Our metal roof sheds a lot of water. When it rains, or when we put the sprinkler up on top to cool the house, a lot of water gets wasted. With extremely dry conditions plaguing our area, it felt like such a waste. And it was!
So Bryan decided to make an inexpensive rain barrel. Using a five-gallon bucket, he made a prototype a few weeks back.
The basic concept is that as water fills the bucket, gravity forces the water through the hose and onto a dry section of the yard.
This prototype worked really well, so this past weekend, we went full scale.
Making a Rain Barrel
We found a fifty gallon plastic drum on the property. There are definitely some benefits of being the third generation to live here–the grandparent’s junk pile is still out back!
The top was already cut off this drum, which made it simpler.
First, Bryan drilled a hole in the side, and put a pipe-hose thread connector in. That allowed a hose to connect.
To that connector, he attached a dual hose connector. Now we can hook up two hoses to really distribute the water.
Pretty simple directions for making a rain barrel. You don’t need anything complicated!
Our barrel works great!
We are still planning on making another one, for the other side of the house, to recapture even more water.
With the hose adapter, we can shut off both sides, to let the water fill up during a rainstorm. Then we can put it on the yard a few days later. I can also use the water to fill up a bucket to haul to animals.
Do you have a water reclamation process? Ours is still a work in progress,so I’d love to hear more about this from someone who is further ahead on the journey.
