Water Butt

asgaard

Dear Boardsies,


How many of you using Water Butt to collect water for plants/trees growing? Show me your own ideas? I was thinking to get a cheap wooden barrel (whisky barrel should be ok) and connect it through pipe to gutter.


Thanks

L1011

A commercial water butt is going to be cheaper than a whisky barrel.

I have a 320l one from Woodies; the downpipe adapter was a bollox to get on as it was designed for a totally different size of downpipe, but it works.

asgaard

L1011 wrote: »

A commercial water butt is going to be cheaper than a whisky barrel.

I have a 320l one from Woodies; the downpipe adapter was a bollox to get on as it was designed for a totally different size of downpipe, but it works.

Yeah, wooden seems to be overpriced .

listermint

If you want it to blend in, just put it in a simple wooden frame and clad. Paint or stain any colour you like

asgaard

listermint wrote: »

If you want it to blend in, just put it in a simple wooden frame and clad. Paint or stain any colour you like

Don't think it's easy to do.

josip

asgaard wrote: »

Dear Boardsies,

How many of you using Water Butt to collect water for plants/trees growing? Show me your own ideas? I was thinking to get a cheap wooden barrel (whisky barrel should be ok) and connect it through pipe to gutter.

Thanks

I use a standard green plastic butt, aesthetically positioned in a corner between the shed and the wall.
It's a pain having to disconnect it yearly and wash and clean out, but if I don't the water stinks.
It looks ok, but I wouldn't mind hiding it with an ivy or something.
But then I wouldn't be able to get at it to clean it.

jack of all

I too have a commercial plastic water butt, not pretty to look at but I don't care too much about that. Again I too found it difficult to find the appropriate adapter, but got one in the end. They are a great thing to have, brilliant for watering the garden and rinsing off the cars after handwashing.

I dont know what type of house you have but if you have room and can hide it the IBC tanks are great and can be gotten cheap.

Calahonda52

One thing to be aware of here is that if they are exposed to the sun and heat up, with bird sh$te and other orgasmic stuff from the roof, the risk of bacterial growth is heightened so care needed. They are best shaded

josip

And screw the lid shut if you have small children.
Although most people remember (and laugh) at this for the "where's grandad?", the water barrel bit traumatised me when I was growing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWHrjCG1LQ

hesker

Calahonda52 wrote: »

One thing to be aware of here is that if they are exposed to the sun and heat up, with bird sh$te and other orgasmic stuff from the roof, the risk of bacterial growth is heightened so care needed. They are best shaded

:eek:

asgaard

josip wrote: »

And screw the lid shut if you have small children.
Although most people remember (and laugh) at this for the "where's grandad?", the water barrel bit traumatised me when I was growing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWHrjCG1LQ

It's so truly and scary.

Still waiting for any pictures of your own diy Water Butt projects, C'mon Bhoys in Green

Base Window Cleaners

You can get all sizes, shapes and colours of water tank at a place called Wydale Plastics. They are online. There are some stockists in Ireland. Hose pipe ban coming soon so go for the biggest tank you can get and if possible collect rainwater from a downpipe.

listermint

Base Window Cleaners wrote: »

You can get all sizes, shapes and colours of water tank at a place called Wydale Plastics. They are online. There are some stockists in Ireland. Hose pipe ban coming soon so go for the biggest tank you can get and if possible collect rainwater from a downpipe.

Or get a well

TigerTim

I had 2 old refuse wheelie bins, both 280L I think. Washed them out years ago before I started using them & made up my own attachment to the downpipe & an overflow pipe. Been using them for years for washing car/flowers/garden etc. Have the lid secured in case of kids/animals etc.. Works a treat & cost nothing.

T>

Vita nova

josip wrote: »

And screw the lid shut if you have small children.
Although most people remember (and laugh) at this for the "where's grandad?", the water barrel bit traumatised me when I was growing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWHrjCG1LQ

Also, consider strapping it to the wall to prevent it falling or being knocked over and injuring someone, especially a child.

I have a tall thin water butt mounted on a 50cm high pedestal and I have strapped it to the wall with galvanised perforated metal strips.

There are probably many more aesthetic ways to do it as well.

I just stuck 2 gutters on my chicken run and connected up 2 barrels with a tap to the gutter and each other.
One fills and overflows to the one below with the tap.

jack of all

Vita nova wrote: »

Also, consider strapping it to the wall to prevent it falling or being knocked over and injuring someone, especially a child.

I have a tall thin water butt mounted on a 50cm high pedestal and I have strapped it to the wall with galvanised perforated metal strips.

There are probably many more aesthetic ways to do it as well.

I just put a concrete block inside the bottom of my one- it won't fall over, empty or not.

L1011

jack of all wrote: »

I just put a concrete block inside the bottom of my one- it won't fall over, empty or not.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to put that to the test.

320KG of water should be enough you'd think; but if I disrupted the stand or pulled at the wrong place you could get a disaster

Remember that most water butts are on some form of stand because of the requirement to have a tap at a useful level - you don't want a massive stagnant pond below the tap.

Mines not secured because nobody is in the garden except for the two of us and a cat we don't want.

josip

I had to reseat ours this year and put in a stone base.
It's a thin type and was only resting on dry compacted earth before now.
Over the last few years it gradually tilted a few degrees forward.
Once it was off vertical, the rate of tilt accelerated, and the ground at the front where the tap was had gotten softer due to spills.

Base Window Cleaners

listermint wrote: »

Or get a well

Haha! Have you seen the size of the machine needed to put in a well? Actually, my uncle has a farm and sunk a well. The water pressure is unreal. You're talking fire engine power high flow! No hose pipe ban there!

Vita nova

jack of all wrote: »

I just put a concrete block inside the bottom of my one- it won't fall over, empty or not.

The straps add a whole different level of safety. You (or a group) could pull or push the butt with all your might and still wouldn't topple it, in fact it would break before the straps would break or pull out from the wall. If the base were removed completely, I'm fairly certain that the straps would fully support the butt, not that I'd ever do something so silly.

smpillai11

Cost less than 10e. Used recycled wheelie bin. Only wished had used a wider downpipe as this tends to get clogged once in a while

asgaard

It's on sale right now in Woodie's, 100L and 200L. I might go for 100, but I was looking for a black color instead of green.

physioman

jack of all wrote: »

I just put a concrete block inside the bottom of my one- it won't fall over, empty or not.

Yeah do the same with mine . Works perfectly

Alkers

These are so inexpensive, it's not worth DIYing. I would get the 200l if buying again though, powerhosed our small patio yesterday and I emptied the 100l. Can wash both cars from 100l though

GreeBo

I'd love to put one on my flat roof to give me some water pressure, but I wouldnt risk the point load.

I'd second just buying one over trying to DIY it, only issue is getting them home in the boot

I have 2 barrels connected and a tap on the lower one. Water from the chicken run roof flows into it.
1 is about 2 foot above the ground. The other a foot.
The only thing is that the higher barrel is connected near the top. Not sure if it's too high

Tree

I got a 350L one delivered last summer w/ a fancy downpipe connector. It's absolutely smashing (and it's not hideous, as it's against the back wall of the house). spent a bit more than the green ones, but very happy w/ the look of it.