Rain barrels

[uno]

I'm looking around to buy a rain barrel or barrels to catch rainwater
from my downspout to be used on my garden.

I wanted to ask around to as many people as I could before I bought
one to see if anyone has any recommendations for a good rain barrel or
tank to buy?

I'm open to other ideas to catch rain also.

Thanks

Jim

[dcarch]

Uno, can I attach one topic to your post?

Please also comment on mosquito control.

Thanks

dcarch

[PaulF]

I have plastic 55 gal drums that contained water treatment "bugs" from a former place of employment and I am not sure how the can be obtained in local areas.

For several years I have used the mosquito donuts that are environmentally safe to be used around birds, pets and children. You can get them at most garden stores and discount stores in the garden section. I put only a small chunk of the donut into the barrel and it works great.

[garnetmoth]

Roughneck trash can. Not as nicely sealed-lidded as some of the cut-to-fit lid types are.... but I have a jigsaw now, im thinking about cutting a hole and putting the lid on this year.

Had a few feeder goldfish, then a catfish in the barrel for a little while, still need to work on keeping the turnover high enough to keep fish healthy.

Barrels are $$ around here at the hardware stores and dont say foodsafe. I think there is a barrel recycler downtown, but i just went for trashcans.

Fairly easy to drill a hole in for hose at the bottom.

[Ruth_10]

This is an old thread, but I'd like to hear more, if anyone cares to respond. I'm thinking of trying to harvest some roof runoff for the garden, but would rather not spend big bucks on bone fide rain barrels.

Any ideas on practical sizes? I can see problems with too big or too small, but don't know what people's experiences are.

[robin303]

Here in Austin they want $75 each. I'm half tempted to check out resturant supply places. Need two bad. The real rain barrels are good they have a screen top and a spicket on the bottom but seems awful pricey to me and I'm not using a metal 55 gal drum.

[felpec]

We bought ours from
http://www.midwestinternetsales.com/rainbarrels.htm

They include shipping in the price, and the barrels come with screening on the top, the spigots, plugs, etc. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page they have some scratched ones at a discounted price (who cares if your rain barrel is scuffed or scratched? As long as it doesn't leak )

We were going to buy 55 gallon trash cans, cut the holes, buy the spigots, and make 'em ourselves, but by the time we added up all the supplies, time, etc. it was cheaper to get them ready made.

A 1/4 of a mosquito dunk and a tad bit of bleach in the water every month keeps them fresh smelling with no skeeters. We have two-60 gallon barrels and I wish now we had bought a third one.

[bryanccfshr]

My uncle is an Aggie farmer Down in Nueces county and gets the large plastic barrels for his fertilizer and chemical deliveries. (he farms10's of thousands of acres he owns outright) I will have to see what he has in the barn next time I go down. Putting a spigot on one cutting the top off and putting some screen in place really does not seem that complicated.
Getting my wife to accept a big set of barrels elevated to 8' above ground level so I can use them on my drip system... that will be complicated

[nctomatoman]

We just purchased three 60 gallon rainbarrels with mosquito screen and spigot for 65.00 each delivered - without them, I don't think I can grow anything at my home this year. It is so, so, so dry!

[robin303]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

We just purchased three 60 gallon rainbarrels with mosquito screen and spigot for 65.00 each delivered - without them, I don't think I can grow anything at my home this year. It is so, so, so dry!

Where Where Where

[nctomatoman]

Sorry, local to Raleigh only! Here's what to do - check out craigslist in your area - that's how I found my supplier! (boy, I wish I were that particular craig....wouldn't be as edgy about my impending premature retirement!)

[dice]

Sometimes you can find local lists in urban areas of
items available for recycling from local industrial
concerns. Here are a few from IMEX in Seattle,
for example:

http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/busi...cfm?cat=7&aw=A

If you scroll down through there, you will see a few different
listings for plastic barrels. There is another one in the "misc"
section that has plastic, fiber, and metal barrels for free
(hair products company).

The tricky part, other than finding them, is probably getting
a good seal around the hole for a faucet (it is not a flat surface,
and generic faucets or spigots are not manufactured with a
curved flange to match the barrel). Polyurethane caulk, maybe
(has to stick to slippery plastics well). Plumber's putty, maybe.
I have not tried any of these on typical plastic barrel materials,
so I do not know what works for that.

I still have the two halves of a 55-gal plastic apple juice barrel
from decades ago. Still holding up fine, so they are quite durable.

[stratcat1]

We made a rain barrel out of a 58 gallon plastic Diet Coke container.

After cutting the top off, we drilled a hole a few inches above the bottom and installed a NIBCO 1/4 turn ball valve with a lever handle. The ball valve is a Model 585 (1/2) with threaded male and female ends.

The male end is in the barrel held with a nut securing a brass washer. The water stays in.

The female end has a male-male 3/4"ID fitting screwed in that we attach the garden hose to.

Using a lever to turn the water on and off is much easier on arthritic hands than struggling with a faucet. The total cost of this project in 2003 was ~$25.

[NetAddict50]

what should I look for when purchasing a rain barrel?

[ContainerTed]

I asked about one at a local mulch and dirt seller. He wanted $100.00 for one that held about 50 gallons. Then I went to Lowes and priced a large heavy duty 55 gallon plastic trash barrel. After adding a brass spigot, I put a piece of screen over a small cutout area that allows water from the gutter in and keeps mosquitoes out. Final cost - 36 bucks.

I rigged up some screen pieces that allows double filtering of debris from the gutters before the water gets to the barrel. The spigot feeds a small 12 volt DC bilge pump that moves the water up to "back-saving" height through some pieces of PVC.

Ted