rain water catch

whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
GrowPops said:
View attachment 3420787 I am using a small pump on one barrel for the hanging plants on the porch and front flowerbeds but I don't have one big enough for the garden. It would take forever. I have a small barrel for steeping teas next to my new planting table and can envision the big tank sitting next to it. Only 20 foot from the garden, Gravity should work. Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Snap peas, Greenbeans. Radishes, carrots, and several kinds of lettuce are all in. Pardon the woorly copters, Not feeling up to snuff so I haven't hoed lately. Tomatoes in the trellis buckets. Still have a few tomato plants in the cold frame if anyone needs any.
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That looks great. Gravity would work great. Only problem for me is: I bought a 12x20 building. I built off one side another 12 foot. Then I added another 12 for. It gives me 30x20 for cat thing rain. The slope is so long by the time you get to the gutter its barely over my head. I couldn't get it high enough for gravity.

I see what you mean by peeping over the fench. Nice place.

I'm just now getting my garden together.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
Thanks. I always new this was my lifes ambition but got caught in the corporate world early on thinking it was "better to have a secure job starting a new family. Now, the last company I worked my way to management and vested 25 years just to have a new bigger corp buy, chop, sell, then move away. I chose to stay........Never been happier, My man beard is back and my fingernails are short and dirty.
I too am a cheap bastard, Or horder, all the new building supplies were laying around or scrounged from family.

Thinking gravity and the copious amount of water collected from a flat surface,(most people would be surprised. I bet yours fill first good storm). I have a couple ideas of how you could get to gravity with your setup. the girls call me the Egyptian once in awhile.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
GrowPops said:
Thanks. I always new this was my lifes ambition but got caught in the corporate world early on thinking it was "better to have a secure job starting a new family. Now, the last company I worked my way to management and vested 25 years just to have a new bigger corp buy, chop, sell, then move away. I chose to stay........Never been happier, My man beard is back and my fingernails are short and dirty.
I too am a cheap bastard, Or horder, all the new building supplies were laying around or scrounged from family.

Thinking gravity and the copious amount of water collected from a flat surface,(most people would be surprised. I bet yours fill first good storm). I have a couple ideas of how you could get to gravity with your setup. the girls call me the Egyptian once in awhile.
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I would like to hear them. A man once told me to be a sponge. I like to hear peoples ideas.

Here is the garden last year. Crappy camera.

garden2.JPG garden.JPG
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
whitebb2727 said:
I would like to hear them. A man once told me to be a sponge. I like to hear peoples ideas.

Here is the garden last year. Crappy camera.

View attachment 3420977 View attachment 3420978
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Nice, No corn for me, the wife says sweet corn grows on every street corner come harvest season, we have friends that share, and a couple of local farmers we trust.
With the two large tanks you could setup a simple siphon system I think and only feed one from the roof and the other from the first. The second tank would go by the garden, a pipe on the ground or just underground connecting the two at their bottoms and let gravity do its thing. the tank at the garden will stay even with the tank at the shed. Like a water level. ( I was a carpenter for 12 years also) Then water is heavy and with your setup and full tanks I bet you could even rig a sprinkler instead of drip/soaker hose.
I bet we could make it work. I do my best design work while token and staring at the space.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
GrowPops said:
Nice, No corn for me, the wife says sweet corn grows on every street corner come harvest season, we have friends that share, and a couple of local farmers we trust.
With the two large tanks you could setup a simple siphon system I think and only feed one from the roof and the other from the first. The second tank would go by the garden, a pipe on the ground or just underground connecting the two at their bottoms and let gravity do its thing. the tank at the garden will stay even with the tank at the shed. Like a water level. ( I was a carpenter for 12 years also) Then water is heavy and with your setup and full tanks I bet you could even rig a sprinkler instead of drip/soaker hose.
I bet we could make it work. I do my best design work while token and staring at the space.
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When they get full I'm going to hook the hose up and see how much pressure there is. I think I got room for one or two more railroad ties. Would that be high enough?
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
You don't actually need any drop in elevation between the two tanks . as long as they are connected at the bottom the level of the water itself will be the same. total water stored when the system is full would be maximum if they were exactly the same height. If the container at the garden is 8 inches lower and is vented at the top then the higher tank will push water through the vent until it is 8 inches from its top. So you seal the lower container with a valve that closes when full so the other can fill completely.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
At 7lb per gallon a 275 gallon tank should have pretty good pressure. A 55 gallon barrel with a cheap straight spigot spits a good stream. I put a 2 gallon water can 1.5 foot away and it fills quick.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
Ok I smoked a little and now you have me thinking. I would join the two with three inch pipe (partly because I have an old homemade soccer goal that needs repurposed) but mainly for faster transfer between the two. Then I would try to step down the pipe side coming off the second to create a sort of water cannon where gravity again will increase the pressure. say 10 foot of two inch 10 foot of 1 1/2 inch...... down to 3/4 and a faucet.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
T
GrowPops said:
Ok I smoked a little and now you have me thinking. I would join the two with three inch pipe (partly because I have an old homemade soccer goal that needs repurposed) but mainly for faster transfer between the two. Then I would try to step down the pipe side coming off the second to create a sort of water cannon where gravity again will increase the pressure. say 10 foot of two inch 10 foot of 1 1/2 inch...... down to 3/4 and a faucet.
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That is what I was thinking of doing.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
Keep me up to date. Like you said ,I like being a sponge. If I had two tanks, I am now thinking the same thing. Maybe a road trip through the country and I can find something to use cheap.
 
GrowPops

GrowPops

Well-Known Member
Have you had rain yet. We have not and my water is a little frightening. the girls seem to like it though.DSC01078.JPG Yes that's straight rain water from the barrel. DSC01061.JPG
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
id love to use rain water.. but the damn big ole containers and even 55 gallon barrels are fn expensive!!! were do they get off needing 80 bucks for a barrel???
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
GrowPops said:
Try your local car wash. They will usually give there empties away.
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i live in upper mi. 60 miles to the nearest car wash,,60 miles in any direction,, mostly woods, live in a city of 300 mostly elderly or disabled..its a hundred miles to walmart or a mcdonalds... but i really want to get some big ass barrels like a septic tank or somthing..maybe i can find a septic tank up here but,,im not cleaning it.lol
 
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