Elevated Dual Barrel Rainwater Collection System

 

Step 1 Acquire the barrels

I shopped Craigslist and got lucky - found a guy that lived close to me who liberated them from his workplace - $15 each. One had peaches the other apricots - my yard has a new aroma. 

Comments

[michl]

Do you realize that when both barrels are full you have almost 1/2 ton (918.5 lbs.) of water on about 12 square feet of deck space? You might want to make sure the deck will support that much weight in such a small area. An alternative is to spread the two barrels farther apart and make sure that they are against the house wall which will support more weight. Good instructable.

[J-Po]

Oh ya, it occurred to me all right, it is why I limited it to 2 barrels. Some months they pretty much stay full, and some dryer months, I can't get enough.
Fortunately this was a latent add on to an old house, so it is very formatible.
Thnx for the post, kind of forgot this was out there.

[J-Po]

Oh ya, it occurred to me all right, it is why I limited it to 2 barrels. Some months they pretty much stay full, and some dryer months, I can't get enough.
Fortunately this was a latent add on to an old house, so it is very formatible.
Thnx for the post, kind of forgot this was out there.

[damoelld]

I like the idea of using the height of the second deck for natural head pressure. It looks like you have a nice deck, any thought about building a 'planter style' cedar enclosure to hide the bright blue barrels?

[georion]

why hide--easier to show off and BRAG about this way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[J-Po]

Hey damoelid,
No, but I did consider a generic gas grill cover but haven't found one without the customized shape. I need a straight  24X48 which would fit perfect.  As you can see the deck has a little railing which hides most of the barrels from view from the backyard, so they are unnoticeable for the most part.
Great head though, I was even able to put on a 50' hose reel, it substantially reduces the pressure when wound, but reaches the gardens when unwound, and works fine then.

[CaseyCase]

 On the porch, really? It couldn't be done at my house--the wife would kill me.

[georion]

no biggie--many women are the Boss !!!

[Ninzerbean]

Love this.

[bertus52x11]

Maybe I have missed it, but do you store it on the first floor to have some pressure?

[J-Po]

If by "first" floor you mean second floor, yes. :-)
My second floor deck is about 20' above the back yard.
Noticable difference between pressure while standing on deck verses down on the ground.
Thanks for your interest.

[bertus52x11]

Eh, you're right second floor.