My current roof looks to be 20 years old or so, so it's pretty dry of oil, also oil tends to float on water so it would stay on the top and evaporate out over time if it's that light, I also have a stainless steel screen in the "T" at a 45 degree angle so grit can fall out the open side of the "T" and water falls down in to the barrel, any tiny grit in the barrel settles to the bottom, with oils and other roof run off I figure plants can brake down toxins in the soil as long as they are not heavy metals, at least according to a friend who has an environmental clean up business, he side the main issue is keeping it out of the ground water and lakes, so I'm not to worried, the next roof is going to be steel so new shingles are not going to be an issue.
I looked in to normal ball valves, $12 each compared to $5 or so .for the gas valves, gas valves also have shorter handles and larger openings in the ball so they created less restriction, I'm also making a few of these for other people so if I can keep costs down then it's more in everyone's pocket.
The 2nd photo is of a barrel that is standing upright, the spigot is on the rounded side of the barrel, not an end, I though about taping water off the bottom but I wanted grit to settle to the bottom and stay there, to make up for the roundness and unevenness of the barrels when putting a floor flange (yep just a common NPT floor flange, 3/4" pipe thread for everything threaded) on the barrel I used Polyurethane roof caulk, it's a thick rubber caulk that is sticky and gooey, it works well as a glue so in theory I could glue the flanges to the barrels but I did use two self tapping sheet metal screws to hold it all in place, I also tried butyl rubber tape from a window shop, that worked really well, I tried guerrilla glue... did not work, tried silicone caulk and had it leak as well, the poly caulk is on some that I have that are a few years old and still as tight as ever.
As for "steeling my idea" I've seen enough poorly done rain barrels that I figured if I could get suggestions on how to make mine better and help others to get good information then everyone will be better off, rain barrels that don't work or don't get used are a waste, same with ones that require to much input in putting them together and getting the water out.
The only worry I have is for winter, but with how I have the rack I can tip them slightly to drain most of the water out, anything that is left in them can freeze without damage, last winter I had my single rain barrel full all winter, 55 gallons of solid ice, I suspect the barrel stretched a little, not something I plan to repeat but it worked once.
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