New rain barrels:)
 

This year we wanted to expand our 1-barrel rain catchment system (fancy name;)), but the company I'd bought the first used 220-liter barrel from went bankrupt:( I saw they still had a few on the lot, but the security guy told me it'll be months or years before the court orders everything to be auctioned off. Fortunately, I found someone with a bunch of identical barrels in my part of town, so I drove up there and bought as many as I could fit in the car (3). Here they are next to the first barrel:

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...5&d=1275974696

The first barrel previously had some cosmetics in it, so it took a while to get rid of the residue, the new ones had pickles in them. Yeah, they reek, especially after standing in the hot sun all day. The one of the lids popped open when I was driving yesterday and open windows didn't help! At home I noticed they were already rinsed, but I washed them again (with rain water:)) and left them to dry. This morning the smell isn't that bad, I hope the neighbors don't notice.

This week I hope to get at least one of them hooked up to the existing rain barrel. The other two will wait until I redo our gutters - we have only 2 downpipes (one front, one back, and the front isn't available for catchment), I'd like to add another 2, so there's one on each corner of the house.

Nice find. How are you planning on connecting them?

One will get hooked up parallel to the existing barrel, like in Ryland's setup. The other two will get a faucet and go under the new downpipes (once I get them installed). For now, one is catching the overflow from the existing barrel.

Well at least you know their clean. Pickeling juice is usually vinegar which is one of the best cleaning agents.

I got one installed yesterday:) I also bought a few concrete foundation blocks to put under the barrels, they look better than the old block I had.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...0&d=1276419129

Here's a close-up of how they are hooked up. Each barrel has a 1/2" faucet so that it can be independently closed off and washed. The main faucet is 3/4".

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...9&d=1276419129

There was a thunderstorm in the evening and this morning it looks like both barrels are 90% full:)

How much flow do you get out of the 1/2" faucet? I mean is it quick enough or is it relatively slow?

I timed the flow of each using my trusty old 10 liter bucket. The 1/2" valve on the old barrel on the left is a globe type and takes 85 seconds to fill the bucket, so that's 7 liters (1.85 US gallons) per minute. The barrel on the right has a newer 1/2" ball valve and takes 65s to fill the bucket (9.2l/2.4USgal per minute). When both are open, the common 3/4" ball faucet fills it in 50 seconds, giving a flow of 12 liters (3.2 US gallons) per minute. That's 70% faster than the just the old barrel, plus twice the volume of rain water:)

I did the test with the barrels 90% full. Of course, the lower the water level, the slower the flow. The maximum head (distance from faucet to overflow hose at top) is about 78cm (31in.)

Good project, good photos...
 

Piwoslaw,

Good project, good photos.

If I'm interpreting the photos correctly, you are removing debris with window screen on the top of the barrels... is that correct?

What are you going to use the captured water for?

Do you have or need any other filtration or purification?

I have some barrels similar to the ones you are using, left over from my Ground Loop project. The filtration was hanging me up, but a window screen filter is probably all I need. Thanks for the idea.

It rains so much here during the winter time, I've also thought about re-directing the rainwater into my loop field, since it is carrying heat energy with it.

Regards,

-AC_Hacker

Yes, the barrel directly under the gutter has a screen on it and that's it. I'm looking for a screen with smaller holes (if I can find one easily), since this one lets the sand from the shingles through. About every 2 months I drain the barrel and remove the debris from the bottom. The second barrel is capped and gets its water from the first.

The water is mostly for the garden (plus the dog prefers rain water over tap), sometimes I'll use a bucket or two to wash the car. For those reasons it doesn't need to be filtered any more. If I were to use rain water for flushing, or even the washing machine, then I'd have to look into a filtering system.

That sounds like a good idea. Would you (gravity) pump it underground, or just spill it over the field?

I wouldn't want to use any electrical power to get water into the ground.

The soil where I live has a large amount of sand, and in most cases, surface rain easily moves into the ground. So, spilling it over the field would work.

Occasionally however, we get a very heavy rain and I think a couple of 'leech lines' (perforated pipe buried amidst a gravel bed) would take care of the unusually hard rain.

Where I live, the annual rainfall is just short of a meter per year! With most of it falling in the winter, and very little falling in the summer.

That winter rainfall could be very useful for heat extraction.

Regards,

-AC_Hacker