Rain water storage

[jem041279]

Been thinking of catching and storing rain water for my gardens. I live in country but we are on city water and chlorinated water isn't great for plants. Just was looking for ideas and examples of anyone way of catching and transporting water, thanks

 

[Fossil Farm]

We've been doing this for many years. I hate using my drinking water (we are on a well) for flowers. I catch rainwater in large drums and pump it to a 200 gallon tank sitting 10 feet in the air. From there, it is all gravity fed. A 2 inch line out of the tank to a 3/4 inch line to a 5/8 inch line. A couple shutoffs inbetween for any maintenance I need to do. I have about 250 feet of hose to water all the flower beds. Plenty of pressure. If I had to do it over again, I would like to get the tank higher - about 15 feet and have about a 300 gallon tank for added line pressure. Of course my tower would have to be sturdier to handle the excess weight, that is why I have not rebuilt it yet. About a tenth inch rain off my barn roof yields about 60 gallon of water, so about 3 good rains in the spring fills the tank. Only a couple dry summers have I had to pull water from the pond to supplement the rainfall. Good luck, it is a lot of fun to do. Also, I put "Aquashade" or similiar pond dyes in the stored water when pumping to the storage tank to reduce algae growth. There are many similiar products out there. A gallon will last you many years. Everything is drained in the winter to avoid problems.

 

[BeezFun]

I put horse water troughs under our barn downspouts. They have garden hoses and spigots on the drains to let the water gravity run into the plants. I only have a few hundred gallons at each downspout, so a lot overflows and runs away, but it's better than nothing. The horses sometimes drink out of it but not very often. I guess they prefer the taste of our well water to what comes off the roof. You don't have a freezing issue, but here it's important, so in the winter I just disconnect the hose and leave the spigot open on the troughs so they don't collect much water that can freeze.

 

[Sonny580]

Catch in a smaller tank then pump it out with a sump pump set so it turns on/off automaticly!---get a larger tank to pump into (1,600 gal. or so) and set it near the smaller tank if possible ---then you can taylor your outbound system from there! thanks; sonny

 

[newbury]

I'm just trying to get into it also.

Thanks to Taylortractornut I got 4 IBC totes, about 300 gallons each. I've got a total of about 7,000 sq ft of roof area in shops and house so IF I tried I could collect about 4,000 gallons for every inch of rain that falls, but I'm going to concentrate on 1 shop to fill one or two totes.

Because my area gets an average rainfall of 56 inches annually, and 3 to 6 inches per month, I figure just a small part of roof needs to be collected to fill an IBC. I want to put them up high enough to use the water for hand washing and emergency use.

here's an old thread with some good links.
/edit http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/109184-rain-water-collection-system.html
search is your friend

 

[grnspot110]

I only store about 150 gal, run-off from my tool shed. It's piped about 20' to the greenhouse.

The blue barrels build up less algae than white ones! ~~ grnspot

 

[forgeblast]

What about freezing in the winter? do you pump it dry before then?

 

[grnspot110]

What about freezing in the winter? do you pump it dry before then?

I drain mine! ~~ grnspot

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

I only store about 150 gal, run-off from my tool shed. It's piped about 20' to the greenhouse.

The blue barrels build up less algae than white ones! ~~ grnspot

Good idea, thanks for the pictures. I see the 2 gutters empty to the pipe, that emptys into the three barrels. Does the end closest to the camera just 90 to the ground for anything to overfill out (if that makes sense )? I can't quite make out the smaller pipes on the bottom, I see how they collect from all 3 tanks. how do they empty? Thanks. Mark

 

[galaxie428]

Around here, I see those square plastic totes that sit inside a cage that holes 300gal for fairly cheap. I have seen them for around $50 or so. They already have a ball valve on them and everything. Here is a link to what I am talking about on Ebay though it is a little pricey.

275 300 330 gallon watering totes tanks rain barrel pressure washer | eBay

 

[grnspot110]

Good idea, thanks for the pictures. I see the 2 gutters empty to the pipe, that emptys into the three barrels. Does the end closest to the camera just 90 to the ground for anything to overfill out (if that makes sense )? I can't quite make out the smaller pipes on the bottom, I see how they collect from all 3 tanks. how do they empty? Thanks. Mark

2" pipe is overflow, 3/4" pipe at bottom goes underground to the greenhouse about 10' away, there it is hooked to a small pump. Up to the green garden hose behind the sprayer (2nd pic.).