Rain Barrel Setup

[JohnnyO]

It's not heating but this is the sort of rain barrel setup I use. Usually you can find the blue barrels for cheap or free since companies just want to get rid of them. The barrel goes upside down, use a 4" hole saw and a 4" downspout adapter will pop right in. Seals tight, don't need a screen. A 1" hole at the top with 1" PVC for the overflow, runs into my drainage pipes. A 3/4" hole at the bottom (formerly the top) with a 3/4" boiler valve to hook your hose to, I use ball valves. I have one on each back corner of my house so I put two holes 180* apart to run a balance hose between them. The hose runs around the corner of my house to a $59 pump from Harbor Freight, then out of that to a splitter, one goes in the basement window to fill the washing machine and the other to the garden hose to wash our vehicles. Saves me $20 a month on my water bill in the warmer months. I take it down for the winter and put the regular downspouts back on.

https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/outdoors/structures/how-to-create-a-rain-barrel

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I always wanted to do that for my two gardens but I don't have a large enough roof area for collection, and I can never exceed my $7 per month minimum for the water bill anyway.

 

[Dirtman]

I get a $100 a year in a tax rebate for my system. Some hippy water conservation fund thing. I'm not turning down free money...

 

[JohnnyO]

I get a $100 a year in a tax rebate for my system. Some hippy water conservation fund thing. I'm not turning down free money...

Where I live it is technically illegal to send rainwater into the sanitary sewers so I only use the rain barrel water for washing my vehicles. The Y connector is only used as a shutoff and not to attach a short hose to go into my basement to fill the washing machine. We would never do that behind the tall wooden fence around my backyard for the dogs that makes the rain barrels barely visible.

 

[JohnnyO]

Also I should mention that we do not use the rain water only on the wash cycle where it doesn't matter so much and let the washer use the city water for the rinse. That way the rinse water is cleaner, not that the rain water is dirty, the barrel design lets dirt settle to the bottom below the outlet valves, and you can get more wash loads that way. If we were to use rain water in the washer, which of course we don't.

 

[Curious Hound]

Does your eye always twitch like that or were you winking?

Wink wink

 

[Josh B]

My father built the house I live in. It sits in the same spot that the 1910 house sit, that we lived in until I was 6. The roof measures 60ft east to west, with an 18 ft ridge, almost too steep to walk on. I'd gladly pipe you fellas some of our rainwater if I could, when and if it ever rains, because when it does, my yards turn into a marsh.

 

[Dirtman]

Have you ever found a pump strong enough to run to a power washer effectively? My little pump doesn't put out enough volume or pressure to let my power washer work right... think it needs to be something like 60psi into the power washer.

Always thought it would be nice to be able to power wash my truck and ATV off my barrels.

I also wanna hook up my RO/DI filtration system to them for emergency apocalypse drinking water but again, the filter needs high psi to work. Even on 65psi tap water it only puts out like 50 gallons per day.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

There are plenty of them out there. They're just not cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-532002-35-OM-Non-Submersible-Pressure/dp/B0057PG6OC/?tag=959media-20

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I just have the garden hose on the well which is not safe for drinking but safe enough for washing crap off vehicles and watering flowers.

There used to be an elaborate gutter system on the barn roof for filling stock tanks though.

 

[Dirtman]

There are plenty of them out there. They're just not cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-532002-35-OM-Non-Submersible-Pressure/dp/B0057PG6OC/ref=sr_1_15?qid=1570031019&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin:2798341011&s=kitchen-bath&sr=1-15

Thanks. $150 really ain't to bad. My pond pump is almost 250 to replace

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Thanks. $150 really ain't to bad. My pond pump is almost 250 to replace

This one is cheaper and has a higher psi I believe: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076TGWYDK/?tag=959media-20

 

[JohnnyO]

Have you ever found a pump strong enough to run to a power washer effectively? My little pump doesn't put out enough volume or pressure to let my power washer work right... think it needs to be something like 60psi into the power washer.

Always thought it would be nice to be able to power wash my truck and ATV off my barrels.

I also wanna hook up my RO/DI filtration system to them for emergency apocalypse drinking water but again, the filter needs high psi to work. Even on 65psi tap water it only puts out like 50 gallons per day.

I got a pump from Harbor Freight, they don't have that one anymore but it's similar to this:

https://www.harborfreight.com/110-hp-transfer-pump-63317.html

I've run my power washer of of it with no issues. I thought about a filtration system but I live in town and the cost I didn't think was worth it.