Rain Barrels – A Time tested Alternative to Save on Water Bills
There is nothing new about the idea of a rain barrel to store water for future use. People have been catching and storing rain water for centuries and in many countries rain still provides the majority of the water for irrigation, washing, and even drinking. In fact, rain barrels were a common sight in rural parts of America up to around the mid 20th century when they became virtually extinct. However, even though rain barrels have fallen out of fashion, the logic of having a rain barrel to supplement your water supply is hard to dispute.
Consider some of the practical advantages of a rain barrel.
o Rain barrels can capture the water that runs off your roof, flooding your yard and potentially ending up in your basement.
o Rain barrels provide a ready source of soft water containing no chemicals such as fluoride or chlorine. Growing plants love naturally soft, chemical free water.
o Water from a rain barrel is ‘free’, meaning you do not need to pay the local utility for it. But the financial benefits do not end there. By keeping water out of the drainage system, there is less community demand for drain capacity, so sewers will not need to be expanded as quickly, helping hold down your tax bill.
o Even if you get ‘free’ water from your own well, rain water has fewer minerals dissolved in it, making it better than well water for irrigation and even washing.
o Installing a rain barrel is a relatively easy and inexpensive project whether you do it yourself or have a professional do it for you.
Can you really collect enough water to make a difference?
o Definitely. Most people have no idea how much water comes off their roofs during a rainfall. A 1/2″ rainfall onto a ‘catchment’ area of 2000 square feet. (an average sized roof) delivers approximately 2400 gallons of water. So, even if you only receive 20 inches of rain in a year, you could potentially capture and reuse 96,000 gallons of water, and most locations receive substantially more than 20″ of rain in a year.
o While practically, you may not be able to capture and store 2400 gallons of water every time it rains, you could certainly easily capture 100 to 200 gallons by using multiple rain barrels. Either place multiple barrels at different downspouts or a series of barrels at a single locations connected with overflow tubes, so when one barrel is full the water flows into the next one.
o Once you have captured the water it is up to you how you want to use it. Some ambitious people use it to flush their toilets, wash their clothes or even drink it. However, doing those things requires a more complicated system to filter and pump the water so the most common use people make of stored rain is to water their lawns and gardens.
How can you water a lawn or garden using a rain barrel?
o There is the old tried and true method of filling a watering can and carrying the water to your garden, or you could install a drip irrigation system.
o A little science here – It takes 2.3 feet of elevation to produce one pound per square inch (PSI) of water pressure. So the height of your rain barrel will affect the amount of pressure in your watering system.
o Now, commonly drip irrigation systems are designed to work with water coming into them under pressure and they normally require between 10 to 30 PSI to operate. Primarily this is because the systems use ‘pressure compensating’ sprinkler heads or emitters that need a minimum of 10 PSI to work. (Pressure compensating emitters have a pressure valve inside to prevent ’siphoning’ or water being drawn back into the system when you turn it off).
However, it is possible to run a drip irrigation system with less than 10 PSI if you design it properly.
o Start by elevating the barrel or tank as much as possible so gravity will help the flow.
o Keep the length of the water lines as short as possible.
o Use non-pressure compensating emitters.
o As well, since friction inside the tubes will steal water pressure, you should use oversize tubing on long runs to help minimize pressure losses.
Even in today’s modern world, an old fashioned rain barrel still make a lot of sense. Rain water will help your gardens grow green and healthy, you will be reducing your environmental footprint and you might even save a few dollars. How can you not like that old fashioned idea?
Villette Nolon is the President and CEO of HomeSavvi.
HomeSavvi provides free home remodeling guides, including Seattle home remodeling resources and instant inspiration. Online guide features home remodel design ideas, photos, expert advice, including bathroom and kitchen designs, budgets and costs and other helpful information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Villette_Nolon
Solar Pumps and Rain Barrels go Hand in Hand
For the irrigation you will need: -
- WaterWand Heliomatic 130 solar pump with hanging basket watering kit.
- Rain barrel with clean water
- Kitchen scissors & sharp knife
- Ladder or safe working platform
- 1/4″ round cable clips
- Up to 6 nice hanging baskets
- Extra tube if the baskets are far apart. (50 feet supplied)
Position the pump
The pump needs to be positioned where it receives at least as much sunshine as the hanging baskets being watered. Ideally it should be a little higher than the top of the rain barrel, but up to six feet higher than the lowest water level is acceptable. The pump can be some distance from the rain barrel if the latter is in shade.
Install the irrigation
Starting at the basket furthest from the pump, screw a low output dripper firmly into the end of the tube. Put a stake on to the tube about one inch from the dripper and stake into the basket so it will drip near the center.
Take the tube back towards the next basket along the desired route, clipping into position as you go. When you get to the position where you need to spur off for the basket, cut the tube and screw a tee firmly into the cut end. Measure out the tube for the spur, screw a dripper into one end, screw to the tee, then add the stake and position in the basket. Repeat the procedure until all baskets have a dripper. If you have a mixture of small and large baskets, put two drippers in the large ones.
The delivery tube can be fed from one end or any position along its length, depending on where your rain barrel is. It can also be branched if need be and this will not affect the number of components needed.
Connect the pump
When measuring the length of tube from the pump to the first tee, add about 12″ extra. Screw the tube to the tee, then, ensuring the end is cut clean and square, push the other end onto the pump outlet marked “O”. The extra tube is necessary so that the tube is not strained against the pump outlet which will cause leakage.
Connect the water source
Drill a 1/4″ hole near the top of the water barrel. If you never remove the lid it is okay to drill the hole in this instead. Push some tubing through and connect the inlet filter. Adjust the tube so the inlet filter hangs between two and four inches from the bottom. Measure the tube back to the pump. Unless the tube is vertical, leave 12 inches extra so that it does not pull against the pump connection as this will cause an air leak which will stop the pump from pumping. Push onto the connector marked “I”.
Turn the pump on
When you first turn the pump on it will pay to disconnect the outlet tube until the pump is pumping water and no air. Then reconnect and give the irrigation system time to fill. Check that all the drippers are dripping and are properly positioned.
How does the pump work?
The solar panel captures energy from the sun which is stored in a battery. Once every 3 hours the pump will start and run until that energy has been used. The proportion of the suns energy which is captured can be adjusted using the control knob.
Setting the pump up
Turning the pump on starts its internal clock. An irrigation cycle will be started every 3 hours so it is easy to monitor the irrigation if you know what time the pump was first turned on. Turning the pump off and on again will reset the clock. If you need to know how much water is applied, put in an extra dripper and capture its output with a container.
To adjust the pump to your hanging baskets, initially run the pump on maximum. If it applies too much water, turn it down one notch. Turn the pump down or up until you are happy. The pump will not deliver the same amount of water with each irrigation cycle, it will apply more when it has been sunny and the plants need extra.
Basket growth
As the plants in your baskets grow, they will need more water and it is likely the pump will need to be adjusted accordingly.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_H_Evans
Make a PVC Dsitribution to your Garden
A PVC water distribution system can be an easy alternative to the garden hose method in getting water to your new garden. Channeling the water through PVC is a much more permanent solution and provides a fixed and stationary way for getting water where you need it the most. Since PVC can sit above or below ground, you can decide the best approach based on your preferences.
Step 1 – Plan your Route – Planning your PVC water route is not as overwhelming as it may seem. All that needs to be done in this is to establish the best, most efficient route from point A, your rain barrel to Point B your vegetable garden. As your old Math Teacher used to say “The shortest path between two points is a straight line.” Try to define the straightest line between points A and B if possible. This will minimize the amount of elbows and tees needed to put your PVC water system together.
Step 2 – Once you have defined the best path, map out and measure the route you want your PVC delivery system to take. Purchase the materials at your local garden or home improvement store. Be mindful to purchase a few extra tees and elbows as sometimes your tubing may need to be re-routed a different way due to some of the obstacles in your yard.
Step 3 – Begin to erect your delivery system by placing the PVC tubing, tees and elbows together. Once it is all in place use, hook up a garden hose to the beginning to test it out. Since the pressure from your rain barrel will not be high, it is recommended to keep the hose pressure fairly low. If you have reached the desired result, go back through and glue each piece together with PVC cement. Connect the beginning to your rain barrel spigot and test the system from beginning to end.
In summary, a PVC water delivery system can be a fairly simple task to design and put together. Once in place, your rain barrel will become the main water source and feed your garden with the liquid refreshment it will need on hot dry evenings.
A gallon storage container can be used to store just about anything. From a containment drum for capturing rain from your rooftop, to storing food. Multi-gallon containers are versatile for any job.
Use your rain barrel to feed your point of use water heater in the greenhouse
Filed under: Rain Water For Shower, Water Distribution
By An under the sink water heater may be just what you need to get hot water to your favorite place… your greenhouse. You spend a great deal of time out there caring for your plants and vegetables. More often than not, you need hot water to wash your hands or hydrate your plants and in colder weather and ice water may be too much for them
A point of use heating system can be a good way to get hot water to areas that you typically do not want to run pipes from the home. A simple garden hose from your rain barrel into this system will suffice. Although these units are typically geared for kitchen or bathroom use, a greenhouse faucet can also be hooked up in the same way
You will need standard power to the unit, but you may already have electrical run to your vegetable garden greenhouse for lighting or purposes. These units typically run on standard electrical power and can draw a few amps, but otherwise are very efficient in delivering hot water to where you need it very quickly.
Installation is simple and can be done in less than 60 minutes. The basic steps to adding one to your kitchen or bathroom sink are:
- Run a cold line from your rain barrel
- Connect the hot water to faucet
- Plug the unit into a standard outlet.
- Adjust the temperature to desired setting
In summary an under sink water heater can be a good choice in providing a point of use hot water to replace or supplement your current system.
The Bosch GL 2.5 received some very good reviews… Click here to read them.
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