MechanicMatt
Cut Split Stack Burn
Oh and sorry steve, but screw the caps
I didn't say I was rooting for themOh and sorry steve, but screw the caps
How far do you need to move the water from the barrels to the garden?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?
Wayne (who also do sump pumps) make pumps specifically for purposes such as this. Check out hardware or home improvement store.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Even at real low pressure it seems like it should drip out, as long as the ultimate drip point is downhill from the barrel.
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