Rain barrel installation, relocation, assessment

We recently purchased 3 rain barrels from a local warehouse club.  They were approximately $75 each for roughly 65 gallons of water capacity. Although they were not exactly impulse purchases, they are certainly not something you buy to save money.  In our area, water costs roughly 1 cent per gallon from the water company and if you add up the cost of the barrels, cement blocks for raising them off the ground, plumbing parts, hoses and downspout diverters the payback could literally be several years in the future (we will be saving about $3-6 per month in water with our water capacity).  We did acquire 3 additional 50 gallon barrels at $20 each from another source to increase our storage capacity because we discovered that each barrel is drained fairly quickly.

3 65 gallon barrels @ $75 = $225
3 50 gallon barrels @$20 = $60
4 downspout diverters @$11 = $44
Misc plumbing and downspout parts = $50

Total = $379
Approximate savings per month in water = ~$4.50
Payback = ~7 years

In the first installation attempt, the downspouts were cut and all water flow was directed at the inlet for the barrel.

2 rain barrels in the front of the house

After the first 3 rains we discovered that connecting the barrels directly to the downspouts was not a good idea because the amount of water coming out of a downspout in a heavy rain is not manageable. The amount of water we were collecting quickly overwhelmed the barrel capacity.  Each barrel was full within 10 minutes of rain.

In an effort to avoid foundation issues with water, we purchased rain barrel diverters from rainbrothers.com

My wife decided she didn't like the rain barrel in the middle of the front porch so we took the opportunity to relocate the barrel.

Top view of  "flexi fit" rain diverter

 

The rain diverter installed in a 3X4 downspout.
Note that not all the rain is captured.

The spot she wanted the rain barrel was no where near a downspout so I expected to be able to use a long hose to the relocated barrel as long as the outlet is lower than the inlet for the hose.  Using the plumber rule of 1/4" drop for each foot of run we doubled the estimated the height of the inlet and drilled for the diverter installation. (Using a wood hole saw, make sure it's spinning fast before it touches the metal)

This method of installation is not how the Rainbrothers expect their diverter to be used.  The rain diverter is supposed to be installed at the same level as the output so that when the barrel is full, all water goes down to the ground instead of diverted to the rain barrel.

We expect to attach a drip irrigation system to the rain barrels so we wanted to run the water through a screen to filter some of the larger particulates before entering the barrel to avoid clogging of the low pressure irrigation setup.  Since the barrels already have an overflow plumbed in we should be good to use this approach.

With such a long payoff there is likely other reasons for wanting to install rain barrels, here's a few:

• decreasing run-off water into the local water shed
• rain water makes plants grow better
• attaching to low effort drip irrigation to water plants
• global warming will make fresh water increasingly scarce 
• for the hippy street cred

The new diverter and longer hose means the barrels take longer to fill up, but nothing a long rain storm can't overcome.