Making your own rainbarrel help...

[Momto2Boyz]

Anyone have any good sites on how to make your own rainbarrels?

I had a site bookmarked before my computer crashed, and lost it. I have "makeshift" rain barrels, but would like to set up some real ones this year.

I need two, and can't find them locally and really don't want to pay for shipping on them. I had a site with really easy instructions and that don't look too expensive or hard to make, so I'd like to try my own.

So if anyone has any easy directions or knows of a good site, I'd love to see them. I'd like to have them set up by the start of spring when we start to get good rains here, and my plants start coming in!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[homesteadmamma]

We picked our rainbarrels up from a cheese plant that closed. We have 2 large ones, along with a smaller one. Then dh picked up some screening from the garbage dump to cover them because of mosquitoes and west nile virus.

[Grainlady]

I studied the subject for a whole summer before we installed our system two years ago. We've got a variety of "containers" (1,000 gallons total and will add more in the spring), not just "barrels". We've gotten this assortment of containers from our local farm supply store, including recycled 50-gallon food barrels that already have a spigot on the bottom, but we've modified most of them with plumbing supplies from the hardware store.

Many are large transport containers that they use in pickups on farms. Our first one was a 210-gallon container (sorta round) we painted to look like a giant lady bug. We've got 2 tall 165-gallon containers that are linked together and fill from the same downspout (a long stretch of gutter feeds them). All our 50-gallon barrels we have 2 at each downspout - linked together.

Don't get a container bigger than what you can handle to easily move and clean out. We pressure-wash ours in the fall when we disconnect them from the downspouts for the winter.

The best tip I can give is to incorporate downspout diverters (there are several styles). If you use an open barrel system (one with a screen on the top), you'll lose much of your water through evaporation. Closed barrel systems work best to keep kids, animals, mosquitoes, and junk out.

The downspout diverter we use is from Gardener's Supply Company - item #33-991 - www.gardeners.com. There are instructions for making rain barrels on the same page as the downspout diverter.

If you don't use a dirverter, you'll need an overflow hose to automatically drain water from the barrel when it's full and it's raining.

White containers MUST be painted some color. White tends to provide the perfect conditions for algae growth (lesson learned the first year). We put barley bails (they use them in horse tanks to keep algae growth at bay) in some of our containers to deter algae.

Make sure your containers are on a firm foundation. We put down fiberglass pads like they place air conditioners on. Then we put concrete blocks on top of that. The higher your barrels are off the ground, the faster the water will flow from them (gravity feed). Something to think about if you use drip hoses or soaker hoses connected to the containers (that's how we water our grass and landscape). You also want them up high enough to get buckets/watering cans under the spigots. We hand water a lot of things and have a watercan at each downspout. We also strapped our containers to the house for safety.

In the garden I fill a large shallow container with water from the barrels and use a drip irrigation system that is powered with a solar water pump sitting in the water container. (Also found at Gardener's Supply Company.)

We're always giving tours of our system. People stop by and ask us about them, friends tell people and they come over.... I've prepared a sheet of information that we keep handy and pass out to the curious visitors.

[Momof3girls]

This is one of our goals for the year, so I too appreciate any information!

[Surilda]

I realize this original post is a few months old, so I hope it is ok to reply.

I was looking at rain barrells just a couple of weeks ago on Ebay.
While there, I came across someone who has made many rain barrells, and he is selling his instructions for $2.35 and delivers it
via email, so there is no shipping.

Just type in rain barrell plans on Ebay and it will come up.

I haven't bought the plans yet, so I can't vouch for how good they are, but it sounds like he is very experienced in making barrells.

[Goodwin17]

Instructables.com is a good website with instructions on just about anything you can think of. I used it to get instructions on how to build a compost tumbler. Good luck. I need to make one too. I even have a barrel ready to make one.

[KeithBC]

I realize this may not sound very frugal in the short term, but we are thinking long-term...

We installed three big water cisterns. One came with the house and holds 1000 gallons. We added a 1500 gallon and a 2000 gallon tank. I am just in the process of hooking up the 2000 gallon tank right now.

We use the water for gardening. With only the first two tanks operational, we have enough water to last us until Sept 15th. After that, if we don't get any rain, we'll have to harvest early. That is why we are installing the third tank.

For a climate with moist winters and arid summers, big storage is the only way to go.

[pollypurebred39]

Keith,

My husband and I are planning on doing the same thing. For us it's worth the upfront cost for the long term.