The Uses of Rain Barrels
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by: georgewonderman
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Owning rain barrels can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. For one, they can cut down household expenses. If you are required to pay for town water services where you live, installing a rain barrel to siphon roof run off can supplement your water usage and cause your water bill to be cheaper. Also, they lessen our environmental impact.
You may be surprised to see know how much water can be gathered with the help of rain barrels. If, for instance, you are using your roof or another similarly large surface from which to divert the run off into the barrels, it is fairly simply to calculate how many gallons of water you can expect to collect. For 1,000 square feet of roof or catching space, you can collect 600 gallons of water per one inch of rainfall. You can see using this formula that if you have a very large roof or catchment surface, you can collect quite a bit of water!
Of course, if you live in a place where you do not get a lot of rain, you may not save as much as places where rain is abundant. Those in the Pacific Northwest as well as Eastern coasts of the United States will find rain barrels especially useful, since these locations receive above average amounts of rainfall.
Rain barrels are also wonderful in that they are environmentally friendly. Due to the fact that rain water is a renewable resource, there is no need to have a well or pump water from the ground, which can exhaust supplies and harm the environment. Also, if for some reason subterranean water tables become polluted, your home or business will not be at risk since you are obtaining your water from a different source.
The way that rain barrels function is fairly simple. Four parts make up a basic barrel which are a straining device, a lid, a storage tank and a spigot or valve. Storage tanks are the part of the contraption that we would think of as a rain barrel. Once your barrel is set up, water will flow from the roof or catchment into your gutters, through the strainer and into the storage tank. You can get a hose to hook up to your spout in the barrel, or you can use the valve to access the water once your tank is holding some. Using your rain water for gardening, car washing and other activities is very easy with just a basic barrel.
Depending on your needs, there are a bunch of different sizes, materials and varying levels of complexity you can choose from for your rain barrel. Plastic, clay and wood are three examples of materials. Often clay and wooden barrels are decorative and easy on the eyes, but can be more expensive than plastic. For outdoor uses such as gardening, these are idea. If you are looking for a barrel that is inexpensive and has a range of uses, plastic is your best bet. As a word of caution, you should not use plastic barrels for gardening due to the fact that they can spawn certain plant specific contaminants if UV rays are exposed to the water inside.
From fifteen gallons to one thousand, you can get just about any size rain barrel. No matter your needs or aesthetic preferences, rain barrels can be used to conserve both water and money.
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Learn the real scoop on rain collection barrels, browse palmettorainbarrels.com.
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