Thats is awesome. I really need to set up a rain water catch. As for the buckets I agree. I go to Firehouse subs and pay/donate $2 for a 5 gallon pickle bucket with snap on lid. They donate the bucket money to local fire stations. Pretty cool deal.

mike

K, that's AWESOME!!! Oh my goodness, 500 gallons is incredible! I have my puny little 55 gallon that was filled up by that storm but I know it won't last long. Your plumies are going to be very happy!!

Did not know those buckets are food safe, that's great! We keep about 5 on hand, they are a must have.

great idea!! Can we see a pic of the whole rain barrel ? Please...

I love the 5 gallon buckets.. Easier to handle with one in each hand to lift around... I especially like the ones that say " Virginia Tech". Lol...

Great job!!!

Laura

Nice, K! Did it fill all the way to the top, and do you have gutter spouts on it? Can you just use the spigot or do you have to have the pump?

Funny, I have a metal water tank site open in another tab. Was looking at their 1200 gallon model. Of course, that would have to come with new gutters, concrete slab, etc. Think I'll wait to spring that on hubby. :)

nice! We put in 4 rain barrels a month ago and still have not received enough rain to fill them. All that rain everyone got last week, we got Tally HO!

I have about 400 sf of roof draining to it. So it takes @1.2 inches of rain to top off. I still have to install the gutter screens and a permanent downspout and overflow line.

It's about 6 ft tall and 4 ft in diameter. I used 16 X 16 pavers and crushed rock for the base. It's a shoehorn fit behind the back a/c unit and there is electrical for the portable pump. All in all this has been a fun project

It's interesting because collecting rainwater can be illegal in some states and regions...believe it or not.

Colorado and Washington for example.

I'm not sure about my state of VA, but I'd sure like to put in a collection barrel.

In Texas the tanks are sales tax free and some municipal utilities offer rebates.

Yes, some regions encourage it; others discourage the collection of water. It does prevent its use downstream (for agricultural reasons, or whatever) when you collect it.

There is a code in our county that any condensation from AC unit must not be put down the drain (sewer); it must go outside -- for the simple reason being that if they didn't sell you the water in the first place, they shouldn't have to pay for the cost of processing it at the plant! Good heavens!

J,
It did top out. A called me out over dinner and said "you are thinking where else you can put another tank since this one filled up. Aren't you?"

there is some hydraulic pressure you can see from the picture but its not sufficient for moving water fast enough. The plan is to tie an inline booster pump into the bottom drain and then suck the water out into a standard garden hose with a nozzle. I have to do some more research but I wanted to get the tank in place ASAP and it was a good thing too. I am going to use this water first and hopefully it will be replenished. If not I am no worse off than before.

Laura,
the closest I can get to a Virginia Tech bucket is a UVA Umbrella. :)

Dave,
Condensate recycling is very popular here. The trendy outdoor mall just down the road uses the condensate to run all of their water features and an energy company's HQ has this swimming pool size tank for capturing and using for irrigation. The amount of water captured this way is quite impressive.

K,

I am pretty new to plumeria and have received great advice from Mike, Bill, Al, Laura, Roxanne, yourself, and a lot of people on this forum in trying to get the right fertilizer (Thanks, Al), winter protection (Thanks everyone), and all around good vibes while watching the pot boil (translated awaiting my first inflo).

As a mechanical engineer I do know pumps and although I don't know the layout of your specific plumeria garden, can offer some tips from what I have read above.

If you need 100 gallons per week, assuming you water daily (again, I'm a plumeria newbie), that's 14.3 gallons per day. If you put your in-line pump on a timer for say 2 hours per day, you want a pump that delivers 0.12 gallons per minute. That's generally what we consider a "metering" type pump that people like myself have on our well systems to neutralize water acidity, bacteria content, etc. Very small pump.

What you next have to consider is pressure drop through your piping to your garden. This would account for branch piping from your main, how many branches, and the length to make sure you are getting a relatively equal flow of water to each plant. What you probably don't want is a lot of water flow to the plants closest to the pump and very little to the plants farthest from the pump.

You can see this can be as simple or as complicated as the end in mind.

What automatic pumping gives you is piece of mind that everything gets watered as you want it, but it will take some time and money. I love your photograph of the 5 gallon bucket because you have to make sure the submersible irrigation pump you are using is roughly pumping about the same amount of water from your rain tank, and I have no doubt you are checking to see the amount of water from each branch to your garden is delivering about the same amount of water. That's what I would call the "human touch."

If there is anything I can help you with, I am more than happy to do so. All I ask in return is that you cross your fingers for my first inflo here in Maryland.

Best,

Mike

Nice work, very cool setup you have there.

You know on the Big Island, catchment is the only source of water in a lot of neighborhoods....

"Nice" K! You must have put a lot of thought into it and have still more to go to finish. Rain water is the best. I'm sure your plants will be rewarding you with lots of blooms.
Peg

Mike,
thanks so much for the knowledge share offer. I am going to message you some questions at first opportunity.

K, No problem. Unfortunately my old email address is a spam factory. I don't get to check the forum but every 5-7 days because of my business schedule, but feel free to post anything here. More than happy to help.