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Switched to a rain barrel system and got way less water than I expected
I put in a 50-gallon rain barrel off my downspout back in March, thinking it would handle all my garden watering. But after a normal 3-day rain here in Austin, I only collected about 30 gallons because the barrel overflowed during a heavy storm. Turns out the first flush diverter I installed was too small and clogged with debris from the roof. Has anyone else had trouble getting their rain collection setup to actually catch enough water?
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samwalker6d ago
Wait, did you say you put the overflow hose from the first barrel into a second one that's just sitting on the ground? Because if that second barrel's input is lower than the first barrel's overflow spout, gravity's not gonna move water uphill, you know? I messed around with that same idea and ended up just wasting water out the overflow because the second barrel never actually filled up. Did you have to raise the first barrel up on cinder blocks or something to get the height right for the hose to flow into the second one?
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the_henry7d ago
I had the same issue with my first rain barrel setup here in Portland. What helped me was upsizing my first flush diverter and getting a bigger debris screen on the downspout. I also put a simple overflow hose that runs to a second barrel I grabbed cheap off Craigslist, so now even during heavy rain I don't waste anything. Have you checked if your downspout has any sharp bends that might slow things down? I used to get leaves and grit clogging things up all the time, but since I switched to a bigger screen and a diverter with a mesh filter it's been way more reliable. That extra barrel really made the difference for me, I went from getting maybe 30 gallons to filling both barrels after a good weekend rain.
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