mediaOrganic » Rain Barrels

a 3-zone irrigation system

john — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:52:55 +0000

The last few years we have been watering the east garden by hand, which was manageable but tiresome. Earlier this year I experimented with some old soaker hoses I’ve had lying around but the results weren’t acceptable. Soaker hoses just don’t work very well when you’re trying to keep an area moist, such as when you are trying to germinate seeds or watering a patch of newly planted seedlings. This past weekend I finally executed on a long-fomenting plan and installed a 3-zone irrigation system using some landscaping irrigation pieces that I had used a few years ago to water in some foundation plantings that are now mature. I just love it when I can repurpose/recycle stuff that I have lying around.

From the photo you can see, I mounted the manifold to the side of one of my raised beds, close to the rain barrels. I used a block of cedar to create the clearance needed to connect the hose fittings. Water is fed from the rain barrels to a transfer pump which pressurizes the system. The pump provides sufficient pressure to run the entire system wide open and the manifold allows me to turn individual zones on or off. The water lines run along the ground as unobtrusively as possible and I used lots of elbows to neaten up the install. To hold the lines in place I crafted straps from a polypropylene bottle recovered from my recycling bin.

Although a straight line is the shortest distance between two points this would have required that two of the three lines run directly across main walkway into the patio, so, in the name of aesthetics and to prevent tripping risk, I ran two of the water lines around the perimeter of the garden. The good news is that I had the 200 extra feet of tubing lying around anyway. At the bed, the water line runs up the side, through an access hole cut into the top board and down the length of the bed. “Misters” are installed at varying points along the water line. This system is made by Mister Landscaper and was purchased at Lowes. It’s exceedingly simple to install and can easily be expanded or moved to suit your changing needs. Note that I arranged it so that the misters are pointing away from the seating area. In the heat of the summer I may just decide to turn those misters around.

Broken water pump

john — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:24:45 +0000

The weather has been unseasonably warm and I’ve already lost several of my lettuces due to lack of water. They were under row covers and when last I looked at them they were doing fine. And even though it has rained each of the past several days it appears the accumulation has been minimal. (*Note to self – build rain gauge). Anyway, I carved out a block of time in my busy schedule to finally set up the water pump for my rain barrels. I got everything hooked up, plugged in the pump and … no water pressure. Huh?

First I checked the rain barrel spigot and discovered that the flow was weak. I removed the spigot and found that a leaf had partially blocked it. Now I was back in business. Started up the water pump again and …WTF … still no pressure! I thought maybe some creature had overwintered in the hose and that is was blocked, but before resorting to radical hose surgery, I connected a short piece of hose to the water pump just to make sure I was getting pressure. And wouldn’t you know, the pump is worn. More specifically, the impeller that moves water through the pump had broken and the pump motor was just spinning away doing nuthin’.

Now, without a working pump, I’m forced to water my east garden mostly by hand which is a thankless task to be sure. So I immediately jumped on the internet to search for a replacement impeller. Naturally the only place to get one is directly from Water Ace. Now Water Ace isn’t exactly on the cutting edge of the technology curve. Their website has no e-commerce facility, hell, it doesn’t even list my pump model or the parts I needed. So I resorted to calling them directly and found myself on hold because they were “experiencing unusually heavy call volume”. After about a 5 minute wait the phone rep came on and knew exactly what part I needed. That’s when I learned that these little plastic parts are expensive, $8.32 each expensive. Really? Considering that mine lasted only two seasons I imagine that they have themselves a tidy little replacement parts business going on. Anyway, I decided to order three of them because lord knows if these parts will continue to be available in coming years. The total out of pocket cost including shipping and tax was just north of $29.

empty rain barrels

john — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:32:38 +0000

For the second time this season someone in our family (“I think it was me”, he said sheepishly) inadvertantly left the rain barrel valve open and drained the barrels dry. Over 200 gallons of precious rain water lost, again! It’s amazing how quickly we’ve come to rely on the rain water for our garden and how reluctant I am to use our public water supply. It is such a waste of resources and money.

I think from this point forward I’m going to take advantage of the valve system I have. If you look at the photo, you’ll see there are shutoff valves between the two barrels to the left. The next time the barrels are filled I will close off these valves so that the two barrels are isolated. That way, if we once again leave open the tap, we won’t lose more than half the water. I am also hatching an idea to build a second backup system for my lawn and emergencies.

ADDENDUM

Several hours after posting we were blessed with a torrential downpour and my rain barrels are once again full — nearly 200 gallons. It’s amazing how much water runs off a roof. I have now closed the stops to the last two barrels in the series as a precaution. I will open them only if the first two barrels run dry.

rain barrels set up

john — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:58:32 +0000

Title: rain barrels set up
Description: rain barrels restored to their proper places and ready for the next rain
Date: 2009-04-04

Finally found the time to get the rain barrels set up again. Actually, this was great timing because we got our first good rain two days later and the four barrels were completely full!

Rain Barrel Set-Up Guide

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:43:14 +0000

Here is a Word doc with details of our rain barrel set-up. Just right click on the link below and chose “Save Target as..” and it will download. Mac users are on your own!

rain-water-collection-system