Making a rain barrel has got so many advantages over just going out and buying one.
Firstly, the use of rain barrels is not only good for the environment but also good for your garden. Every drop of rainwater that you harvest from your roof and store in rain barrels is a drop of water that doesn’t have to come from your local water storage. Your garden will benefit from the rainwater you store, especially if you grow vegetables as it’s well known that rain water doesn’t contain additives and contaminants as most tap water does.
Making a rain barrel also gives you the opportunity to recycle an old plastic barrel. There is no better way of recycling that to turn one plastic product into another plastic product that requires the minimum amount of recycling as it’s virtually just a case of modifying a plastic barrel rather turning it into a completely new plastic product. Just be careful though, to select a plastic barrel that hasn’t been used to store chemicals or contaminants when making your rain barrel.
The other great thing about making a rain barrel instead of just buying one is that you can save quite a bit of money. Used plastic barrels can be sourced relatively inexpensively and in some cases for free. When I made my own rain barrels I was able to easily make two rain barrels for about the price of one.
When making a rain barrel you also have the opportunity to design it the way you want it and the three main parts to take into consideration are the inlet, the outlet and the overflow.
When designing the inlet ensure that it is sealed so as to keep out mosquitoes and other debris. One way of doing this is to add a wire screen.
This is common on many rain barrel inlets that use downspout diverters with open outlets. I’m not a big fan of these types of arrangements as during heavy rainfall, water can splash away from the inlet and thus lessen the amount of rainwater directed to the rain barrel. This can also lead to spilling on the ground around the rain barrel and making a mess. The inlets to my rain barrels are therefore sealed to overcome this common problem. The inlet should also be higher than the overflow so the excess rainwater is directed to the overflow and doesn’t flow back through the inlet which is also undesirable.
The overflow also needs to be the same size or larger than the inlet when making a rain barrel. This ensures that the excess rainwater can escape easily during heavy rainfall. The design of the overflow should also allow rainwater to be easily diverted away from the rain barrel. If possible excess rainwater can be diverted into the garden or back into the downspout. One of the most important features of the overflow is that it should exit from the top of the rain barrel. One of the commonest mistakes made when making a rain barrel is to exit the overflow from the side of the rain barrel. This invariably reduces the amount of rainwater the rain barrel can store and in some cases may reduce the storage capacity of the rain barrel by up to 10%.
Therefore fit the overflow to the top of the rain barrel and by ensuring that the inlet is higher, the excess rain water will easily escape via the overflow first and you’ll be able to store more rain water.
Another common problem often seen when making a rain barrel is the incorrect placement of the outlet or spigot. Many rain barrel designs come with a spigot fitted to the side of the rain barrel which invariably means that any water below the level of the spigot is inaccessible. In many cases though this may appear to be a small amount of water but if you are using all the water in your rain barrel between each time it refills, then this can add up to be quite a considerable amount of rainwater that’s inaccessible to you over the course of a year. The best place to fit your spigot when making a rain barrel is on the lowest point or the bottom of the rain barrel. I also join my outlets in series when making a rain barrel as this also allows the rain barrels to drain evenly when in use.
Many people use 55 gallon plastic barrels when making a rain barrel but invariably what they end up with is a rain barrel that only stores 50 gallons or less. Therefore correct placement of the overflow and outlet is important to maximise the storage capacity when making a rain barrel.
So if you’d like to find out more about how to make a rain barrel just follow the arrow above, enter your details and you can can download my FREE eBook How to Make a Rain Barrel and you’ll be making a rain barrel, yourself, before you know it.
