Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[MechanicMatt]

Oh and sorry steve, but screw the caps

 

[svk]

Oh and sorry steve, but screw the caps

I didn't say I was rooting for them

 

[stihly dan]

I have never rooted for a new York team! can't imagine every doing it either. Wait, I did root for Buffalo 3 of the 4 times they were in the super bowl. But that doesn't count as New York.

 

[Ambull01]

Not firewood scrounging related but it's a scrounge type idea/question nonetheless.

Since you guys are hard core scroungers, any of you use rain barrels to water your veggies/plants? I have two plastic 55 gallon barrels that I'm going to use to collect rainwater from my downspouts. I'm going to need several more barrels to and connect them to make multiple storage for overflow. Now on to what I've been pondering. I want to employ a drip irrigation system to water my veggies and flower beds. At first I was thinking of cutting holes out of barrels to insert a hand operated pump to draw the rain water out. A hand operated pump's not going to work with a drip irrigation system so this leaves me with an electric or solar powered pump. Gravity fed system is not feasible.

 

[svk]

Not firewood scrounging related but it's a scrounge type idea/question nonetheless.

Since you guys are hard core scroungers, any of you use rain barrels to water your veggies/plants? I have two plastic 55 gallon barrels that I'm going to use to collect rainwater from my downspouts. I'm going to need several more barrels to and connect them to make multiple storage for overflow. Now on to what I've been pondering. I want to employ a drip irrigation system to water my veggies and flower beds. At first I was thinking of cutting holes out of barrels to insert a hand operated pump to draw the rain water out. A hand operated pump's not going to work with a drip irrigation system so this leaves me with an electric or solar powered pump. Gravity fed system is not feasible.

How far do you need to move the water from the barrels to the garden?

 

[Ambull01]

How far do you need to move the water from the barrels to the garden?

Veggie garden is right along the side of my house so not far. Flower beds are about 50 feet or so. Although I could just place a rain barrel at the front of the house as well. I'm thinking a sump pump I could drop in the barrels will be the easiest and most economical solution right?

 

[svk]

Wayne (who also do sump pumps) make pumps specifically for purposes such as this. Check out hardware or home improvement store.

 

[benp]

Wayne (who also do sump pumps) make pumps specifically for purposes such as this. Check out hardware or home improvement store.

Or a small gas powered trash pump.

We've made skating rinks in the winter on the lake with one a few times.

Punch a hole in the ice. Drop intake in, garden hose on discharge and flood the skating area.

Same principle. Drop intake into barrel, garden hose on discharge and water away

 

[Erik B]

I would guess a sump pump would give too high a water flow for a drip system.

 

[benp]

Oops, I didn't see the part about wanting a drip system.

 

[SteveSS]

Why would a gravity system not work? If you have your rain barrels stacked and interconnected, and plumb in a water spigot to the bottom barrel, would the weight of the water provide enough pressure to do what you're trying to do? Have you considered soaker hose in place of the drip type system?

 

[tla100]

My buddy works at a machine shop and gets the "broken" coolant pumps on milling machines and lathes. Works well for him.

 

[Oldman47]

Why not set up a small tank on the roof so that you can get enough head pressure for the emitters to work? That way you could pump up from the rain butts and then shut the pump 0ff and just let the system work.

 

[JB Weld]

You will not need to get your barrels up very high to have enough head pressure for a gravity fed system. Stack up up a couple or three layers of cinder-blocks for the barrels to sit on. They will have no problem holding the weight of a full 55 gal barrel. Tap the barrel with a sillcock spigot and you should be in business for a drip/trickle irrigation on that garden.

 

[macattack_ga]

Pumps would be a pain.
Elevate the barrels and install bulkhead tank fittings.

 

[Ambull01]

Why would a gravity system not work? If you have your rain barrels stacked and interconnected, and plumb in a water spigot to the bottom barrel, would the weight of the water provide enough pressure to do what you're trying to do? Have you considered soaker hose in place of the drip type system?

From what I've read, the barrels would need to be elevated about 30 feet in the air to build up enough pressure. I'll have to look into a soaker hose.

Why not set up a small tank on the roof so that you can get enough head pressure for the emitters to work? That way you could pump up from the rain butts and then shut the pump 0ff and just let the system work.

That might work. Roof is about 30+ feet high so that should be ample pressure. What do you mean by rain butts? I'm really liking your idea. Going to research if it will be feasible.

You will not need to get your barrels up very high to have enough head pressure for a gravity fed system. Stack up up a couple or three layers of cinder-blocks for the barrels to sit on. They will have no problem holding the weight of a full 55 gal barrel. Tap the barrel with a sillcock spigot and you should be in business for a drip/trickle irrigation on that garden.

I hope you're right. From what I've read elevated the barrels will not make a huge difference in pressure unless you raise them really high. Supposedly you gain 0.433 PSI from every foot that the barrel is raised.

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/gravity-flow-rain-barrel-drip-systems/

 

[Marshy]

FYI, for every 27.67" you raise it you get 1 psi pressure... Not sure what you guys are talkin about. Got some catchup to do I guess.

If the barrel if approximately 3' deep of water you will have 1.5 psi with it full. Elevate it 3' off the ground and you would have another 1.5 psi. As the water drains you will still have 1.5 psi once the water is about to run out.

 

[zogger]

Even at real low pressure it seems like it should drip out, as long as the ultimate drip point is downhill from the barrel.

 

[Ambull01]

FYI, for every 27.67" you raise it you get 1 psi pressure... Not sure what you guys are talkin about. Got some catchup to do I guess.

If the barrel if approximately 3' deep of water you will have 1.5 psi with it full. Elevate it 3' off the ground and you would have another 1.5 psi. As the water drains you will still have 1.5 psi once the water is about to run out.

Please don't get all physics geek on me again. I'm trying to keep it simple lol. Just got that 0.433 PSI figure from sites like ones below.

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/automatic-rain-barrel-irrigation/
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/gravity-feed-drip-system-s/8317.htm
http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/34035
http://rainbarrelman.com/faq.htm
http://www.searshomes.org/index.php...-things-i-learned-about-harvesting-rainwater/

 

[Ambull01]

Even at real low pressure it seems like it should drip out, as long as the ultimate drip point is downhill from the barrel.

Yeah I think it will. I've never researched irrigation systems before so this is all new. Sounds like the drip irrigation systems use some type of gizmo that slowly releases water and tries to make the output uniform across the length of hose. For that to work you need a certain amount of pressure to get uniform drips or some crap like that. I'm starting to over think the whole watering thing now.