Rainbarrels

Installing a rain barrel is an excellent way to ensure you have water in case of drought or emergency and also a way to reduce or eliminate your water bill if considered carefully. Just remember, rainwater collected from your roof can contain bacteria from bird or squirrel droppings and should be either boiled or filtered through a fine ceramic filter (0.7 micron or better) before drinking.

The first rule of building a rain barrel is: know that water flows down hill. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people think that just because they have 1500 lbs of water attached to a small hose or pipe that that water should just blast out of that hose with tremendous force and be able to reach any height. That's just not the case. If the water level in your barrels is not higher than your toilet tank, shower head, or washing machine faucet then you will not be able to use your rainwater for those purposes. I could explain the math, but it's easier to use an analogy: if you put a hose down to the bottom of a lake, water will not spray out the other end like a fire hydrant, no matter how heavy the lake is or how small the hose is. This is why we put rainbarrels up on blocks. It is easy to collect rainwater to water your garden or fill buckets (which can be used to wash clothes, fill fish tanks, etc), or fill a pool. For anything above the ground, you need to be more creative in your engineering. With that out of the way, let's go over how to build a simple rainbarrel setup.

The picture above shows my rainbarrels in progress. I wanted to wait to post this blog until they were complete, but this topic has been getting a lot of interest so I decided to put this up as a starting place. Note, I've already broken one of the first rules of rainbarrels by using white barrels.

Rule #2: Use a translucent barrel. The white barrels allow light to pass through, which can promote algae growth. I plan to correct this by painting the barrels. I plan to do a Super Mario theme, with "?" blocks underneath, bright green pipes on top, scenery from different levels on each of the barrels, and Super Mario figurines on top. Obviously, I'll post new pictures when this is complete.

The third rule is to use clean barrels. Typically, bung top barrels like these range from $20-$35 used and you can find them fairly clean. I found these barrels for $5 each and they had previously been used to store vegetable oil by a guy that was making biodiesel. The vegetable oil was sticky and exceedingly difficult to clean, so I just let it. I figures the oil would float, so it may never come out, and if it did then it's just vegetable oil. It's biodegradable and shouldn't do any harm. Either way, I would have preferred to use clean barrels.

Note that the barrels are connected at the bottom by a common line of 1" PVC pipe. I could have done direct connections from one barrel to the next, but then each barrel would need an "in" and an "out" at the bottom, resulting in more holes required, more material, and higher cost. I did splurge a little by adding ball valves between each of the barrels. This was done in case I need to add or remove barrels from the system (I will eventually add more barrels), I can do so without having to drain the whole system. However, I suppose it would have been cheaper and easier to just keep a 1" PVC cap on hand in case I need to plug a pipe while I am working on it.
You'll also need a connector that is 3/4" female garden hose thread on one end (to allow you to screw in the hose spigot) and is able to connect to your common PVC pipe (I recommend a 1" slip fit). There are many connectors that allow a swivel for screwing in the hose, but since you will be connecting a spigot (so once it is rotated in the correct position you will not need to rotate it again) I would avoid the swivel. The rubber seal used to allow the swivel action can be prone to leaking. And presumably, you will be storing water for a long time (throughout the summer), so leaking would be bad.
For my system, I decided to replace the downspout with a chain. It has a nice look and does a good job of getting the rain into the barrel without the mess of routing the downspout or finding/cutting the correct pipe lengths/bends.

Note: Despite some controversy over rainwater collection in Utah, Washington, and Colorado over the past decade, rainwater collection is now legal in all 50 states. However, this is not the case in all countries around the world. If rainwater collection is illegal in your area then I encourage you to stand up and fight for your right to put a bucket outside. Most public utilities would encourage rainwater collection, as it reduces their need to sanitize water to drinking standards.

Hopefully you've learned at least a couple things here, and maybe you're excited to build your own. Include your comments and questions below. Link to your rainbarrel photo album. I'd love to see new designs. Thanks!

Barrel Basics

Plastic 55-gallon barrel used as a black soldier fly bin

An excellent staple for many home sustainability projects is the simple 55-gallon barrel. Barrels are also available in smaller sizes, but the 55-gallon, being the largest, is the most versatile and the most bang for your buck. IBC totes (usually 275 gallons) and cisterns (can be several thousand gallons) are available in larger sizes, but these usually cost considerably more. The plastic barrels are the best for sustainability projects because metal can leach minerals into water supplies, is subject to rust and corrosion, and by using plastic you are keeping the plastic out of a landfill, where a metal barrel can be easily recycled.

Barrels used in an aquaponics system as a fish tank,
grow beds, and sump tanks

These plastic barrels can be used for many home sustainability projects including rain barrels, aquaponics systems, emergency food storage, manufacturing lye (for homemade soap), manufacturing bio-diesel, raising daphnia and algae (to feed to daphnia), and black soldier fly composting bins. I am even in the process of developing plans to convert a barrel into a wind turbine.
New, these barrels sell for around $175, but they can be found used from home-brew stores, car washes (used to ship soap), bottling companies, as well as Craigslist. Many people (on Craigslist, Farmer's Markets, etc) sell barrels (marketed as rain barrels) fitted with a bulkhead fitting and simple plumbing parts for around $75, but you can easily find raw barrels for $5-$30 on Craigslist and install the plumbing fittings yourself for less than $10 fairly easily. Cheaper barrels on Craigslist are usually not as clean. For example, a barrel may have been used to store used vegetable oil and will have a sticky residue that is difficult to clean out. It is important to ask what was stored in the used barrel, so you can determine if it is too contaminated for your purpose. Also, you will need to decide whether you want open-top barrels (with a removable lid and sealing band), or bung-top. The open top barrels leak when placed on their side or upside down, so they would not be ideal for an aquaponics system (unless you seal them with caulking), but they will be easier to clean out if necessary (for example, if you get algae build up in your rain barrel). Open top barrels are also best for making bio-diesel (ease of stirring), and making lye (ease of adding ash and setting up rock/straw foundation). The bung-top barrels have two holes at the top. One is a buttress thread (not commonly used, the other is a National Pipe Thread (NPT) that is used in PVC pipes. The NPT is a 2" thread that you can easily integrate into piping used in an aquaponics system.
You should also consider the color of the barrel. Plastic barrels come in three colors: black, white, and blue. The black barrels are typically used to ship hazardous chemicals, and the white barrels can attract algae if used for rain barrels because they are slightly transparent. This can be mitigated by painting the barrel. The safest bet is to use the blue barrels.

Uni-Seal used on a black soldier fly bin

When converting a barrel for your desired project, you will need to cut out holes and/or squares and may need to attach pipes through the holes. Squares can be cut easily by drilling holes at the corners of where you want the square with a 2" hole saw and connecting the holes with straight cuts made with a sawzall. This will create nice-looking rounded edges on the cut-out (shown in picture). A hole for a 1" PVC pipe will be drilled with a 1.75" hole saw. To seal the hole the three main methods are: use a barbed fitting (this can be very difficult to get through the hole and may not provide a tight seal), use a bulkhead fitting (pieces inside and outside the barrel thread together with a seal in between, the inner piece can be difficult to place in a barrel with a bung top unless you are cutting out an opening in the barrel), or a Uni-Seal. A Uni-Seal is a compression fitting that goes in the hole and the pipe is slipped through the seal. The Uni-Seal compresses and forms a tight fit without requiring access to the inside of the barrel. A 1" Uni-Seal would be used for a 1.75" hole to allow a 1" pipe to pass through. The picture to the right shows a 2" Uni-Seal on a black soldier fly bin. To slip the pipe through the seal, it is best to file the outside of the pipe that will pass through (so it has a slightly smaller outer diameter) and use a non-toxic pipe grease. Non-toxic is especially important if this is for rain barrels. The dark colored blue barrels usually have a thicker wall, which doesn't allow the Uni-Seal to expand as much, so you may have to use a razor blade to trim the inner portion of the Uni-Seal to allow the pipe to pass through. Just be sure not to trim off too much, so you still have a tight fit. Bulkhead fittings can be found at Lowe's or Home Depot (usually in the electrical section), but Uni-Seals can be harder to track down. So far I have only found them online, see Amazon link below.

With that, you should have a fairly detailed understanding of the type of barrels available and how to select the right barrel for your sustainability project. In future posts I will show more of each type and how I have incorporated their differences into my designs. I hope at this point you're getting excited about becoming self-sufficient and begin looking for a local source for barrels. I'm not sure yet whether I will post next about rain-barrels or black soldier flies. If you have a preference, please vote to the right. Thanks!

Featured Products:

Why Be Sustainable?

I've decided to become completely self-sufficient. Ideally, I would produce everything I use and never have to go to the store again, but there will be some things I cannot produce on my property, like salt. I will work on compiling a list of these items so they can be purchased in bulk.

People often ask me, "why are you doing this?" Why be sustainable? They often have a few ideas in mind, and think that I am motivated by just one reason.  The two common reasons people think of are "preparing for the end of the world" and "going green." Really, it is a combination of these reasons and several others.

Preparing:
It's wise to prepare for the worst. Imagine a natural disaster wipes out crops and there is a food shortage. Record temperatures kill off the tomato crop in Florida. A volcano erupts in the Pacific Northwest that kills off the potato crop in Idaho. An earthquake disrupts freight lines and highways used to ship food all around the country. You get the idea. However, preparing need not center around such extreme scenarios. Imagine, gas prices hit $9.00/gallon and shipping food becomes too expensive. Food prices skyrocket and there is economic collapse leading to looting in grocery stores. In short, if you're not providing for yourself then your food source is at risk.

Saving Money:
Perhaps the crisis you face is not widespread, but more personal. Should you lose your job or become too sick to continue working it would relieve a lot of stress to be able to produce everything you need. Imagine not having an electric bill, a water bill, a grocery bill, a fuel bill. Even if you are healthy and employed, becoming self-sufficient can be a feasible path to early retirement.

Better Food:
Homegrown food, in an aquaponics system for example, is fresher, healthier, and tastes better. Avoid the dyes, preservatives, hormones, chemicals, and pesticides. Food bought from the grocery store is frequently picked early and ripened with ethylene gas while it is in transit. Packaged foods are pumped full of preservatives to improve shelf life. To make a more profitable product, manufactured food is loaded with hormones, dyes, pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals. "Flavor enhancers" are used because manufacturers know that food that is not as fresh does not taste as good. Know where your food came from. Know your food is clean and safe. Grow your own. Even tap water is treated with chlorine and chloramine, two chemicals used to prevent bacterial growth in the water supply. These chemicals cause no immediate damage, but cause serious damage in the long run. The government agencies charged with assuring food safety don't care about long term effects. They are only concerned with things that make you sick immediately. They are concerned when the liability can be tracked. If you eat tainted meat today and are sick in two days, someone is held accountable, and the tainted meat is removed from the marketplace. Protective measures are put in place. If you drink poisoned water every day and get sick in 10 years it is almost impossible to track the liability and no action is taken.

Save The Environment:
Let's face it - this planet is in trouble, and I for one do not want to contribute to the damage. Maybe I won't make that much of an impact by doing my part, but if I can convince others to do their part, then we can all work together to improve a very bad situation. If you produce everything on your own, then you are helping in so many ways. Eliminate the need to ship food across the country. Eliminate the need for water treatment plants to use harsh chemicals. Produce your own electricity. Eliminate plastic and packaging required to ship goods. Eliminate the use of chemicals used in mass production, that eventually end up in rivers and in the ocean. As a society, we consume much more resources than we can possibly sustain and we are facing an imminent collapse. If every person consumes only what they produce, or even produces more than they can use, then we will be a much more stable society. We could even have enough to share with those who cannot produce for themselves.

These are just a few of the great reasons to becomes self-sustainable, but if for no other reason, do it because it's fun. It's extremely rewarding to create something, to eat a plant that you grew, to learn a new skill and see it in action.

This is my first in this blog and I hope to make many more. I hope this blog will become an excellent resource for anyone wanting to get off the grid and become more sustainable. I have only recently started on this path, but I have already learned so much. I look forward to sharing with you the things I have learned, and I hope you look forward to my updates. I also hope that you will embark on this journey with me. It is not all that complicated, and you too can become completely self-sufficient.