self semi cleaning rain barrel

[chibae]

Last week my husband took a close look at my rain barrel and came up with semi self cleaning idea for it. The barrel is up on a stand and has a spigot that is as close to the bottom as he could put it. He attached a hose to the spigot and placed a clamp so that the hose end is held about two inches below the top of the barrel and left the hose end open. Now when it rains, if the barrel gets filled to overflowing, the overflow is coming from the older, stale water near the bottom as opposed to the fresh water coming into the top. Not perfect but i think it helps. The hose end is screened just as the input area is against bugs.

 

[jimscott]

He's a keeper!

 

[Jcal]

I like it. Beats my idea. When I think its about to rain I would dump out some of the water. That's gotten me into a water shortage once or twice. Much better idea.

 

[scottychaos]

cool idea..but I dont really see the need for it..
IMO rain water cant really get "stale"..
what can happen to make it "stale" and somehow change its composition to make it "bad" somehow?
I dont know..
if there such a thing as "stale rain water" I would be interested to hear about it!

Scot

 

[Millipede]

the water in our fountain is definitely 'stale'.. i put my hand in the water stream once and it stank like mildew for a couple days after.. it was gross

 

[Wire Man]

Does he have blue prints for this?

 

[boxofrain]

I have a solar air pump on my rain barrel to keep it "fresh".
But with the lack of sun here on the Oregon Coast....I have added a small power head to keep the flow moving on our sunless days.