RE: [GBlist] rainbarrels?

[Brenda Norman <bnorman@ceiarchitecture.com>]

Susannah,
we have a half-barrel design at our complex, meant to sit vertically 
against a wall, there's two taps, one at the base for a hose, and one 
further up for filling a watering can.  There are some limitations to the 
system, and some things it does very well.
limitations:
*not enough pressure to operate a (non rotary/no motion) sprinkler, the 
bottom of the barrel is ~6' above the yard.
*if the half-barrel is not flush against a wall, it deforms.
*it's not particularly attractive.
advantages:
*it provides ample water for hand watering potted plants.
*we consider it an emergency water supply (our roof is a 20 year old cedar 
shake roof, when we get the aluminum roof I mentioned in another email, I 
will consider it even safer to use).
*it may work well with a drip hose system.

This is the first season we've had the barrel, and while it can't be used 
with the sprinkler, I'm hoping it will work with the drip system we're 
planning to get as less pressure is required.  The 1/2 barrel design is 
supposed to make it less conspicuous because it can sit right next to the 
building, however our footing prevents this, so we've had some problems 
with the mid-section deforming because it doesn't have proper support. One 
of the owners objected to it because was 'ugly', so I disguised it by 
placing potted ivy on the top of the barrel, the ivy climbs up a trellis 
hiding the downspout (the downspout trellis is available on-line from Lee 
Valley Hardware 
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10442&category=2,33286&abs  
page=1&ccurrency=1&SID= , or go to www.leevalley.com , click the 'garden' 
tab, and look under 'trellises' if the link above is broken) and falls down 
around the sides covering the rest of the barrel.  Not surprisingly its the 
same person that objected to the metal roof who had a problem with the 
appearance of the rain barrel.
Because of the deformation, next time I would go with a full barrel 
vertical design.  Lee Valley (whom I have no association with) also carries 
these (35" high). I found the second higher tap for filling watering cans 
to be especially useful on our rain barrel (which was provided at a 
subsidized cost from the city of Vancouver), and we never run out of water, 
even over this last record dry/hot summer.
There's more than you ever wanted to know about rain barrels...
Brenda


-----Original Message-----
From:	susannah@cyber-dyne.com [SMTP:susannah@cyber-dyne.com]
Sent:	Friday, September 20, 2002 8:42 AM
To:	greenbuilding@crest.org
Subject:	[GBlist] rainbarrels?

Hello folks --
A garden design client has requested one of those rainbarrel-type water
cachement systems that collect water from a downspout and have an outlet
where a garden hose can attach.  I tried to gently point out that in our
western Oregon climate (no rainfall at all in the watering season), serious 
water collection requires a bigger reservoir -- like a septic tank -- and
that the cost of a little system would be more effectively spent
elsewhere... but it's what the client wants :-).  Does anyone have any
experience with any of the many off-the-shelf systems?  It would be great
to hear of ones that are particularly good or bad.  There are two locations 
available -- one about 3' high and 4' wide, which could accommodate a
single horizontally-oriented barrel, or two vertical ones, and another
location for a smaller vertical system -- so, between the two, pretty much
any system could be worked in.
Thanks a bunch,
-- Susannah
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