The Observation Deck

Does anybody have any good leads for acquiring a rain water barrel? I see them all the time online but they seem a bit pricey.

Geoff--- Interesting query! I would also suggest you post it under the Community Gardens section because the folks involved with the LEAF program might have some good sources.
Stan Austin

It wouldn't let me copy the url, but at Baytecconatiners.com the have a 30 gal. container with a downspout kit for $59.95

I purchased one several years ago.....big green thing, with a strainer on the top, spiggot on the bottom. Works pretty well. Came from a catalog....Gardener's supply. Probably around $100. But also found this

http://store.bayteccontainers.com/55galreblclt.html

Considerably cheaper

Thanks for the ideas!

DH has shared the following link with me:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f0NZXTfZqcg

The fellow in this video, for those who don't recognize him immediately, is former Lakewood resident Richard Tidyman. This is a good program that he initiated.

I got one of the green barrels (with a screen on top and spigot on the bottom) from Gale's Greenhouse in Westlake (Center Ridge Road). I only have it collecting the runoff from my garage gutter, but it does a great job, and I've watered my garden and flowers with it all summer. So that's free water that I didn't have to get out of a spigot ... though the barrel cost me $90, I think it'll pay for itself after a couple of summers.

Just a footnote to this thread: I contacted the City Water Department about rain barrel installations and the following nicely summarizes the issue:

Mr. Fraunfelder,
Thank you for your question. Rain barrels are allowed and with the new
stormwater regulations imposed on the City by the EPA, we encourage
them. The main concerns are not allowing the diverter to discharge onto
neighboring property, and sealing the barrel to prevent mosquito's from
breeding. We hope the barrels work well for you.
Bill Corrigan

William J. Corrigan
Acting Division Manager
Division of Engineering
City of Lakewood
12650 Detroit Ave.
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
(216) 529-6807 phone
(216) 5211379 fax
william.corrigan@lakewoodoh.net


>>> Edward Fitzgerald 6/12/2008 12:18 PM >>>
Bill,

I think this is your question to answer.

Ed

Edward F. Fitzgerald
Project Administrator/Acting Building Commissioner
City of Lakewood Division of Housing & Building
12650 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
(216) 529-6297
Edward.Fitzgerald@lakewoodoh.net


>>> Raymond Velcio 6/12/2008 12:09 PM >>>
Sir,

While serving on a committee to write Lakewood's Storm Water
Ordinances, rain barrels were discussed as a useful tool. I do not believe that
those ordinances address installation, etc. I will forward your letter
and my response to the building dept. for input.

Thank you

Raymond P. Velcio
City of Lakewood
Division Manager
Water and Sewers

>>> William Fraunfelder III <fraun3@sbcglobal.net> 6/12/2008 10:14 AM
>>>
I'm interested in installing a rain barrel with downspout diverter on
both my house and garage. What are the regulations, if any, on the
installation/use of these? Thanks for your time.


The Plain Dealer recently covered a local manufacturer of rain barrels (Gales carries his stock) and his site is bluewaterohio.com. He quoted me $110 for a single-barrel kit with flex spouts, and $90 for an add'l barrel if you wanted to slave a second one to the original. They offer full installation for $190 in Lakewood (due to gas costs). They can be reached at 216-382-0585. Hopefully, you'll find this informative.

I bought one last year from Gale's in Westlake. Same type as they sell in Gardener's Supply, and I believe the same price (minus shipping, of course). I stuck it under the downspout behind my garage, and works like a charm. A rainy day fills it up! And we use the water for our gardens, hanging baskets, and house plants.

I made one through a workshop run by Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District. They provide an instruction sheet and you can get the barrels from them (I think they said the barrels are $21 but don't quote me on that, the workshop was $35 and included the materials for 1 barrel). The only really uncommon tool needed to make them that isn't part of the final barrel was what I think they called a pipe tap - it is a solid cylindrical thing that you turn with a wrench into a hole drilled into the barrel in order to make the threads to screw on the faucet. I think it was 3/4 inch size, as I believe was the size of the drill bit (paddle-shaped one) that you use. They said the thread-making tool was about $25, the drill bit is I think under $5 (I think we have that size in our household tool kit but don't know how standard of a tool it is to have, heck I don't know how often people own power drills for that matter, and that's the only other not-staying-on-the-barrel thing you need really). They take less than 5min to make. The instructor encourages people to purchase an overflow diverter that runs a hose, when the barrel is full water is automatically re-directed back to the gutter, but since our downspouts are going directly into the ground and I hate not being able to see where the water is going because I think it might be eroding my foundation, I want to figure out an alternative to that anyway).

contact info:
Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District
6100 W. Canal Road
Valley View, OH 44125
216/524-6580 ext. 22
aroskilly@cuyahogaswcd.org

These particular tools (the threading tool and maybe the drill bit) might be good ones to start the tool lending library with, perhaps? Uncommon to use and not necessarily worth having around the house for the average homeowner.


Ahmie

In case anyone is following this thread and not the "How Green Should Lakewood Be" one in General Discussion, wanted to point out that I just posted a picture of a rainbarrel made in that workshop in that thread.

http://www.bluewaterohio.com/

This guy was featured in The Plain Dealer a few months back.

Dover Vineyards on Detroit in Westlake sells used oak whiskey barrels, if you like the rustic look, and they used to sell plastic barrels seasonally (these are the barrels their juice is shipped in) at a good price, but they were not green, and I don't know if they still sell them, rather than discarding them. These barrels do not include the plumbing, but I don't think it would be hard to do that yourself. I have a nice big blue one, but I use it for winemaking rather than as a rainbarrel.

I read in the recent edition of the Metropark's Emerald Necklace magazine that the RR Nature Center is hosting a rainbarrel making seminar with a cost I believe of $35. Sorry I don't have the magazine anymore so I can't remember the date, but I remember it said they would start taking reservations Oct. 1.

I thought I’d revive the topic of rain barrels. I’m sure many people will again be thinking about these now that spring is around the corner. Also, Mel and I are looking for a few people to show off their barrels at the upcoming Lakewood Home Fair Expo on Saturday, April 25.

There are all kinds of kits available and also, for the true DIY’er, you can build your own. That’s exactly what I did, build my own. The PD ran a story a couple years ago on the subject of building your own rain barrels. They listed a few sources for barrels. Among the sources was a company called Container Compliance located on Denison in Cleveland.

http://www.containercompliance.com/

We wanted to make a dual barrel system so I bought two white 55 gallon plastic drums from them (I believe they were around $20 per barrel). The tops of each drum were sealed and had two large threaded openings and in those openings was a small plug. Coincidently, the plug had the same thread as a three quarter inch PVC male connector. I used a PVC quarter turn ball valve with a few feet of tubing and fittings (and some ingenuity) to connect the barrels and make the spigot part. With the barrels upside down, this makes for a leak proof spigot assembly. Some kits tell you to drill a small hole through the side a few inches up from the bottom for the spigot (barrel right side up). However, this prevents the barrel from emptying completely and, from what I’ve read, is also prone to leaking. Both barrels sit on one 2x6 platform which sits on 4 concrete blocks. The rear barrel is about 3 inches higher than the front barrel. I also rigged an overflow drain on the rear barrel.

I used some 4 inch PVC to create an ‘initial runoff’ tank. This captures most of the dirt, bird crap, etc that washes off your roof during the initial rainfall. When this tank fills up (and in theory all the bad stuff has washed off your roof), the overflow runs into the main barrels leaving cleaner rain water. I have a spigot attached to the initial runoff tank to drain periodically.

Sorry, I don’t have pictures of the complete setup as we had to tear it down for some work on our house but I will have our rain barrel system on display at the Lakewood Home Fair Expo on Saturday, April 25. We are also looking for others who would like to bring their barrels into the Home Fair Expo so Lakewoodites can see a variety of examples. If you are interested in sharing your rain barrels at the Home Fair Expo, please PM or send me an email.