Exploring self-sufficiency projects has become a major focus, especially during this past year. One of the first projects we took on was installing barrels for rain collection. This is a very simple and efficient way to gather water for gardens, lawns and even drinking water, with a few additional steps to purify the water. Rain water is by far the better solution than bottled or tap water. Rain water is free of the added chemicals in tap water and plastics. Once you make the physical labor and cost investments in installing rain barrels, there is enormous savings by recycling rain water.
The process for rain water catchment starts with evaluating where you can add a rain barrel (or multiple barrels) on your property for the most effective capture. We determined that the downspout closest to our back door would be the optimal location to install our rain barrels. We purchased 2-55 gallon food grade barrels. There are many places that sell rain barrels and a wide variety of prices. It’s best to do some searching before proceeding. We found many options online and on local community apps. Before purchasing, determine how large and how many barrels your site can support. Typically, 55-gallon barrels are used for home installations. Once you determine the site for the barrels, you will need to build a platform to support the barrel. Level the ground area large enough to support each barrel on a platform.
After measuring the space, the ground was dug out and a layer of gravel was added and then tamped down to form a level base. Recycled wood pallets were ripped to the appropriate size to support the barrel base. We decided it was best to use a filtering method inside of the barrels. Each barrel has layers of pond cobbles, pond stone, pea gravel and sand with screen material between each layer. All of the aggregates were washed before adding to the rain barrels. As you can see in the pictures below, we placed the aggregate in a wheelbarrow and used a garden hose to flush the material several times.
Each layer of aggregate should be washed multiple times until it appears as clear as possible. There will be some residue but allowing rain water to pass through the barrels several times will flush out the remainder of the residue.
After washing the aggregate, layer the materials from largest to smallest in the barrels. We used pond cobbles, pond stone, pea gravel and sand, in that order. Each layer was separated by a layer of screen material (optional).
Add each layer in order from the largest to smallest: pond cobbles, pond stone, pea gravel, and sand. Between each layer we added screen, except on the top layer of sand. On the second barrel, it’s best to place a disbursement disc to keep the water from burrowing a hole in the sand. This can be a plastic sheet with multiple holes to allow the water to drain through the layer.
Initially, we borrowed a 3D printer from a friend and found a downspout diverter on Thingiverse. This worked fairly well but then we found a better option that was an all-in-one solution called Clean Rain Ultra. The diverter connects directly to the downspout with the ability to flush the initial rain water and debris, slough off leaves, and has two connectors.
Hoses were connected from the diverter and to the bottom spigot of the first barrel.* Then a second hose was connected from the overflow valve of the first barrel to the overflow valve of the second barrel. Pressure of the accumulating rain will force the water up the barrel through the aggregate, cleaning out the particulates as it moves through the various levels. Then the rain will be forced through the hose to the second barrel. The rain will flow through the aggregate further cleaning the water. We added hoses onto each bottom spigot for ease of dispensing water. The second rain barrel has an overflow valve so that in torrential downpours, excess rain can spill out. Connecting the overflow spigot to a soaker hose is an easy method for watering a garden or just to relieve the overflow capacity.
The final product is shown in the featured image of this blog. We use the captured rain for watering our gardens and for household drinking water. We added another step for purifying the water. Using two 5-gallon plastic buckets from a local hardware store, we fashioned our own “Berkey” system. Note: It’s best to have the water tested by a reliable service to determine if your collected water is safe to drink. This blog is for informational and educational purposes only.
Simply drill holes for the filters (we use the official Berkey brand) aligning the top bucket and the bottom lid, screw on the filters. Drill a hole in the bottom bucket and install a spigot. Stack the buckets on top of one another and they’re ready to use for purifying the rain water. This is the super simple part of the project.
There are more self-sufficiency projects in the works that I hope to share with you. What are the projects you are working on or have completed to make you more self-sufficient?
*NOTE FROM MANUFACTURER: The Clean Rain Ultra diverter is not meant to be connected to the bottom port of the barrels. Water weighs 8.3 lbs. per gallon. If the barrels have 50 gallons of water in it then there is over 400 lbs. of water in the barrel. This diverter is gravity fed, therefore, the tube hooked to the bottom forces the diverter to to discharge the water through the overflow of the first flush. If you are going to use this product, then you must connect the hoses from the diverter to the top ports on the barrels. Lesson learned.
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