# no more rain barrel: bye bye



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

less than 1 year and $85 Fiskars failed. Returned to Lowe's and got money back. They're good at that.

There was a 3 inch crack in the bottom

I took the water out of the barrel when freeze started so don't know what caused it. No clue at all.

If I ever do a rain barrel again, I think it must be double hull

Dave V


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## DennisB (Jan 2, 2008)

That is unusual. I have been using rain barrels for 20 years now. They get stolen, but I never had one crack. Dennis


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

mine cost about $10..set it up last year:





I dump the water in the fall, and store it (dry) in the shed for the winter..
already set it back up this spring..still working fine!

On a previous incarnation of the barrell:










I tried installing a valve at the bottom, with a clear vinyl tube..thinking I would fill the watering can with the tube..

well it leaked, (hard to get a good seal) and I found it was MUCH easier, quicker, and more convenient to simply lift the top and dunk the watering can in the water! 
So I didnt bother with a spout/hose on the newest version..

Scot


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

But I'd think your carnivorous plants would like mosquito larvae in the water


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 23 Apr 2011 06:18 PM 
But I'd think your carnivorous plants would like mosquito larvae in the water  



Only some of them! 
a couple of species I have never grown..
underwater traps:

Utricularia (Bladder Wort) 


I grow mainly Venus Fly Traps, and Sarracenia..



Scot


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Scot, great looking setup; I may try to make my own like that


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Scot 
on your last photo, my pond filter is mad the same way, but to seal it I used a threaded pipe with two nuts and home made rubber washed, then tightened them against the cantainer. inside and out


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

If you want a valve on the bottom of your plastic rain barrel That does not leak Go to Home Depot or just about any Hardware store and go to the SWAMP COOLER DEPARTMENT Get a drain kit. It comes with a piece of plastic pipe with a flange and rubber washers and a nut. There is also a stand pipe that is removable.
The pipe is threaded for a garden hose. YOu can get a adapter for garden hose to NTPS 1/2 inch pipe. Then you can add your valve. 


I have a valve on the bottom of my horse trough and I steeped on it and broke the weld. I replaced it with this.
Then also you can do this. Get two 1/2 inch pipe flanges. Cut a hole for the 1/2 inch pipe. Position one flange over the hole. Drill the 4 holes. Get some silicone

Put spread silicone sealer on both flanges. Put one flange on the inside and one on the out side Bolt them together. Put a short nipple in the out side flange and add your valve.

The above suggestions will work on just about any kind of barrel or trough 


JJ


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Swamp coolers are Evaporative coolers... I just replaced the stand pipe over flow do-hicky drain thingy yesterday in a cooler, $16.35 at Ace. 

Freeze damage from winter, cracked the threads in the part JJ would discard.

John


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Just a side note after looking at the pictures again 

I thought you would have a much bigger container to collect the rain water in. Like a 55 gal drum or a 100 gal horse tank . Rubber Made makes a great compact 100 gall horse tank. 


JJ


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 30 Apr 2011 01:42 PM 
Just a side note after looking at the pictures again 

I thought you would have a much bigger container to collect the rain water in. Like a 55 gal drum or a 100 gal horse tank . Rubber Made makes a great compact 100 gall horse tank. 


JJ



John,
its not clear who you are talking to..
are you talking to me? probably..since im the only one with photos in this thread! 

I simply dont need aa bigger barrell..the one I have is plenty big enough for the amount of water I need..and it keeps filling itself up constantly..
I never run out water..

if you werent talking to me, then never mind! 

Scot


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Scottychaos on 30 Apr 2011 07:22 PM 
Posted By John J on 30 Apr 2011 01:42 PM 
Just a side note after looking at the pictures again 

I thought you would have a much bigger container to collect the rain water in. Like a 55 gal drum or a 100 gal horse tank . Rubber Made makes a great compact 100 gall horse tank. 


JJ



John,
its not clear who you are talking to..
are you talking to me? probably..since im the only one with photos in this thread! 

I simply dont need aa bigger barrell..the one I have is plenty big enough for the amount of water I need..and it keeps filling itself up constantly..
I never run out water..

if you werent talking to me, then never mind! 

Scot 



Yup Scott Your the one I was thinking about.

I just thought the collection barrels would be larger

My Neighbor ( who has passed on ) Use to have six 55 Gal drums on the end of his rain gutter. He was the first one out here years ago. 

JJ


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Ya see JJ...you live in the desert. Scott lives just south of Lake Ontario...which brings him rain probably a lot more often than he wishes. Looking at the woods around Rochester...it's hard to believe (for me) that one needs to save water for later use. Just wait a day...it'll rain again. 

Now out here in San Diego, it's just about the beginning of May, so I have till November before it rains again...kinda like your area in Arizona...so 75 55 gallon barrels makes sense. They're just ugly....then again, I'm paying 0.5 cents PER GALLON for water now. Maybe I'll be burying some barrels in my future....


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mike Reilley on 01 May 2011 12:30 AM 
Ya see JJ...you live in the desert. Scott lives just south of Lake Ontario...which brings him rain probably a lot more often than he wishes. Looking at the woods around Rochester...it's hard to believe (for me) that one needs to save water for later use. Just wait a day...it'll rain again. 

Now out here in San Diego, it's just about the beginning of May, so I have till November before it rains again...kinda like your area in Arizona...so 75 55 gallon barrels makes sense. They're just ugly....then again, I'm paying 0.5 cents PER GALLON for water now. Maybe I'll be burying some barrels in my future....





Oh yeah..we get a lot of rain..

this spring especially has been unusually wet..lots of minor localized flooding along the smaller streams..probably rained 50% the days over the last month.

my Sister's basement down near Binghamton had 6" of the water a few days ago..Susquehanna river is very high. 


I dont collect rain water because I need extra water in a general sense..I collect it for my Carnivorous Plants specifically..
because they require it..
they need very soft water..most tap water is too hard for them, contains too much "mineral hardness"..
Our Rochester tap water is actually excellent water, some of the best tap water in the US, I have been drinking tap water
my entire life..but even though its not unusually hard, its still *too* hard for the carnivores..
So thats why I have my small rain barrell..just for those plants.
And actually, The rain barrel has been set up for a month now, and I havent needed to even use it yet!
the plants are staying watered just from the rain alone..
but I will need the rain water from the barrel in the summer..

Scot's Carnivores 

If not for the carnivores, I wouldnt collect rain water at all..we just use the hose for regular vegetable and flower gardens.
(I dont water my lawn, ever..I dont believe in that..About 1 out of 5 summers we might get a brief "August drought" and lawns turn brown, but I dont care about that..
the lawns dont actually die, they just go dormant..come September they green right back up again..I dont mind a brown lawn for awhile..I welcome the relief from mowing! 


Scot


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I figured it was for your plants. I save gray water. Washing machine and shower/bathtub. 

JJ


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