The rain collection barrel was easy to set up. The barrel started life holding Vinegar at a local nursery. This picture shows it in use. It's empty now due to the lack of rain, but it takes less than a half inch of rain to fill it. Blue rain barrel ( photo / image / picture from Evil Roy's Garden ) The water comes off the roof, through the downspout and into the barrel. I used an old plant pot with the bottom knocked out, and some window screen fitted into the bottom, to filter out the clumpy bits that wash off the roof and out of the gutter. I used Gorilla Glue to hold the screen in the pot. These pictures show the bottom of the filter and the filter in place in the barrel. I used a jigsaw to cut a hole in the top of the barrel to hold the pot. The bottom of the filter ( photo / image / picture from Evil Roy's Garden ) The filter in place in the top of the barrel ( photo / image / picture from Evil Roy's Garden ) Here's a picture of the barrel top with the filter and downspout in place. There's a gap so that some of the clumps can be washed out and the excess water can flow out if the barrel is full. This is the input with the downspout in place ( photo / image / picture from Evil Roy's Garden ) Here's the spigot. This is a standard garden variety faucet spigot with a male connector on the end that would normally connect to the water pipe. I drilled a hole in the barrel that was a little smaller than the spigot threads. I put a nut on the threads to give it some surface area for the epoxy that holds it in the barrel. The epoxy is PC-7, a two part epoxy that's waterproof and dries hard enough to be worked with a file. Sand the plastic to remove any oils and roughen up the surface so that the epoxy will hold. Allow the epoxy to harden three or four days before any pressure is place on the joint, or any water is placed in the barrel. The spigot in the rain barrel ( photo / image / picture from Evil Roy's Garden )
All right! THAT is what I'm talking about! I think I can do this. This is just GREAT. The pictures help a lot. Thanks Randy!! Do you guys have to treat for mosquitos there at all?
Daisybeans, I drop Mosquito Bits in the barrel every couple of weeks and any kind of mosquito dunks used in ponds will do the same thing. They take care of mosquito larvae and don't hurt the plants I use the water on. BTW, that is a 55 gallon barrel we used.
You've done a grand job there Randy and now I hope you get the rain to fill your barrel. We can buy ones that size over here but they are horribly expensive. I'll ask Ian to keep an eye out for something similar to the barrel you've used.
Great! That's one of the ways of conserving water and the collected rain water can be used for watering the garden, lawn, and flushing the toilets. The water shortage is a growing concern and we must follow simple steps to conserve water. moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
i have 4 55 gallon barrels that i have for my flower gardens here in mn more than enough water this summer for all my plants, and i have a lot didnt use any tap water
Toni.... we're just about ready to finish up our rain collection barrel. All that's left is to set in the filter. How do you clean out the screen when it's full of leaves, etc? Will the pot easily lift out? How often do you have to do this? That is... when it used to rain in Texas!
The pot lifts out easily once the downspout is removed. I cut the hole to fit the pot and lined the bottom with window screen material.
Hi Evil Roy.... guess I should have addressed the question to you instead of "Evil Toni"! Thanks for the additional info and all the instructions. Hopefully we'll be all set up by Hurricane season... that'll probably be the only time we see rain this year. :'(
