gutter used to be attached to. I used 4 12x12 flagstones to keep the barrel steady and secure. It's great.

[Linkin2100]

Physics folks physics ! I failed the first time and made a C the next, We did a problem just what your talking about, technically there wont be enough water pressure to drive a sprinkler system, and it might look a little goofy with barrels up near your roof. Rain barrels are an awesome idea ! I should mention that to my mom she has two green thumbs !! Goodluck !

Oh the Egyptian comment was great !!!

"If you can design a pulley system to hoist 300lb+ barrels to the roof, the ancient Egyptians would be proud. May want consider pumping water up to the roof instead. But I don't believe that it would drive sprinkler even from the roof top." Noahs

LOL !!!