[Sive]

As the sunny South-east lives up to its reputation this summer and the soil grows drier by the day, I wonder can anyone advise me about water butts please ? What type works best ? Can anyone recommend a good website/supplier please ? Thank you !

[ponddigger]

hi sive ,i use a rain water harvesting system that stores about 1000 gallonsof rain water off my garage roof. yours ponddigger

[Sive]

That sounds like a home-made storage system...would I be right ? I was hoping for advice about different types of barrels or butts that I could buy.
But I am amazed how much water you get just off a garage roof. It just shows you how ridiculous it is that entire cities are flushing precious treated drinking water down the toilet, when rainwater would serve the purpose.
Sometimes I'm amazed how unsophisticated we are......our water supply and drainage ideas really haven't changed very much since Roman times !

[ponddigger]

hi sive you can get a used plastic container that hold about 250 gallons of rain water for about 100 euros, yours ponddigger

[inishindie]

Hi

Here's a bit from an article I did for the Indo last week

Reasons to make your own butt

By making your own water butt, you will benefit in a number of ways.

· You can site several water butts around the garden or allotment, so that you don't have to trek to and from one water source.

· Rainwater is free, so if you have a lot of watering to do, you want have to rely on your drinking water supply - extremely handy if you're on a water meter or the well is drying up, like our pond.

· Some plants really benefit from rainwater, as it is slightly acidic

· Making your own water butt helps the environment and can use recycled materials.



BUILDING YOUR OWN WATER BUTT

· Find a suitable container to hold the water. The one pictured is an old wheelie bin, but you could use anything that is watertight that hasn't had any toxic chemicals in it (steam clean if in doubt).

· Stand the butt on a firm base of gravel and concrete slabs, preferably slightly above the ground so you can get a watering can easily under the tap, or in Mickey's case allowing gravity to expel the water.

· Check that the water butt has a secure, childproof lid. As well as protecting children it will also prevent debris and midge larvae from entering. If it opens like the wheelie bin, you can access water from both the top and bottom of the container.

· Select a downpipe that is not in a prominent position with plenty of room to stand a butt nearby, Mickey chose to use his on a large shed away from the house. You can always mask the butt with some willow weaving if you feel it's unsightly.

· Cut the downpipe at the desired height and fit a diverter, you can get these from any DIY shop.

· Make sure that any water butts have an overflow pipe fitted so that any excess water will drain away from the house wall and check everything is watertight.

· That's it, job done, all we need now is a drop of rain.



Other Options

Let's have a look at some other interesting options to save water.

Rig up a plastic sheet over a hole in the garden, with a stone weighing it down in the middle and an old baked bean can underneath, then watch drops of condensation collect as the sun passes overhead. It has saved many a life in the desert.

Underground water storage tanks such as the one used in the gardening area of Buncrana UDC could be installed into your garden. Collecting water from the house roof could supply the toilet, washing machine and any other use besides drinking (although you can get filters for this if you wanted to be totally independent of the mains water)

Water facts

· Water is the most common compound found on Earth.
· Four fifths of the Earth's surface is covered in water.
· 99% of the World's water cannot be used because it is either saline or is locked up in glaciers and ice sheets.
· Most of the remaining water is present in rocks as groundwater (approx. 0.6%), while just over 0.3% is present in rivers and lakes.
· Our bones contain about 72% water, our kidneys about 82% and our blood is about 90% water.
· Each of us need an intake of about 2 litres of water per day. This water may be taken as part of our food or drink.
· A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
· A person uses about 150 litres of clean treated water per day.


Dublin City Council offer water butts for €40. Hopefully soon all local councils will follow suit.


http://www.dublincity.ie/WATERWASTEENVIRONMENT/WATER/Pages/WaterConservation.aspx

[medieval knievel]

i recently installed a small (i.e. 100l) water butt bought in argos for €30; it has a handy diverter for attaching it to the downpipe. i installed it at about 11am on the bank holiday monday just gone, which you might remember was a very wet day - it was full within two hours of the rain beginning and probably would have collected three or four times as much water that day had there been greater capacity. space is a limiting factor in our back yard, though.

[Sive]

Thank you everyone for your help and advice. I think our DIY skills would probably be a little limited, so I was thinking more along the lines of commercial water butts that wouldn't be too unsightly. I've noticed some in our local farmer's co=op that look like truncated Roman columns (!!!) not quite what I had in mind.
Incidentally, as I write, here in Wexford we are getting the first rain we've had in a long time, which I am delighted about. No watering tonight !

[medieval knievel]

this is the one we got - it's gone back up in price. it's more of a dark green than the bluish colour in the pic on the link.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/7202272/Trail/searchtext%3EWATER+BUTT.htm

[Sive]

Thanks knievel, that looks exactly like the sort of design that would suit, but as we are not short of space , we could easily fit a slightly larger version......Argos don't seem to do such a thing, so I'd better start searching online.
Mind you, the forecast is now sounding as if there may be quite a lot of rain on its way which is typical...... just when I was researching water butts......... !!!!

[medieval knievel]

that's the time to buy! no point in buying the water butt during a dry spell when you've nothing to fill it.

[medieval knievel]

anyone got any advice on the best way to install a water butt if you have old metal downpipes?
i suspect the pipe would shatter if i tried to saw into it for the diverter - and then i suspect you'd have a job supporting the bottom section of the pipe.

[tagwex]

If they are the cast iron type then an angle grinder should do the job. But start the cut gently as these do indeed shatter.

[tippben]

Aye. Cast iron does shatter. I can think of two other solutions. 1) Use a metal drill bit to drill a hole, then that would allow you to insert a jigsaw with a metal blade. 2) Start low. If it does shatter, but there is enough leeway to allow you to fit the container underneath, you'd be OK. The container will still fill up, though you's lose the volume of the metal in the excess pipe. You'd have to cut the lid to accommodate the pipe, but it's only really there to stop the light getting in, and more importantly to stop mosquitoes from getting in, so anything that does those two jobs would be fine. Aesthetics are up to you.

PS. Third solution. Replace the metal pipe with plastic...

[medieval knievel]

yeah, but it seems a shame to replace the original pipes.

[tagwex]

I have cut them before and cleanly. Make sure the disc has not got a damaged edge and I would imagine those really thin blades (less than 1mm thick) would do a better job as there would be less vibration. Just don't force it, be gentle and wear goggles.