Raised beds, watering system & pavers are finished

[simple life]

I just ordered 3 of those rain barrels through our town too, Ya gotta love that they finally came around with something like subsidizing rain barrels considering what they charge for water.I am thinking of ordering more though since our water bill is a little over $2000.00 per year. I have an area to tuck them away and was wondering how to connect them all. They said they would send directions to do that anyway, but I was concerned about the water pressure. Since you said it works great I feel better about it. I am glad everything came together for you so nice. I was actually in your town last night visiting friends.
Congratualations on finishing your project and your new chicks.Mine ate my green beans and morning glories today the little buggers.

 

[calee]

No freaking way... I am totally in love with your rain barrel setup! I have rain barrels on my wish list, so I'm hoping for a couple at Christmas. Now I'm actually GLAD that I haven't gotten them yet, because I can put the platform & pump on my wishlist, too. If I show my husband the mounted bottle opener with handy cap catcher, I'm SURE to get them!

 

[SewingDiva]

I just ordered 3 of those rain barrels through our town too, Ya gotta love that they finally came around with something like subsidizing rain barrels considering what they charge for water.I am thinking of ordering more though since our water bill is a little over $2000.00 per year. I have an area to tuck them away and was wondering how to connect them all. They said they would send directions to do that anyway, but I was concerned about the water pressure. Since you said it works great I feel better about it. I am glad everything came together for you so nice. I was actually in your town last night visiting friends.
Congratualations on finishing your project and your new chicks.Mine ate my green beans and morning glories today the little buggers.

Well then you should stop by next time! We live up the street from the Amtrak station off route 128, so you probably drive right by our house when you're on the highway. Come by anytime.

Last year we started with 2 barrels set on the ground, and we discovered pretty quickly that once the water level gets down to 1/2 full or less there is really not much water pressure. Raising them off the ground made a huge difference, but only for a watering can; there was not enough pressure for a hose. Once we built the beds and added 2 more barrels we needed more output, hence the pump, which come from Lowes; it was about $85 (actually, all of the connection hardware came from Lowes.)

The pump is a little fussy to use; it must be oiled each time it's turned on, so we keep a bottle of canola oil and a small cup nearby (the kind you get with cold medicine like Nyquil). The directions for the pump say it's okay to use food grade oil.

The only other detail to mention, and this was for convenience, is that the orange input and output hose connections you see to the pump are the snap-on type so that the pump can be drained of water first and then oiled easily.

~Phyllis

P.S. - Calee, the blue box that catches beer bottle caps was reycled from a Crest Whitestrips container I think my husband is actually more proud of that than anything else.

 

[simple life]

Thanks, I will let you know one of the times I am in town, and we can work something out. My friends live on Westdale street but we also take my son to the chiropractor every week there as well.
One of these times I will contact you and maybe we can swing by so my husband can figure out out how to hook up the rain barrel system.
The pump is definitely worth the investment, water is so expensive. I heard the rates are going to go up again too. Our town is one of the ones paying for the MWRA clean up. It was only suppose to be for something like 10 years but its been 15 so far.I remember when everyone burned there water bills on the Fore River Bridge in Quincy in protest. I wish I had gotten the rain barrels sooner, it didn't really occur to me until the town offered to subsidize the cost. I think your whole project came out great.

 

[Tutter]

SewingDiva,

The canola oil works, but it doesn't have the viscosity to protect the pump correctly. It will be alright for a while, but eventually it will fail. We've seen some extensive damage on some pumps from the use of vegetable oil, which may never be an issue for you, if you think you'll be replacing yours in a couple of seasons anyway.

I imagine that you are not wanting to use toxic machine oils, especially with having to use it every time.

There's something else, though, which is a non-toxic, food-grade machine oil used primarily for meat packing items etc., but it's now being utilized for pumps etc.

It's especially good for diaphragm pumps, when they fail....which they do every couple of years....as it avoids the oil you use ending up in the water tank. But it's just as good for smaller pumps.

A couple of companies have it now, including Hypro.

If you can't find any, and want to use it, please let me know, and we can see about sending you some from here.

 

[Reinbeau]

I'm late to this thread (just got back from Maine) but I had to comment. Phyllis, gorgeous setup! Your husband is very creative. Lucky you! I've been thinking of getting some rain barrels, I'll have to keep this thread in mind when we ever get around to it - I've got way too much to get around to right now!

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I'm not sure what I loved about this post more the AMAZING rain barrel setup or the back and forth antics of others on the forum!

Seriously though, I absolutely love the setup. I have been looking into setting something up here. I have time, since we won't have rain for another 4 months at least. I am definitely going to copy this setup!

Question. Does the downspout from the roof go into a basin for all the barrels? Do you move it to the next barrel when one is full? Just wondering?

 

[simple life]

Hey Oakland, just giving you a heads up. Someone new on here has a gnome for their avitar.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Hey Oakland, just giving you a heads up. Someone new on here has a gnome for their avitar.

We should suggest a new picture for them!

 

[simple life]

Yeah, maybe a little gentle persuasion, ha ha. Yeah, we don't need no stinkin gnomes round here. Maybe we could hold a new contest and vote for a new avitar for them.
I bet its Tutter using an alias, setting up a new account with a gnome picture just to mess with you.