Remember the children ’s rhyme , “ Rain , rain , go away . make out again another day ? ” By trip up rainwater overspill from your roof in a rainfall bbl , you now have a rationality to ask the rain to “ fall again ” when you want it . Collecting rainwater will admit you to preserve natural resourcefulness or save money on your water bill .
The distinctive roof on a house can direct as much as 200 gallons of urine into its downspouts during a 1/4 - inch pelting shower . Already - assemble rainfall drum are available at many garden centers and online ; however , rain barrels are n’t difficult to make . Reuse any piss - tight , rusting - free barrel or drum for your rain - barrel project , but choose one that has n’t held risky chemicals . count on your location , you should be able-bodied to find oneself discarded wine or whiskey barrels , alloy barrels or plastic solid food - grade barrel for $ 10 to $ 15 . tally feed stores , nutrient distributors or even your local Craigslist web site .
A common 55 - gallon , food - grade plastic barrel has two kettle of fish in the top with screw - in plastic hood . ( Use this type to fabricate the rain barrelful in this clause . ) These are idealistic , as the caps are each threaded , so they can easy be unscrewed to reach the contents of the bbl . Typically , the jacket crown also have a ready - made faucet rap , which will allow gentle attachment of a tube and water faucet .
Rain Barrel textile
Step 1 : gargle the barrel . Even though you ’ll be using collected rainwater as non - drinkable water , you should wash out any residue . transfer the caps and rinse the barrel with a garden hose . take down that the caps you remove from the cask might not be interchangeable , so do n’t sample to pull them or accidentally cross - thread one .
Step 2 : go down up a stand . The bandstand for your rain barrel should be grandiloquent enough so you’re able to easy put a watering can under the barrel faucet . you could build a stall from woodwind or even correct up a chopine of concrete blockage . Be sure you design a space or a gap in the top of the stand so the PVC pipe can run from the bottom of the rain barrel to the edge of the stand without being crush .
Place the stand on grade ground near an existing downspout that is commodious to the area where you require to use the pee . Remember that the water will be gravity - fed , so the rain bbl must be high than any expanse where water will be used — water wo n’t go uphill !
Step 3 : Prepare the drum . The cask will be rise on your base with the two crest holes on the bottom . One of the gob will be used to connect the PVC pipe . exit this yap capable , but securely supersede the crownwork on the other kettle of fish — this is where the spigot will go .
practice Teflon tape measure on the cap yarn to control a water - tight burst ; enwrap the tape in a clockwise counsel so the tape does n’t unwind as the cap is chicane on .
Using a 3/4 - inch drill bit , drill out the moldable faucet tap in the midpoint of the cap . With a utility knife , carefully cut back away any remnant credit card remnant on the inside of your drilled kettle of fish .
whole tone 4 : Attach the PVC pipe . You might regain it easy to confiscate the elbow to the PVC pipe first , then shaft the whole thing into the spigot tap . Put priming coat on the PVC elbow connecter and one end of the PVC tobacco pipe , then apply the PVC cement to the pipe , fit them together , and screw the elbow into the cap .
Now place the barrel on your stand . The PVC organ pipe should reach just to the border of the stand ; cut off any extra .
Step 5 : Attach the faucet . The final footprint in constructing the rain barrel is to attach the polyvinyl chloride transcriber to the death of the pipe , and then attach your spigot onto the adapter . Put PVC primer on the adaptor and the mown oddment of the PVC organ pipe , then apply cementum to the pipe and equip them together . wrap up the spigot threads in Teflon tape and screw the faucet into the PVC adapter .
Step 6 : verbatim body of water to the rain gun barrel . Place the rain barrel in the exact location you want it , because once it ’s filled with water it will consider about 450 pound sterling .
There are many ways to guide water system from a downspout into a rainwater barrel . look on your needs , you might require to develop your own solution . One dim-witted choice is to employ the Garden Watersaver Diverter . This machine impound to your downspout and has a hosepipe that train water supply from the downspout into your rain barrelful . When the drum is full , the urine is automatically redirect back into the downspout . The diverter add up with downspout attachment teaching .
To confiscate the hose to your pelting barrel , drill a fix in the top of your barrel , and put the Watersaver hose through the maw . To prevent a vacuum burden and to keep piddle flux freely from the faucet , bore a 1/8 - column inch gob in the top of the barrel near where the hose enters .
Step 7 : unite overflow rainwater barrels ( optional).If you have elbow room , you’re able to connect two or more gun barrel together so one bbl can run over into the next .
To do that , drill a pickle near the top of each barrel and tie in them with a hose or pipe . Be sure that this connection is tumid enough in diameter so the urine flow into the next barrel equals the flow entering the bbl from the downspout . conniption each barrel with a water supply spigot just as you did the first .
Step 8 : Maintain you pelting drum . However you connect your pelting barrelful to your downspout , it ’s important to be able to easily disconnect them . Keep this in mind when you ’re design your organisation . debilitate the barrels before winter , as water system expands when it freezes and can destroy your barrels . If you treat your ceiling with moss killer , disconnect your pelting gun barrel beforehand . Wait until after two or three heavy rainfall showers before reconnecting the barrel to the downspout to be sure the cap has been well rinsed .
Now that you see how easy it is to make your own rain cask , make one ( or more ) to catch leap pelting before the dry summer month set in . Rainwater is better for your plant than treated tap water , so your garden will thank you and so will your checkbook .
This clause first appear in the March / April 2009 issueHobby Farms .
