Advice on rain water collection system

Lars Grimm

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Hi All,

I am working on designing a rain water harvesting system for my garden. I have city water, but for environmental reasons I would prefer to harvest rainwater when I can. I previously had a series of 65 gallon barrels connected to a spigot for hand watering, but I want an upgraded system with a pump that I can use for my Hozon and watering wand. I was browsing some online vendors. This seems to be a nice model for a submersible pump. I have an electrical outlet and downspout near each other for each access. Does anyone have experience with this type of setup? I want to make sure I have adequate psi/flow rate to ensure I can water easily.

Thanks,
Lars
 

cmeg1

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Seems awesome!
I have a 219 gallon system from 7 30gal.barrels.
I would like to connect them differently so I could use a pump.
I now have a spigot on each tank
 

atlarsenal

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What is the elevation of your garden in relation to your reservoir? What is the farthest distance you would be pumping? What is the diameter of your hose or pipe you will be using?

The pump you linked to is pretty small and I believe would be undersized for what you would want it to do.

I would at least be looking at this one.
 

Lars Grimm

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What is the elevation of your garden in relation to your reservoir? What is the farthest distance you would be pumping? What is the diameter of your hose or pipe you will be using?

The pump you linked to is pretty small and I believe would be undersized for what you would want it to do.

I would at least be looking at this one.

The garden and reservoir are on flat ground.
The total distance would be about 30 feet as the crow flies, but the hose length would be about 75-100 ft to account for it wrapping around the benches.
This would be a standard garden hose, which I believe is 5/8".
 

atlarsenal

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The garden and reservoir are on flat ground.
The total distance would be about 30 feet as the crow flies, but the hose length would be about 75-100 ft to account for it wrapping around the benches.
This would be a standard garden hose, which I believe is 5/8".
You may be able to get by with the one you were originally looking at. But personally I would be looking at something a little larger and a little more heavy duty. But that’s just me.
 

Lars Grimm

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You may be able to get by with the one you were originally looking at. But personally I would be looking at something a little larger and a little more heavy duty. But that’s just me.

Thanks. Do you have any metrics or rules you use or is it an estimate based on personal experience? I'm having trouble finding a good guide and the price differential is pretty steep.
 

atlarsenal

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I have been rebuilding pump for a county water system for the last twenty years. This is what we would consider a medium size pump.
267713
We don’t repair anything smaller than 3hp. Just throw them away. We have submersibles up to 300hp. We have dry pit centrifugals that run on 1400hp motors. So I may be a little biased towards a bigger pump. But when I see plastic parts on one pump versus stainless steel on another. I’m going to go with the stainless. I did not read the specs completely but I did notice the the second pump had a stainless impeller and I would not be surprised if the other one has a plastic impeller. I am not familiar with either one of these but at a glance I know which one I would be checking more into. With pumps you get what pay for. And for $179 I’m thinking of a pump to pump your basement out with once every two years when it floods. And it’s probably not going to get in any hurry about it.
 

amcoffeegirl

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I would love to have a couple of rain barrels.
How do I get started?
 

sorce

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So I may be a little biased towards a bigger pump

You think!?

I was also thinking something a little heavier duty, industrial, may be a better investment.

"Cheesy" comes to mind looking at the pictured 179$ one. Reviews might help, but I'd want a review from a guy like you, a mechanic, not a Gardener, I'd be afraid a Gardner would love it for the wrong reasons.

Sorce
 

sorce

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Though it could be a great product.

Sorce
 

Underdog

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designing a rain water harvesting system for my garden
I collect about 75% of my roof runoff by plumbing the gutters into this pond. Holds around 1500 gal and is prettier than a bunch of barrels. The pump is a little giant 6600gph running the falls and fountain. It would be easy to plumb a T valve into the line running up to the falls for your hose. I usually water with a can by hand and fill it from the pond. You have me thinking now...
 

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atlarsenal

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I would love to have a couple of rain barrels.
How do I get started?
Sorce is correct, many cities & countries will do classes where you can make your own for free. The county where I work does this also. But most rain barrel systems are piped through a 2” bung-hole. Which leaves you with no way to clean your barrels other than spraying through the bung-hole or using some type of cleaning agent. And they are going to get pretty nasty.
267816
This my set up. Brute industrial trash cans. The one on the left is 44 gallons and the one on the right is 36 gallons. These are very easy to clean, just drain the barrel and scrub and spray. Which I do about 3 times a year. The barrel on the left catches the rain from the down spout and has 3 screens for debris. The one on the right catches overflow from the one on the left. I would recommend setting them at least 2 blocks high to get good access to your spigot. Even higher would be ideal. I use mine for filling four 7 gallon jugs I keep in the basement for indoor watering and the right hand barrel I pop the top off and dip a watering can in for supplemental spot watering in the garden. This is a simple system and serves my needs. You can go as elaborate as you want with 275 gallon totes and pumps and such but it’s all about how deep you want to dive into it.;)
 

cmeg1

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Which leaves you with no way to clean your barrels
I wonder how much of an issue this is though.Mine are white barrels,maybe makes a difference .Not sure,but my water comes out with a slight green algae tint to it at some times of the year and I use it in propagator for cuttings even along with foliar spray in the domes,and have no issues in an 85f degree propagator.I was worried,but the slight green rain water did better than clean spring water for cuttings.Much better strike rate.I guess as long as there is no foul oder.Maybe green algae is a good thing.
I would love to have some type of bio filter.....there probably is a limit.
 
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