Rainbarrel, Leader, Gutter question

I put a rainbarrel in the backyard and used a diverter to move some water from the leader into the barrel, It rained hard yesterday, filled the entire barrel, and overflowed somewhat even though the diverter does sort of do the job of letting the overflow go down the leader. I know that it isn't a good idea to let water flow around the foundation.

Not a big problem since one simple solution is to drill a small hole in a lower part of the leader and run a hose from the overflow of the barrel back into the leader. But I got curious about just where the leader actually takes the water.

It goes into a ceramic (?) pipe that extends maybe two inches above the ground and is about six inches in diameter. The leader goes into it and is sealed with something, at least on top appearing to be just earth.

I'm guessing it connects to the house piping and then maybe the sewer? I don't see any pipes in that area of the basement though, so perhaps it's a direct link to the sewer, although that's at the front of the house. Also, there is a drain at the base of the steps leading into the basement from the backyard that supposedly goes to a dry well but I don't know that for sure, logically it would connect to wherever the leader goes.

I was pretty surprised how quickly that barrel filled, it's 55 gallons. I might hook another one up to the first one since it's just a garbage can with a hose shoved into it. The cost of water has been going up very fast over the last few years so it seems like a good way to water the lawn and tomatoes without running up the bill.

Reply to
dgk
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Hi, We have barrels at 4 corners of the house. Never had over flow problem. We keep drawing the water from the barrel into other storage tanks as well. Been doing this for years. House plants thrives on rain water.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

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