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Rain Barrels

DroseraBug

Grow Pitcher Plants!
I recently purchased a 65 gallon rain barrel for my plants. It serves my bogs great.
See below:

http://www.rainwatersolutions.com/rainbarrels.html

Anyone else using these? You can purchase them in just about any City in NC now and probably U.S. wide. I think their more common overseas. I've been thankful for the rain here in NC lately. I actually paid $40 less than the website post. In my opinion these are great for people with many plants and no more using tap or buying distilled water with rain (knock on wood). I'm gonna buy another soon and up it to 130 gallons.
 
Nice!

as an alternative, you can build your own for about $5.

CP2008-049.jpg


http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page5a.html

it doesnt hold as much as the commercial version, mine probably hold 10 gallons or so. (I have never bothered to measure it.) I have never run out of water..I use a gallon or two every time I water, but it rains enough around here that the bin is almost always full to the top.

I keep 3 gallons in reserve in the shed, in gallon jugs filled from the rain "barrel", in case I do ever run out, but I have never needed the reserve..I just dump them out every fall.

Scot
 
Scot how long have you had yours? I am wondering how long it lasts in the sun. I like the homemade version. Especially if its only around 5 bucks.
 
Sorry as this may be a dumb newbie question, but will the water go bad if it is sitting in that barrel for long? Do you put screens on the gutters to prevent debris from going in the barrel as well? If debris does go into the tank, does it decompose and add nitrogen to the water?

Sorry for all the odd questions. I am trying to set up a rain water collector for my mothers orchids since she is on a well with softened water.
 
Josh,
the one in the photo above was version 1, set up last spring (spring 2007)
I took it down for the winter, drained it, cleaned it, and stuck it in the shed, and replaced it with a regular downspout extension for the winter months, because my CPs need no water November - February.

I set it back up this spring..it was doing fine, until I knocked it with the lawnmower and punched out a dime-sized hole, right at the bottom..it drained and was ruined. :(

I replaced it with version 2, which is identical except for the drain valve at the bottom.
I discovered that valve is unnecessary, because I fill the watering can by lifting the cover and dunking the can.

So sorry, I cant give you a long-term report yet, because I havent had one up and running for more than a year.

I have a feeling the plastic might get somewhat brittle over time, its not designed for outdoor use, and might eventually crack easily... but with care, and not bumping into it with the lawnmower, I imagine it should be good for several years..and if it does crack, a new one is $5 at target..I just re-use the same PVC drain pipe.

If mine eventually fails "from natural causes" I will report it here.
but even if it does, I consider $5 once every three years (or however long it lasts) to be a worthwhile investment.

Scot
 
Sorry as this may be a dumb newbie question, but will the water go bad if it is sitting in that barrel for long? Do you put screens on the gutters to prevent debris from going in the barrel as well? If debris does go into the tank, does it decompose and add nitrogen to the water?

Sorry for all the odd questions. I am trying to set up a rain water collector for my mothers orchids since she is on a well with softened water.

speaking for myself, my gutter has a coarse screen at the top, at the top of the downspout where it meets the gutter, which prevents "big" stuff like leaves from coming down.
I have no trees within easy range of my roof though, so my roof stays fairly clean.

bits of "shingle grit" and random dirt does wash into the bin however..it just falls to the bottom, and the water on top remains very clean.

If I know rain is coming, sometimes I dump the bin and wash it out with the hose, to clear out the dirt, I do that a couple times a year.

When I fist set mine up, I did put some nylon screen over the drain pipe, thinking I could prevent mosquitos from getting in and breeding..but the silicone caulk I used to seal the screen in the pipe degraded fast, and the screen came loose..

but then I realised that every time it rains..which is at least once a week in the summer around here, the bin fills to the top and LOTS of water rushes out the drain pipe..during an average summer rain storm, hundreds of gallons wash into and right out of the bin..half the roof area! its a lot of water...only 10 gallons remain in the bin when the rain is over..so any mosquito larva that might be in there get washed right out into the lawn, where they die..I have never seen any mosquito larva in there..

so for my set-up, debris and bugs isnt a major concern..the system is quite "open and drafty"..its not sealed up at all..hasnt been a problem...and the water doesnt stick around long enough to "go bad"..because every time it rains, the whole system is washed out, all the "old water" is washed away and replaced by "new water"...the longest we ever go without rain is maybe 2 weeks..and thats unusual..it rains, at least a mild thunderstorm, at least once a week.

Scot
 
I just went out and measured the bin..
the water doesnt fill to the top, because of the drain, but measuring to where the water *does* fill its 14" wide X 11" high X 22" long.
doing the math, thats 15 gallons.

even though its a small bin, because it re-fills every time it rains, its essentially an "endless supply" to me.

D.B.,
sorry to hijack your thread!
didnt mean to..

Scot
 
The hijack was my fault. Sorry. I was just very curious about this process. Thanks for answering my questions. I will try to look into it further. I do have a lot of trees to contend with though.
 
Scotty, I like your setup and its definitely cheaper than buying like I did but either or will save in the long run. I don't see yours ever having a mosquito problem with that lid on there.

The rainwater solutions 65 gal that I bought comes with a screen that you screw down over the holes in the lid. Water flows threw the gutter and into the lid holes on the barrel. The screen is a debris/mosquito deterrent.
 
  • #10
I ised to use a 30 gallon plastic trash barrel, but that made my wife and lower tenant uncomfortable. Something about West Nile Virus...... Anyhoo, Scot's setup looks like a great idea... nice and enclosed.
 
  • #11
I just got me 6 new 55 gallon rain barrels for $100 total. I now want to build a bog and i wanted to before but my only problem was water because i didn't want to have to buy distilled water all the time. I have heard that a 1/4 of a inch of rain will fill those suckers up so i should have a lot of water unless a exceptional drought comes along.
 
  • #12
That's great price! Are they just the old blue food grade drums or are they "official" rain barrels?
 
  • #13
They actually held car wash soap but all me and my dad have to do is connect it to some gutters then put a facuet on the bottom then put a over flower pipe on it and that's it.
 
  • #14
I get the blue food grade barrels form a local junk yard for about 20 bucks a piece. Great deal!
 
  • #15
I got some white and blue.
 
  • #16
Hello eou... here is my three barrel set up using 55 gallon blue drums. You might be able to use it since you just got your barrels. You can chain as many as you want together.. 6 would be a massive amount of water.

I set them up last year to water potted plants, the veggie garden, and my indoor orchid collection…. But now it will go to supplementing the bog garden. I got the design from a website that I can't find at the moment. And all three will fill up from a 1/8th of rain, since it collects on half of my entire roof.

The whole set up is on a 2 foot high wooden platform made from heavy lumber. This gives a acceptable water pressure if you use a hose attachment. It is by no means close to house pressure though. The other benefit is that this allows you to do most of the plumbing below the barrels and out of sight.

Since all the barrels connect below, they all fill and drain equally. There is a single spigot which is a larger 1.5 inch opening version, so it fills 5 gallon buckets very quickly, so you aren't waiting a long time like you would using a standard "house" spigot that is a lot smaller and slower because there isn't a lot of water pressure in the system.

If you can get the blue drums that are sealed on the top rim.. But have the two smaller threaded openings, this system is easy if you can do basic PVC glue work. The barrels are actually upside down, so all the piping uses the existing threading. You don't have to cut your own threads or worry about leaks.

I originally had only one overflow pipe coming out of one barrel, but during heavy rains, there would be small geysers of water from the air holes at the top of the barrels… so I ended up added overflows to each barrel and linking them below to reconnect to the old gutter pipe that directs water away from the house.

In the winter I just disconnect the top PVC pipe that hooks to the downspout and reconnect the removed portion of the downspout… and leave the spigots open. There aren't any openings that you would have to worry about mosquitoes.

This will be the first year using the water for the bog, so it will be interesting to see how much it will require to stay saturated well.

Rain-Barrel.jpg
 
  • #17
Wow thanks for showing me that information. I will show my Dad this and maybe we can try to do it. Your a very smart person. Thanks for helping me out.
 
  • #18
no credit to me... all from the website that i can't find anymore. On his site he had 10 or so all chained together.

Also, do a search on using the white soap barrels for rain barrels.... i remember reading somewhere that if they get much sun, that algae will grow and start to clog things up. The blue ones are very opaque.. though kinda an eyesore depending on where you place them. I ended up spray painting ours to an off-white to match the house.
 
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