The purpose of the rain barrel is to collect the rain water from your roof via the eavestroughs and into a big barrel located next to your house so that you can water your garden plants. Rain Barrels come in all shapes and sizes from 30 gallon barrels to 150 gallon barrels. You can link smaller ones together so that one over flows into the next. Some barrels are absolutely beautiful and others look like recycled restaurant pickle barrels (likely because they are!). Below is an inexpensive rain barrel sold at Costco.
Of course, as with anything, you get what you pay for. Cheap is cheap. These rain barrels are all thin plastic and not very durable. There are several important factors to think of before you install your rain barrel.
1. Buy a quality rain barrel! The rain barrel above is all thin plastic. The barrel, the overflow hose, and the hose tap is all plastic. Connect your metal hose to the rain barrel often enough and it is bound to strip. Like I say, the rain barrel like the one pictured above is not made to last. The one I like the best and is of incredible quality is a rain barrel made by Riversides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can visit their website for more information http://www.riversides.org Riversides rain barrels are beautiful and made of very think recycled plastic. The have metal hose bibs and their overflow is a direct extension of your downpipe. The are also VERY easy to winterize! Not to mention they hold a whopping 132 gallons of water. Below is a Riversides Rain Barrel:
2. Where not to place a rain barrel! To place a rain barrel near a window well or a patio door is probably not a very good idea! Keep in mind that if you get a series of heavy rains, the rain barrel is going to fill up and over flow before you can use the water. You do not want to have all that water overflowing from the rain barrel and into your house! The rain barrel must have a functioning overflow hose. That overflow hose must take the water away from your house just like a downpipe extension on an eavestrough.
3. Where to place a rain barrel! Remember, you want to water your garden plants. So try and remember to place the barrel as close to the plants you want to water. Again, look at the above picture. I'd say that the rain barrel would have been better located closer to those plants if there is an eavestrough downspout closer to them.
4. Rain barrels work on gravity. The Costco rain barrel above is sitting squarely on the ground. Trying to water the garden plants with this rain barrel will be a challenge, if not impossible!
Recently, I and my son, Daniel Leytham, installed a rain barrel for my mother in law. We chose a good location, near her garden plants, with good drainage.
First, we dug a hole and filled it with gravel.
We dug the hole about 3 ft deep. Then I placed blocks on top with patio stones.
You can see how we raised it about two feet off the ground so that gravity will do its job. However, when we were done, my mother in law did not like the look of the concrete blocks so I recommended some new shrubs that would hide the blocks.
Rain barrels are an awesome creation. I will be writing another article on rain barrels soon when I install the one I bought for my house. At The Eavestrough Company, we help homeowners all the time with advice on installing new rain barrels. For all your eavestrough needs, contact The Eavestrough Company at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com
