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Rain Barrels

R

Rose Pink

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The internet is flooded with various offerings of size, color, shape, etc, but can I find one in a brick and mortar store to look at? So frustrated!

Home Depot carries one in stock but it has very mixed reviews on-line. Lowe's has one in stock but it looks more like a trash can. I thought the plant nurseries would carry some but either they don't or they are sold out and didn't have much of a variety anyway.

Most say you must drain them and take them in during the winter. One, the Koolatron Kyoto, is made in Canada and states it can weather -40 F. Since I want to be able to harvest snow melt as well as rain water, this sounded good to me. However, it resembles a spittoon and I only have the internet photos to go by. Most of the reviews are good, though.

I did find a USA company, Good Ideas, Inc, that makes one called "Palm Rain Saver" that I thought was attractive for about $100. Do any of you have experience with this company?

Costco on-line sells some that are made in Germany that I like (the Moderne) but they are hundreds of dollars. Hate to spend that much without being able to see it "in person."

I don't want the ones that look like trash cans or kegs. These will be in a very visible part of my property and I want something that looks good.

Any experience with any of these products? Thanks! :wave:
 
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168 views so far and no advice yet. Bumping this back up. What do you tuggers use as rain collection barrels and how have they performed for you?
 
Hi RP,
I had a similar problem, but opted to place my rain barrel in a not-too-conspicuous back corner of my house. I ended up finding one on Home Depot's online store as I did not want to end up paying more than I had first planned. Mine works fine, but again, not esthetically pleasing. It's the brown barrel type.

I subscribe to "Fine Gardening" and found this. http://www.finegardening.com/finally-plethora-attractive-rain-barrels

Saw nice ones at the Chelsea Flower Show, but UK made and pricey with shipping.

I love mine, especially in low rain conditions.

Oh, did you search on "Houzz" ?
 
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What's wrong with a keg or a spittoon? :D
 
I live in a town that uses treated sewage to water our lawns and gardens so I havent seen a need to capture rainwater. But I do remember the cistern on my my grandparents Iowa farm. It was a buried tank. They used a hand pump to bring the water into the house, but there's no reason a small electric pump wouldnt work.
 
Wanting what is basically a trash receptacle to look good is going to limit your choices obviously.

Collecting in the winter in an area that freezes is not going to work. Even if the container will withstand those low temps, the water in them is still going to freeze and then were is your run off going to go?

When the sun melts the snow on the roof it also keeps the downspouts warm enough to keep the water flowing through them. frozen water in a receptacle will take days to thaw when the temp goes above freezing.

I collect rain water for my garden but not from my downspouts. I set up a couple canopies in the yard then place a few large black garbage cans with a couple bricks in them in locations where the water runs off the roofs. I keep the lids on until rain comes to keep mosquitos out. I never use city water to water my garden.

Of course I don't care what it looks like and my neighbors are a couple thousand feet apart so they see nothing in my yard anyhow.
 
I think your motive is good, but in practice, there are problems.

1) They're ugly.

2) The water in them gets truly skunky and it is not a pleasant job to drain off hundreds of lbs of skunky water. Leaves that naturally come down the downspout ferment in the barrel and clog the spigot.

2a) They're ugly

3) The water in them freezes.

3a) They're ugly

4) What happens to the roof run-off when the barrel is full?

5) They're ugly.

6) To use the water held in one, it has to be mounted high enough that you can get a watering can under the spigot. It isn't that you can put a hose/sprinkler on the output of the barrel. There isn't enough pressure to accomplish anything.

Other than the above, I think saving rain water here in our arid West is a laudable endeavor. I've looked at rain barrels, and so far, the problems of making practical use of the water held within, and the aesthetics of the thing in general have shied me away.

Part of our roof drains into a 'French drain' via downspouts. I've considered rigging some kind of pump to pull water from the underground reservoir (the French drain) to be able to install a hose/sprinkler on for irrigation. It hasn't advanced past the 'consideration' phase. Irrigation water is a little expensive here, but not THAT expensive.

Hope you find the right solution for your needs.

Jim
 
Passepartout said:
I think your motive is good, but in practice, there are problems.

...4) What happens to the roof run-off when the barrel is full?

5) ...
Click to expand...

The one's I've seen have an outlet near the top that runs the water to it's original destination once the barrel is full. A screen device at the top of the downspout will keep the leaves out but when it gets clogged no water gets to the downspout and the gutters fill and over flow.
 
csxjohn said:
The one's I've seen have an outlet near the top that runs the water to it's original destination once the barrel is full. A screen device at the top of the downspout will keep the leaves out but when it gets clogged no water gets to the downspout and the gutters fill and over flow.
Click to expand...

I have this overflow diverter thing on my rain barrel as well as a leaf screen, however, as you point out, things do clog the screen (pine needles).
 
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My sister in Texas got total bored with retirement. Got the farm store to deliver a round TANK to her house; she rolled it into her backyard, hooked her roof downspouts into a dry well with a sub-pump (complete with float) to pump rain water into her above ground tank. Dry well fills, pump starts, fills tank and she can water her plants, via drip lines.

Her system system of sprinklers to her garden and yard fancy scrubs makes her place green and the envy of the block.

AND she mows the grass twice as often and spend so many extra house weeding her garden & flower beds.

NOT in my plan if I ever retire!
 
vacationhopeful said:
...AND she mows the grass twice as often and spend so many extra house weeding her garden & flower beds.

NOT in my plan if I ever retire!
Click to expand...

Yep, exactly why I don't fertilize or water the yard. What wants to grow does and what can't handle the pressure stays away.
 
And then you have the legal issues:

"Colorado water law declares that the state of Colorado claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere that falls within its borders and that “said moisture is declared to be the property of the people of this state, dedicated to their use pursuant” to the Colorado constitution. According to the constitution, water must be appropriated according to priority of appropriation. As a result, in much of the state, it is illegal to divert rainwater falling on your property expressly for a certain use unless you have a very old water right or during occasional periods when there is a surplus of water in the river system. This is especially true in the urban, suburban, and rural areas along the Front Range. This system of water allocation plays an important role in protecting the owners of senior water rights that are entitled to appropriate the full amount of their decreed water right, particularly when there is not enough to satisfy them and parties whose water right is junior to them."

I seriously doubt that anyone will go to jail for putting a barrel under their downspout, but you never know what some zealous water rights person might complain about.
 
Thank you for your replies. Yes, I've checked Houzz. They have photos of handpainted ones. The peacock was pretty but I don't want to spend that much and I am not that artistic. I've seen most of what the internet has to offer. Now I want to see and touch one before I buy and there just is not the variety in the stores. :annoyed:

I don't plan to store water in the container when it is frozen. I would empty it before it freezes and leave the spigot open--unless the snow is melting into it and then I would collect the water and use it for watering indoor plants. Otherwise, just let it flow through.

I am leaning towards the Good Ideas, Inc. It is an American company and the products are made in the USA.
http://www.goodideasinc.com/products/rain-barrels/impressions-50-gallon-palm-rain-saver/

Then there is this one. It kinda reminds me of the T.A.R.D.I.S. :ponder: Hmmm... wonder if I painted it blue?
http://www.goodideasinc.com/products/rain-barrels/savannah-rain-saver/


Oh, and I am not worried about breaking any water laws. Runoff that travels down the driveways, roadways, lawns is polluted with oil and othe chemicals that are not good for the rivers. That runoff goes straight into the storm drains and into the rivers without any treatment. Far better to let it percolate down through the ground and get some clean-up before it hits the aquafer. Or so I've read. It still goes into the larger water pool but gets used for something useful first. It saves on using treated water on lawns, etc which has chlorine and possibly fluoride added to it.

As far as letting nature take over, I live in a desert and what takes over usually doesn't look very pretty in a residential neighborhood. The powers that be give citations for that. I am hoping to have less lawn and more water-saving xeriscaping but that is going to be a very long transition.
 
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I have had two rain barrels for over 5 years and love them! We do empty them in the fall, but leave them outside, turned upside down. The fill up and we use the spigot to fill watering cans. Not a hassle, probably less so than using the hose. I highly recommend them. As for the aesethics -- they are large barrels and not beautiful. We did paint them to match the siding color and that helped a great deal.
 
What kind of barrels? Please tell me the manufacturer. Thanks!
 
I thought these looked better than the traditional beer-barrel look. 'Course only you would decide how they work with your architecture. You could camouflage them a bit with the planters on top and some vinca or trailing petunias or geraniums or ivy.

[Then there is this one. It kinda reminds me of the T.A.R.D.I.S. Hmmm... wonder if I painted it blue?
http://www.goodideasinc.com/products...ah-rain-saver/ ]

I see it's $50 less at Home Depot.

Jim

ps. No earthquake here.
 
Passepartout said:
I thought these looked better than the traditional beer-barrel look. 'Course only you would decide how they work with your architecture. You could camouflage them a bit with the planters on top and some vinca or trailing petunias or geraniums or ivy.

[Then there is this one. It kinda reminds me of the T.A.R.D.I.S. Hmmm... wonder if I painted it blue?
http://www.goodideasinc.com/products...ah-rain-saver/ ]

I see it's $50 less at Home Depot.

Jim

ps. No earthquake here.
Click to expand...
Yeah, prices are all over the place.
 
Our county is offering a rain barrel for $30 if you pay $10 for a seminar to learn how to use them. No idea what they look like.
 
Patri said:
Our county is offering a rain barrel for $30 if you pay $10 for a seminar to learn how to use them. No idea what they look like.
Click to expand...

These seminar attendees can be real FUN people ... hope you go and post here about your adventure. My sister is regularly gives "tours" of her water collection system to neighbors and members at her health club ... as she has the greenest grass in her neighborhood (Texas grass is brown for about 7-8 months a year -- not her's).
 
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