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Don't forget to put a fine screen on the end of the overflow pipe. Keeps the vermin from crawling in looking for a place to live. Thanks for the video. Jon
Consider a first flush diverter. The first so many gallons of rain water won't be collected so that bird poop and other undesirable material wash off the roof first.
I looked into these for our remote cabin. We get a lot of drizzle and with these diverters low flow would be wasted. I ended up using 3 Rubbermaid trash cans where the floaters and sinkers don’t make it through. Then it runs into two 275 gallon tote tanks. Have been using it for about ten years. This is our water supply at our off road cabin. This system is at a place where the nearest road is about 6 miles so air contamination from a populated area with autos is not going to happen.
Hey april plumber here...looks pretty good! that purple primer can get everywhere...if you hold the pipe so the side your priming is lowest you can avoid the ugly drips. also i use teflon tape and teflon paste on threads it basically guarantees its not going to leak...I think the barrels in the front should be slightly higher so it has fall and they will empty before the ones in the back. I could be wrong but my gut tells me the water in the front barrels is going to be stagnate.
You can use the water collected by your system for drinking or cooking you just need to boil the water or other wise treat it before using. Millions of people do this. Thanks for the video, I do enjoy your channel.
For many of your videos, I think, "Oh, that's really cool, I should learn this!" Then I realize ... I'm never going to do this. But you bring us in and treat us so much like family, and your calm style of narration is so engaging - I end up watching them all. I hope I get to visit Texas someday. More! Thanks
So if you ever need to hold the nuts to a fitting in a place you can't reach take some scrap wood and make a crescent wrench head or a square hole that fits tight against 4 sides of the nut. Then screw that to a 2x4 at a 90 degrees this will allow to to reach hold it still.
If I had someone like you in the 80s, I'd have had such a great restoration business. I used to restore houses in town back to how they were when they were built, all the way to the original colors. You are one smart lady.
I was glad to see the barrels painted. I was thinking that as well. I learned that many, many years ago talking to a guy that ran a state lake for fishing. I asked him how he kept his lake floor clean and algae so low and he enlightened me on the process. I think he said block light to 18" or less and it can't grow well. Something along those lines.
Hi April, Wonderful explanation of the system and the comments raise interesting questions and issues about safe usage and sustainability. I’ll add two cents since our summer place used Lake Erie water for some thirty years. The plastics pipe is great for ease of set up and replacement. The smaller thickness of it, 3/4” and less, is quite likely to turn brittle and break when in the sun. I mean that when barrels get moved even a little the pvc is less forgiving after years of sun bake. Looks like the rear barrels are in the afternoon sun which I noticed while watching the hen out back walking through. Best of luck, and future set up could include an outdoor shower/wash station off the back.
April, please heed the notes from folks mentioning the reverse osmosis and flush systems. Without proper filtering and treatment, captured rainwater is OK for watering plants, but that is about it. I'd hate for someone visiting you to casually take a sip of sink water on a hot day and get sick.
Thanks April. I appreciate this video and the skull sweat that went into installing this system. Many communities offer barrels and basic kits to capture and reuse rainwater. Wishing you and your team a great week. Peace
Great video April! It was a well thought out and designed installation. I installed a similar system starting in 2008 and upgraded it to the current five barrels a few years ago. I designed about 14 small fountains throughout the property and piped the rainwater to all of them. I rarely run low of water. Your use of a larger diameter pipe (1 1/2” PVC?) is a great idea, I’m sure the water levels faster between barrels. Now I’m going to look into adding a pump to the system, great idea. What triggers the pump to turn on? The rain chains are a nice touch, I love watching them in a storm. When there is a heavy water flow, they look like they are dancing! Great job!
Nice job. A few things I see wrong that should be added. First a screen filter before the pump. I know you have screens on the inlets, but generally speaking you want some kind of pre pump filter as close to the pump as possible. Next an accumulator tank after the pump will help even out the pressure when using the faucets. Lastly a 2 part cartridge filter under the sink. One for particulate and one carbon filter. I know it is not potable water, but these filters will keep the water you are using to wash much cleaner and take away some of the stagnant nasty smells. One thing to keep in mind is that the roof will have bird droppings on it and the rain will wash that into your water supply. Having the cartridge filters will help keep the undesirable stuff out. Granted the cartridge filters are usually a 5 or 10 micron filter, but they will work. If you want to go one step more, install a UV light in line to kill any bacteria in the line, but that is not 100% necessary. All this will cost maybe $200 and in my opinion, it is needed for the system. You most likely spent far more on it so far, so spend the extra coin and improve it. Thanks
The shutoff between the second and third black barrel is going to prevent the ability for overflow on the first barrels. If you want to use the shut off you will need a second overflow on barrel number two. Looks great.
April great job. An interesting tidbit about your barrels, Since you have decided to go with dark colors on the outside of the barrels to keep algae from forming, you always will have pleasantly warm water in those barrels. At least you should in the Texas Summer.
love this April. I have a smaller rain barrel and have discovered fine particulates get in the barrels over time. Therefore I put my pickup slightly off the bottom so as not to suck up that into the pump. Then once a year when I drain everything I also wash that particulate matter out. I didn't see but I hope you confirmed your overflow was lower than the top of the front decorative barrels. You've built a beautiful outdoor kitchen and I've loved following along with the build.
I have a rainwater collection system for my livestock tank, my goat barn, and my chicken coop. All are gravity fed. Next on my agenda is a rainwater collection system for me. I will be using IBC totes and will be using the shallow well pump and pressure tank from Harbor Freight. It will be nice to finally have running water in my house, AND be able to take a REAL shower!
I don't know if you considered using food grade IBC Totes, but those are only about $70 and hold 350 gallons and can be stacked. I have A long row of them stacked and I can easily run the sprinklers for the yard and garden. A good rain will fill them up easily. You should measure the square feet of the roof over the kitchen. This will help you determine how much water you can collect per inch of rain. Remove any and all cedar trees when you can. They are not native to Texas and suck up tremendous amounts of water on your land. Look at the collection system of the Ladybird Johnson Wildlife center. That sort of thing would look great on your place.
Great video! What a cool idea to use both the rain barrels and the decorative urns to give your viewers ideas. This is a nice addition to the huge rainwater collection system you documented earlier and as water continues in short supply everyone should be thinking about ways to maintain access to water. This water can easily be made drinkable with a variety of filters and filter jugs or, if needed, a chemical treatment.
A swimming pool bulkhead may have been a cheaper option for a larger diameter to connect the rear barrels. You have 4X downspouts feeding the 4X barrels and only 1X overflow pipe to drain the excess. Once the barrels are all full during a heavy rain, the 1X overflow may not be able to keep up and then the barrel with the lowest top will overflow.
We've done a ton of rainwater barrel setups. With a 4" in, you need a 4" out. A gullywasher will overwhelm your 3/4 lines and overflow will come back out the inlet. You need an overflow the same diameter as the inlet. With two inlets, you'll need twice that size as an overflow. You'll see the first time you get a frog-choker rain. I put valves at each barrel with a union between. Lets you work on (or clean out) each barrel individually (options). Also, the line going to the pump should be off the side, not the bottom, about 2-4" off the bottom to prevent sediment getting into the pump. If this is water off a shingled roof, you'll get shingle sand in it. At the end of the summer (or if you're going to winterize the system) the insides will need to sprayed-out. Algae everywhere. Since it isn't potable, you could use bleach or something to keep the algae down. Don't forget to not have any holes open to direct air without a screen to keep out mosquitos.
I just found April Wilkerson and am really enjoying the videos. I am a somewhat experienced handyman, with a lot of tools. But you are making me get more because of all the cool finds - the Diablo hole saw collet is just another example. Thank you.
Not sure, but maybe a screen before the pump to stop trash from getting in. Just for a maybe, they're not expense but could save the pump. Looks GREAT can't wait to see how you like it. Thanks for sharing! Be safe, be cool! Beach, NC
My suggestion is, You have what looks like 4 inch down spouts , but the joining fittings on the bottom are 3/4 inch (I think that's what you said they were) the problem is, when you get a downpour the "first" tanks will fill very quickly and the water won't get through the joining pipes quick enough and water will come out of the top. My suggestion is join the tanks as high as possible as well with the same diameter pipe as the over flow. This way when the tanks fill up they will "overflow" into the next tank and so on, then overflow out onto the property. Also as regards to potable water, you have a couple of options 1/ There are chemicals you can add that will make the water drinkable (not my first choice), 2/ A twin filter system with a 1 micron sediment filter then a 1 micron silver carbon filter ( A carbon filter impregnated with silver) 3/ An ultraviolet system, = a twin system with both 1 micron and carbon filter (not silver carbon), the water runs trough the sediment filter, then a vessel which has a UV light in, then through the carbon filter, then the water will be good to drink. An R O system is really not designed for rain water.
Excellent as always. If you set it up so that the water from the first barrel filled the second barrel from a top of first barrel outlet, then set it up so that the second barrel flowed the same way to the third barrel that would help filter out a lot of heavy particals. An have an individual clean out outlet for each barrel placed on the bottom of each barrels lowest point you would get a lot cleaner water it would make your pump last longer and the incorporation of a first flow would make the whole system work better.
Glad you added a drain system for the entire capacity, you did mention that it was for yearly purge. My only suggestion is to keep northern climates in mind, here in Texas (and that even varies) north to south freeze 🥶 risk could destroy your system and be very costly.
If you capture the excess run off with half moon berms you can plant fruit trees and add a mulch to prevent evaporation. It will let the water sink in and be utilised by perennial fruit/nut producing plants you want and benefitting the local wildlife biodiversity.
Aloha, April! Perfect timing! I am soon installing a rain catchment system to direct water from my huge shop roof downhill to my garden. Thank you so much 🙂 I am planning to direct my overflow (torrential Hawaiian seasonal rain) into trenched PVC that will flow out down near the garden into a small lined pond I am going to dig as a place for my free-range chickens and wildlife to drink. The pond will also allow me to get a couple of guard geese (yay!). It might also allow me to try and grow watercress… The pond will need an overflow, too, so planning for that to be some kind of riprap. Speaking of which, I hope you don’t mind me putting in my two cents about your overflow: to prevent erosion, I suggest you consider building a small riprap to lead the water further away from your structure and slow and disperse the flow 😉
On the Diablo arbor with collet that is awesome. I had a big collection of hole saws bc the arbor would twist too tight to back it off & if I tried to with a wrench & screwdriver I'd mangle the holesaw. I solved the problem by buying an M12 impact wrench & some extra deep sockets & voila they came loose just like that!! It was then I was introduced to the Diablo system & that's where I live these days--no impact wrench required!!
That was indeed very helpful and I especially appreciate the implementation of dispersed barrels. Had seen that don't before, but it makes a lot of sense. Also, I hope you feel better soon.
As an Australian, living in the driest State in the driest Continent on Earth, I have been using Rainwater as My Primary water source, ever since My Arrival here back in 1967. Originally I’m a Londoner (England). Sure I’ve got City water now, but that hasn’t always been the case and My only problem with city water is the Chemicals which they add to it, to make it safe to drink. My last house (in which I lived for 28 Years) had Three Magnificently large Rainwater tanks, with one of them on a raised pedestal next to the house, gravity feeding to the Laundry, Bathroom and Kitchen. A first flush diversion system was added when that technology became popular. Before that We simply relied upon the tanks themselves to clean the water (stagnation allowing particulate matter to accumulate on the bottom of the Tank and water being taken at a point several Inches higher). An amount of Kerosene was always added to the tanks to prevent Mosquito larvae from breeding (& breathing). A simple Filtration System was also added when that technology became popular. And of course sometimes the water was boiled before use, (for Tea and Coffee) but more often than not, (Cordial) it wasn’t. I can understand that in some locations (industrialised nations) acid rain may make Rainwater less than palatable, but here in Adelaide, (South Australia) I’m very lucky to live in close proximity to the Indian Ocean (an excellent source for moist air) and the Adelaide Hills (most of Our rainfall being Orographic). Sometimes I think that people in our modern world overthink drinking water and worry about it too much. Please be sure to display “NOT POTABLE WATER” signs next to your Tap if your water quality is indeed subpar (and your Barrels weren’t Food Quality).
Man it's like this video ended with April reading my mind, only I don't have a place of my own for rain water collection or a garden. Maybe one day soon.
Never been more excited for it to rain now!! Good job April ! Love the energy. Esp when you were describing the hole saw design. Can relate to a tool hoarder when I see one 😂
Hey April, thanks for doing this project. I am in the process of redoing all 12 of my rain barrels in groups of four. My system is a little different but your methodical approach to projects is so good! I have been watching for awhile and your planning and execution skills are top notch.
You should join both the master drain and the overflow into one pipe so make it a cleaner look. Also might be worth adding in a one way Valve to the bottom of overflow to stop access into the system.
A great overview to rain water collection. You did a good job. I would include a first flush system to keep the water in the barrel as clean as possible. One day when you're ready to upgrade there are several filters that you can get to make your water potable. Well worth the money. I also enjoy having a quantity indicator to see how full my barrels are. A cork and piece of wire works fine but a 1/2" clear tubing mounted on a shady side of a barrel is better.
great stuff. you might consider adding a fitting and a capped pipe to the last barrel that way if you did want to expand with another barrel later, you wouldn't have to drain and disconnect barrels to do it. as long as your last barrel has a stub pipe and a shutoff coming out, it would make it easy to extend without disturbing the existing setup. Thanks again for a great video.
You should have used compression couplings between the barrels. In case you had to replace them or something. They are pricey as heck though but I think they’re worth it for maintenance purposes
I live in Austin and have a 7 tank, 5000 gal system I've been using for 10 years now and the one thing I've learned is first flush, first flush, first flush. Getting it right makes a huge difference. You REALLY don't want that first 20-30 gallons, especially if you plan on washing dishes because it's going to get ripe in a hurry. If you're just watering plants and the tank is somewhere you can't smell it you'd be fine.
My thoughts exactly. A bit more plumbing but the addition of a nipple, valve and union on each barrel would allow them to be plumbed into a manifold, also with a valve to cutoff the opening when a barrel is removed, and then any barrel could be removed at any time. Each barrel would be a standalone and feeding into the common piping via individually separable connections.
There are a lot of things that would make her systems more excellent, even professional. We don't subscribe for that. But for her enthusiasm and adventure, discovering something new. Even professionals can learn something from her. The rest of us ride on her coat tails. And it is a fun ride.
First off I love the water barrel setup. Great idea. Just a quick thought/question. Have you considered adding a pressure tank after the pump? Same setup you'd use with a well pump. That'll increase pressure and keep it consistent and minimize the pump running non stop when using the water. I'm living this build series by the way. It's great to see you back to the usual projects. This is going to be an amazing space when it's all done. I'm jealous of it already..lol!
My family and I live on an island of 7000 people, close to a major city in NZ, there is no water reticulation system on the island so we have lived with rainwater as the sole provider for our home, we use it for everything. The only 'filter' is a felt bag as the water enters the tank. The water we use is taken from about 8 inches below the surface in the tank using a 'floating intake' . We have 55000 litres of storage. all the gutters have a filter system within the gutter so that no significant debris gets through. We have a first flush system before the tank and a flip out take off on the downpipes when we clean the gutters. The pump is auto on/off whenever a tap is turned on. As to legionaries disease, the bacteria enters the body through the lungs so for us it is more likely to be acquired from the air eg. by opening bags of garden compost/soil etc
Very well done, Thanks. For those fittings hard to reach inside, using a "arm extender, reacher" us short people use in higher places; tape the nut to the hand of it... or use the cord and send it down pull the outside fitting out and try threading it on that way??
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but you may want to put a grate/mesh on the overflow pipe as well so nothing crawls up that way and into your barrels.
You actually will end up with over 400 gallons when you factor in the piping. Also, who knew adding a connection to a rain collection barrel would be a three person job?! :D Another awesome video April. This is a phenomenal project and loving the series!
I lived in Bermuda for a few years… holding tank under the house and rain water for EVERYTHING, including drinking water. If one ran out of water, then a tanker truck load had to be purchased.
Have you considered a pressure tank after the pump to prevent flow surges and constant pump cycling during water use. Lao, if given the chic I’d have tee’d the drain and overflow together before routing it downhill to the trees. PS, love your clear way of conveying great ideas to your general followers. 👍👍👍👍
Your 2 barrels in front will have to get fuller than your highest section of PVC under the deck before they start sharing water with the rest of the system. So that bottom foot or so of water in the front barrels will never be used. Nice build!
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Readly 👍👍
Didn't know not potable.
Make sure to paint that pvc that's exposed to sun. And put mesh over the overflow and drain pipes so you don't get critters in there
We always enjoying your video your so intelligence
Let the rains come! Would be interesting to see an update on how the huge shop rainwater collection system is performing
I was just gonna say the same thing lol
Don't forget to put a fine screen on the end of the overflow pipe. Keeps the vermin from crawling in looking for a place to live. Thanks for the video. Jon
Consider a first flush diverter. The first so many gallons of rain water won't be collected so that bird poop and other undesirable material wash off the roof first.
I looked into these for our remote cabin. We get a lot of drizzle and with these diverters low flow would be wasted. I ended up using 3 Rubbermaid trash cans where the floaters and sinkers don’t make it through. Then it runs into two 275 gallon tote tanks. Have been using it for about ten years. This is our water supply at our off road cabin. This system is at a place where the nearest road is about 6 miles so air contamination from a populated area with autos is not going to happen.
Agreed, nothing worse than washing your hands with water that has dust, dirt, and bird poop.
I'm so glad you found a simple and easy solution to the potential algae problem April. I'm also glad to hear this water is NOT DRINKING WATER.
Hey april plumber here...looks pretty good! that purple primer can get everywhere...if you hold the pipe so the side your priming is lowest you can avoid the ugly drips. also i use teflon tape and teflon paste on threads it basically guarantees its not going to leak...I think the barrels in the front should be slightly higher so it has fall and they will empty before the ones in the back. I could be wrong but my gut tells me the water in the front barrels is going to be stagnate.
You can use the water collected by your system for drinking or cooking you just need to boil the water or other wise treat it before using. Millions of people do this. Thanks for the video, I do enjoy your channel.
For many of your videos, I think, "Oh, that's really cool, I should learn this!" Then I realize ... I'm never going to do this. But you bring us in and treat us so much like family, and your calm style of narration is so engaging - I end up watching them all. I hope I get to visit Texas someday. More! Thanks
Small kids. Perfect for barrels and cleaning chimneys.
And getting the TV remote when you're in a really comfortable position but the remote is not near you. That's the whole reason I had kids! :D
@@BoomerKeith1 Backfired on me. One of them hides the remote so she has control
So if you ever need to hold the nuts to a fitting in a place you can't reach take some scrap wood and make a crescent wrench head or a square hole that fits tight against 4 sides of the nut. Then screw that to a 2x4 at a 90 degrees this will allow to to reach hold it still.
"water won't travel uphill without cause", truer words were never said.
Great quote! I think of the Holy Spirit/sin/forgiveness
Poop flows down hill pressurized water goes any where
@@nline2blast722 how about pressurised poop?
I like the look of the Rain Chains. I have never seen this before. It adds class to your Outdoor Kitchen April! Nicely Done!!!
If I had someone like you in the 80s, I'd have had such a great restoration business. I used to restore houses in town back to how they were when they were built, all the way to the original colors. You are one smart lady.
Maybe your whole crew. Y'all are awesome!
I was glad to see the barrels painted. I was thinking that as well. I learned that many, many years ago talking to a guy that ran a state lake for fishing. I asked him how he kept his lake floor clean and algae so low and he enlightened me on the process. I think he said block light to 18" or less and it can't grow well. Something along those lines.
You can make the rainwater potable with a small RO system, viola. U should have 1 micron filtration regardless
Almost; it is "voila"
@@TheHkluivert It isn't only the cellists who need water. Once in a while the others strings can be recognized....
@@TheHkluivert true, viola is the one you can have a famously successful career with after learning just 3 notes
I don't know how much rain you get in the summer but looking forward to an update when the system is working. Great job as usual.
Hi April, Wonderful explanation of the system and the comments raise interesting questions and issues about safe usage and sustainability. I’ll add two cents since our summer place used Lake Erie water for some thirty years. The plastics pipe is great for ease of set up and replacement. The smaller thickness of it, 3/4” and less, is quite likely to turn brittle and break when in the sun. I mean that when barrels get moved even a little the pvc is less forgiving after years of sun bake. Looks like the rear barrels are in the afternoon sun which I noticed while watching the hen out back walking through. Best of luck, and future set up could include an outdoor shower/wash station off the back.
One tip using a union fitting with the ball valve between each barrel allows you to completely remove/replace the barrel without having to cut the PVC
April, please heed the notes from folks mentioning the reverse osmosis and flush systems. Without proper filtering and treatment, captured rainwater is OK for watering plants, but that is about it. I'd hate for someone visiting you to casually take a sip of sink water on a hot day and get sick.
Thanks April. I appreciate this video and the skull sweat that went into installing this system. Many communities offer barrels and basic kits to capture and reuse rainwater. Wishing you and your team a great week. Peace
Great video April! It was a well thought out and designed installation. I installed a similar system starting in 2008 and upgraded it to the current five barrels a few years ago. I designed about 14 small fountains throughout the property and piped the rainwater to all of them. I rarely run low of water.
Your use of a larger diameter pipe (1 1/2” PVC?) is a great idea, I’m sure the water levels faster between barrels. Now I’m going to look into adding a pump to the system, great idea. What triggers the pump to turn on?
The rain chains are a nice touch, I love watching them in a storm. When there is a heavy water flow, they look like they are dancing!
Great job!
In addition to valves, PVC unions are your friend... allows you to easily remove a piece of the system without cutting.
There doesn't appear to be any job that's too big for you to handle, I love your enthusiasm and incredible "can-do" attitude!! Loveya T
I enjoyed watching you demonstrate the Diablo Hole Saw. That would put a smile on my face, too. Thanks for sharing this video with us.
Nice job. A few things I see wrong that should be added. First a screen filter before the pump. I know you have screens on the inlets, but generally speaking you want some kind of pre pump filter as close to the pump as possible. Next an accumulator tank after the pump will help even out the pressure when using the faucets. Lastly a 2 part cartridge filter under the sink. One for particulate and one carbon filter. I know it is not potable water, but these filters will keep the water you are using to wash much cleaner and take away some of the stagnant nasty smells. One thing to keep in mind is that the roof will have bird droppings on it and the rain will wash that into your water supply. Having the cartridge filters will help keep the undesirable stuff out. Granted the cartridge filters are usually a 5 or 10 micron filter, but they will work. If you want to go one step more, install a UV light in line to kill any bacteria in the line, but that is not 100% necessary. All this will cost maybe $200 and in my opinion, it is needed for the system. You most likely spent far more on it so far, so spend the extra coin and improve it. Thanks
Why not use the bungholes that are already there. One of the holes is threaded to accept regular pvc fittings
Respekt ! Du kannst einen immer wieder überraschen mit Deinen Ideen.
So proud! I do crazy acrobatics while DIYing all the time. But I'm not brave enough to video it!! Y'all rock.
4:45 chicken jump... awesome Idea on the getting the back of the bulkhead fitting all the down into the barrel 😀
The shutoff between the second and third black barrel is going to prevent the ability for overflow on the first barrels. If you want to use the shut off you will need a second overflow on barrel number two. Looks great.
Was gonna comment this myself!
April great job. An interesting tidbit about your barrels, Since you have decided to go with dark colors on the outside of the barrels to keep algae from forming, you always will have pleasantly warm water in those barrels. At least you should in the Texas Summer.
love this April. I have a smaller rain barrel and have discovered fine particulates get in the barrels over time. Therefore I put my pickup slightly off the bottom so as not to suck up that into the pump. Then once a year when I drain everything I also wash that particulate matter out. I didn't see but I hope you confirmed your overflow was lower than the top of the front decorative barrels. You've built a beautiful outdoor kitchen and I've loved following along with the build.
I have a rainwater collection system for my livestock tank, my goat barn, and my chicken coop. All are gravity fed. Next on my agenda is a rainwater collection system for me. I will be using IBC totes and will be using the shallow well pump and pressure tank from Harbor Freight. It will be nice to finally have running water in my house, AND be able to take a REAL shower!
I don't know if you considered using food grade IBC Totes, but those are only about $70 and hold 350 gallons and can be stacked. I have A long row of them stacked and I can easily run the sprinklers for the yard and garden. A good rain will fill them up easily. You should measure the square feet of the roof over the kitchen. This will help you determine how much water you can collect per inch of rain. Remove any and all cedar trees when you can. They are not native to Texas and suck up tremendous amounts of water on your land. Look at the collection system of the Ladybird Johnson Wildlife center. That sort of thing would look great on your place.
Great system April.
You could also add chemical to prevent algae.
That would also 'purify' your wash water.
Great video!
What a cool idea to use both the rain barrels and the decorative urns to give your viewers ideas. This is a nice addition to the huge rainwater collection system you documented earlier and as water continues in short supply everyone should be thinking about ways to maintain access to water. This water can easily be made drinkable with a variety of filters and filter jugs or, if needed, a chemical treatment.
A swimming pool bulkhead may have been a cheaper option for a larger diameter to connect the rear barrels.
You have 4X downspouts feeding the 4X barrels and only 1X overflow pipe to drain the excess. Once the barrels are all full during a heavy rain, the 1X overflow may not be able to keep up and then the barrel with the lowest top will overflow.
We've done a ton of rainwater barrel setups. With a 4" in, you need a 4" out. A gullywasher will overwhelm your 3/4
lines and overflow will come back out the inlet. You need an overflow the same diameter as the inlet. With two inlets, you'll need twice that size as an overflow. You'll see the first time you get a frog-choker rain. I put valves at each barrel with a union between. Lets you work on (or clean out) each barrel individually (options). Also, the line going to the pump should be off the side, not the bottom, about 2-4" off the bottom to prevent sediment getting into the pump. If this is water off a shingled roof, you'll get shingle sand in it. At the end of the summer (or if you're going to winterize the system) the insides will need to sprayed-out. Algae everywhere. Since it isn't potable, you could use bleach or something to keep the algae down. Don't forget to not have any holes open to direct air without a screen to keep out mosquitos.
Hopefully you'll give us action shots when it rains and you can tell us how well it all works.
I appreciate your energy and your inventiveness.
: ) Well thank you
I just found April Wilkerson and am really enjoying the videos. I am a somewhat experienced handyman, with a lot of tools. But you are making me get more because of all the cool finds - the Diablo hole saw collet is just another example. Thank you.
Now I understand so many random instagram photos I saw! (especially the one where you tried to get inside the front containers!)
Not sure, but maybe a screen before the pump to stop trash from getting in. Just for a maybe, they're not expense but could save the pump. Looks GREAT can't wait to see how you like it. Thanks for sharing! Be safe, be cool! Beach, NC
My Aunt lives outside of George town and has a similar system and works great. She uses it for irrigation, you look to be in the same type of terrain.
My suggestion is, You have what looks like 4 inch down spouts , but the joining fittings on the bottom are 3/4 inch (I think that's what you said they were) the problem is, when you get a downpour the "first" tanks will fill very quickly and the water won't get through the joining pipes quick enough and water will come out of the top. My suggestion is join the tanks as high as possible as well with the same diameter pipe as the over flow. This way when the tanks fill up they will "overflow" into the next tank and so on, then overflow out onto the property.
Also as regards to potable water, you have a couple of options 1/ There are chemicals you can add that will make the water drinkable (not my first choice), 2/ A twin filter system with a 1 micron sediment filter then a 1 micron silver carbon filter ( A carbon filter impregnated with silver) 3/ An ultraviolet system, = a twin system with both 1 micron and carbon filter (not silver carbon), the water runs trough the sediment filter, then a vessel which has a UV light in, then through the carbon filter, then the water will be good to drink. An R O system is really not designed for rain water.
Great info, particularly your second paragraph. Thanks for your comment - thumbs up.
Excellent as always. If you set it up so that the water from the first barrel filled the second barrel from a top of first barrel outlet, then set it up so that the second barrel flowed the same way to the third barrel that would help filter out a lot of heavy particals. An have an individual clean out outlet for each barrel placed on the bottom of each barrels lowest point you would get a lot cleaner water it would make your pump last longer and the incorporation of a first flow would make the whole system work better.
Glad you added a drain system for the entire capacity, you did mention that it was for yearly purge. My only suggestion is to keep northern climates in mind, here in Texas (and that even varies) north to south freeze 🥶 risk could destroy your system and be very costly.
Great ideas! Save water!
Good to see Inspector Chicken on duty.
Glad you liked it! Yes, she has to have her approval on every step. She takes her Inspector Chicken title very serious. :)
I literally yelled 'chicken' at my TV. :D
If you capture the excess run off with half moon berms you can plant fruit trees and add a mulch to prevent evaporation. It will let the water sink in and be utilised by perennial fruit/nut producing plants you want and benefitting the local wildlife biodiversity.
That Crescent speed square is very cool!
Aloha, April! Perfect timing! I am soon installing a rain catchment system to direct water from my huge shop roof downhill to my garden. Thank you so much 🙂
I am planning to direct my overflow (torrential Hawaiian seasonal rain) into trenched PVC that will flow out down near the garden into a small lined pond I am going to dig as a place for my free-range chickens and wildlife to drink. The pond will also allow me to get a couple of guard geese (yay!). It might also allow me to try and grow watercress… The pond will need an overflow, too, so planning for that to be some kind of riprap. Speaking of which, I hope you don’t mind me putting in my two cents about your overflow: to prevent erosion, I suggest you consider building a small riprap to lead the water further away from your structure and slow and disperse the flow 😉
Thanks for all you do - so fun to watch you work. Love to see people have fun working
Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching.
On the Diablo arbor with collet that is awesome. I had a big collection of hole saws bc the arbor would twist too tight to back it off & if I tried to with a wrench & screwdriver I'd mangle the holesaw. I solved the problem by buying an M12 impact wrench & some extra deep sockets & voila they came loose just like that!! It was then I was introduced to the Diablo system & that's where I live these days--no impact wrench required!!
That was indeed very helpful and I especially appreciate the implementation of dispersed barrels. Had seen that don't before, but it makes a lot of sense.
Also, I hope you feel better soon.
As an Australian, living in the driest State in the driest Continent on Earth, I have been using Rainwater as My Primary water source, ever since My Arrival here back in 1967.
Originally I’m a Londoner (England).
Sure I’ve got City water now, but that hasn’t always been the case and My only problem with city water is the Chemicals which they add to it, to make it safe to drink.
My last house (in which I lived for 28 Years) had Three Magnificently large Rainwater tanks, with one of them on a raised pedestal next to the house, gravity feeding to the Laundry, Bathroom and Kitchen.
A first flush diversion system was added when that technology became popular.
Before that We simply relied upon the tanks themselves to clean the water (stagnation allowing particulate matter to accumulate on the bottom of the Tank and water being taken at a point several Inches higher).
An amount of Kerosene was always added to the tanks to prevent Mosquito larvae from breeding (& breathing).
A simple Filtration System was also added when that technology became popular.
And of course sometimes the water was boiled before use, (for Tea and Coffee) but more often than not, (Cordial) it wasn’t.
I can understand that in some locations (industrialised nations) acid rain may make Rainwater less than palatable, but here in Adelaide, (South Australia) I’m very lucky to live in close proximity to the Indian Ocean (an excellent source for moist air) and the Adelaide Hills (most of Our rainfall being Orographic).
Sometimes I think that people in our modern world overthink drinking water and worry about it too much.
Please be sure to display “NOT POTABLE WATER” signs next to your Tap if your water quality is indeed subpar (and your Barrels weren’t Food Quality).
Good job love what you do. Perhaps use fine mesh over the overflow outlet to stop nasties coming in?👍
Very cool and very creative🤙🏾💯. You’re looking great too April!❤️...Thanks for sharing...
They have very cost effective camping on demand gas water heaters now. May be worth a look for this system.
If you want to make that water potable inexpensively, look into a Berkey Water Purification system. Game changer for rain water use.
Man it's like this video ended with April reading my mind, only I don't have a place of my own for rain water collection or a garden. Maybe one day soon.
This'll be great for if/when I move out of a state with rain water collection and use restrictions.
Thanks for sharing with us April, like the idea of rain collection. Fred.🙏🏻🙏🏻👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👋👋
🤔 hm! Not a bad idea...😎
I definitely want to see a video once it rains.
Love the design and structure.
Thanks! Glad you like it!
Never been more excited for it to rain now!! Good job April ! Love the energy. Esp when you were describing the hole saw design. Can relate to a tool hoarder when I see one 😂
Thanks for watching!
such a neat combination of craftmanship and engineering! smashing it
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the Build Series. Thanks for watching.
Hey April, thanks for doing this project. I am in the process of redoing all 12 of my rain barrels in groups of four. My system is a little different but your methodical approach to projects is so good! I have been watching for awhile and your planning and execution skills are top notch.
Thanks so much!
You should look into Uniseal fittings, easier than trying to climb in the barrel.
Great for low pressure connections using closed top barrels...
You should join both the master drain and the overflow into one pipe so make it a cleaner look. Also might be worth adding in a one way Valve to the bottom of overflow to stop access into the system.
You might have found those fittings at a feed store, they are used in rubbermaid livestock water tanks
Hello brother 👍👍
Having a lower flow inlet than the outlet will keep lighter materials ( oils ) from the environment away from the downstream barrels.
Don't forget about doing freeze protection for next winter. Draining the system is the best way if you know a freeze is coming.
Best descriptive videos ever this will work out for my summer house in Northern Michigan. Keep making video thank you thank you for the information.
Drill a couple of small holes at the top of your over flow elbow. This will prevent a vacuum forming and possibly draining most of your water.
A great overview to rain water collection. You did a good job. I would include a first flush system to keep the water in the barrel as clean as possible. One day when you're ready to upgrade there are several filters that you can get to make your water potable. Well worth the money. I also enjoy having a quantity indicator to see how full my barrels are. A cork and piece of wire works fine but a 1/2" clear tubing mounted on a shady side of a barrel is better.
I've had a bosh hole saw arbor for about 7 years with the same design, really great apart from the guide drill falls out which is annoying
great stuff. you might consider adding a fitting and a capped pipe to the last barrel that way if you did want to expand with another barrel later, you wouldn't have to drain and disconnect barrels to do it. as long as your last barrel has a stub pipe and a shutoff coming out, it would make it easy to extend without disturbing the existing setup. Thanks again for a great video.
Great ideas April 👏👍!
I'll add this one to my bucket lists thanks for sharing!
You should have used compression couplings between the barrels. In case you had to replace them or something. They are pricey as heck though but I think they’re worth it for maintenance purposes
Union fitting is cheaper and does the same job
@@emritramharracksingh yep, you’re correct. I’m just used to compression couplings for irrigation repairs. Thanks for the reply man. Cheers.
I live in Austin and have a 7 tank, 5000 gal system I've been using for 10 years now and the one thing I've learned is first flush, first flush, first flush. Getting it right makes a huge difference. You REALLY don't want that first 20-30 gallons, especially if you plan on washing dishes because it's going to get ripe in a hurry. If you're just watering plants and the tank is somewhere you can't smell it you'd be fine.
When you have to modify the connections between 'glued' PVC lines think 'Union Connector'.
My thoughts exactly. A bit more plumbing but the addition of a nipple, valve and union on each barrel would allow them to be plumbed into a manifold, also with a valve to cutoff the opening when a barrel is removed, and then any barrel could be removed at any time. Each barrel would be a standalone and feeding into the common piping via individually separable connections.
There are a lot of things that would make her systems more excellent, even professional. We don't subscribe for that. But for her enthusiasm and adventure, discovering something new. Even professionals can learn something from her. The rest of us ride on her coat tails. And it is a fun ride.
Make sure you put a screen over the overflow pipe to prevent critters from entering the system.
First off I love the water barrel setup. Great idea.
Just a quick thought/question. Have you considered adding a pressure tank after the pump? Same setup you'd use with a well pump. That'll increase pressure and keep it consistent and minimize the pump running non stop when using the water.
I'm living this build series by the way. It's great to see you back to the usual projects. This is going to be an amazing space when it's all done. I'm jealous of it already..lol!
Hi April! Stunning! Thanks, just a suggestion- your overflow and drainage pipe need a net at the outlets to stop frogs or other creatures ...
April, another great video but now my wife wants an outdoor kitchen.
My family and I live on an island of 7000 people, close to a major city in NZ, there is no water reticulation system on the island so we have lived with rainwater as the sole provider for our home, we use it for everything. The only 'filter' is a felt bag as the water enters the tank. The water we use is taken from about 8 inches below the surface in the tank using a 'floating intake' . We have 55000 litres of storage. all the gutters have a filter system within the gutter so that no significant debris gets through. We have a first flush system before the tank and a flip out take off on the downpipes when we clean the gutters. The pump is auto on/off whenever a tap is turned on. As to legionaries disease, the bacteria enters the body through the lungs so for us it is more likely to be acquired from the air eg. by opening bags of garden compost/soil etc
Very well done, Thanks. For those fittings hard to reach inside, using a "arm extender, reacher" us short people use in higher places; tape the nut to the hand of it... or use the cord and send it down pull the outside fitting out and try threading it on that way??
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but you may want to put a grate/mesh on the overflow pipe as well so nothing crawls up that way and into your barrels.
You actually will end up with over 400 gallons when you factor in the piping. Also, who knew adding a connection to a rain collection barrel would be a three person job?! :D Another awesome video April. This is a phenomenal project and loving the series!
Glad you are enjoying the Series. Thanks for watching!
The diablo hole saw can also go onto an impact...nice
I lived in Bermuda for a few years… holding tank under the house and rain water for EVERYTHING, including drinking water. If one ran out of water, then a tanker truck load had to be purchased.
More of the same great work we have come to expect from you April. Great job. First flush diverter might be a good idea though.
Very worth while system! Thanks for the inspiration!
Im waiting for the DECK system to make it for the mid-size pick up like my 2009 for ranger and the S-10
Great job looks nice should help a lot with your water. Thanks 😊!!
uniseals are cheaper alternative to bulk heads and work great on a radius like your 55 gallon drum
You don't necessarily need the pump for the hose bib, since it's close to the level of the tanks.
Have you considered a pressure tank after the pump to prevent flow surges and constant pump cycling during water use. Lao, if given the chic I’d have tee’d the drain and overflow together before routing it downhill to the trees.
PS, love your clear way of conveying great ideas to your general followers. 👍👍👍👍
Your 2 barrels in front will have to get fuller than your highest section of PVC under the deck before they start sharing water with the rest of the system. So that bottom foot or so of water in the front barrels will never be used. Nice build!
Where did you find the recycled barrels so cheap?? 10 bucks?? 😯