It is only a remotley related to food but today I had the first good downpour since finishing my rain barrels. I plan to use the water on the garden, composter, raspberry plants, grapes and horseradish so you see?- it is food related! I got three 55 gallon food grade plastic barrels from a local carwash I do work for. These type of barrels can also be aquired from food and beverage suppliers (Sysco or Coco-cola for instance). They each have two 2" holes in the top with screw-on caps.
The first thing I did was turn one upside down and cut a 4" hole the bottom. Next I took one of the screw caps and drilled a 3/4" hole in it and threaded galvanized pipe to form an elbow and screwed a brass spigot on the end. I then glued two threaded 2" PVC elbows to a short length of pipe and screwed each into a hole in both barrels. I lastly capped the remaining hole and drilled a few air holes into the second barrel. Got all that? Confused? So am I.
Basically the water flows into the top of the left barrel and both barrels fill/drain at the same rate because of the pipe between them at the bottom. The water comes out the spigot that my son is playing with. To the left of the left barrel you can also see an overflow system that will drain any excess water and the whole thing sits on 8 cinder blocks because when full it weights 800lbs!
I also built a single barrel for the front downspout (less roof area drained through that one). I am surprised how quickly they fill, in the picture it got that full from one 10 minute downpour this afternoon! It should help that water bill for the rest of the season plus many more after that (Hopefully).
