UGA Cooperative Extension
Rain Barrel to the Rescue
By Gwen Hammond
Forsyth County Master Gardener
Nobody will ever accuse me of having good timing. Just before the complete watering ban went into effect in October, my husband and I completed a week-long, major re-contouring of our back yard, including a new drainage system and small play area near the house. The watering ban came just as we were about to sow the grass seed.
We have never been inclined to water our grass, letting nature take its course and accepting the fact that fescue turns brown in deep summer. However, we also were aware that fresh seedlings without steady moisture are a gamble. In addition, we had transplanted some of our mature shrubs and they needed some extra watering. I really hated the idea of staring out my back windows at a dusty dirt plot for the whole winter. Solving our problem turned out to be an easy and fun learning experience, and a terrific conversation starter.
During the week we worked on our yard project, the Georgia Perennial Plant Society posted an email notice about 275-gallon tanks that could be converted to rain barrels. These are recycled tanks offered at a reasonable price, about $75-100. I read the various emails back and forth between several Extension Agents and Master Gardeners and even studied the analysis of the chemical the tanks originally held. We garden organically and I wanted to be sure there wouldn’t be any dangerous residue. Walter Reaves even chimed in on the email chain reporting that he believed they were safe and had already installed one.
Maybe we could grow grass and even water the new perennial bed and few small shrubs I planted last spring. This barrel idea sounded like a good option and has turned out to be exactly that and more.
These tanks are heavy, weighing about 100 pounds, and are a little awkward due to their bulk. My husband and I had no problem lifting it onto our small trailer but you need at least a pickup truck to handle one. We purchased ours at the local nursery recommended by the Georgia Perennial Plant Society. Since purchasing ours, I have seen them listed for sale from several sources on www.craigslist.com and in the Georgia Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin.
The tanks are constructed of an industrial grade rigid white plastic enclosed in a galvanized metal support cage. There is a 6-inch threaded opening at the top, with a screw-on lid, and a heavy-duty drainage valve at the bottom.
Once home, we placed the barrel to capture runoff from one of our gutter downspouts at a back corner of our house. After scraping the soil to level the area, we placed concrete blocks and pavers to insure a steady platform. This tank would weigh close to 2300 lbs when filled. What we did may be overkill if you already have a flat surface, but my engineer husband didn’t want any chance of tipping and our location had a slight offset over landscape timbers surrounding a flower bed.
Connecting to the gutter system was a snap, literally. With a hacksaw, we cut off the gutter downspout about four feet higher than the top of the tank. We attached one end of a 6-foot length of 4-inch, black, corrugated drainage pipe with a 4-inch snap-on adapter to the cut off gutter. These are both standard hardware items. The adapter was secured to the gutter with a couple of pop rivets.
The other end of the corrugated pipe slides easily into the top opening of the tank and could be left just hanging in the hole. We gave it a little more rigidity by cutting the bottom out of an old 6-inch flower pot and inverting the pot over the tank hole. The flower pot was a firm fit over the threaded top opening and the black drainage pipe slid snugly into the cutout. This adaptation also closed the top of the system to any leaves or bugs that might blow in. Because these parts are not permanently attached, they are easily disassembled for access to the tank.
Even though we are in the middle of a drought, an occasional heavy rainfall could cause water to be dumped out at the foundation of the house. To accommodate tank overflow, we cut a 3-inch hole on one side of the tank as close to the top as possible. The assembly is shown in the parts list. A 3-inch PVC female adapter is pushed, threaded end first, through the hole. Reaching an arm through to the inside of the tank, a 3-inch metal conduit nut (this came from the electrical department) is hand-tightened over these threads. Next, a PVC female-to-male right angle is pushed into the outside end of the PVC female adapter. Another length of corrugated drainage pipe ties back to our original drainage system. Our system goes underground to the back of our lot. Another way to address the overflow issue, should you not have a drainage system readily available, would be to attach clear drainage tubing and divert the water to an acceptable area. Again, these connections are secure but not permanent.
Now came the fun part. All the tanks have solid plastic shut-off valves that work great for filling buckets and watering cans but, if we wanted to use a garden hose, we had to find an adapter.
It seems these barrels come with a variety of drainage spouts. Some are threaded, some unthreaded, and some even come with a standard-sized 2 –inch PVC port easily adapted to a garden hose with about $12 worth of screw-on connectors. (Aim for this one!) We, however, learned, after numerous visits to local hardware suppliers, lots of head scratching, and frequent visits to the customer service/return lines, that ours was the non-standard variety. Not to be defeated, my husband devised a clever solution using a clamping that was simple, effective, and low-cost. Check out the accompanying parts list for the assembly details.
There are probably lots of other ways to adapt these tanks. This worked for us and cost less than $30 in parts.
A pleasant bonus has been the interest our tank has generated with my neighbors. It was a great conversation starter at our cul-de-sac Halloween party. One neighbor even brought her professional landscaper by to check it out so that he could install one for her. Another has asked for my parts list.
But, the most fun came on the first day that we had a very light drizzly rain. We collected 125 gallons and this tank collects from only one-fourth of our roof area! Today, it is filled to the top and my new lawn has been mowed twice. We have also used the water for our indoor plants and for some outside cleaning, too. Maybe it's time to get another.
Parts List
A. Overflow port
- 3 inch 90 degree PVC male-female elbow
- 3 inch PVC female-male threaded adapter
- 3 inch locking nut
B. Drain Port
- ¾” brass boiler faucet
- 1” x ¾” PVC threaded bushing
- 2” x 1” PVC adapter
- 2” x 2” pressure connector
Additional photos of tank, assembly points and parts.
