Candidate for the cheapest rainbutt

[Feygan]

Finally got around to putting together my rainbutt today, for a grand total of 8.48GBP.




Only two things I had to buy was the tap and a small rubber downsizer normally used in flush fittings. The drum I got of a farmer for free as it was an old chemical conatainer so would have cost him to dispose of. Not bad for a 200 litre tank. Then the flex from the downpipe to the drum I took of a vaccum hose I fould lying about the local tip. Finally used a small square of plant fleece wrap as a filter on the bottom of the downpipe.

In all fairness I could probably have scavanged the tap from somewhere but felt abit lazy on that front.

So how much has most other folks raincatchers cost in general?

[Shirley]

Well done Feygan - and a big warm welcome to Selfsufficientish

[Millymollymandy]

Hi and welcome. Well done with your water butt but I hope you have an overflow outlet somewhere!

[red]

very economical!

welcome to the forum

[Cassiepod]

Hi Feygan, with my chemistry hat on have you checked what was in the drum before hand.... ther'e no label left which always makes me nervous to start with! Other than that it looks great. It's soemthing I want to do but I wasn't sure about the overflow thing without having to buy and expensive kit from the garden centre. Any one know how to get round this?

[Feygan]

The tank was a chemical tank used for milk line cleaner. Can't recall exactly what it is, hydrogen peroxide I think. However I used to fit dairy parlours and such and know that the stuff is simply washed in then rinsed with cold water. Cleaning this tank was easy enough, rinse it through until no trace of smell was left then rinse twice more for good measure.

As for an overflow, that was probably the cheapest part of all. A hole in the back near the top. Since I sat the entire thing over the drain slot the old downpipe used to dump into means any excess goes to the same place as before.

Soon enough I will be adding a second inlet pipe to take in all my grey water, along with building a small filter block to fit to the front. I'll probably just go with a standard carbon filter so that the only mains water I ever need draw off will be for drinking.