In my part of the world, yes, it is. We live between two lakes that combined hold around seven trillion (with a T-R) gallons of fresh water. I know in other places it's illegal, which just blows my mind - but that's not for today's discussion.
MrsZ's family had a few Intermediate Bulk Containers floating around the farm, and we laid claim to one. I gave it a good rinse and set it aside for a while. The other night I finally figured out just what I'd need to hook it all up, got the parts, and did so.
You can't see it in this picture, but it's actually feeding from both sides of the garage. I took the bottom elbows off and slipped on a piece of 4" PVC, reduced into a 2", then horizontal along the side of the building. A T connects them near the tank, a piece of 3/4" provides an upright overflow, and a threaded bushing in a second T let me connect a garden hose adapter. The heavy-duty slip fitting is actually critical - it gives me a way to remove the tank and its fittings if I need to.
Our garage roof is 35'x26' when you count in overhangs and such, so if my math is right it should take less than a half-inch of rain to more than fill the tank. Depending on how things go, a second tank could be added pretty easily...
Update this morning: We got about a tenth of an inch of rain overnight, and this is the result, snapped as I left for work at 6am:
(Yeah, I need to finish cleaning up the small parts/waste.)
9 comments:
I like it. My only thought (and it could just be something I can't tell from the pics) is - do you have a screen or something to keep debris and insects out of your line and tank?
Brandon: Not at this point, but the tank has a lid - so the only entry points are around the downspouts and the overflow tube. If it becomes an issue it's easy enough to cut some screen to fit around/over them.
We're not using it as potable water, only for the garden, so contamination isn't a big deal.
My rig is off the back of the house, & is 5 50 gal drums with constant active siphons to keep the h2o level in all bbls.
I recently bought a cheap shallow well pump from HF, so now I can run a hose to the far reaches of the potato & berry patches. Used a PVC union so I can QD the hose to bring the pump under cover when it rains. Which now that I'm ready for it, it never does.
Are you going to have enough pressure in the downspout to overcome the back pressure in the barrel as it fills?
DT - hoping we won't need a pump to push to the far end of the garden. The flow won't be much, but it'll get there with gravity. If I have to add a pump, I'll probably use a very low-flow 12v pump on the deep-cycle in the garage (runs the deer hoist).
NFO - Should be zero backpressure, the tank is vented and the cap is only on just enough to keep it on the threads anyways.
That's awesome. Please let us know how well it works!
Wing: "trace" rainfall overnight last night. A light steady rain from about 9:00 on. It came to not much, probably less than a tenth of an inch, but has filled the tote a quarter of the way.
Pretty darned nifty!
How fast do you figure you'll go through that with watering the plants and animals?
I'm not sure yet. The animals will probably continue to get well water, because we know that's clean. The garden ... good question. It's about 10x30, but MrsZ has mulched the bejeebers out of it so water doesn't evaporate too fast. If we can keep it down to 5-10 gallons a day, the tote will last 3-5 weeks.
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