Water Butt

As we all know there is no drought, only water companies incapable of keeping hold of the water we have.

I can't be rssssed with hosepipe bans, so I'm thinking of keeping hold of my own.

Has anyone else installed a water butt on their guttering downpipes?

Do you ever need to let water run out in heavy rain, or does it have an overflow? What diameter would the overflow need to be to cope with heavy rain off the roof of a detached house? What if I used half the roof of a double garage?

I'd like to be able to connect a jet washer, does it get dirty? i.e. you need a filter in the bottom?

If your a Northerner offering water for sale, pizz off to one of the other threads

[tigersaw]

yes.
You put a diverter into the gutter pipe, once the butt is full it stops diverting and the water continues to the drain.
Not connected the jet washer, but I reckon it would need something, the water is pretty grubby.

If you estimate the area of the one side of the roof you want to use, ie approx 12sq metres, multiply that by approx rainfall for a day, 5mm, which should equate to 6 litres (in volume).

So I think the water butts are 100 litres, so you'd need approx 16mm of rainfall to fill the butt from that one area of roof.

Hope this makes sense

[Bri w]

We've got plenty up here... and we're not selling it

Chase me big boy!

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by tigersaw

yes.
You put a diverter into the gutter pipe, once the butt is full it stops diverting and the water continues to the drain.
Not connected the jet washer, but I reckon it would need something, the water is pretty grubby.

This

I have a diverter on my main house roof and it fills a butt very quickly. You need to cut the diverter in to your downpipe at the right height though or it will overflow. The instructions on mine were very vague but an extra paving slab under the butt and it was fine. Have considered using a large tank to feed a porous pipe irrigation system on my veg patch - might be time to invest in one, and a pump to get the water up to it at the far end of the garden...

Can you not put an inline filter on your jetwash infeed? See no reason why you can't use a butt for this.

[pookie]

I find the water butt collectors that go around the down pipe arent very effective. I divert then straight into the hole in the lid. I also drilled a hole near the top of the butt to fit a water butt tap, attach a hose that feeds back into drain the guttering was feeding to manage the over flow much like a sink. or I guess feed another butt.

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by specialone

If you estimate the area of the one side of the roof you want to use, ie approx 12sq metres, multiply that by approx rainfall for a day, 5mm, which should equate to 6 litres (in volume).

So I think the water butts are 100 litres, so you'd need approx 16mm of rainfall to fill the butt from that one area of roof.

Hope this makes sense

12 sq metres * 0.005 metres rain = 0.06 sq metres of water = 60 litres

water butts are about 200 litres, which would be about 3/4 inch of rain.

I dont know how big my roof is, but a good chuck down will fill it from empty.

If I could disguise it I'd be tempted to get a 1000L IBC tank, I can use 200L pretty quickly in the garden.

Ours is only a small one at 80litre IIRC, I've attached this one to the workshop roof (2.75x3.45m). We use it regularly but it still overflows, same as Pookie I've tapped in a small 32mm dia pipe which junctions out the back of the butt and directs flow back towards the gully.

The only conern I'd have with the jetwash (assuming you've sorted the filtering issue (fish tank filter maybe) would be the pressure of the water leaving the water butt. Normally a jetwash is surcharged by the pressure in your taps but if you hook it up to a water butt and you're counting purely on the hydraulic head within the butt. Remember jetwash's are designed to push water not pull it, you'll kill the mech if you dont surcharge the washer unit sufficently.

[punyXpress]

Mount the butt just below the gutter?
Then you'll get good pressure from the head.

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by punyXpress

Mount the butt just below the gutter?
Then you'll get good pressure from the head.

yea but, waters heavy. 200l = 200kg. thats a big shelf.

You could dig a deep hole and take your bike there to wash it