Friday, August 17, 2012

Catching, storing and utilizing free water

A rain barrel is a way to trap rain water and store it for later use. This is done by setting up a barrel or series of barrels where large amount of rain water will flow to, such as a gutter down pipe. The rain barrel is placed at the end of the down pipe allowing the gutter water to run into the barrel filling it allowing you to utilize the water as needed.  It is very important to know that a rain barrel when full can weigh in the ballpark of 400+ pounds! Because of this you need to be sure that your rain barrel is on level ground and has a strong, level base to sit on. 

For the rain barrel to be used properly one must attach a spigot to the bottom of the barrel. This spigot will allow you to hook a hose to it or simply run the water out as needed. Other important parts of the rain barrel is the overflow. I have watched many videos on how to construct a rain barrel, none that are any better than the other, and have also used common sense to know that once it is full its not going to just disappear. For that reason you must have a overflow. This is where my rain barrel will be a little more complex than others. I plan to have a set of rain barrels in 3 separate locations. I plan to have the first rain barrel as my reserve which will both bring the water in and allow for over flow when needed. Here are the blueprints of how I would like it to look in the end


Now to better explain what I have here but before I do lets establish this #1 I am not an artist #2 yes my barrels are very similar to iPhone's. Now that we have that established let me explain...

The top barrel will be where the water comes in. That barrel will be held off the ground by a stand that I will construct out of pressure treated 4x4's I will then fasten the top one to the bottom one with a 1/2 inch PVC pipe. Also on the top barrel at the top will be my over flow. The most important part will be that I will run the overflow down the side of the barrel to the ground where I will then run the pipe along the side of the building to the opposite side. I am doing this to prevent excess water running directly below the barrels which could soften the ground. 

The bottom barrel is where I will have my spigot. To secure this barrel I will use Cinder blocks that will be placed on beds of sand to help prevent them from sinking into the ground when the barrel is full. Between the barrels will be additional PT 4x4's. 

As you can see in the picture I will have two different sections. This will be the important part because remember a 55 gal barrel full of water will weigh right at 450lbs. To secure this and know that it wont tip or collapse I will have to put a lot of attention into the construction of the stands!

This will be my first project. Once I have these completed I will have a source of reusable water for my animals and gardening needs. It is very important to remember THIS WATER IS NOT READY FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION! That will have to be addressed at a later date. 

This will be our project that we will begin on this weekend! I will post a materials list in a later post where I will also estimate the cost of the project. And who knows my final product might look completely different! I have no experience in building one of these so we will learn as we go on it! 

Wish me luck! 



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