If you think it’s a crime to collect rain water, then move to Maryland where our beloved Governor is demanding a rain tax.
Yep - you too can pay a tax on rain based on the surface area of your roof.
I’ve had this same barrel for a couple if years with no major complaints. I’ve had the spigot clog once on one of the two I own, but feeding a bit of wire into it cleaned it right out. It works nicely with a soaker hose if your bed is close to the barrel. Otherwise make sure you have it up at least a foot from the ground for OK pressure.
Texas has tax exemption for rainwater collection equipment. Woot needs to adjust sales tax to reflect that.
I got one of these to put in an area where I couldn’t avoid water problems because my neighbor’s house was so close. I put it up on a cinder block. It’s nice if you have to put it on the front corner of your house because it’s more attractive than most cheap models. I paid full price for this, and it was well worth it!
The one thing all you posters have in common is that you love the idea of collecting rain water. My question is why? After all, water is the single most common element on the planet. So why spend money to collect it when doing so requires you (or at least many of you) to carry the water to where it is needed when those places may be at a higher level than the rain barrels. Is the false thought of being self-sufficient worth all this extra expense and extra work? Additionally, collecting rain water makes many of us potential outlaws.
For those that haven’t thought of it in the southern states… you can use this to collect the water coming out of your AC unit. What you end up with is super fresh water even through dry spells. You would probably be surprised at how much water the AC puts out. At least I was (I’m in Florida).
Got two of these last time they were up for sale (Earth day 2011?). Quality is decent. They have lasted a full two summers without issue.
Stored outside all winter, flipped upside down so they didn’t collect water and freeze.
I added two screws to the top to help the screen seal better… we have lots of mozzies and pine needles… all of which stay out.
Spouts are solid, don’t leak.
Joined two together with some clear tubing from the home center.
The garden is happy!
Can’t tell if trolling or serious, so I’ll post a serious reply.
To start with the outlaw issue, not that many states actually regulate small scale, private individual collection of rainwater. Even fewer actually enforce those regulations. And those that do, it’s a great way to “Stick it to the MAN!”
With that out of the way, while water may be one of the most common molecules on the planet, it is not always readily available in the form you need it at the location you need it. “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” When you are in a drought, your plants care not one bit that Colorado is flooding, all that water will not do your garden any good at all.
Gravity filling watering cans and carrying them around your garden is good exercise, and allows very precise control of how much water is applied to your plants. Depending on the layout of your property, collection may be uphill of the garden (which you did allude to in your post). I bought my rain barrels from my city for $15 each, and bought a pump off e-bay for $30-$40. For less than $100 I have 180 gallons of water with which I can water my garden, lawn, wash the cars, dogs, even power-wash the house or driveway. I don’t need to pay (a very low price to be sure) for that water. Besides, is human potable water really necessary for those above mentioned uses?
As other people have mentioned, barrels like this can be used to manage run-off. A neighbor of mine buried a ~ 1500 gallon tank in his backyard. Water that used to erode his yard is now drained into the tank, and is used to refill his fish pond and water the lawn.
If it ain’t your thing, don’t do it.
Lazy Glen
Well first ‘water’ isn’t an element.
Second being plentiful is irrelevant, distribution of resources is what is important. This allows you to have water when you want/need water.
I am a little concerned about mosquito production, and possible legionnaires disease.
It’s not a very fancy formula, and you can ignore slope of the roof and any dormers, because they don’t affect the effective collecting capability. Just multiply the length of your house times its width (in feet) and divide by two (assuming half your roof feeds one downspout). This is the effective square footage of your roof that will collect rain and feed it into one barrel. As Philgonet stated, 50 gallons (US) is 11550 cubic inches, which is 6.684 cubic feet. So, divide 6.684 by your roof area and multiply by 12 (to convert to inches). This is the amount of rain that will fill your barrel.
For example, my house is 40 ft long by 25 ft wide, so half of my roof area is 40x25x0.5=500 sq ft. Take 6.684/500*12=0.16" of rain will fill the barrel. This is only about 1/6", which is why many people connect multiple barrels together to increase their collecting capacity.
You can get an interconnecting kit made by Good Ideas (for example, http://www.amazon.com/Good-Ideas-RW50CK-Wizard-Connector/dp/B00343JJ52), but it’s probably cheaper to buy a short length of large diameter tubing and two hose clamps at your local hardware store.
I live in Wisconsin, which has a significant mosquito problem, but I haven’t been raising any mosquitos in my rain barrels, because I use them within a week of each rainfall.
(It varies from species to species, but in the aquatic stage of their life cycle, they generally require one to two weeks of submersion.)
I’m not trying to pull your chain or that of anyone else. As careful as I was in wording my post, I knew that someone would take offense. Nevertheless, I am serious.
I live in the populated Northeast where we always have plenty of tap water available and at a very cheap price (of course all bets are off when we have a drought, but that happens infrequently). While you believe that it’s good exercise to carry water uphill, I don’t subscribe to your believe, as there are many better and more enjoyable ways to get good exercise.
It’s clear that you must live in an area where water is a lot more scarce than it is here for me. The fact that your neighbor spent a lot of time, effort and money to bury a 1,500 gallon tank on his property to collect rain water emphasizes the scarcity of water in your area. No one would ever dream of doing the same here.
Finally you say, “if it ain’t your thing, don’t do it.” Well, it ain’t my thing and I’m not doing it…but I did have questions. Sorry I upset you.
Seems like something a few bricks or cinder blocks would work fine for.
I really don’t care about collecting water to save the environment or be self sufficient, but having extra rain water can be handy.
Certain plants, like huckleberries/blueberries, azaleas/rhododendron, American holly, and heather prefer an acid soil which can be achieved by using rain water instead of ground water.
YOU DIDN’T UPSET ME! lol It’s all good, I doubt that I would worry too much about it in the Pacific NW either.
Edit:
Whups, I read Populated Northeast as Pacific Northwest, same logic applies though.
I’m not suggesting that people not go to the gym, and simply carry watering cans around their yards. I’d much rather burn all my calories between the sheets, but alas, my wife claims that the house and yard need to be maintained.
I’m in NC, and in 2008, when I tinkered with my system, most of the state was in a state of moderate to severe drought. Page Not Found | U.S. Drought Monitor allows you to look at the current drought conditions and compare to previous dates. Check out most of the spring of 2008 in the southern Atlantic States. For that matter, look at the percentages for the US today - 64% of the US is in some level of drought.
Georgia and South Carolina are, or have been, in court in a pee pee contest over water rights. Not exactly the first states you think of when I say water restrictions, but there they are. http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/09/29/2708271/georgia-sc-must-reach-agreement.html
Heck, the issue of water has even made Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/why-water-is-the-new-oil-20110707
I like to compare Woot! to Amazon pricing and to get Amazon’s customer comments. After all Woot! is owned by Amazon now, right?
Here is this rain barrel at Amazon for $90.82
Answering as someone who lives in the populated Northeast also, rain barrel collection is the number one defense of erosion. Rutgers Extension highly recommends rain barrel use for not just collection for garden areas but to help with quick flooding that has been plaguing the Northeast with two major hurricanes in the past two years.
I’m always so tempted in buying one of these, probably two is what I need. But how much rain does one need to collect to pay for the 50 dollar price tag? I know water rates very but anyone in California actually do the math? Sure there are cheaper options but not as pleasing to the eye as this rain barrel.
To be fair, the answer is: “Lots” If you are strictly going by what you pay to your water supplier, you probably are not paying much at all per gallon. Look at your water bill. I just looked mine up online, since we bought the house, our average water (water supply only) bill is $14 per month. My math indicates that we pay about $0.0046 per gallon. So to offset my ~$100 system (pump, plumbing and barrels) I need to get 22k gallons out of it. But I can use this water without any restriction, if we have another drought, I can water my lawn or garden, fill up a kiddie pool or let the kids have squirt gun fights irrespective of city water restrictions. What is that worth?
I would not pay $50 for this barrel, I’ve got ugly pickle barrels - but they are hidden in my crawlspace. As with anything though, you pay a price for appearance. A few bare light bulbs in your kitchen would light things up just as well as the can lights or whatever you have in there now. How much is that difference worth to you? I paid extra for my pump so I could use a hose and sprinkler. Convenience has a price too.
How much a gallon of water is worth to you depends on how thirsty you are. Have you ever paid a dollar for a single bottle of water? If you had to pay that price per gallon to the water company every month, you would drastically change your water habits. If you put down $100 worth of grass seed that never sprouts because you couldn’t water due to city restrictions, does that offset how much you paid for your rain barrel?
What you pay for a water barrel is a single upfront cost that pro-rates for the life of the barrel. You don’t have to keep paying for it.
One good reason to collect rainwater is that it is generally healthier for all plants (unless you live in an area with very acidic or otherwise polluted rainwater). Most tapwater (unless it comes straight from a well) contains chlorine, which is hard on plants. Also, as rain falls through the atmosphere, it picks up free nitrogen, so it essentially amounts to free fertilizer for your plants. Ever notice how a quarter-inch of rain makes your lawn/garden look so much better than if you had given it an inch of tap water?
Incidentally, snow picks up even more nitrogen than rain. That’s one reason for healthy lawns/gardens following a snowy winter (not to mention the protection that snow provides). My Daddy (a farmer) always said, “if your shoveling snow, you’ll be shoveling grain”…