Anyone using rain barrels?

[piyf]

Originally Posted by Backspace

Not really, I just dug a trench right behind the house and lined them up. They're connected together with 3" pipe about an inch from the bottom of the totes which are about 18" apart in the ground. There's about 1' of dirt on top of them, before covering with dirt I places a sturdy plastic pallet on top of each one to stop the dirt from crushing the totes when empty. They've been in the ground for 2 years and I haven't had a single problem yet and aside from the labor I have about $375 total into the project. I left them in the metal cages to provide support when they're empty.

My house is 2 story and has a base size of 38' x 38' square with a metal roof plus I have porches front and rear that are 10' x 38'. I've routed all the gutters from the house and porches into these totes. I've done a bunch of measuring based on my digital weather station and if I get 2.3" of rain it fills the tanks full and that will give me about 2100 gallons of useable water.

My house is on well water so I have no public water service, I've plumbed this so that I can flip a couple valves and run the output of my 2100 gallon storage system to the water spigots in the yard so I can wash cars or lawn mowers with rain water. I don't have it plumbed to run my rain water to the house but I have an small shower in my work shop which can pull water from it so in a SHTF or hurricane situation I can run the shop shower on rain water for quite a few showers. My workshop is about 14' downhill of my storage system so I don't even need a pump or power to take showers and I've got a solar water heater system on the roof which will give all the hot water you could ever need if the sun is out.

Now that's cool as heck. Kudos to you for some great ingenuity. Maybe one day I'll move out of the burbs and into the country somewhere.

[behtypa]

That's totally awesome! A perfect example how things can be done!
Can you post pictures?

Originally Posted by Backspace

Not really, I just dug a trench right behind the house and lined them up. They're connected together with 3" pipe about an inch from the bottom of the totes which are about 18" apart in the ground. There's about 1' of dirt on top of them, before covering with dirt I places a sturdy plastic pallet on top of each one to stop the dirt from crushing the totes when empty. They've been in the ground for 2 years and I haven't had a single problem yet and aside from the labor I have about $375 total into the project. I left them in the metal cages to provide support when they're empty.

My house is 2 story and has a base size of 38' x 38' square with a metal roof plus I have porches front and rear that are 10' x 38'. I've routed all the gutters from the house and porches into these totes. I've done a bunch of measuring based on my digital weather station and if I get 2.3" of rain it fills the tanks full and that will give me about 2100 gallons of useable water.

My house is on well water so I have no public water service, I've plumbed this so that I can flip a couple valves and run the output of my 2100 gallon storage system to the water spigots in the yard so I can wash cars or lawn mowers with rain water. I don't have it plumbed to run my rain water to the house but I have an small shower in my work shop which can pull water from it so in a SHTF or hurricane situation I can run the shop shower on rain water for quite a few showers. My workshop is about 14' downhill of my storage system so I don't even need a pump or power to take showers and I've got a solar water heater system on the roof which will give all the hot water you could ever need if the sun is out.

[Backspace]

Originally Posted by behtypa

That's totally awesome! A perfect example how things can be done!
Can you post pictures?

There's literally nothing to see, it's all covered by yard grass and you'd never guess there are water tanks under there. All the piping is buried and the house downspouts just go right into the ground where they attach to large PVC pipe which then feeds to the tanks. The only way you'd ever know is if you saw the second pump in my well house connected to some PVC pipe coming out of the ground.

[elnina]

Is your system similar to that??
Underground rainwater storage in an IBC with pumped supply

[behtypa]

Now the question: Does it save any money (water saved vs energy spent on pumping)?

Say, one saves 500 gal of water, but he/she spends 1kW to pump this water around.

Originally Posted by Backspace

There's literally nothing to see, it's all covered by yard grass and you'd never guess there are water tanks under there. All the piping is buried and the house downspouts just go right into the ground where they attach to large PVC pipe which then feeds to the tanks. The only way you'd ever know is if you saw the second pump in my well house connected to some PVC pipe coming out of the ground.

[piyf]

It's not always about saving money. Some people just like to do something constructive with their time. I don't know if a motor is going to consume 1kWh to pump 500 gals though. But I guess that depends on how many gpm you need.

I know a kWh for most is around .08 to .20 cents. So if you get your water from a well it will be more expensive. If you get it from the city then you'll most likely save a small amount of money each month but this won't last forever and will need parts replaced sooner or later.

[MNCold]

Backspace - you're genius. I wish that I know how to setup a system like you.

[MNCold]

It's not just about money. The rainwater is much better for your plants and trees comparing to city water.