Building a Rain Barrel
I'm back to my regular schedule of posting every two months. Spring is here and it's beautiful: tulips are up, dandelions are everywhere, the pigeons are laying eggs all over the roof. Ah - life is good! In an effort to reduce water usage this summer, I've created 4 water barrels from old 55 galloon plastic barrels. I found these barrels at Western Container, over in Minneapolis, and at the Barrel Man, right near where we live. For the local folks reading this, I would recommend the Barrel Man. Each barrel cost $12 as opposed to the one
s from Western Container, which were $16. Plus, with the Barrel Man, the barrels still have the labels on them, so you can get food grade barrels. This was important 
to me, because I wanted to use two of these barrels to water the garden and other edible plants. I don't want residue of some unknown chemical going on my plants. Now, the lawn, that's fine! After a good rainstorm, I collect about 200 gallons of water. My goal for this summer is to not use the outside house at all. Each barrel is built with a junk/misquito stopper barrier, made up of mesh and old screen, as you can see in the picture. I didn't attach spigots to each barrel. Instead, there's a 1/2 pvc elbow that comes out of one of the bungholes in the bottom of the barrel that's attached to a 5 foot piece of hose, which acts as a value.
s from Western Container, which were $16. Plus, with the Barrel Man, the barrels still have the labels on them, so you can get food grade barrels. This was important 
to me, because I wanted to use two of these barrels to water the garden and other edible plants. I don't want residue of some unknown chemical going on my plants. Now, the lawn, that's fine! After a good rainstorm, I collect about 200 gallons of water. My goal for this summer is to not use the outside house at all. Each barrel is built with a junk/misquito stopper barrier, made up of mesh and old screen, as you can see in the picture. I didn't attach spigots to each barrel. Instead, there's a 1/2 pvc elbow that comes out of one of the bungholes in the bottom of the barrel that's attached to a 5 foot piece of hose, which acts as a value. I'm currently working on a grey water system for the washer, but need to do some more reading on that before I jump into anything.
posted by Justin Schroeder at 6:14 AM
2 Comments:
Hey! It's cool to see your rain barrels, after hearing you talk about them. So, there is no shut-off valve? The water won't flow out as long as the hose is attached higher than the top of the barrel, is that how it works?
Looking good, dude. Karen's been talking about another rain garden in front, and our rain barrel from the city should be available soon. You'll have to let us know if you can make it all summer without the hose, I've heard it's hard even with rain barrels!
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