2 jobs that should be simple but... rain gutter and barrel rant.

[dream weaver]

Rain harvest system

Oh sure. Sounds real simple.

Rain Gutters

Oh Sure. Sounds real simple.

Rain gutters are simple unless you have tilted fascia boards and you didn't know they needed flashing until after you install them. Even with youtube I seemed to make these two tasks as difficult as possible. The outcome was good, up to now, but required more effort than I imagined and I still have to put in another 20 ft of gutters.

I'm trying to equalize the pressure in the 55gal poly sealed rain barrels (not stacked.) I have 1/4" vinyl tubing with grommets, elbows and tees, but its a sealed system so the pressure can get relatively high. not sure how high tho. Never put 1/4" vinyl tubing w/ grommets to the test.

Anyone that worked with a sealed system? I'm trying to avoid an overflow. I could put an overflow on the 1st barrel if there is no other alternative thereby eliminating the water pressure at the top of the barrel. An overflow seems to be the simpler alternative.

dw

[trader_4]

How can you wind up with high pressure in a gravity fed rain barrel? I don't understand the pressure problem and having a sealed system is nuts, because as water comes in, air has to go out. I suppose 1/4" for interconnection could work, but I would have used

1/2" or larger, why use something small that's easier to get plugged up?

Unless you have barrel capacity to take the worst case possible rain fall, it would seem you need an overflow so the water goes somewhere planned.

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

I'm glad to see your posting. Thinking about doing the same thing here before the rainy season. Sounds like you have put a lot of thought into this. Can you sketch out your system and upload to tinypic.com?

[dream weaver]

I'm posting the barrels as we speak but if your doing gutters this guy does a good job BUT he doesn't mention the flashing. I followed his instructions and the gutter is great minus the flashing. Mine is tilted which complicates things a bit but if your fascia is flat his method is pretty bomber. You don't need to use rivets on the drainage. Some of the other stuff he does is pretty funny to. His drain on one of the small gutters looks kind of Escher-ish. I use tin snips but mostly a cheap BD jig saw w/ sharp blades. worked fine

Just please don't forget flashing. The way I did it was comical but it's still good.

[dadiOH]

+1

[dream weaver]

I've been through two good sized rains and this is my verdict:

MANIFOLD TUBES:

On mine i should have stepped all the hose sizes up. The 3/4" for the bottom manifold is too small for a quick clean out and the 1/4" air transfer manifold isn't big enough for a couple of reasons.

1) the air probably doesn't transfer fast enough and

2) it can be your de facto overflow, if you need one.

I see why people like pvc but I like tubing for convince. The good PVC setups have expensive unions that don't seem to be necessary. A hose clamp works here just as good. Plus, gluing stuff is too permanent for me. When I do my next project I'm going with 1" or greater for the bottom manifold.

SWIRL VS FIRST FLUSH FILTER

The 3 gal swirl filter is too small, as predicted, but it can serve as a leaf catcher by putting a weir grid over the 55gal intake (inside the swirl) and submerging the intake.

A media bag can then be attached to the pipe that goes into the first barrel.

It looks like to me, first flush is probably best before a real swirl filter. A swirl filter can be made of the primary 55gal drum. If the drum is on a separate outlet and the manifold is extended to the top of the tank you can drain the first tank in one to two weeks and hold the filtered water for later. I've seen setups like this on massive harvesting systems.

If you need a smaller swirl there are some pretty good examples on youtube and probably some real crappy ones. I'd recommend starting at 5 or 10 gal bucket plus a water jug upside down in the bottom like some of the youtube examples and it's probably too much work for most.

dw