Location of butt

[Stephen Gower]

|........|___________. * = Current downspout | |O | [] = Waste water drain S | | Our | O = ideal location of Butt t | House [] Garden | r | | | e |_ \_____| \_________| e * t ,________. | Garage | Other | | Garden We have a ground floor flat with a garden to the rear. The main "front" door is on the side of the house, opposite the side of a garage. The passageway between house and garage has the downpipe from the gutter going straight into the ground. There is not room in the passageway for a waterbutt.

We'd like to put a waterbutt in the corner of our garden. This could either be fed by a long feed pipe high up around the edge of the house, or from a new downpipe directly above the butt.

The problem is overflow. Any overflow pipe back to the current downpipe would have to be above the height of the house windows, and so above the height of the butt! We could overflow into the main sewer, but I don't think that's allowed (the sewer can't really cope with the sewage from the 4 flats, let alone a lot of rainwater!)

Any bright ideas?

[Mary Fisher]

If you want to save water for the garden you can do several things.

We bought (from Lidl) a timer to fit on the hose which was attached to the butt which collects water from the back of the house roof by a diverter from the down pipe. The timer has not been fitted. We haven't had enough rain this year :-(

We bought (from Aldi) a perforated hose which is laid round the greenhouse borders and is attached to the hose which is attached to the butt. The butt tap has been on permanently this year. That's a real boon for the greenhouse crops. When it does rain.

Today I've ordered (from Yorkshire Water) a second and third butt which will take water from the roof at the front of the house. This will be linked to the first butt and eventually to the third butt which will be further down the garden. By linking them the water stays at the same level throughout the system and can be used from any one.

There's no trouble with overflow.

Mary

Selah

[Christian McArdle]

You could put a soakaway as the overflow from the butt. Viability depends on soil condition and garden design.

Christian.

[PC Paul]

Still waiting for the 'Location of elbow' thread to match this one..

[Mary Fisher]

In our case it goes on the outlet of the butt and where the perforated hose meets the unperforated one ...

But you didn't want to know that ...

Mary

[bigcat]

Since it can in some cases cause subsidence problems, I would not be too tempted.

NT

[Calvin]

Look around at the different designs of diverter fitting. At least one (branded "Rainsaver" I think) is a pipe about twice the diameter of the downpipe with a 20mm or so boss on the side to which you fit hose. The other end of the hose goes to the water butt. If you fit this diverter properly *at the same height as the top of the butt* then as the butt fills the water level in the hose rises too and when the butt is full the diverter is also full so no more water enters the butt, it just goes down the original downpipe. Neat? I thought so too.

[Mary Fisher]

I thought they were all designed to do that, ours do.

Mary

>

[Stephen Gower]

That's the sort I've seen. It's no good for my situation (unless anyone knows better) because I can't locate the butt right next to the downpipe, and I can't run a pipe at the same height as the butt without obscuring the windows. I could add a second downpipe if there was a way of blocking it off when the butt is full so that any further water goes down the original downpipe. I'll work on a Heath Robinson contraption that does this if no-one knows of an easier solution!

[P.R.Brady]

Why not? If you had the pipe __ends__ at the same level but the pipe running underneath the widow, won't it syphon? Phil

[Stephen Gower]

Sorry, should have said "windows and door" - the only real route for a pipe is over the top of these, higher than we really want the butt to be for aesthetic reasons. Actually, aesthetics (and my wife's veto) may be another reason why a pipe running halfway round the outside of the house is not an option.

[Mary Fisher]

Can you not install a second down pipe in a convenient position for a butt?

Mary

[fred]

I think you're right but don't think it's a syphon (the hose doesn't rise above the source). The hose from the diverter could drop to ground level then rise to a tank connector high on the butt. Actually the tank connector needn't be high on the butt but it would save a flood if the hose got disconnected.

[Suz]

Can you not find it with both hands???

Sorry, couldn't resist any longer.

[Stephen Gower]

I'll set them up...

[bigcat]

2 maybes I can think of:

1. Install the smallest possible water container where the downpipe is, and link it to the main one via hose at or below ground level. Preferably large dia hose.

2. Use a tank float switch and pump, hooking up to a trap on the downpipe - this you can put and run at any height.

NT