At long last, by popular demand, pictures of the rain barrel. The only things you can't see in the pictures are (1) the screen in the top of the leaf screen/settling chamber, (2) the makeshift spring that holds the screen in place, and (3) that the end cap on the settling chamber is not glued on, so that the settling chamber will leak out after the rain.
Materials and where I happened to get them:
- 2-bung plastic barrel with at least one threaded plug (Out of a dumpster; the less daring can go to State surplus which is a fascinating place for detritophiles like me)
- 3/4" (?) NPT threaded spigot (hardware store)
- Window screen (Habitat ReStore)
- 2.5 ft scrap piece of 3" PVC (Habitat)
- PVC "Wye" fitting, 3" to 1-1/2" (Hardware store)
- 1-1/2" PVC elbow and straight coupling (Hardware store)
- 1-1/2" PVC pipe scraps (found in my house when we moved in)
- Teflon tape
Pipe sizes can be adjusted to fit what you are able to find, but 3" is the minimum for the screen/settling chamber (so it will catch everything coming out of the downspout).
Tools:
- Drill w/ boring bits - I think that's all.
The spigot threads right into the bung plug. The 1-1/2" PVC pipe overflow from the settling chamber fits snugly into the barrel, keeping out mosquitoes, if you use a boring bit of the same size.
The leaf screen/settling chamber works very well - I had these barrels set up for a year without a leaf screen and the water was always funky-smelling and brownish. Since putting the leaf screen on, it's always clear and never smells.
You can see on the smaller barrel the non-leaf screened method of connection - just cut the outline of your gutter downspout and pop it in.
A stand makes the water much more useable unless you have a pump.
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