looking for rain catch materials

[Kevinkris]

so my house is in need of some rain gutter work and i think its a great excuse for setting up a rain catch at the same time. just looking here to see if anyone has done this and found a good place to get some drums or IBCs on the cheap or even free.

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[xd45acp]

craigslist blue food grade plastic drums. prices vary.

 

[mjbskwim]

Shhhhh! You may have rain police down there.Some places don't want you to collect rain water

 

[techieguy]

As long a the water never touches the ground you can collect it from what I understand (without our Government's permission) If you have a composition roof you may want to reconsider collecting that water run off as you may get some amount of oil in your water.

 

[rick benjamin]

Been thinking about rain retention and I just put gutters on my roof.
Galvanized gutter, cover (keeps the crud out).
I have a bunch of barrels.
Currently have conventional downspouts. Still thinking about the plumbing.
Intend for barrel overflow to flow to the drains.

 

[Kevinkris]

well ive been looking through craigslist but i cant help but think that the source may not be reliable. ive been looking through google for companies that likely use them for food products and making a list. i just havnt started making phone calls yet. i have a feeling that will be my best bet so far.

 

[Fisher Bill]

Here's a diverter from Home Depot;

And here is a link that has a 100 year old method of filtering;
http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2013/07/11/100-year-old-way-to-filter-rainwater-in-a-barrel/

After having to boil water recently I'm going to look into this and have an extra couple hundred gallons available, I think I might even try a shallow well & hand pump.

 

[Kevinkris]

anyone have experience with the guy near the hillsboro dump that sells used drums for $20 each? its something i heard about today and i wanted to get a second opinion before i made a decision.

 

[WashCoDad]

Look up a first flush diverter before you start planning your system. Flushes first rain out of the system before it goes into the tank. Ie. Bird poop, pollen, etc.
I am only 6 months in on a 300 gallon setup and have yet to use city water for my garden this year.
I went for a tall skinny tank for pressure.

 

[Kevinkris]

yea, ive been putting a lot of consideration into that but i dont think im going to use one. because of the location i have chosen to put the collection sight i will have to build a drainage for over flow and i dont want to have accumulation of the debris in my trench. at this point im looking at making a baffle to collect anything large that may get through the gutters and into my plumbing (which is just redundant considering i have no trees above the roof) and a plumbing strainer to collect smaller particles. of course the fine particles will still make it in there but im not too concerned because its all going to be used for the garden and i can keep a filter to use in emergencies before boiling.

the reason i want to do it this way is so i can carry the debris collected away from my trench so that it wont build a stoppage in the gravel i use to fill it with. this is also important because the ground is level in this location so making sure the water flows away from the house is more important than saving a little money on water.

i would like to also go with the tall slender tanks for the same reason you did but i find it difficult to justify the costs when i can accomplish the same thing with a little more personal labor at a much lower cost.

 

[WashCoDad]

When i figured 6 tanks, lumber, fittings... it was 50 bucks different in cost and toom about half the space. Was a No brainer to me.
You have to clean the first flush filter by hand too, it only does the dirty water by itself by drops. Seriously dribbles out the bottom.

 

[Kevinkris]

where did you pick up your parts?

 

[WashCoDad]

Rainharvest.com for first flush diverter.
Pvc/pcv stuff from ace hardware.
Tank from hillsboro pipe supply, but mail order might be cheaper.

This thread jinxed me. Kid left the faucet on last night and drained about 150 gallons from the tank!! Good thing we got rain today.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

Not for you as you are planning ahead, but something I've recently thought of as I've just purchased two. In a pinch plastic Kayaks could be an adequate place to store water.
When living in FL. every time a Hurricane was approaching I always filled up the tub and a kiddie pool I had as well as the washing machine tub.
One year my preps came in handy as we were out of power/ community well water for almost a week! We flushed our toilets and washed up with that water and could have drank the tub water anyway if needed.
Don't know of an emergency you would have ample warning of here in the N.W. that you'd have a chance to store water on short notice other than political unrest but something to keep in mind anyway.

 

[Kevinkris]

i grew up in FL and we did very much the same thing. much of my family and friends would even keep that supply up throughout the year also. we keep a couple hundred gallons of water stored in our basement here and then we could also use what is in the hot water heater if it were needed.

at the moment im waiting for a guy to get back from vacation to ask him to fix my gutters then im going to start setting up my rain catch so we can have a renewable water source without using as much of the municipal water in our yard. we boil all of our water before drinking too so even if i had to drink it, the only thing different would be going outside for it.