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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2011 16:14:48 GMT -5
I finally got around to doing this project so Cheryl can water her garden at no cost. And it gave me something to do on a nice day off. First, go find a food grade 55 gallon barrel. There's a ton on craigslist, or you might be lucky enough to know where to pick one up for free. I picked up 7 for friends and neighbors and negotiated the price. Go to you favorite lumber yard and pick up some treated 2x4. I used (4) 2x8x8 and (1) 2x8x10. This allowed me to build a frame 4' tall with a floor set at 2' high for the barrel to sit on. It needs to be elevated so there's room to attach your soaker hose and to allow the water to drain out of the barrel. I did later nail some plywood to the floor joists there with some I had laying around. You will need a spigot. I used a 3/4" ball valve spigot with 3/4" male npt threads. There's not much material to make threads with, so I drilled a hole smaller than the thread, used a bunch of silicone and threaded it in the hole. It remains to be seen if it will leak or not. If it does I will have to figure something else out. I was able to get one shoulder in the barrel opening and put a bead of silicone around the threads on the inside but just barely. If you're larger than me, find a child to climb in there.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2011 16:24:12 GMT -5
The barrels I bought are food grade and were used to ship olives. There is a perforated insert that can be used between the lid and barrel. Here's where you have options. The lid has a smaller screw on cap that can be removed allowing you to plumb your gutter directly in to the barrel to keep it sealed. I chose to just cut a big hole in the lid. The lid has a raised edge so the water will find it's way in there. I went back and added a screen in between the insert and lid to keep the bugs out. Not necessary but it was easy and cheap to do. Figure out where you want to put it (you should have done this before you even started the project), place it there and mark your gutter. You can do what I did and reuse what you cut off, or go get some of the green flexible gutter and run it to the barrel. The wife said I need to redirect the water flow straight in to the barrel, so I'll be going back for an elbow to use as a turn down on the end of the gutter. Pat yourself on the back for single handedly saving the planet.
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Post by LILREDCJ6 on Jun 7, 2011 11:34:09 GMT -5
I'm calling your HOA.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2011 14:41:40 GMT -5
I already called em on you. They said you have to replant everything you removed because you didn't get permission.
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Post by stuck tj on Nov 28, 2011 7:25:28 GMT -5
OK I missed this one so I'll make up for it now. First how many gardens do you have? (Dahmer had that many) How did you fit in the drum to silicone the spigot? Is there a nut on that and if not how's that working out? Next is the downspout itself, on a good rain I bet it got some of the water? Improvements: We could put on an electronic float , light sensor, a solenoid valve and timer.
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Post by LILREDCJ6 on Nov 28, 2011 20:42:51 GMT -5
You missed it because you have been absent for the last 3 years.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2011 8:23:52 GMT -5
OK I missed this one so I'll make up for it now. First how many gardens do you have? (Dahmer had that many) How did you fit in the drum to silicone the spigot? Is there a nut on that and if not how's that working out? Next is the downspout itself, on a good rain I bet it got some of the water? Improvements: We could put on an electronic float , light sensor, a solenoid valve and timer. 1 small garden with mostly peppers I drilled a hole, used a lot of silicone and jammed the spigot in there. There is a nut on the back of the spigot with more silicone. I had to twist and contort to reach in there. A skinny girly man like you and Derek could climb inside the barrel and put the nut on. Got some of the water? On the first rain we had, it filled the barrel in just over 2 minutes I think. A lot of water comes out of that downspot. I could have put an overflow tube on the rain barrel and directed it, but I chose to KISS and just let it overflow. You can come over and practice the float, timer, and light on mine.
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