I was just gifted a rain barrel from a very nice lady who was about to throw hers out as it was leaking near one of the taps. I took a look and figured that I could get it sealed back up and working; anyway, it won’t cost me anything to try. The thing is listed online for $185, believe it or not!
But now I’m here trying to figure out how to water using a rain barrel. Never done it before, but there’s a patch of my garden that my hose doesn’t quite reach, so it would be perfect if I could get the barrel working well. Does anyone water using soaker hose + rain barrel combos? Any particular brands you’d recommend? I know that I have to buy low pressure hoses and raise the barrel a few feet off the ground, but that’s about it.
Tips on mending plastic rain barrels would also be appreciated. My guess is silicone caulk or epoxy, but always good to run it past people first.
I think you will need to play with it. The pressure will be greater the more the tank is elevated vs the area you’re spraying. The size and fullness the tank are also factors in pressure. The hose size probably doesn’t matter too much as long as your sprayer is the bottleneck.
If its leaking due to a fracture, you could try caulk for a cheap fix, but not sure how long it’d hold. If the tap is broken, obviously you just replace that.
It’s neither a crack nor a hole - it looks to be that the seal around the tap has come loose. Nice lady’s husband tried fixing it with a heavy layer of Gorilla Glue, so I would probably have to fill it to be sure of exactly where the leak is. I’ll check that tomorrow.
The soaker hose would probably need to run about 100ft.
I use 3/4" tubing crimped shut at the end, with holes poked where I want some water to go. when the barrels get lower on water or if I want strength I use a small aquarium pump to push into the tubing.
The most effective patch repair I have used for water under pressure is Gorilla glue. It cannot withstand much tension as it can be quite brittle when cured, but if you can find a way to compress it into your leak while it is curing right after you apply it, it can easily handle 90 psi. I use it a lot to repair many items where appearance is not so important often using a nylon cord or strong fabric to compress it. After 24 hours cure time almost any repair you do is as strong as the original item. Plus it’s cheap for the multiple repairs you can do with one bottle.
Dennis
Kent, wa
We’ve tried soaker hose on a rain barrel and it didn’t work. Not enough pressure to cause the hose to ‘leak’. I only tried with one brand of hose so I can’t say that your results would be the same.
I think it’s all about gravity when you try to rely on the barrels alone for drip. I built the platform I made out of old ply and cinder blocks to get it up high. the platform is almost 4 feet up, so most of the water is stored 4 or more feet above the entire lot. anywhere I put the tube to drip, it’ll be water running downhill.
that little pump makes the difference though when gravity won’t work. they’re pretty low energy and cost between 30 and 50 bucks, I have another to pump grey water from the tub into the green barrel after we wash stuff (if there’s no detergents in the water) in the dry season it helps fill those barrels back up.
the little one I use for grey water is just a submersible aquarium pump. I think it was 20 bucks at the pet store. takes a while but will pump the whole tub out to the barrels through tubing.
That’s a good point! I’m trying to remember if we have electric out on that spot behind the garage. If we do, then I would absolutely go for a timer and a small aquarium pump.
Sometime last year Home Depot accidentally delivered twice the amount of retaining wall pavers we bought, so shall we say I have a glut of those.
I use this thing for my pump out there because I hate running a cord unless I have to.
it’s just a mini jackery type battery pack. the pump runs on 120v so it is ok on this for a few hours.
