Reddit mentions: The best rain barrels & accessories

This fence line is just shy of 90 feet and my setup works pretty well at that length. I used pretty small diameter pvc so it’s not much weight; I can’t imagine reinforcement would be needed for the watering— maybe for the vines depending. It’s not a raging torrent of water it basically is just a steady drip but it saturates pretty well when run in cycles and not run during the heat of the day.

My initial version of this setup was a single battery and small solar panel and it ran fine for a year or more (granted I’m in SoCal so we get a lot of sun)— I’ve since expanded a bit to a 4 battery setup and larger panel but just because I added two more pumps for covering other areas.

Here’s a picture of the control box of a basic single battery system with timer and a simple solar controller
https://i.imgur.com/JOfGqdp.jpg


Here’s some of the basic gear:

Water Storage
===========================

Current Water tank
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003H9WJMI/

(Although I’ve also used smaller/cheaper tanks like this for my vegetable garden, just might mean more refills depending on how often it’s run: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BFC5NIA/ )

If you’re looking to go super cheap, I honestly started my first setup with a couple modified 5 gallon plastic water bottles I stole from my office like these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B27RAA/


Power
===========================

Current solar panel for a 4 battery setup:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFMBF3G

Previous panel for single battery system:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PFGP0EA


Solar regulator (keeps you from blowing up the battery! The smaller panel comes free with one that works fine, I just liked this one better because it had more lights!): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L37KZI6/

Batteries, one is plenty for a single pump system:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003S1RQ2S/

(obviously if you wanted to build a system on the cheap you could bypass the solar entirely and drop $20 on a second battery that you leave charging and just swap them back and forth every week or three, depending on how often/long you run the system)


Pump
===========================

Current Pump:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072BXBQGC/

Although I’ve also used cheaper ones like these for drip systems and they were fine:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07699RMVB

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WYMC492

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DLKT4OO


Misc
===========================

Timer (has like 16 stop/start memories which should be plenty for any configuration):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090MTLFO


If there is some interest next weekend I could draw up a complete wiring/assembly diagram and detailed parts list and make a separate post (and include all the sundries: wire, hose, clamps, filters, waterproof project box, couplings, drip heads, etc).

There's a lot of information to learn. I don't have all of my favorite links at work with me, but having gone on that learning journey I can tell you that it's easiest to break down prepping into categories in order of importance. Then learn and address those categories in order.

For example, first would be food or water depending on your location and overall situation. Food/Water because that's one of those thing that, in an emergency situation, you either have or you don't. People hit hard by Harvey or Katrina weren't hopping into the water with a rifle and searching for squirrels. They had what they had, and in most cases where you'd need your preps that will be the case.

Food:

• Learn about keeping a well/over-stocked pantry full of things that you normally eat. Learn about rotating foods out oldest to newest.
  
  
• Think through alternate cooking methods that you'll need to have available. Maybe extra propane tanks for the grill, or a separate burner that can work with those tanks.
  
  
• Learn about specialty foods that are great for bug out bags or on the go like Mainstay/Datrex bars, Mountain House foods, and MRE's.
  
  
• Learn about long term storage foods like white rice or beans in mylar bags inside of 5 gallon buckets. Or if you have the free floating cash, the pre-packed "food for X people for a year" packages (though be on the lookout for how many calories per day they're advertising, because for some it's 1200 and that's too low).
  
  
• If you're looking to get really deep into it, and really this would become a hobby at that point, you can then look into homesteading.
  
  Water:
  
  
• Look first for options on how you can maintain some clean water in the house for general use. My SO and I rotate flats of bottled water for example so that we always have a couple of weeks worth on hand, and if you know bad news is coming you can look at things like a Water BOB (ignore the price, they're normally $20-$30). You can also know to fill up otherwise empty containers at home ahead of an emergency.
  
  
• Getting a little more into it, look at ways to treat water. A Sawyer Water Filter is a great cheap way to get started that is also portable enough for a BOB, but depending on your concern level you can eventually look at things like a Big Berkey. Do your own research and find what's right for you.
  
  
• If you want to go beyond that, look at things like 55 gallon water drums, or to keep things smaller and more portable, 5 gallon water containers. This is more long term bulk storage stuff for the really bad situations.
  
  After that, things like security, weather preparedness, communications, power, transportation, bug out bags, get home bags, everyday carry kits, etc can all come as you learn and can squeeze them in. Focus on the things that will most realistically be needed in events that are most likely to occur to you as an individual. If that's flooding, maybe life jackets are high on your list. If that's riots, maybe guns and excess fire extinguishers are. If it's job loss, maybe you really want to focus on getting bills paid down and having a hearty backstock of food that you can rely on during the job hunt. If it's a cold weather are, maybe secondary heating sources should be high on the priority list. Once you've covered yourself on the most likely scenarios that you'll have to deal with, usually you'll find that it's not too many more steps to cover the next most likely, and so on. If you want some reading links let me know and I'll try to remember to drop some of my favorites when I get home.

We've had these rain barrels (60-gal) for probably 8-10 years now, but they're on the E-NE sides of our house, and get limited sun. If yours are going to get full afternoon sun and money is no object, I would go with terracotta urns like these, or a sandstone type like these that are specifically UV-resistant. Or you could paint the plastic ones with some UV paint, maybe.

If you do go with the plastic, upgrade your spigots if they come with the cheap plastic ones like the first link has. When we purchased those, they actually came with quality brass spigots, so I'm not sure why they changed that. Also, DO NOT connect a hose to them. Build a pedestal for them to sit on, and fill watering cans/buckets from there. Yanking around a hose when connected to these, you will weaken where the spigot joins to the barrel, and it will leak and/or break. My husband had to fabricate a plate to go on the inside of the barrel and bolt it from the inside to reinforce that area on one of our barrels when that portion of the plastic got weak. It's great now, but FYI.

Lastly, get a quality diverter that will work best with your downspouts. None of them are perfect, so be sure to check out the reviews.

Hi, I'm currently using Blumat stakes, which take about 45min to set up and are then good. I opted to use their customized 5-gal bucket for convenience.

You could also create your own setup with any 5-gal bucket:

• Punch a hole in the bucket about 2 inches up from the bottom
  
• Find a small water spigot/nozzle that fits the size of hole you've drilled (or drill the hole to fit the nozzle)
  
• Use rubber washers on the inside of the bucket/nozzle connection to ensure a tight seal. Caulk or super glue could help too
  
• Connect the nozzle with the rubber tubing that runs to the blumats.

I'm cutting the rectangular copper downspout to install one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Harvesting-Pty-Ltd-Advanced/dp/B004VM9CMK
or
https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Harvesting-Pty-Ltd-RHUL99/dp/B004VMG13S/
or a simple mod on a generic flex gate like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6v-8r2jBsE

Debris gets in and easily clogs the downspout. The downspout is also too close to the ground and isn't diverting the water properly.


I learned that gutter guards require maintenance and don't work very well so my plan is to install the above and be able to remove the debris before it builds up. My hope is that I'll need to clean the gutters less frequently.

I personally haven't used this but based on the review and Amazon's reputation of having awesome customer service, it's a small risk

edit: there are several more products that have more customer reviews although they're a bit more expensive

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Ideas-RW50-KHA-Wizard-50-Gallon/dp/B002GJ7FMY/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1370016343&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Ideas-RW50ST-GRN-Wizard-Stand/dp/B00343KOMY/ref=sr_1_9?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1370016343&sr=1-9

http://www.amazon.com/Suncast-RB50D-50-Gallon-Rain-Barrel/dp/B001P5HMAK/ref=sr_1_23?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1370016343&sr=1-23

https://www.mwrd.org/irj/portal/anonymous/rainbarrel


Or you can buy one on Amazon, $66 delivered for free with Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Ideas-RB55-BLUE-Recycled-55-Gallon/dp/B003BE2BV8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469147752&sr=8-2&keywords=rain+barrel

What about a storage barrel or two. You can link them via a system hoses and place them where ever you want..
https://www.amazon.com/55-Gallon-Water-Barrel-Combo/dp/B0007YR6XI/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_201_tr_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RNXC2QMDTX54HKWDJCEZ

you could do something like this

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sacrainwaterpresentation-121024151409-phpapp01/95/steve-clyburn-rainwater-presentation-37-638.jpg?cb=1351091907

Amazon Prime

Enviro World 55 Gallon Rain Barrel with Brass Spigot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FWN9QK0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_iNcFwb0R2PEZE

Of course when I bought them last summer they were $65

Whenever I had looked into doing so with a house I was living in, a lot of people recommended using something like this to filter out all the bad stuff. The idea being the first few gallons of runoff collected would be full of carcinogens and other toxins (bird shit, like the other poster alluded to), and would fill up the diverter tube. Once the tube is full, it would overflow into your rain barrel, which should be mostly clean water. The diverter tube would have an adjustable drain rate so you would be able to collect enough dirty water to be able to overflow based off your local weather patterns, and as it drains you should then have enough clean water to be used by the time it has filled up and overflows into your rain barrel.

http://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Reliance-52521-55-Gallon-Barrel/dp/B003Y2T8SG

I have 55 gallon water drums, but it might not be feasible for apartments. Do you have a garage you can store it in?

https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Essentials-Water-Barrel-Gallon/dp/B006KAAUSQ

Got the starter kit

and resevoir

This will make life so much easier

I have had a rain barrel for several years now with no problems, though the one the city is offering doesn't look as good quality - I spent a bit more on a Koolatron that looks like a huge brown pot with feet - it has a spigot for a hose connection, a bottom plug for emptying, and an overflow chute at the top.

edit - this is it