Rain barrels trap rainwater.
Storm water runoff causes many problems. It can lead to flooding, spread pollution by absorbing pollutants as it flows and is often a waste of water, as the water runs off before it can be absorbed in the ground and used by plants. You can help ease this problem by trapping the water in rain barrels. This not only helps with these problems, it provides a free source of water you can use on your plants during the hot, dry days of summer. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Drill a hole in the barrel about 1 inch from the bottom with a 3/4-inch drill bit.
2. Drill an overflow hole about 2 inches from the top of the barrel that is about 1 5/8 inches wide. Place the overflow hole on the side of the barrel where you want to direct the overflow.
3. Place the atrium grate on the top of the barrel's cover and trace the outline of the atrium grate onto the cover of the barrel with a marker. Cut a hole in the cover with a jigsaw or router, using the tracing as a guide. The atrium grate is used to prevent twigs and debris from going into the barrel.
4. Remove the downspout by drilling through the rivets that connect it to the elbow joint that extends from the rain gutter and unscrew the screws in the brackets that hold it against the side of the house. Place two cinder blocks next to each other on the ground where you are installing the rain barrel.
5. Place the rain barrel on top of the cinder blocks and place the atrium grate on top of the barrel.
6. Measure and cut a piece of flexible corrugated plastic pipe to fit between the atrium grate and the bottom of the gutter directly over the barrel. Place the end of the tape measure against the bottom of the gutter and extend the tape measure to the base of the atrium grate. Read the number on the tape measure, which gives you the length the corrugated pipe needs to be.
7. Screw a 1/2-inch male PVC adapter into the bottom drain hole, then remove it. This creates a threaded groove in the hole.
8. Wrap the threads of the PVC adapter with Teflon tape. Wrap the tape tightly around the threads, then apply waterproof sealant to the threads on the hole in the barrel. Screw the adapter into the hole and allow it to set for 24 hours.
9. Insert a 1 1/4-inch male threaded coupling into the overflow hole from the inside and screw a 1 1/4-inch female barbed fitting onto the male coupling from the outside.
10. Connect a 5-foot long garden hose to the bottom fitting and attach a 3/4-inch by 1/2-inch PVC male adapter to the other end of the hose. This will be the spigot.
11. Connect a 5-foot long drain hose to the overflow fitting.
12. Cut a piece of fine mesh window screen to fit over the base of the atrium grate, and glue it to the base of the grate with PVC glue.
13. Place the atrium grate onto the hole on top of the barrel. Connect the top of the flexible corrugated pipe attached to the atrium grate to the downspout hole in the gutter by sliding the corrugated pipe over the elbow joint that extends from the gutter. The elbow joint is the piece that the original downspout was connected to.
Tags: atrium grate, corrugated pipe, elbow joint, hole barrel, overflow hole, tape measure