It is time to start thinking about rain and rain catchment systems. You can save a lot of money by installing one or two rain barrels. Once you get two in tandem going it is not too long before the idea of gravity feed can come into play. Rain barrels can be stacked to create more water pressure. You could fill a washer or a toilet if you rigged them right. Water would have to be filtered and purified for drinking. For local rain barrels check out got rain?
The concept is good but shouldn't the connections be from top to top so that when the barrel fills it's overflow is then pushed into the next barrel. Just the very bottom barrel should have a relief overflow via a hoes to the grass.
ReplyDeleteIf that way then no pressure from gravity and the water won't cycle out as much - stale.
DeleteHum after looking at this for several weeks and thinking about it I guess really the concept is that the bottom barrel would fill first then as it is filled the next and so on. But I don't see a relief/overflow for the top barrel.
ReplyDeleteThis really truly is a brilliant idea for that large avid gardener or someone that lives off the grid. The intention is to not need the top barrel to have overflow because constant use of the rain barrels will keep the water supply at bay! ad with 4 barrels you should have no problems with shortage!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this thoughtful post!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this lovely system! Where did you find the image? I am curious to ask whoever built it about the kind of paint used as well as some other things.
Best,
- J
The overflow from the top barrel to the next one is in the front. I realize it is hard to see. I got the image from googleing rain barrel, and I liked that one...although it is probably overkill. You wouldn't need 5 rain barrels unless you lived in a real rainy place...or a real dry place...and you wanted to capture and save every last drop. Thank you for all your thoughtful comments.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Idea! We live in NE Pennsylvania and we go through very rainy and very dry weeks. We use mainly rain barrels for watering and it saves a lot on our water bill and is better for the plants. I love this idea since we have been trying to figure out a way to get more pressure and store more rain water.
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you for posting this!
You could if you were really inventive...figure out how to pump from the rain barrel into your "modified" toilet tank, saving even more water.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that may be missing (or doesn't show in the photo) is a roof washer. This is simply a dropped section in the pipe from the roof where it runs horizontally to the tank for the solids that wash off the roof to collect. There is clean-out access to the washer pipe for removing the solids. Without a roof washer, dirt flows into the tanks and silts them up not to mention it fills the water with pollutants. Here is a link with a basic diagram: http://www.rain-barrels.org/rainwater-harvesting-schematic/
ReplyDeleteIf you live in a city or suburb where particulates settle out of the air it's important to have a roof washer built into your rain barrel system.
One thing that may be missing (or doesn't show in the photo) is a roof washer. This is simply a dropped section in the pipe from the roof where it runs horizontally to the tank for the solids that wash off the roof to collect. There is clean-out access to the washer pipe for removing the solids. Without a roof washer, dirt flows into the tanks and silts them up not to mention it fills the water with pollutants. Here is a link with a basic diagram: http://www.rain-barrels.org/rainwater-harvesting-schematic/
ReplyDeleteIf you live in a city or suburb where particulates settle out of the air it's important to have a roof washer built into your rain barrel system.