Recently in Rain collection system Category

My 55 gallon plastic barrels are recycled from Anderson's Car Wash. They cost $8 a piece and originally held bio-degradable detergent. The rain collection unit is placed under my deck with a spigot coming out of the lattice, so it is not visible from the yard.

Rain comes off the roof from a 3" ABS plastic pipe (1) and drops into the diverter 'T' (2). Air purges from vents (5) at the top of the barrels and allows the tanks to take on water until diverter is full. Water then passes beyond the diverter and out an overflow. The plenum (3) is pressurized by the tank volume and comes out a spigot (4) A pipe extending the plentum (6) allows debris to fall past the spigot outlet during filling. A plug is for seasonal clean out and tank expansion.

The diverter serves a couple functions...

One of my hobbies is building hot water heating systems. I love to tune up an old steam radiator system. I am at home with pipes so my only reference for this project is my brain and maybe some inherited subconscious from my grandfather's HVAC business, Kuehnel Sheet Metal.

My friends at P.H. Plumbing Distributors, in York, once told me the qualifications for being a plumber are to know what time it is for dinner and than sh__ flows downhill. Well, it's not quite that simple in an age of building codes, but common sense and plumbing goes a long way.

Rain falls from the sky and runs to the lowest point on your property. Your house and gutter are a rainwater collector. If your house sits on the high part of your property, as it does in my case, then your system can use gravity to guide the natural flow of water.

My installation is on a row house, so I can "steal" part of my neighbor's water too. Chuck doesn't care because he is too busy riding his new scooter.

I didn't want to use electricity. There is a surprising amount of pressure from the bottom of a tank holding 100 gallons of water. My gravity fed spigot can fed from a 1/2 inch pipe and water 90% of my property with a hose. The outlet fill a container as quickly as my home's 55 psi city water spigot. I wanted to leave enough room beneath the spigot to fill a 5 gallon container.

NEXT: Parts and free pieces, we get dirty under the deck.

A couple weeks ago I sat in my yard pondering the sky during a storm. Freedom comes from the sky (6/30)

The idea is that the sun and rain that falls above my yard cannot be taxed, resold to me or monopolized upon.

I have designed and built a rain collection system out of inexpensive parts that has been working quite well for the past few weeks. The engineering of each system will depend on the slope of your property and the roof area available for rain collection.

Some considerations when designing a rain collection system

• mosquitoes


• self pressurization based on location on property


• tank storage vs. rainfall


• clean out and winter tear down

A rain collection system will reduce city water costs or lower the use of your well and electricity. If you live in a municipality where sewer is taxed based on water usage it's double savings.

A tank under your deck is like a natural pond in that it slows the rapid run-off from storms and returns it slowly to the eco-system, slowing down erosion and preventing runoff into streams.

NEXT: Considerations and building your rain collection system.

I was stretched out on my deck tonight gazing at the sky while a storm rolled in.
I came to the conclusion that only the sun and the rain, as long as they fall above my property, are free. What comes from the sky above my head cannot be taxed nor can it be repackaged, marketed and sold back to me at compounded profit and then taxed.

Harnessing these things in my backyard, I could take control of my increasingly squeezed and controlled by corporate entity - life.

The secret is in the invention, not buying the product.

I am going to build a rain collection system to water my garden. I can tell you right now that it will probably take 40 years to pay for the parts since water is pretty cheap, but it will be an exercise in securing freedom and independence. A working sculpture of hope for my future.